Boston Bruins teammates Brandon Bochenski and Phil Kessel each had a goal and an assist yesterday to lift the United States past Slovakia, 4-2, in Group F at the hockey world championships in Mytischi, Russia. Also in Group F, Michael Wolf and Michael Hackert scored in Germany's 2-0 upset of the Czech Republic, the Germans' first victory against the Czechs in the world championships since 1986.

Auto racing

Michael Waltrip Racing, still trying to find its way out of a terrible start to its first season in NASCAR Nextel Cup racing, turned to Jason Burdett to replace crew chief Matt Borland on Dale Jarrett's No. 44 Toyota. It was the third crew chief change for the Waltrip team in less than a month.

Borland, who came to the Waltrip team from Penske Racing South, where he was crew chief for Ryan Newman, turned down the job as the new team's technical director and left the organization.

Race driver Scott Wimmer filed a lawsuit against former employer Bill Davis Racing, asking for $1.2 million in unpaid salary for the 2006 season. Wimmer is driving a part-time NASCAR Busch Series schedule for Richard Childress Racing this season.

Volleyball

Either IPFW or UC Irvine will take home its first NCAA title. IPFW stunned top-seeded Pepperdine, 3-1, and Irvine got even with Penn State (22-8) for a loss in the semifinals a year ago by beating the Nittany Lions, 3-1, in Columbus, Ohio. The Mastodons (23-7) won, 27-30, 30-27, 30-27, 30-25 against the Waves (26-3), who had won 23 matches in a row before losing its final two. Irvine (28-5) upended Penn State, 30-25, 30-22, 26-30, 30-23.

Baseball

La Roche College won the regular-season championship in the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference and will play host to the conference's four-team tournament next weekend. La Roche is 25-13 overall, 13-5 in the conference.

Boxing

Western Pennsylvania's remaining two boxers were ousted in the quarterfinals from the National Gold Gloves Championships in Chattanooga, Tenn. Jesse Lubash lost his 152-pound match to top-ranked Demetrius Andrade of the New England region, 5-0, and Anthony Tettis of Ridgway was beaten by Cincinnati's Danny Calhoun in a controversial, 3-2 decision.

Softball

Tiny L. Laster Jr., the longtime Hampton University women's coach who led the team to a regular-season championship Tuesday, died yesterday from kidney failure. He was 61. Laster was undergoing dialysis treatment twice a week.