Jim Montgomery won the Spencer Penrose Award as Division I men’s ice hockey coach of the year after leading the University of Denver to a 31-7-4 record and the top seed in the NCAA tournament.

The American Hockey Coaches Association announced the award Tuesday, ahead of the Frozen Four in Chicago, where Denver will face Notre Dame in a semifinal on Thursday.

Montgomery, a Montreal native and former University of Maine Black Bear, has a record of 100-47-18 in four seasons at Denver. He has led the Pioneers to the NCAA tournament in each of his four seasons.

Montgomery is Hockey East’s all-time leading scorer with 301 points and won a national title during his senior season at Maine in 1993.

MEN’S LACROSSE: Donnie Litzelman scored twice, including the go-ahead goal with four minutes left in the first half, and Emmanuel (3-6) held on for a 6-3 win over St. Joseph’s (3-5) at Boston.

Michael Finn gave the Monks a 1-0 first-quarter lead, but Sean Reilly tied the game early in the second.

Ben Orr, Charlie Moran, William Barrs and Litzelman added second-half goals for Emmanuel, before Dan Cunningham added one for St. Joseph’s with 38 seconds left.

OLYMPICS

2024 BIDS: The two bid cities in the 2024 Olympic race addressed voters and sports leaders on Tuesday in Aarhus. Only one talked about “the elephant in the room.”

That is a possible double vote that IOC President Thomas Bach has repeatedly hinted at, which could give Los Angeles and Paris either the 2024 or 2028 rights in September.

“We believe that the ’24-’28 conversation makes a lot of sense,” LA bid chairman Casey Wasserman told an audience of Olympic stakeholders, “and it’s fortunate that the IOC has two great cities to consider.”

Minutes later, Paris officials went on stage and focused on winning a contest that is still only about 2024. For now.

“We thought it was obvious to talk about,” Wasserman told reporters after the teams completed 10-minute presentations that both ran over.

Still, LA is not offering to stand aside to let Paris have 2024 and willingly take a hosting duty 11 years away.

Tuesday’s event at an annual conference of Olympic officials was the first of three official campaign events this year.

HOCKEY

WOMEN’S WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Finland goalie Noora Raty finally enjoyed a bit of a breather.

After facing a barrage of shots against Canada and the United States, Raty had to make only 16 saves Tuesday in a 4-0 victory over Sweden that lifted Finland into the semifinals at Plymouth, Michigan.

Finland will face Canada on Thursday. The United States takes on either Russia or Germany in the other semifinal.

TENNIS

DAVIS CUP: With his elbow better and his body rested, Novak Djokovic is ready to get back on court when Serbia faces Spain in the quarterfinals starting Friday.

Spain will be without both Rafael Nadal and Roberto Bautista Agut in the best-of-five series.

SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Zlatan Ibrahimovic converted a penalty in the fourth minute of stoppage time as host Manchester United salvaged a 1-1 draw against Everton to extend its unbeaten run to 20 matches.

– Staff and news services

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