Boston’s Thornton to Get $6.75 Million

Boston Bruin captain Joe Thornton was awarded a near-record $6.75 million in arbitration Tuesday for the 2004-2005 season.

New Jersey defenseman Scott Niedermayer won his arbitration case last week with a record-tying $7-million, one-year deal. Philadelphia forward John LeClair was awarded $7 million in his case four years ago.

Thornton, one of the league’s top power forwards, earned $5.5 million last season and scored 23 goals and assisted on 50 for 73 points. The previous season, the No. 1 pick in the 1997 entry draft had 36 goals and a career-high 101 points -- third-best in the NHL. In 509 games, Thornton has 160 goals and 261 assists for 421 points, and 611 penalty minutes.

The league also announced two other arbitration decisions: Washington Capital defenseman Brendan Witt got $2.2 million, up from $1.75 million last season, and New York Islander center Oleg Kvasha got $1.55 million, up from $800,000.

*

The Phoenix Coyotes re-signed right wing Mike Johnson to a three-year contract. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Johnson missed 71 games last season because of a shoulder injury. Before his surgery, he had scored 10 points in the first 11 games.

*

Tennis

Jan-Michael Gambill defeated Steven Koubek, 7-5, 6-4, in the Legg Mason Tennis Classic at Washington, advancing to the second round of a tournament for the first time in four events.

Sixth-seeded Alberto Martin rallied from break down in the third set to beat Wayne Ferreira, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2). Seventh-seed Cyril Saulnier beat Antony Dupuis, 6-3, 6-4.

Third-seeded Amy Frazier beat Stephanie Foretz, 6-2, 7-5, at the Cincinnati Open. Fifth-seeded Denisa Chladkova beat Yuliana Fedak, 6-4, 6-4.

*

Soccer

The next step toward the 2006 World Cup for the U.S. men’s team will be taken against Jamaica today at Kingston, Jamaica.

The Jamaican team has never defeated the U.S., which is 8-0-5 against Jamaica. The Jamaicans should provide the toughest opposition in the four-nation group. The other two teams are Panama and El Salvador, with the top two finishers after six games of home-and-home play advancing to next year’s finals of the North and Central American and Caribbean region.

*

Golf

Ryan Moore took medalist honors in stroke-qualifying play at the U.S. Amateur at Mamaroneck, N.Y., shooting an even-par 70 for a two-round total of 139.

Moore, winner of the NCAA Division I and U.S. Amateur Public Links earlier this year, leads a field of 64 players who qualified for match play beginning today. Also moving into match play was Spencer Levin, the low amateur at the U.S. Open, who tied for 13th.

*

College Basketball

UCLA’s Nikki Blue and Noelle Quinn, and Santa Barbara’s Kristen Mann are among the 30 preseason candidates for the women’s John Wooden All-American basketball team. The nation’s top men and women players will receive the Wooden Award after the NCAA season next April.