Hockey hall calls Lidstrom, Pronger

Olympian Ruggiero becomes fourth female player elected

Stanley Cup winners Nicklas Lidstrom, Chris Pronger and Sergei Fedorov and former NHL star Phil Housley are among the seven newcomers in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

The Hall announced that Angela Ruggiero, Bill Hay and Peter Karmanos Jr. also were voted into the shrine.

Pronger, traded from Philadelphia to Arizona last weekend, hasn’t played since November 2011 because of post-concussion syndrome. He works for the league. The fearsome defenseman was eligible because of a bylaw that specifies a player’s final game must be three full seasons ago.

Lidstrom and Federov, longtime Detroit Red Wings teammates, also made it in their first year of eligibility.

Ruggiero played in four Olympics for the U.S. team, which won gold in Nagano in 1998. The California native will be the fourth woman to go into the Hall of Fame as a player.

“I showed up to career day in the second grade with my hockey gear on — I knew I wanted to play hockey, just didn’t know where it would take me,” Ruggiero said.

Once heralded as a n key part of the Sabres’ future, Cody Hodgson’s career in Buffalo will soon be over. A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press that the Sabres have placed Hodgson on unconditional waivers with the intention of buying out his contract. Hodgson signed a six-year, $25.5 million contract with the team in 2013.

The Los Angeles Kings terminated Mike Richards’ contract, claiming the underachieving forward committed a “material breach” of its terms. The move is a surprising tactic in the Kings’ prolonged attempt to get out from under the last five seasons of the 12-year, $69 million deal signed by Richards with Philadelphia in 2008. The Kings refused to detail their grounds for terminating Richards’ deal.

College basketball

Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan surprised the college basketball world when he announced that he plans to retire after next season as he looks to pass the torch after molding the Badgers into a national power.

Ryan, 67, is 357-125 in 14 seasons as Badgers coach and has taken the program to the NCAA tournament every year, including the Final Four the past two seasons.

Golf

Former British golfer and CBS analyst Peter Oosterhuis says he has early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The 67-year-old Oosterhuis went public with the news in Golf World’s digital magazine with hopes it can bring attention and raise money toward finding a cure.

Soccer

Striker Eduardo Vargas scored twice to lead Chile to a 2-1 win over 10-man Peru in the semifinals of the Copa America in Santiago, keeping alive the host team’s hopes of winning the South American tournament for the first time. Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, meets Paraguay in the other semifinal match Tuesday.

Miscellany

Anquan Boldin of the 49ers is one of four finalists for the ESPN Sports Humanitarian of the Year award, and the 49ers are among the finalists for Humanitarian Team of the Year. The awards will be presented July 14.