Tuesday's sports briefs

United States rolls; Canada is next The United States coasted into the world junior hockey championship playoffs with a 12-0 rout of Kazakhstan on Tuesday night in Ottawa.

The U.S. will play Canada in a matchup of 3-0-0 teams today with the top spot in Group A on the line.

Kazakhstan (0-3-0) will head to the relegation round.

The Americans didn't look like bona fide challengers for the championship in the first period, as they seemed to take the Kazakhs a little too lightly. It wasn't until their fourth power-play opportunity that the Americans managed to score the 1-0 goal. Ian Cole finally broke the ice 16:26 into the game.

The U.S. appeared to be rejuvenated after the first intermission. The Americans finished the first two periods by outshooting Kazakhstan 39-3.

Aaron Palushaj lead the U.S. with two goals and two assists. Colin Wilson also had two goals, and James van Riemsdyk and Cole each had a goal and two assists. Matt Rust, Mitch Wahl, Drayson Bowman, Jimmy Hayes, Danny Kristo and the Gophers' Mike Hoeffel had the other U.S. goals. Kevin Shattenkirk had three assists.

The Gophers' Jordan Schroeder got two assists and went into a tie for the lead in tournament scoring with Canada's John Tavares and Cody Hodgson with nine points.

Andrei Yankov made 49 saves on 61 shots for Kazakhstan.

Also Tuesday, Nikita Filatov scored three goals and Russia remained perfect with an 8-1 victory over Slovakia.

Maxim Chudinov had four assists for Russia, which is 3-0-0 in Group B play and will face Sweden (3-0-0) this afternoon. The winner will clinch the group and advance to the semifinals on Saturday. The loser will play a quarterfinal game Friday.

Slovakia (1-2-0) will play its final game of the preliminary round today against Finland, which improved to 1-2-0 with a 5-1 victory over Latvia. Also, the Czech Republic (1-2-0) earned a spot in the playoff round with a 6-0 victory over Germany. Ondrej Roman scored a pair of goals.

Snyder, Arizona agree on three-year deal The Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to a three-year contract with catcher Chris Snyder.

Last year, Snyder hit a career-high 16 home runs, a single-season record for a Diamondbacks catcher, and drove in 64 runs, another career high.

Richardson, Davis win first sprint titles Heather Richardson and Shani Davis won their first sprint national titles Tuesday, the final day of the U.S. Long Track Speedskating National Championships in West Allis, Wis.

Richardson of High Point, N.C., repeated Monday's sweep in the 500- and 1,000-meter races at Pettit National Ice Center.

The four-day competition determined national championships and slots on the U.S. winter World Cup team. The trials to decide the U.S. team for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics will be at this site in October.

Davis of Chicago swept the 1,000 and was second in the 500 both days.

1988, 1996 and 2000 Olympics and served as an assistant at the 1984, 1992 and 2004 Games.

Boxing: The WBA is reviewing Nikolai Valuev's victory over Evander Holyfield by majority decision in a Dec. 20 heavyweight title bout. The WBA said on its website Monday that it has ordered a panel of judges to study the video of the fight.