Hockey
GRIZZ FACE AEROS TONIGHT: The Utah Grizzlies can avenge a 3-2 New Year's Eve loss to Houston tonight when they meet the Aeros at the Compaq Center.
Faceoff is set for 6 p.m., with the game being broadcast locally on KTKK, 630 AM.
Utah enters the Southwest Division contest in third place at 22-10-4. Houston, meanwhile, leads the pack with a 24-10-4 record.
The Grizz return home Saturday for a 5 p.m. game with San Antonio. KSL-TV, Ch. 5, is televising the action.
PENS MAY WAIT TO SIGN CENTER: The Pittsburgh Penguins might not be able to re-sign holdout center Petr Nedved until he clears NHL waivers or the season ends.
Penguins general manager Craig Patrick was prepared to make a new offer until he learned Nedved apparently played four games in a lower-tier league in his native Czech Republic. A player who competes outside North America after the regular season starts must clear waivers before he can return.
Baseball
DEFECTOR SEEKS ASYLUM OUTSIDE U.S.: Cuban defector Orlando Hernandez apparently will seek asylum in a country other than the United States in a decision that has less to do with ideology and more to do with baseball's marketplace.
Under major league rules, the former star pitcher for the Cuban national team could not become a free agent if he came to the United States. Hernandez's half-brother, pitcher Livan Hernandez of the world champion Florida Marlins, earned a $2.5 million bonus as a free agent.
Washington granted Orlando Hernandez political asylum Wednesday, but he asked the Bahamas for asylum and apparently is lining up options in other countries as well. Hernandez and seven other Cubans sought asylum from the United States after they were picked up in Bahamian waters Sunday.
The United States granted asylum to Hernandez, his common law wife, Noris Bosch, and catcher Alberto Hernandez Perez, but not to the others.
BENES GIVES UP ON CARDS: Andy Benes ended his attempts to re-sign with the St. Louis Cardinals, telling the players' association to withdraw the grievance it filed to validate the pitcher's $30 million, five-year contract.
Management's Player Relations Committee ruled the contract was agreed to after the Dec. 7 deadline for free agents to re-sign with their former teams. The union then tried to get arbitrator Dana Eischen to reverse the decision.
Basketball
COLLIER TABS GEORGIA TECH: Former Indiana center Jason Collier signed with Georgia Tech, where his father, Jeff, played center from 1972-76.
The 7-foot sophomore, a former Ohio Mr. Basketball, quit the Indiana program Dec. 18, citing a personality conflict with coach Bob Knight.
Tennis
MOODY DIES: Tennis great Helen Wills Moody, who won eight Wimbledon titles and was one of the premier figures in America's golden era of sports, has died. She was 92.
Moody died Thursday at Carmel Convalescent Hospital.
Known for hitting the ball harder than any woman, she ruled tennis in the 1920s and '30s.