Fast Break
Hockey
Bruton to play at Acadia U.
Chris Bruton, captain of the Memorial Cup Champion Spokane Chiefs, will attend Acadia University, the Wolfville, Nova Scotia, school announced Tuesday.
In his 20-year-old season with the Chiefs, Bruton scored a career-high 26 goals and 63 points, both third on the club. Bruton finished his four-year Western Hockey League career with 258 games, 14th all time in franchise history.
Acadia is a member of the Atlantic University Division in the CIS (Canadian Inter-University Sport).
Hockey
Hurricanes sign Bowman
The National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes announced the team has signed Chiefs forward Drayson Bowman to a three-year, entry-level contract.
Bowman is still eligible to return to play for the Chiefs, should he not be named to the Hurricanes’ roster following training camp. The contract will pay Bowman $550,000, $600,000 and $650,000 on the NHL level or $65,000 on the minor-league level in years one through three. Bowman will also receive a signing bonus of $262,500.
Bowman, 19, led Spokane and ranked tied for 10th in the WHL in scoring during the 2007-08 regular season with 42 goals and 40 assists (82 points) in 66 games. Bowman was the leading goal scorer during the 2008 Memorial Cup in Kitchener, Ontario, with six goals in four games.
Basketball
Koprivica named captain
Washington State University junior Nikola Koprivica will represent his native Serbia in the 2008 U20 Men’s European Basketball Championship starting Friday at the Olympic Sports Centre and Arena in Riga, Latvia.
A 6-foot-6 guard for the Cougars, Koprivica is one of 21 men on the team roster and one of 11 representatives from Belgrade. Koprivica was elected as the lone captain for the team.
“It means a lot to me, of course, to play on this team,” Koprivica said. “To be a captain of your national team is not a little thing, it is a big thing, because everyone loves to play for their own country. It means something and I’m really happy about it.”
Serbia opens round-robin play with Russia on Friday and plays Slovenia on Saturday and France on Sunday. The championship game is Aug. 8.