Show Monday January 6 2003 - v ' ’ as ' The Herald Jogrnal —— Sports briofs USA hockey junior team falls to Finland HALIFAX Nova Scotia (AP) — The United States lost to Finland 2 Sunday in the bronze medal game at the World Junior hockey championship Russia rallied to beat Canada 2 to win the gold medal for the second straight year Finland has its second medal consecutive third-pla“It’s a big thing in Finland because we’ve never won a medal before in Canada’’ Finland captain Tuomo Ruutu said 3-- 3-- ce Russia’s Yuri Thibachev scored the goal midway through the third period to lift Russia Andrei Taratukhin and Igor Grigorenko also scored for the champions and Alexander Ferezhogin had two assists Dallas Stars’ draft pick Jussi Joki-ne- n Los Angeles Kings selection go-ahe- ad Henrik Juntenen and defenseman Joni Pitkanen the fourth choice in last year’s draft by Philadelphia scored for Finland Ryan Suter nephew of former NHL player Gaiy Suter and forward Dustin Brown scored for the United States Finland led 3-- 0 until the Americans scored twice within three minutes late in the third period Kostelic family has big day on slopes KRANJSKA GORA Slovenia (AP) — This was a day like no other in skiing for the Kostelic family Ivica ami Janica Kostelic became the first brother and sister to win World Cup Alpine races on the same day Janica won a slalom Sunday on her 21st birthday in Bormio Italy then watched on TV with her father as her brother captured a slalom in Slovenia less than an hour later “It’s a great day for our family” Janica said “It’s a strange recoid indeed but I’m pleased with it What Ivica has done means a lot because-we’v- e spoken for years about winning a race on the same day "And it’s great it happened on my birthday He couldn't have given me a better present’’ Croatia Prime Minister Ivica Racan sent congratulatory letters to both praising their “spirit and motivation" McGahee has surgery v CORAL GABLES Fla (AP) — Miami running back Willis McGahee had surgery Sunday on two tom ligaments in his left knee following a crushing hit during a Fiesta Bowl loss to Ohio State The sophomore was hours at operated on for four-to-fiHealthSouth Doctors Hospital next to the campus school spokesman Doug Walker said Dr John Uribe who performed the surgery declined to set a timetable for McGahee’s return “Willis tolerated the procedure very well’’ Uribe said in a statement “If nature does its job and his rehabilitation goes well he should be able to make a full recovery” Doctors found tom anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments but no tear to the posterior collateral an ve ligament Assistant coach Don said Saturday that McGahee had tom all three ligaments Sol-ding- er Sunday's scoros NFL playoffs Pittsburgh 36 Cleveland 33 San Francisco 39 NY Giants 38 NBA New Orleans 99 Toronto 84 San Antonio 94 LA Clippers 86 Portland 92 New York 89 Sacramento 96 Miami 70 LA Lakers 109 Phoenix 97 NHL Philadelphia 5 Atlanta 4 Dallas 1 Anaheim 1 tie Detroit 4 Chicago 3 OT On tolovision MEN 5 S COLLEGE BASKETBALL pm ESPN — Notre Dame at Pittsburgh 7 pm ESPN — Kansas at Iowa State 10 pm ESPN — Texas Tech at San piego State NBA 630 djii FSN- -- pun Utah at Chicago uui lw E$PN2 — Los Angelos at Mbmesota AP photo Quarterback Jeff Garcia celebrates as he walks off the field after his 49ers beat the New York Gianis SF trailed by 24 at one point SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nobody thought the San Francisco 49ers had it in them Nobody hole war imagined their anything but a grave Nothing in their inconsistent season' or in their first 40 minutes against the New York Giants suggested the Niners were capable of comeback in the second-bigge- st 24-poi- nt NFL playoff history But as the Giants collapsed around them Jeff Garcia and Terrell Owens measured up to their franchise’s greats in one of the most exciting episodes in the 49ers’ long playoff history Garcia hit Tai Streets with a 13-ya- rd touchdown pass with 1 minute left and the Giants botched the snap on a 41 -- yard field-go- al attempt as time expired Sunday in San Francisco’s 39-3- 8 victory Things got ugly late as Owens and New York safety Shaun Williams got offsetting unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and Williams was ejected for throwing a punch at Pro Bowl crater Jeremy Newberry Garcia and Owens led the way for the 49ers though Giants long snapper Trey Junkin also helped out with two terrible snaps in a monumental momentum shift that wrung every drop of emotion out of a sellout crowd at Candlestick Park “As long as you live you might never see a game better than that” said 49ers coach Steve Mariucci whose job might have been saved “It’s kind of hard to remember everything right now but I remember how it ended” The 49ers’ rally was the biggest See49ERSonA10 Stealers running back Chris Fuamatu-Ma'afa- la AP photo (45) gets by Cleveland Browns linebacker Brant Boyer (52) to score the game- winning touchdown in the fourth quarter The Steelers came from behind to beat the Browns 36-3- 3 Late score wins it for Steelers PITTSBURGH (AP) — The Cleveland Browns never have gotten over The Drive by John Elway Now they’ve got to live with The Comeback by the quarterback who was once supposed to be the next Elway Tommy Maddox the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year led one of Pittsburgh’s greatest comebacks by throwing throe touchdown passes in the final 19 minutes as the Steelers rallied from a deficit to stun the Browns 36-3- 3 Sunday in an AFC wild-car- d game over the Colts play Sunday at Fuamatu-Ma'afala- ’s touchdown run with 54 seconds left secured the Steelers’ most dramatic playoff victory since Franco Harris’ Immaculate Reception against Oakland in 1972 They trailed 17-- 7 at the half 24-- 7 in the third quarter and 33-2- 1 with just over 10 minutes remaining ‘Tommy brought the whole team together at halftime and told us what we were going to do” wide receiver Ter-anMathis said “He said if you don’t think we’re going to win this game you need to go back into the locker room” The Steelers denied the Browns come-from-behi- ce “I was already in Oakland” Kevin Johnson said referring to the Browns’ opponent if they had won For the Browns it was an eerie flashback to Elway ’s memorable “The Drive” to beat the Browns for Denver in the 1987 AFC championship game Remarkably Denver drafted Maddox five years later to replace Elway Maddox later shuttled among four NFL teams without finding work before becoming the Steelers’ starter earlier this season 10 years after making his last NFL start “I was very fortunate to play behind John Elway and see all the things he was able to do in games we did not think we had a chance to win" said Maddox who was for 367 yards and two interceptions Afterward Steelers coach Bill Cowher disappointed at home so often before in the playoffs threw his cap jumped up and down and yelled in a stadium runway 98-ya- rd nt Chris top-seed- ed Oakland Browns quarterback Kelly Holcomb reacts as the Steelers stopped his efforts in the fourth quarter 30-of-48 their first road playoff victory since 1969 and their first playoff win of any kind since returning to the NFL in 1999 They also gave themselves a huge momentum lift going into Saturd day’s divisional game at second-seede- Tennessee The Jets shutout winners Saturday See STEELERS on A10 Gruden is right fit for Sues Split not bad but Aggies must improve TB is getting return on investment TAMPA Fla (AP) — Warren Sapp was a frequent visitor to Jon Gruden’s office last spring The star defensive tackle wanted to learn as much as possible about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' new coach and figured the best way was to sit down with Gruden and gab for hours “If I’m comfortable with the head man then I’ll be your loyalest soldier I’ll spread your message throughout the ranks” Sapp said “Because if you’ve got the right message for us here we go because I know we have the ability to get it done That’s never been a question in my mind” The Bucs paid a bundle to pry Gruden from the Oakland Raiders last February ending a messy monthlong coaching search that threw a franchise that had made die playoffs four of the previous five seasons into disarray It cost four high draft picks and $8 million just for the rigty to talk With Gnulcn who signed a five-ye- ar $175 million contract Eleven months later no one’s complaining — the team already has begun to get a return on its investment Ihmpa Bay (12-4- ) won the NFC South set a franchise record for victories and earned a first-roubye in the playoffs Without even playing a game the Bucs already have advanced farther in the postseason than in the past two seasons under Tony Dungy “The key to the bye is you don't lose in the first round” said Gni-de- n whose Bucs are the No 2 seed in the NFC behind the Philadelphia Eagles the team that eliminated Ihmpa Bay in 2000 and 2001 By Jeff Hunter staff writer nd “The home-fieadvantage doesn’t guarantee anything The bye doesn't guarantee anything But we want to win a champi- ld AP photo cost Tampa Bay a bundle to acquire head coach Jon Gruden and Die team is already getting a return on Its investment as the Buccaneers won the NFC South It onship To win a championship the best way to do that is to help yourself in the playoff format Getting a bye is a great start” The Bucs shared the league’s See GRUDEN on A9 On its first Big West road trip of the season the Aggies got caught in between a good Cal State Northridge team that has been playing badly and a good Pacific team that has bran playing great The result unsurprisingly was a split After toppling the Matadors 59-4- 4 Thursday in Northridge the Aggies saw their five-gawinning streak come to an abrupt end at Stockton with a 66-5- 4 loss to the Tigers “We’ve got to get better that’s what I've been preaching to these guys for a long time” Morrill said T mean a road split See AGGIES on A10 |