LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- The United States will host a major Olympic meeting in 2015, a boost to a potential U.S. bid for the 2024 Summer Games. Washington was chosen Friday to host the general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees, which represents more than 200 national bodies. The announcement came at ANOCs current annual meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland, following a pitch from U.S. Olympic Committee head Larry Probst. USOC spokesman Patrick Sandusky said the dates for the 2015 meeting have not yet been set. The U.S. last hosted the ANOC assembly in 1994 in Atlanta, ahead of the 1996 Olympics in the same city. The U.S. hasnt hosted the Summer Games since then. New York failed in a bid for the 2012 Olympics, and Chicago was unsuccessful for 2016. The USOC, which has worked hard to improve its international standing, is currently considering a bid for 2024. USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun said this week the committee was in discussions with about 10 potential cities, hoping to narrow the list to two or three by December. The USOC has until late 2014 to decide whether to bid. The IOC will choose the 2024 host city in 2017. Carolina Hurricanes Gear . Bjorn, who had a 36-hole total of 8-under 134, made a testing six-foot putt to save par on the 16th and a birdie on the 17th before bogeying the final hole after a misjudged approach shot. American Kevin Streelman was in second place after shooting a 69. Carolina Hurricanes Pro Shop . The No. 1-ranked Nadal tweaked his back warming up for the Australian Open final, which he lost almost four weeks ago in a major upset against Stanislas Wawrinka. His first stop after the layoff is the clay in Rio as he tests the back and tries to stay healthy for the French Open in three months. https://www.cheaphurricanes.com/ . -- Canadian Andrew Wiggins got the ball on the wing, made a nifty spin move and then let go with a soft floater from about 10 feet that swished through the net in Allen Fieldhouse. Wholesale Hurricanes Jerseys . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Hurricanes Jerseys 2020 .5 million, one-year contract on Friday. Hawkins, who turns 41 in December, will compete with Rex Brothers for the closers role at spring training.The Tampa Bay Lightning made an aggressive move to fill the void created when they bought out Vincent Lecavalier. Numbers Game looks into Tampa Bay signing Valtteri Filppula. The Lightning Get: C Valtteri Filppula. Filppula, 29, is coming off a season in which he scored 17 points in 41 games, his lowest per-game (0.41 ppg) point production since his rookie season of 2006-2007, yet he put up his best possession numbers, so there was a certain amount of bad luck involved in that scoring dive. One of the challenges that Filppula will face in Tampa Bay is that he spent most of the past couple seasons in Detroit playing on a line with Henrik Zetterberg, one of the games premier puck possession players and, no matter how skilled his linemates in Tampa Bay, they probably wont be as complete as Zetterberg. Signed for five years and $25-million, Filppula is going to be expected to replace Vincent Lecavaliers production in the Tampa Bay lineup. Filppula could be a productive secondary scorer; he notched a career-high 66 points in 2011-2012, but thats the only time in his career that hes scored more than 40 points in a season. How many times, in seasons when he will be aged 29 through 33, should he be expected to surpass that threshold over tthe course of his five-year deal? Based on Filppulas track record, getting more than 40 points three times would qualify as a success.dddddddddddd Had the Lightning not signed Filppula, they could have had AHL MVP Tyler Johnson penciled in as the second line centre for next season. The 5-foot-9, 22-year-old had 65 points in 62 regular season games, adding 21 points in 18 playoff games, in addition to six points in 14 games with the Lightning, but now his path to playing time in Tampa Bay appears more complicated. The Red Wings replaced Filppula with Stephen Weiss and, given the similarity in their contracts (five year, $24.5-million for Weiss), it sure looks like the Red Wings chose what they perceived as an upgrade for that second-line centre position. Certainly, Lightning GM Steve Yzerman is very familiar with Filppula from his time in Detroit and Tampa Bay has enough skilled forwards to give Filppula a chance to produce, but he wasnt consistently productive while playing for the Red Wings, so its not easy to forecast better things for him with the Lightning. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. ' ' '