Hockey
MVP TO SWITZERLAND: MVP Martin St. Louis of Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay signed with a Swiss club Friday, one day after teammate Vincent Lecavalier joined a Russian team.
Since the lockout began, nearly 250 NHL players have joined European teams, about one-third of the league.
St. Louis signed with Lausanne of the Swiss league for the rest of the season although his contract allows him to return to the Lightning if the NHL lockout ends. He is to arrive in Switzerland with his family next week and plans to play his first game Nov. 20 against HC Lugano.
FLYER APOLOGIZES: Philadelphia goaltender Robert Esche apologized to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman for calling him a "madman," Flyers general manager Bob Clarke said. Clarke was embarrassed when Esche ripped the commissioner after attending an NHL Players' Association meeting in Toronto. Clarke said Thursday he believed that Esche was frustrated after attending the meeting, during which it was clear no progress was being made in the NHL lockout.
"I think there's a lot of great owners out there but there's a madman leading them down the wrong path," Esche said.
Tennis
SAFIN ACES HEWITT: Marat Safin hit 10 aces and beat Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 7-6 (2) in a showdown between U.S. Open champions to reach the Paris Masters semifinals. Safin closed in on his third title at the indoor tournament and will meet 13th-seeded Guillermo Canas next. Canas defeated Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-3.
"It's a long time since I played this well," 2000 U.S. Open champion Safin said. "I hope I can stay playing like this until the end of the season.
CAPRIATI FALLS SHORT: At Villanova, Pa., Jennifer Capriati's shot at qualifying for the WTA Tour Championships ended with a 6-0, 6-1 loss to Vera Zvonareva in the quarterfinals of the Advanta Tennis Championships. After a long first game that featured three deuces, Zvonareva took over, winning the opening eight games.
TOP SEED OUT: At Quebec City, top-seeded Mary Pierce was knocked out of the Bell Challenge in the quarterfinal round, losing 6-4, 7-6 to Russia's Alina Jidkova. Jidkova reached the semifinals for the third time in her career.
Pro basketball
MURPHY TRIAL BEGINS: The sexual assault case against former NBA star Calvin Murphy was the result of hatred, revenge and a fight over money, his lawyer said Friday. Murphy, accused of abusing five of his 10 daughters, is "unequivocally" innocent of the charges, attorney Andy Drumheller said.
Murphy, 56, was a Houston Rockets guard from 1970-83 and was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993. His daughters say the abuse occurred between 1988 and 1991.
Prosecutors say Murphy tried to maintain a public image of having only one family, even though he has 14 children with nine women. He married just one of the women, according to prosecutors, and accepted her children. They said his children with the other women were told not to call him "Dad."
Boxing
BOWE FIGHT SCHEDULED: Former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe will fight on Nov. 27 in Louisville, his second bout since ending an eight-year retirement from the ring. Bowe, who turned 37 in August, will face Kenny Craven in the 10-round featured bout of a seven-fight card at the 6,000-seat Louisville Gardens. Bowe knocked out Marcus Rhode on Sept. 26, his first fight since December 1996.
Running
RUN FOR CHARITY: Like plenty of people, Lance Armstrong's former wife took up running as a way to get in shape. Now, a couple of years later, Kristin Armstrong has other motivations while she prepares for Sunday's New York City Marathon. The 33-year-old mother of three wants to raise awareness and money for Fertile Hope, a group that helps cancer patients preserve their chances of having a child. She also hopes to inspire others to dig deep for an inner strength to go beyond where they thought they could.
And, on a personal note, Armstrong knows that running helped on her road to healing from a broken marriage.
"It's a spiritual experience," she said Friday at the Tavern on the Green restaurant, not far from the marathon's finish line. "It is a way to clear your mind and do something positive for your body and spirit. It makes you feel clean."
Her five-year marriage to Lance ended in 2003, soon after the cancer survivor returned home to his family after a record-tying fifth straight victory in the Tour de France.