LONDON -- The IOC is using an improved steroid test to reanalyze frozen doping samples from the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and may use the same method to conduct retests from the 2008 Beijing Games. The tests can detect steroid use going further back than ever before and in lower concentrations, IOC medical commission chairman Arne Ljungqvist told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Its a natural development of the methodology," he said, adding that the test increases the chances of catching drug cheats who went undetected at the time. The International Olympic Committee announced in March that it would retest Turin samples, just as it rechecked samples from the 2004 and 2008 Summer Games in Athens and Beijing -- catching 10 dopers retroactively. The IOC stores Olympic samples for eight years to allow for retesting if new methods become available. The Turin retesting involves a wider detection window, possibly going back as much as six months or more after steroids were taken. "The IOC is currently retesting some of the samples collected during the Olympic Winter Games in Turin in 2006 and we can confirm that we are using the new long-term metabolites method to detect anabolic steroids," the IOC said in a statement. The method will also be used in the drug-testing program at Februarys Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. According to a weekend report by German broadcaster ARD, doping labs in Cologne and Moscow using then new method have detected hundreds of positive cases in recent months. The report said the substances included oral turinabol, a steroid widely used in the former East Germany, and stanozolol, the drug which led to Ben Johnsons disqualification at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Ljungqvist said he had no independent information on the contents of the ARD report, suggesting the cases may have involved "very old samples" tested for research purposes. "Its nothing that we have initiated," he said. Meanwhile, Ljungqvist said the IOC expects to have the results of the Turin tests by the end of the year. The tests are looking for steroids, new generations of the blood-booster EPO and growth hormone, he told the AP in a telephone interview. Urine and blood samples from Turin are stored at the doping laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland. The exact number of retests is not known, but Ljungqvist said the IOC had identified "a couple of hundred" samples for possible reanalysis. Endurance events such as cross-country skiing are considered the most open to doping abuse. The IOC wants to wrap up the testing process, including any sanctions, before the Sochi Games, which begin Feb. 7. In 2010, the IOC reanalyzed some Turin samples for insulin and blood-booster CERA but all came back negative. The IOC decided a few months ago to test more samples before the eight-year deadline runs out in February 2014. Only one positive case was recorded during the Turin Games -- Russian biathlete Olga Pyleva was stripped of a silver medal after testing positive for a banned stimulant. But Turin was hit by a major doping scandal when Italian police -- acting on a tip-off from the IOC -- raided the lodgings of the Austrian cross-country and biathlon team, seizing blood-doping equipment. While no Austrian athletes tested positive at the time, four later received life bans from the IOC. Last year, the IOC retested samples from the Athens Olympics and caught five athletes who were retroactively stripped of medals for using steroids, including mens shot put winner Yuriy Bilonog of Ukraine. Previously, retests of samples from Beijing for CERA led to five positive cases -- with Bahrain runner Rashid Ramzi stripped of gold in the 1,500 metres. Ljungqvist said more Beijing samples could now be retested using the improved steroid test. While the samples that have already been retested no longer exist, many others remain. "We can go back to Beijing before 2016," Ljungqvist said. "We may do that. We havent decided yet. We will do it as the eight-year time approaches." Under newly approved global rules, the statute of limitations in doping cases will be increased to 10 years starting in 2015. On a separate issue, Ljungqvist said he was confident the Russian lab assigned to test doping samples in Sochi will be ready for the games, despite a threat of sanctions from the World Anti-Doping Agency. On Sunday, WADA gave the lab until Dec. 1 to start reforms to improve the reliability of its results, or face a six-month suspension. The Moscow lab is due to set up a "satellite" facility in Sochi for the Olympics. "We interpret the WADA decision as if we will have the Moscow lab available," Ljungqvist said. "We take that for granted. They (the Russians) will of course fulfil the requirements established in the decision to make sure they have the proper procedures in place. We are feeling pretty confident." If the lab fails to come up to scratch, the Sochi samples would have to be sent to another lab outside Russia for testing, posing logistical and financial issues. "Of course, we have to have a Plan B, but the Plan B is not attractive," Ljungqvist said. "That would be to send samples out of Russia. We have to find a lab which wishes to do that and Im not sure what labs may wish to do that. Its quite risky with transport and all that." Dennis Schroder Jersey . Nat Borchers headed in the sole goal in the 54th minute, getting on the end of a Kyle Beckerman free kick. The defeat cost Sporting top spot in the Eastern Conference. Even a draw would have moved the Kansas City club above Columbus. Gary Payton Jersey . 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Ellis hit an RBI single in the ninth inning, Hanley Ramirez hit a tape-measure, three-run homer in the first against Cliff Lee and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies 4-3 on Saturday night.NEWARK, N.J. - The New Jersey Devils have been on a slide since going to the Stanley Cup final in 2012, and coach Pete DeBoer paid the price.DeBoer, who took the Devils to the championship round in his first season, was fired Friday, with his aging and short-handed team in danger of missing the playoffs for a third straight season.Lou Lamoriello, the Devils president and general manager, wont say who will be the next coach until he speaks Saturday with the players, who are on a three-day Christmas break. The Devils will have a pregame skate at the Prudential Center on Saturday morning before playing the Rangers in New York that night.There are a number of potential candidates, including Adam Oates, a former Devils assistant; Dallas Eakins, who was fired earlier this month by Edmonton; and former Penguins coach Dan Bylsma.Lamoriello has hired a couple of former Montreal Canadiens coaches to lead New Jersey, and Jacques Martin has been in the press box to watch the Devils in their last three home games. He was an assistant under Bylsma last season and was promoted to senior adviser of hockey operations.New Jersey has been hit with injuries in a 12-17-7 season. It has not won consecutive games since early last month, going 3-8-5 in its last 16. The Devils were missing six regulars to either injury or illness Tuesday night when they lost 2-1 in a shootout to the Carolina Hurricanes, the NHLs second-worst team.I know that no one wants to hear excuses, and I am not going to make any, but I am definitely not going to throw our guys under the bus, DeBoer said Tuesday. Guys are trying.The problem is the guys are not as talented as they used to be, and it shows in the standings. The Devils are 14th in the Eastern Conference, nine points out of a playyoff berth and fading.ddddddddddddNew Jersey has 15 players over the age of 30 on the roster, including 42-year-old Jaromir Jagr, who is tied for the team lead in scoring. Not only are they old, but the Devils have not gotten much help from their minor leagues in recent years. Defenceman Adam Larsson, the fourth pick overall in 2011, has been a disappointment, and Stephane Matteau, the first-round pick the following season, has one goal with the Devils top affiliate this season.DeBoer is the third NHL coach to be fired this season, following Paul MacLean in Ottawa and Eakins.DeBoer was 114-93-41 in his three-plus seasons with the Devils. Before coming to New Jersey, he coached the Florida Panthers for three years, never making the playoffs.The 46-year-old DeBoer was hired in 2011-12 and immediately took the Devils to the Stanley Cup final, where they lost to the Los Angeles Kings.The Devils, however, lost Zach Parise to free agency after the season. They took an unexpected blow after the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season when goal-scorer Ilya Kovalchuk left to play in Russia. Those were the teams two best players, and their losses were keenly felt, especially in shootouts.The Devils were 0-13 in shootouts last season and 2-6 this season, their first since not re-signing goaltender Martin Brodeur, the longtime face of the three-time Stanley Cup champions.DeBoer had provided some stability to the Devils coaching position. Since winning their last Cup in 2003 under Pat Burns, the Devils have changed coaches nine times, with only Brent Sutter lasting two full seasons until DeBoer came along. During that span, Lamoriello has twice filled in on an interim basis and Jacques Lemaire has twice come out of retirement to coach the team. ' ' '