McCreary and O’Halloran will work for gold-medal game

NHL referees Bill McCreary and Dan O’Halloran have been assigned to work Sunday’s Olympic gold-medal game between Canada and the United States. It will be the second Canada-USA gold-medal game for McCreary, who worked the 2002 title game in Salt Lake City. McCreary also worked the 1998 Games in Nagano, Japan. He is retiring from the NHL after this season.

NHL linesman Jean Morin, also of Canada, will work the game with Finland’s Stefan Fonselius. Two other NHL referees, Paul Devorski and Brad Watson, will work Saturday night’s bronze-medal game between Finland and Slovakia. The linesmen will be Petr Blumel of the Czech Republic and Yuri Oskirko of Russia.

Ryan Miller is named Olympic MVP

It is reported that Team USA goaltender Ryan Miller was named the MVP of the Olympic hockey tournament and was one of three Americans to make the tourney's All-Star team.

Miller, defenseman Brian Rafalski and forward Zach Parise were named to the team along with Canadian defenseman Shea Weber and forward Jonathan Toews and Slovakia forward Pavol Demitra, who led all scorers at the Games with 10 points. The All Star team of the Olympic tournament was named after the second period of the gold-medal game. Rafalski earned best defenseman honors and Toews was named best forward.

Pitkanen is suspended in quarterfinals

Joni Pitkanen of Finland was suspended for one game after receiving a game misconduct penalty for hitting Sweden's Patric Hornqvist in the head in the second period on Sunday night. "He's a key part on the power play and obviously on the breakouts he's such a good skater and mobile defenseman and sees the ice well," defenseman Sami Salo said. "Obviously it's a big loss but it opens up a spot for Janne Niskala."

Niskala has been acting as a seventh defenseman, the former Tampa Bay Lightning blueliner has been playing for Frolunda Gothenburg in the Swedish Elite League since 2008.

Lightning sign free agent Parrish

Lightning Executive Vice President and General Manager Brian Lawton announced the Tampa Bay Lightning have signed Mark Parrish to a one-year, two-way contract. Parrish has been assigned to the Norfolk Admirals of the American Hockey League.
In 42 games with the Admirals this season, he has 12 goals and 25 points, tying him for second on the club in points and third in goals. He leads Norfolk in goals, points and plus/minus during the team's previous 26 games with nine goals, 20 points. A veteran of ten National Hockey League seasons, Parrish has appeared in 704 career NHL games with the Florida Panthers, Islanders, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars, recording 216 goals and 169 assists in those games.

Parrish, who appeared in the 2002 NHL All-Star Game, was originally a third round draft pick of the Colorado Avalanche in the 1996 NHL Entry Draft. Parrish appeared in 44 NHL games last season with the Stars, recording eight goals and five assists. Parrish has appeared in 48 career AHL games with the Admirals, Bridgeport Sound Tigers and the Beast of New Haven, scoring 15 goals and 29 points.

Red Wings' Holland appeared on NHL Live!

Detroit Red Wings GM Ken Holland will be among the guests on NHL Live! on Tuesday, scheduled from noon-2 p.m. on NHL Network and NHL.com and broadcast on XM Radio. Holland, who has been the Wings' GM since 1997, is also assisting Team Canada executive director Steve Yzerman.

Also scheduled to appear to speak with co-hosts Deb Placey and Billy Jaffe are retired defenseman Bret Hedican, Pierre McGuire of NBC and TSN and Kevin Allen of USA Today. NHL Live! is broadcast from the NHL Store Powered By Reebok in New York City.

Nationals sign Mench to Minor League deal

It is said that the Nationals have signed outfielder Kevin Mench to a Minor League contract with an invitation to Spring Training. The right-handed-hitting Mench spent this past season playing in Japan for the Hanshin Tigers, but he is best remembered for his years with the Rangers from 2002-06.

Mench's best season in the Major Leagues was in 2004, when he hit .279 with 26 home runs and 73 RBIs in the rangers jersey. He has played seven big league seasons and has a .269 career batting average with 89 home runs and 330 RBIs.

Red Sox announce their front-office changes

The Red Sox announced three changes to their baseball operations department on Wednesday. Eddie Romero, who served as coordinator of Latin American operations since 2006, has been promoted to assistant director of Latin American operations; Gus Quattlebaum was promoted to assistant director of amateur scouting, after working as a Major League scout since 2006; and Steve Peck, who joined the Red Sox in 2009 as a professional scout, after 13 years on the coaching and scouting staff of the Mariners, is now a Major League scout.

The Red Sox also announced the signings of right-hander Joe Nelson and catcher Gustavo Molina to Minor League deals with Spring Training invites. Both players are currently on the Triple-A Pawtucket roster. Now they are going to put on the red sox jerseys.