Caption + No. 10 The U.S. plays Canada in the world junior hockey tourney outdoors at Buffalo, N.Y., on Friday, among other first-round games of a great tournament
No. 9 Men's college basketball highlights include Thursday's Creighton at Seton Hall and Baylor at Texas Tech, and Saturday's Florida State at Duke, Oklahoma at TCU and Arizona State at Arizona
No. 8 Local college home highlights include Air Force women's basketball Thursday and Saturday, and Colorado College basketball, men Thursday to Saturday and women Friday to Saturday
No. 7 Air Force men's basketball opens Mountain West play Wednesday at New Mexico, and visits Fresno State on Saturday
No. 6 NFL highlights to end the regular season include Monday's Raiders at Eagles and Sunday's Panthers at Falcons, Bills at Dolphins, Cowboys at Eagles and Raiders at Chargers
No. 5 The Colorado Avalanche host Arizona Wednesday, Toronto Friday and the Islanders Sunday
No. 4 The Denver Nuggets host the Jazz Tuesday and Sixers on Saturday after visiting Minnesota Wednesday
No. 3 The Denver Broncos finish their season at home against the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday afternoon New Year's Eve
No. 2 There are college bowl games daily Tuesday through Saturday highlighted by the Orange (Wisconsin vs. Miami) and Fiesta (Washington vs. Penn State) on Saturday, and Cotton (USC vs. Ohio State) on Friday; Navy plays Virginia in the Military Bowl on Thursday
No. 1 Colorado College visits Air Force in hockey Friday in what has been a competitive series in recent years; Air Force visits Denver and CC hosts Merrimack on Saturday
Also receiving votes:
The U.S. Figure Skating Championships in San Jose, Calif., start Friday and go through the following week
High school action is off for the week before some events resume Jan. 2
