1.
Xcel Energy Center
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The Xcel Energy Center is a multi-purpose arena, located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is named for its locally based corporate sponsor Xcel Energy, with an official capacity of 17,954, the arena has four spectator levels, one suite level and three general seating levels. The arena is owned by the city of Saint Paul and operated by Minnesota Sports & Entertainment, the building is home to the NHLs Minnesota Wild and is the former home of the NLLs Minnesota Swarm. It is on the block as the RiverCentre convention facility, Roy Wilkins Auditorium. It also served as home to the 2008 Republican National Convention. The arena opened on September 29,2000 and it was built on the site of the demolished St. Paul Civic Center. The push for a new arena in Saint Paul grew after the National Hockey Leagues Minnesota North Stars moved to Dallas, Saint Paul unsuccessfully courted the NHLs Hartford Whalers and Winnipeg Jets under Mayor Norm Coleman, but the Civic Center was an obstacle to both deals. In order to get an NHL expansion team, Saint Paul needed to build a new arena, after several failed attempts to get funding, the project was funded by the state in April 1998. In 2004, it was named by ESPN as the best overall sports venue in the U. S, the 10 millionth person passed through the gates on July 3,2007. The Twin Cities were selected as the metropolis for the 2008 Republican National Convention on September 27,2006. The Republican National Convention was held here on September 1–4, in 2010, a Minnesota Wild game at the X was listed as the third best stadium experience in North America, according to the ESPN Magazine. First on the list went to the Minnesota Twins and Target Field, the arena played host to the politically motivated Vote for Change Tour on October 5,2004, featuring performances by Bright Eyes, R. E. M. and Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. The concourse areas contain a hockey jersey from every school in Minnesota hanging on the wall. Surrounding the arena at all four corners are crows nests, one features an organ built into the shell of a Zamboni and is played during Wild games. The second nest features a lighthouse which houses a foghorn that is blasted when the team takes the ice before games, for all Wild goals, the third is often used for the Lets play hockey. Announcement before puck drop each game, along with game ops interviews, announcements, the fourth provides an additional stage for various uses. Prior to its opening, the arena installed an integrated scoring, video, information and advertising system from Daktronics, based in Brookings. The center ice display was replaced during the summer of 2014, an array of 10 LED screens with the largest measuring 37.5 feet wide by 19 feet high
2.
ExCeL London
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ExCeL is an exhibitions and international convention centre in the London Borough of Newham. It is located on a 100-acre site on the quay of the Royal Victoria Dock in London Docklands. The centre was built by Sir Robert McAlpine and first opened in November 2000, in May 2008, it was acquired by Abu Dhabi National Exhibitions Company. Phase II of development, which included building Londons first International Convention Centre, the Royal Victoria Dock closed to commercial traffic in 1981, but it is still accessible to shipping. The centres waterfront location allows visiting vessels to moor alongside the centre, there are also three sets of function rooms, one overlooking the water, another above the western end of the central boulevard, and the third on the north side of the building. These are used for meetings, seminars, presentations. There are six hotels, more than 30 bars and restaurants, ExCeL London has hosted numerous consumer and trade, private and public events including exhibitions, conferences, concerts, weddings and religious events since its opening in 2000. In 2011, ExCeL London was awarded the Business Superbrand 2011, the site welcomed its 20 millionth visitor on June 18,2014. ExCeL has also been awarded Venue Of The Year on several occasions at various industry ceremonies, in 2014, ExCeL hosted the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, chaired by American actress and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie and attended by 79 Ministers from 123 country delegations. ExCeL London is served by two Docklands Light Railway stations, which span the full 600 metre length of the venue. The western entrance is directly linked to Custom House for ExCeL station and serves the Platinum Suite, the eastern entrance is connected to Prince Regent station. The eastern entrance serves the International Convention Centre, which was opened in 2010 by then-Mayor Boris Johnson and is the Londons first, ExCeL London is located near London City Airport station. The DLR and a number of roads connect the centre to the airport. Since June 2012, the Emirates Air Line cable car now links ExCeL to The O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula, as part of this scheme, ExCeL produces an annual communication on progress addressing the issues of Human Rights, Labour, Environment and Anti-Corruption. ExCeL publishes details of its social responsibility efforts publicly in the UN Global Compact report. Currently ExCeL invests in the community of Newham by supporting select charities, chiefly Newham All Star Sports Academy. ExCeL also provides free of charge to local schools and sports teams. A boxing match on 22 April 2008 between Amir Khan and Gairy St. Clair for the World Boxing Organization intercontinental lightweight title, the Triathlon celebrated its 20th year at ExCeL London in summer 2016
3.
Hartford, Connecticut
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Hartford is the capital of the U. S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, as of the 2010 Census, Hartfords population was 124,775, making it Connecticuts third-largest city after the coastal cities of Bridgeport and New Haven. Census Bureau estimates since then have indicated Hartfords subsequent fall to fourth place statewide as a result of sustained growth in the coastal city of Stamford. Nicknamed the Insurance Capital of the World, Hartford houses many insurance company headquarters, founded in 1635, Hartford is among the oldest cities in the United States. In 1868, resident Mark Twain wrote, Of all the towns it has been my fortune to see this is the chief. Following the American Civil War, Hartford was the richest city in the United States for several decades, today, Hartford is one of the poorest cities in the nation with 3 out of every 10 families living below the poverty line. In sharp contrast, the Hartford metropolitan area is ranked 32nd of 318 metropolitan areas in total economic production, various tribes, all part of the loose Algonquin confederation, lived in or around present-day Hartford. The area was referred to as Suckiaug, meaning Black Fertile River-Enhanced Earth, the first Europeans known to have explored the area were the Dutch, under Adriaen Block, who sailed up the Connecticut in 1614. Dutch fur traders from New Amsterdam returned in 1623 with a mission to establish a trading post, the original site was located on the south bank of the Park River in the present-day Sheldon/Charter Oak neighborhood. This fort was called Fort Hoop, or the House of Hope, in 1633, Jacob Van Curler formally bought the land around Fort Hoop from the Pequot chief for a small sum. It was home to perhaps a couple families and a few dozen soldiers, the area today is known as Dutch Point, and the name of the Dutch fort, House of Hope, is reflected in the name of Huyshope Avenue. The fort was abandoned by 1654, but its neighborhood in Hartford is still known as Dutch Point, the Dutch outpost, and the tiny contingent of Dutch soldiers that were stationed there, did little to check the English migration. The Dutch soon realized they were vastly outnumbered, the House of Hope remained an outpost, but it was steadily swallowed up by waves of English settlers. The English began to arrive 1637, settling upstream from Fort Hoop near the present-day Downtown, the settlement was originally called Newtown, but was changed to Hartford in 1637 in honor of Stones hometown of Hertford, England. Hooker also created the town of Windsor. The etymology of Hartford is the ford where harts cross, the Seal of the City of Hartford features a male deer, which in full maturity was referred to by the medieval hunting term hart. The fledgling colony along the Connecticut River had issues with the authority by which it was to be governed because it was outside of the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colonys charter. Historians suggest that Hookers conception of self-rule embodied in the Fundamental Orders went on to inspire the Connecticut Constitution, today, one of Connecticuts nicknames is the Constitution State
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
Comcast Spectacor
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Comcast Sports Ventures, doing business as Comcast Spectacor, is a Philadelphia-based American sports and entertainment company. It owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League and formerly owned the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, the company was formed in 1974 by Flyers founder and chairman Ed Snider as Spectacor, the parent company of both the Flyers and the Spectrum. Snider had been instrumental in getting the Spectrum built in 1967 and he sold a 63% stake in Spectacor to Comcast in 1996, but remained as chairman of the renamed Comcast Spectacor. Shortly afterward, Comcast Spectacor bought the 76ers, as the Spectrums owner, Snider had been the Sixers landlord since 1971, Comcast Spectacor sold the 76ers to Joshua Harris in 2011. In April 2016 Ed Snider died at his home in California, on September 22,2016, Comcast announced that it will buy out the remaining 24% it does not own. Comcast Spectacor is the owner of Spectra. Watsco Center at the University of Miami in Miami, Florida Budweiser Gardens in London, Ontario, the Wells Fargo Centers predecessor, The Spectrum, is the namesake of the company. XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut Spectra is composed of three divisions, Venue Management, Food Services & Hospitality, and Ticketing & Fan Engagement. Comcast Spectacor owns Ovations Food Services, which food and beverage services to arenas, stadiums, amphitheaters, fairgrounds
6.
Seating capacity
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Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats hundreds of thousands of people. The International Fire Code, portions of which have adopted by many jurisdictions, is directed more towards the use of a facility than the construction. It specifies, For areas having fixed seating without dividing arms and it also requires that every public venue submit a detailed site plan to the local fire code official, including details of the means of egress, seating capacity, arrangement of the seating. Once safety considerations have been satisfied, determinations of seating capacity turn on the size of the venue. For sports venues, the decision on maximum seating capacity is determined by several factors, chief among these are the primary sports program and the size of the market area. Seating capacity of venues also plays a role in what media they are able to provide, in contracting to permit performers to use a theatre or other performing space, the seating capacity of the performance facility must be disclosed. Seating capacity may influence the kind of contract to be used, the seating capacity must also be disclosed to the copyright owner in seeking a license for the copyrighted work to be performed in that venue. Venues that may be leased for private functions such as ballrooms and auditoriums generally advertise their seating capacity, seating capacity is also an important consideration in the construction and use of sports venues such as stadiums and arenas. The seating capacity for restaurants is reported as covers, a restaurant that can seat 99 is said to have 99 covers, seating capacity differs from total capacity, which describes the total number of people who can fit in a venue or in a vehicle either sitting or standing. Use of the term public capacity indicates that a venue is allowed to more people than it can actually seat. Again, the total number of people can refer to either the physical space available or limitations set by law
7.
KlingStubbins
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In 1982, the Franklin Institute awarded Vincent G. Kling the Frank P. Brown Medal. KlingStubbins was formed through the merger of two offices, the first, The Kling-Lindquist Partnership, Inc. was founded by Vincent Kling in 1946, and grew to become the largest firm in Philadelphia. One of the most recognizable buildings designed by Kling is the Bell Atlantic Tower, Kling also collaborated with Philadelphia city planner Edmund Bacon. The Stubbins Associates was founded by Hugh Stubbins, FAIA, in 1949 and based in Cambridge, Kling became affiliated with The Stubbins Associates in 2003, and the two officially merged on January 1,2007. The company has grown to include engineering, interior design, landscape architecture, in 2011, KlingStubbins was acquired by Jacobs Engineering Group and operates as part of their Global Buildings sector. Their first combined volume, KlingStubbins, Palimpsest, was published in 2009 by Images Publishing, with their Autodesk Headquarters in Waltham, MA, KlingStubbins became the first architectural firm in New England to employ an Integrated Project Delivery model. Autodesk AEC Headquarters, Waltham, MA, USA,2008 Kling elected into the National Academy of Design,1964 Official website DesignIntelligence article on Kling-Stubbins affiliation
8.
Hartford Wolf Pack
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The Hartford Wolf Pack is a professional ice hockey team based in Hartford, Connecticut. A member of the American Hockey League, they play their games at the XL Center. The team was established in 1926 as the Providence Reds, after a series of relocations, the team moved to Hartford in 1997 as the Hartford Wolf Pack. It is one of the oldest professional hockey franchises extant, the franchise was renamed the Connecticut Whale in October 2010, in honor of the former Hartford Whalers of the National Hockey League but reverted to their current name after the 2012–13 AHL season. The Wolf Pack is the top affiliate of the NHLs New York Rangers and is one of the three professional teams in Connecticut. The franchise that became the Wolf Pack was founded in 1926 in Providence, Rhode Island as the Providence Reds, in 1936, the Northeast-based CAHL merged with the Midwest-based International Hockey League to form the International-American Hockey League, which dropped the International from its name in 1942. The Reds —known as the Rhode Island Reds in their later years— folded after the 1975–76 season, shortly afterward, the owners of the Broome Dusters of the North American Hockey League bought the Reds franchise and moved it to Binghamton, New York as the Binghamton Dusters. After securing an affiliation with the Hartford Whalers in 1980, the changed its name to the Binghamton Whalers. An affiliation change to the Rangers in 1990—one that continues to this day—brought another new name, after the 1996-97 NHL season, the Whalers moved to Raleigh, North Carolina as the Carolina Hurricanes. Soon after the Whalers departure, the Binghamton Rangers relocated to Hartford to begin play at the vacated Hartford Civic Center, following a name-the-team contest, the franchise became the Hartford Wolf Pack, a reference to a submarine class as well as the tactic known as wolfpacking. With Connecticut being home to both the builder of submarines and the US Navys primary submarine base, honoring the states naval tradition was the paramount goal. The name Seawolf, a reference to the Seawolf class submarine was considered to have been the name for the team. Following the submarine theme, the mascots were named Sonar and Torpedo, the Wolf Packs first coach was E. J. McGuire and in the first game, the team won 2–0 against the neighboring Springfield Falcons, PJ Stock recorded the first goal in Wolf Pack history. The team reached the playoffs during the first twelve years of their existence and it has only missed the playoffs three times since moving to Hartford, in 2009–10, 2012–13 and 2013–14. In Summer 2010 the Rangers entered into a relationship which gave former Whalers owner Howard Baldwin control of the teams business operations. On September 20,2010 Baldwin announced the Wolf Pack would change their name to the Connecticut Whale in honor of the Whalers, the name change took place on November 27,2010, the final game with the Wolf Pack name came on November 26,2010. The opponent was Connecticuts other AHL team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, the Sound Tigers won 4–3, in a shootout
9.
American Hockey League
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The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League. Twenty-seven AHL teams are located in the United States and the three are in Canada. The league offices are located in Springfield, Massachusetts, and its current president is David Andrews, the annual playoff champion is awarded the Calder Cup, named for Frank Calder, the first President of the NHL. The reigning champions are the Lake Erie Monsters, the AHL traces its origins directly to two predecessor professional leagues, the Canadian-American Hockey League, founded in 1926, and the first International Hockey League, established in 1929. With both leagues down to the minimum in membership, the governors of each recognized the need for action to assure their member clubs long-term survival. Their solution was to play an interlocking schedule, while the Can-Am was based in the Northeast and the IHL in the Great Lakes and Midwest, their footprints were close enough for this to be a viable option. The two older leagues eight surviving clubs began joint play in November 1936 as a new circuit of mutual convenience known as the International-American Hockey League. The four Can-Am teams became the I-AHL East Division, with the IHL quartet playing as the West Division. The IHL also contributed its former championship trophy, the F. G. Teddy Oke Trophy, the Oke Trophy is now awarded to the regular-season winners of the AHLs Northeast Division. A little more than a month into that first season, the balance, the makeshift new I-AHL played out the rest of its first season with just seven teams. At the end of the 1936–37 season, a modified playoff format was devised and a new championship trophy. The Syracuse Stars defeated the Philadelphia Ramblers in the final, three-games-to-one, the Calder Cup continues on today as the AHLs playoff championship trophy. After two seasons of interlocking play, the governors of the two leagues seven active teams met in New York City on June 28,1938, maurice Podoloff of New Haven, the former head of the Can-Am League, was elected the I-AHLs first president. The former IHL president, John Chick of Windsor, Ontario, the Bears remain the only one of these eight original I-AHL/AHL franchises to have been represented in the league without interruption since the 1938–39 season. The newly merged circuit also increased its schedule for each team by six games from 48 to 54. After the 1939–40 season the I-AHL renamed itself the American Hockey League and it generally enjoyed both consistent success on the ice and relative financial stability over its first three decades of operation. The number of teams competing for players rose from six to thirty in just seven years. Player salaries at all levels shot up dramatically with the increased demand and this did not seem to affect the AHL at first, as it expanded to 12 teams by 1970
10.
Connecticut Huskies
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The Connecticut Huskies, also known as the UConn Huskies, are the athletic teams of the University of Connecticut in the United States. The school is a member of National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, the major sports at the university are football and mens and womens basketball, although many of the other sports have large followings and a tradition of success. UConn is one of only 15 universities in the nation that plays Division I FBS football, uConns womens teams are not known as the Lady Huskies, but simply as UConn Huskies, the same as the mens teams. UConns teams participate in the NCAAs Division I and in the American Athletic Conference for all sports except hockey, womens lacrosse. UConns football team participates in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the Huskies have been a member of the American since its founding in 1979 as the original Big East Conference, and are the only remaining charter member of that league. Since hockey is not sponsored by the American, the mens and womens programs are now members of Hockey East. Field Hockey and Womens Lacrosse are members of the new Big East, the club alpine skiing team competes in the United States Collegiate Ski and Snowboard Association because of a stricter limit on NCAA skiing programs. Connecticut has won 21 NCAA team national championships.0 GPA, UConn is best known for having its mens and womens basketball teams consistently ranked in or near the top 10 in the nation in their respective divisions. The mens team won the NCAA Div, I title in 1999,2004, and 2011 under head coach Jim Calhoun, and 2014 under 2nd year head coach Kevin Ollie. Following the retirement of Hall of Fame coach Jim Calhoun, Kevin Ollie was appointed coach and was signed to a five-year deal in December 2012. The womens team, under coach Geno Auriemma, won the NCAA Div, I title in 1995,2000, 2002-2004,2009,2010, 2013-2016 including undefeated seasons in 1995,2002,2009,2010,2014, and 2016. Tamika Williams, Sue Bird, Asjha Jones, Swin Cash, Diana Taurasi, Maya Moore, as of 2009, UConn has officially become a Nike sponsored school, signing a 10-year, $46 million contract. The UConn baseball team is coached by Jim Penders and plays games at J. O. Christian Field. In 2010, the UConn baseball team set a record for wins in a season with 48. This eclipsed the mark of 39. The team played as the No.2 seed alongside No.1 Florida State, No.3 Oregon, the Huskies placed third in the regional with a 1–2 and played in front of 5,684 fans in their Friday opener against Oregon. The team finished the season ranked 22nd in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, 23rd in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches poll, in the summer of 2010, Huskies George Springer and Matt Barnes were named to the Collegiate USA National Team. In 2011, UConn baseball was ranked 1st in the Big East Conference preseason poll, George Springer and Matt Barnes were named preseason Big East Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively
11.
National Collegiate Athletic Association
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The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a non-profit association which regulates athletes of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations, and individuals. It also organizes the programs of many colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. The organization is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 2014, the NCAA generated almost a billion dollars in revenue. 80 to 90% of this revenue was due to the Division I Mens Basketball Tournament and this revenue is then distributed back into various organizations and institutions across the United States. In August 1973, the current three-division setup of Division I, Division II, under NCAA rules, Division I and Division II schools can offer scholarships to athletes for playing a sport. Division III schools may not offer any athletic scholarships, generally, larger schools compete in Division I and smaller schools in II and III. Division I football was divided into I-A and I-AA in 1978. Subsequently, the term Division I-AAA was briefly added to delineate Division I schools which do not field a football program at all, in 2006, Divisions I-A and I-AA were respectively renamed the Football Bowl Subdivision and Football Championship Subdivision. Inter-collegiate sports began in the US in 1852 when crews from Harvard University, as other sports emerged, notably football and basketball, many of these same concepts and standards were adopted. Football, in particular, began to emerge as a marquee sport, the IAAUS was officially established on March 31,1906, and took its present name, the NCAA, in 1910. For several years, the NCAA was a group and rules-making body, but in 1921, the first NCAA national championship was conducted. Gradually, more rules committees were formed and more championships were created, a series of crises brought the NCAA to a crossroads after World War II. The Sanity Code – adopted to establish guidelines for recruiting and financial aid – failed to curb abuses, postseason football games were multiplying with little control, and member schools were increasingly concerned about how the new medium of television would affect football attendance. The complexity of problems and the growth in membership and championships demonstrated the need for full-time professional leadership. Walter Byers, previously an executive assistant, was named executive director in 1951. Byers wasted no time placing his stamp on the Association, as college athletics grew, the scope of the nations athletics programs diverged, forcing the NCAA to create a structure that recognized varying levels of emphasis. In 1973, the Associations membership was divided into three legislative and competitive divisions – I, II, and III, five years later in 1978, Division I members voted to create subdivisions I-A and I-AA in football. Until the 1980s, the association did not offer womens athletics, instead, the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women, with nearly 1000 member schools, governed womens collegiate sports in the United States
12.
Hartford Whalers
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The Hartford Whalers were an American professional ice hockey team based for most of its existence in Hartford, Connecticut. The club played in the World Hockey Association from 1972 until 1979, originally based in Boston, the team joined the WHA in the leagues inaugural season, and was known as the New England Whalers throughout its time in the WHA. The Whalers moved to Hartford in 1974 and joined the NHL in the NHL–WHA merger of 1979, in 1997, the Whalers franchise relocated to North Carolina, where it became the Carolina Hurricanes. Godfrey Wood and William Edward Barnes to begin play in Boston, olympians on the Whalers roster had spent a significant part of their careers in Boston with Boston College and the Bruins, respectively. The Whalers had the WHAs best regular-season record in the 1972–73 season, Webster led the team in scoring and through the playoffs. Behind legendary ex-Boston University Head Coach Jack Kelley, the defeated the Winnipeg Jets to win the inaugural Avco World Trophy. The club played its first seasons home games at Boston Garden, fed up with the situation, Baldwin decided to move elsewhere. Hartford was about to open a new, modern arena and convention center. The city had hoped to get an American Basketball Association team as the main tenant, the area, aside from various minor league teams in New Haven, had been largely bereft of professional hockey until the Whalers arrival. The Civic Center was still being finished when the 1974–75 season began, so the Whalers played the first part of the 1974–75 season at The Big E Coliseum in West Springfield, Massachusetts. On January 11,1975, the team played its first game in front of a crowd at the Hartford Civic Center. Though they never won the WHA championship, the New England Whalers were a successful team, never missing the playoffs in league history. They had a stable roster than most WHA teams, Ley, Webster, Selwood, Pleau. It scored a coup when it signed legend Gordie Howe and his sons Mark. While the first two seasons in Hartford were not glittering, the final two WHA seasons saw more success. The next season was not so fine, however, but while age finally caught up with Gordie Howe, the slack was picked up by Andre Lacroix, the WHAs all-time leading scorer, acquired from the Aeros. As the Whalers were one of the most stable WHA teams, following lobbying from the Boston Bruins, one of the conditions of the merger stipulated that the Whalers were to drop New England from their name. The Howes, Rogers, Ley, Keon, Smith, Roberts, the team also changed its colors to blue and green, a combination which was unused in the NHL at the time
13.
World Hockey Association
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The World Hockey Association was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League since the collapse of the Western Hockey League. Although the WHA was not the first league since that time to attempt to challenge the NHLs supremacy, the WHA successfully challenged the NHLs reserve clause, which bound players to their NHL teams even without a valid contract, allowing players in both leagues greater freedom of movement. Sixty-seven players jumped from the NHL to the WHA in the first year, led by star forward Bobby Hull, whose ten-year, the WHA also took the initiative to sign European players. The WHA had a relationship with the NHL, resulting in numerous legal battles, as well as competition for control of players. In spite of this, merger talks began almost immediately, as the WHA was constantly unstable, NHL owners voted down a 1977 plan to merge six WHA teams into the NHL before a 1979 merger was approved. The Oilers became the only WHA merger team to both their original name and city. The final WHA game was played on May 20,1979, the World Hockey Association was founded in 1971 by American promoters Dennis Murphy and Gary Davidson. The pair had previously been the founder and first president of the American Basketball Association and they quickly recruited Bill Hunter, president of the junior Western Canada Hockey League. In October 1972, the WHA announced that it would not use the reserve clause, players, players associations, the United States Congress, the public and the Supreme Court. The NHL tried to block several of the defections, the Boston Bruins attempted to restrain Sanderson and Cheevers from joining the WHA, though a United States federal court refused to prohibit the signings. The Black Hawks were successful in having an order filed against Hull. The new league was eager for the action, intending to challenge the legality of the reserve clause. In November 1972, judge A. Leon Higginbotham Jr, the decision effectively ended the NHLs monopoly on major league professional hockey talent. In November 1971, twelve teams were formally announced, two of the original twelve teams moved before the first season started, the Dayton Arrows became the Houston Aeros and the San Francisco Sharks became the Quebec Nordiques. The Los Angeles franchise then took the nickname Sharks to replace Aces, the Calgary Broncos and the Screaming Eagles folded outright, replaced by the Philadelphia Blazers and the Cleveland Crusaders. Although the league had many players under contract by June 1972, including a few NHL stars such as Bernie Parent, many of its players were career minor leaguers and college players. The new league was not considered much of a threat, until Bobby Hull, arguably the NHLs top forward at the time, nevertheless, to everyones surprise, the Winnipeg Jets offered Hull a five-year, one million dollar contract with a one million dollar signing bonus
14.
National Hockey League
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Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the playoff champion at the end of each season. At its inception, the NHL had four teams—all in Canada, the league expanded to the United States in 1924, when the Boston Bruins joined, and has since consisted of American and Canadian teams. After a labour-management dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, in 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, attendance, and television audiences. The league draws many highly skilled players from all over the world, canadians have historically constituted the majority of the players in the league, with an increasing percentage of American and European players in recent seasons. The National Hockey League was established in 1917 as the successor to the National Hockey Association, founded in 1909, the NHA began play one year later with seven teams in Ontario and Quebec, and was one of the first major leagues in professional ice hockey. Realizing the NHA constitution left them unable to force Livingstone out, the four teams voted instead to suspend the NHA, frank Calder was chosen as its first president, serving until his death in 1943. The Bulldogs were unable to play, and the remaining owners created a new team in Toronto, the first games were played on December 19,1917. The Montreal Arena burned down in January 1918, causing the Wanderers to cease operations, the NHL replaced the NHA as one of the leagues that competed for the Stanley Cup, which was an interleague competition back then. Toronto won the first NHL title, and then defeated the Vancouver Millionaires of the Pacific Coast Hockey Association for the 1918 Stanley Cup. The Canadiens won the title in 1919, however their Stanley Cup Final against the PCHAs Seattle Metropolitans was abandoned as a result of the Spanish Flu epidemic. Montreal in 1924 won their first Stanley Cup as a member of the NHL, the Hamilton Tigers, won the regular season title in 1924–25 but refused to play in the championship series unless they were given a C$200 bonus. The league refused and declared the Canadiens the league champion after defeated the Toronto St. Patricks in the semi-final. Montreal was then defeated by the Victoria Cougars of the Western Canada Hockey League for the 1925 Stanley Cup and it was the last time a non-NHL team won the trophy, as the Stanley Cup became the de facto NHL championship in 1926 after the WCHL ceased operation. The National Hockey League embarked on rapid expansion in the 1920s, adding the Montreal Maroons, the Bruins were the first American team in the league. The New York Americans began play in 1925 after purchasing the assets of the Hamilton Tigers, the New York Rangers were added in 1926. The Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Cougars were also added after the league purchased the assets of the defunct WCHL, a group purchased the Toronto St. Patricks in 1927 and immediately renamed them the Maple Leafs. The first NHL All-Star Game was held in 1934 to benefit Ace Bailey, the second was held in 1937 in support of Howie Morenzs family when he died of a coronary embolism after breaking his leg during a game
15.
Connecticut Coyotes
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The Connecticut Coyotes were an arena football franchise based in Hartford, Connecticut. The Coyotes played in the Eastern Division of the National Conference in the Arena Football League, on June 22,1994, the Arena Football League awarded the state of Connecticut an expansion franchise, and chose the name Coyotes in October of the same year. After a tough first season, in which the Coyotes finished 1-11, on October 26,1995, Connecticut Development Authority sold the Coyotes to Ben Morris and Scott Gerard for $750,000. Morris wasted no time hiring Lary Kuharich to become the coach in Coyotes history. The city of Hartford would receive another team in 1999 when the New York CityHawks became the New England Sea Wolves, however, this teams tenure in the city would also be short-lived, as the team moved to Toronto following the 2000 season. The following Coyotes players were named to All-Arena Teams, FB/LB Les Barley Note, AFL Official Website Connecticut Coyotes at ArenaFan. com
16.
Arena Football League
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The Arena Football League is a professional indoor American football league in the United States. It was founded in 1987 by Jim Foster, making it the third longest-running professional football league in North America, after the Canadian Football League and the National Football League. The sport was invented in the early 1980s and patented by Foster, an executive of the United States Football League. From 2000 to 2009, the AFL had its own developmental league, the AFL played 22 seasons from 1987 to 2008, internal issues caused the league to cancel its 2009 season, though the af2 did play. Later that year both the AFL and af2 were dissolved and reorganized as a new corporation comprising teams from both leagues, and the AFL returned in 2010, the Arena Football League has its headquarters in Las Vegas. The leagues average attendance since returning in 2010 has been approximately 9,500. After the 2016 season, continuing a pattern of contraction over recent seasons. Jim Foster, a manager with the National Football League. While at the game, he wrote his idea on a 9 x 12 envelope, with sketches of the field and he presented the idea to a few friends at the NFL offices, where he received praise and encouragement for his concept. After solidifying the rules and a plan, and supplemented with sketches by a professional artist. He reached an agreement with NBC for a test game, plans for arena football were put on hold in 1982 as the United States Football League was launched. Foster left the NFL to accept a position in the USFL and he eventually became executive vice-president with the Chicago Blitz, where he returned to his concept of arena football. In 1983, he began organizing the test game in his time from his job with the Blitz. By 1985, the USFL had ceased operations and he began devoting all his time to arena football. The test game was played in Rockford, Illinois, April 27,1986 at the Rockford MetroCentre, interest was high enough following the initial test game that Foster decided to put on a second, showcase, game. The second game was held on February 27,1987 at the Rosemont Horizon in Chicago with a budget of $20,000, Foster also invited ESPN to send a film crew to the game, a highlights package aired on SportsCenter. Following the successes of his games, Foster moved ahead with his idea for arena football. He founded the Arena Football League with four teams, the Pittsburgh Gladiators, Denver Dynamite, Washington Commandos, Foster appointed legendary Darrel Mouse Davis, godfather of the run and shoot and modern pro offenses, as executive director of football operations
17.
Toronto Phantoms
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The Toronto Phantoms were a professional arena football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The team was a member of the Eastern Division of the National Conference of the Arena Football League, the team also previously operated in New York City and Hartford, Connecticut. The team began in 1997 as the New York CityHawks and their name was a reference to the peregrine falcon, several of which make their nests on ledges high up on New Yorks skyscrapers. The major circumstance that differentiated this situation from that of the Knights was that the CityHawks were owned by Madison Square Garden, while the Knights had been tenants at the Garden. The Arena Football League had intended to re-enter the New York market in 1997 by putting a team in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Among the ownership of the new New Jersey Red Dogs were several ex-NFL players, in response to the AFLs placing a team in New Jersey, the Madison Square Garden ownership requested a team of its own. This request was granted by the league with only months to go before the beginning of the 1997 season, the CityHawks thus had only half the preparation time that the Red Dogs had going into both teams initial season of 1997. In 1998, the CityHawks replaced Kuharich with veteran NCAA coach Chuck Shelton, however, the team fared almost as poorly as they had done the first season, winning only 3 of 14 games. Maynor, an interesting case, was primarily a quarterback by trade. One week in 1997, he won the award for the leagues top ironman, as a quarterback, Maynor would later lead the Orlando Predators to a league championship by winning ArenaBowl XIV. In addition, the CityHawks were the first AFL team to have different helmets for home, in 1997, they wore their gold helmets at home, with black jerseys and gold pants, and wore the reverse on the road, black helmets, gold jerseys, black pants. In 1998, they adopted a scheme, dressing in all black at home. In 2000, the Sea Wolves posted the first winning record in franchise history, the team did little better financially in New England than it had in New York, and was sold to new owners, who relocated it to Toronto after the 2000 season. The Toronto Phantoms marked an attempt by the Arena Football League to enter the Canadian market. The team was purchased by a led by TD Securities Inc. investment banker. The majority share of the team was owned by Rogers Communications, the group paid a reported $6–8 million for the franchise. The Phantoms played the 2001 and 2002 Arena seasons in Toronto, the teams primary rival was the Buffalo Destroyers, located 80 miles south in Buffalo. The Phantoms logo included a Grim Reaper character whose scythe carried the word Toronto with the word Phantoms appearing over it, the name came from The Phantom of the Opera, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that played at the Canon Theatre in Toronto for nine years
18.
Boston Celtics
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The Boston Celtics are an American professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. Founded in 1946 and one of eight NBA teams to survive the leagues first decade, the Celtics play their home games at the TD Garden, which they share with the National Hockey League s Boston Bruins. The franchises 17 championships are the most of any NBA franchise, as a percentage of championships won, the Celtics are the most successful franchise to date in the major four traditional North American professional sports leagues. The Celtics have played the Lakers a record 12 times in the Finals, including their most recent appearances in 2008 and 2010, four Celtics players have won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award for an NBA record total of 10 MVP awards. Their mascot Lucky the Leprechaun is a nod to the teams Irish heritage, in 1950, the Celtics signed Chuck Cooper, becoming the first NBA franchise to draft a black player. The Celtics struggled during their years, until the hiring of coach Red Auerbach. In the franchises early days, Auerbach had no assistants, ran all the practices, did all the scouting—both of opposing teams and college draft prospects—and scheduled all the road trips. One of the first great players to join the Celtics was Bob Cousy, Cousy eventually became the property of the Chicago Stags, but when that franchise went bankrupt, Cousy went to the Celtics in a dispersal draft. After the 1955–56 season, Auerbach made a stunning trade and he sent perennial All-Star Ed Macauley to the St. Louis Hawks along with the draft rights to Cliff Hagan in exchange for the second overall pick in the draft. Auerbach also acquired Holy Cross standout, and 1957 NBA Rookie of the Year, Russell and Heinsohn worked extraordinarily well with Cousy, and they were the players around whom Auerbach would build the champion Celtics for more than a decade. With Bill Russell, the Celtics advanced to the NBA Finals and defeated the St. Louis Hawks in seven games, Russell went on to win 11 championships, making him the most decorated player in NBA history. In 1958, the Celtics again advanced to the NBA Finals, however, with the acquisition of K. C. Jones that year, the Celtics began a dynasty that would last for more than a decade. In 1959, the Celtics won the NBA Championship after sweeping the Minneapolis Lakers, during that time, the Celtics met the Lakers in the Finals five times, starting an intense and often bitter rivalry that has spanned generations. In 1964, the Celtics became the first NBA team to have an all African-American starting lineup. On December 26,1964, Willie Naulls replaced an injured Tommy Heinsohn, joining Tom Satch Sanders, K. C. Jones, Sam Jones, the Celtics defeated St. Louis 97–84. Boston won its next 11 games with Naulls starting in place of Heinsohn, the Celtics of the late-1950s–60s are widely considered as one of the most dominant teams of all time. Auerbach retired as coach after the 1965–66 season and Russell took over as player-coach, with his appointment, Russell also became the first African-American coach in any U. S. pro sport
19.
National Basketball Association
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The National Basketball Association is the major mens professional basketball league in North America, and is widely considered to be the premier mens professional basketball league in the world. It has 30 teams, and is a member of USA Basketball. The NBA is one of the four professional sports leagues in the United States. NBA players are the worlds best paid athletes by average annual salary per player, the league was founded in New York City on June 6,1946, as the Basketball Association of America. The league adopted the name National Basketball Association on August 3,1949, the leagues several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, the Basketball Association of America was founded in 1946 by owners of the major ice hockey arenas in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and Canada. On November 1,1946, in Toronto, Canada, the Toronto Huskies hosted the New York Knickerbockers at Maple Leaf Gardens, the first basket was made by Ossie Schectman of the Knickerbockers. During its early years, the quality of play in the BAA was not significantly better than in competing leagues or among leading independent clubs such as the Harlem Globetrotters. For instance, the 1948 ABL finalist Baltimore Bullets moved to the BAA and won that leagues 1948 title, Following the 1948–49 season, the BAA took in the remainder of the NBL, Syracuse, Anderson, Tri-Cities, Sheboygan, Denver, and Waterloo. The new league had seventeen franchises located in a mix of large and small cities, as well as arenas and smaller gymnasiums. The process of contraction saw the leagues smaller-city franchises move to larger cities, the Hawks shifted from the Tri-Cities to Milwaukee in 1951, and then to St. Louis in 1955. The Rochester Royals moved from Rochester, New York, to Cincinnati in 1957, japanese-American Wataru Misaka broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947–48 season when he played for the New York Knicks. He remained the only player in league history prior to the first African-American, Harold Hunter. During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships, to encourage shooting and discourage stalling, the league introduced the 24-second shot clock in 1954. If a team does not attempt to score a goal within 24 seconds of obtaining the ball, play is stopped. In 1957, rookie center Bill Russell joined the Boston Celtics, who already featured guard Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, and went on to lead the club to eleven NBA titles in thirteen seasons. Center Wilt Chamberlain entered the league with the Warriors in 1959 and became a dominant individual star of the 1960s, russells rivalry with Chamberlain became one of the greatest rivalries in the history of American team sports. The 1960s were dominated by the Celtics, led by Russell, Bob Cousy and coach Red Auerbach, Boston won eight straight championships in the NBA from 1959 to 1966
20.
Hartford Hellions
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The Hartford Hellions were a soccer team based out of Hartford, Connecticut that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They played from 1979 to 1981, the Hellions played their first season in the New Haven Coliseum before moving to the remodelled Hartford Civic Center. The team was conceived and owned by Glastonbury accountant William Chipman, the two seasons in Hartford the Hellions average 4,361 fans per game. In May 1981, Athletes in Action purchased the Hellions and moved the team to Memphis, the new owners renamed the Hellions the Memphis Americans. Hubert Vogelslinger – Technical Advisor Hartford Hellions on FunWhileItLasted. net
21.
Arena
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An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. The word derives from Latin harena, a particularly fine/smooth sand used to absorb blood in ancient arenas such as the Colosseum in Rome and it is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the lowest point, arenas are usually designed to accommodate a large number of spectators. The term arena is used as a synonym for a very large venue such as Pasadenas Rose Bowl. The use of one term over the other has mostly to do with the type of event, the home of the Duke University mens and womens basketball teams would qualify as an arena, but the facility is called Cameron Indoor Stadium. Domed stadiums, which, like arenas, are enclosed but have the larger playing surfaces, such examples of these would be terms such as the arena of war or the arena of love or the political arena. In many fighting games, the stage that opponents are fought in is called an arena. Ice hockey arena Amphitheatre List of indoor arenas by capacity List of stadiums by capacity
22.
Convention center
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A convention center is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typically offer sufficient floor area to several thousand attendees. Very large venues, suitable for trade shows, are sometimes known as exhibition centres. Convention centers typically have at least one auditorium and may also contain concert halls, lecture halls, meeting rooms, some large resort area hotels include a convention center
23.
XL Group
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XL Catlin is a global insurance company headquartered in Ireland with executive offices in Hamilton, Bermuda and Stamford, Connecticut, USA. The company has approximately 7000 employees and about 60 offices in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, formerly XL Capital Ltd, the company officially changed its name and domicile on 1 July 2010. On January 9,2015, XL Group plc announced the acquisition of Catlin Group, the transaction was completed in May 2015. The Reinsurance segment provides casualty, property risk, property catastrophe, marine, aviation, in April 2015, XL Group announced the introduction of a new venture capital fund called XL Innovate for technology products in the financial services sector. The company began as EXEL Limited, ian Heap was appointed the company’s first CEO in 1987, followed by Michael Kevany in 1989 serving until 1994. Brian O’Hara became XL’s third CEO in 1994, serving in that position until 2008, current CEO Mike McGavick stepped into the position in May 2008. In January 2015, it was announced that XL would acquire Catlin Group for $4.1 billion
24.
Anschutz Entertainment Group
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The Anschutz Entertainment Group is an American worldwide sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. It is the worlds largest owner of sports teams and sports events, under the AEG Live brand, it is the worlds second largest presenter of live music and entertainment events after Live Nation. AEG Live was started in 2002, AEG owns and operates a variety of venues, sport teams and entertainment concerns. For venues, AEG owns and operates the Staples Center and the StubHub Center, in England, it owns the Manchester Arena, and currently operates The O2 which includes a 20,000 capacity arena. In Turkey, AEG operates 13,800 capacity Ulker Sports Arena, as part of the development of the O2, Anschutz also purchased the London river service company Thames Clipper, and supported the development of the nearby David Beckham Academy. The company has its headquarters in Downtown Los Angeles, AEG also owned Hamburg Freezers before ceasing its existence in 2016. The company also purchased the Champions on Ice figure skating tour in 2006 and it is now the second-largest event promoter in the United States. AEG Live came to public attention in 2009 when it acted as the promoter for Michael Jacksons This Is It concerts. Jackson died just three weeks before the series of 50 concerts were due to begin, on September 18,2012, The Anschutz Corporation announced its intent to sell Anschutz Entertainment Group and its holdings. The company has retained financial advisors Blackstone Advisory Partners to assist in AEGs sale process, approval to begin construction of Farmers Field in 2013 for a 2016 completion was in the process of being finalized at the time that AEGs sale was announced. On March 14,2013, Anschutz announced AEG is no longer for sale, AEG operates the Sprint Center for the city of Kansas City, Missouri, and Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Anschutz knows Prescott personally, having had him as a guest for a stay at Anschutzs ranch in 2005 and footing the bill for hospitality. In January 2007, the Super Casino license was awarded to a group in Manchester, rather than to Blackpool or London, Anschutz spent £50m on the Manchester Arena and the winner of the casino licence is a close ally of Anschutz, Sol Kerzner. The informal partnership was dissolved the following year, in October 2011, it was announced an agreement with Palmeiras and WTorre for managing the Allianz Parque, one of the most modern multipurpose spaces in the world, located in São Paulo, Brazil. With construction starting in 2010, was completed in November 2014, in September 2013, it was announced that AEG Facilities, a stand-alone affiliate of AEG, had signed a 15-year contract to operate Wembley Arena in London, UK. In 2014, the partnership of AEG Live with MGM Resorts International began construction of Las Vegas Arena located west of the Las Vegas Strip between Frank Sinatra Drive and New York-New York, the venue has been open since April 6,2016. Anschutz was one of the co-founders and one of the investors of Major League Soccer. In 1996, he became the investor/operator of the Colorado Rapids, the Rapids were then a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation
25.
Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field
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Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field is a stadium in East Hartford, Connecticut. It is primarily used for football and soccer, and is the field of the University of Connecticut Huskies. In the fall of 2010, it was home to the Hartford Colonials of the United Football League, the stadium, which opened in 2003, was the first stadium used primarily by an NCAA Division I-A team to open in the 21st century. The permanent stadium capacity is 40,642 consisting of 38,110 permanent seats with an additional 2,532 standing room in the scoreboard plaza and it also has a game day capability to add approximately 2,000 temporary seats as it did for UConn football vs. Connecticut played on campus at Memorial Stadium in Storrs, before 2003, Rentschler Field was originally the name of the company airfield for Pratt & Whitney that formerly occupied the site. It was originally used for test flights and maintenance operations, the 75-acre site was decommissioned as an airport in the 1990s, and donated to the state of Connecticut by United Technologies in 1999. A subsequent 65-acre donation by United Technologies in 2009 allowed for the construction of additional parking lots adjacent to the Stadium. Pursuant to an agreement with the State, UConn plays all its home football games at Rentschler Field. The New England Patriots considered moving to Connecticut and sharing a stadium with the UConn football team in the mid-1990s, the new stadium was supposed to be built on the Connecticut Convention Center site in downtown Hartford. However, when the Patriots completed the deal for Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Massachusetts, the Hartford stadium plan was scaled down and the location was moved to East Hartford. The current capacity of 40,642 can expand to 50,000 with limited rehabilitation and has the layout, the stadium is owned by the State of Connecticut, Office of Policy and Management, while operations are overseen by the quasi-public Capital Region Development Authority. Global Spectrum, L. P. has managed the building on behalf of CRDA since 2013, previously, the Stadium was managed by Bushnell Management Services, Anschutz Entertainment Group and Madison Square Garden L. P. On July 16,2015, it was announced that Rentschler Field had been renamed Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field in a deal between Pratt & Whitney and UConn, in return, Pratt and Whitney donated additional land that will be used for game day parking. The Connecticut Huskies football team has an all time 57–34 home field advantage at Rentschler Field, Rentschler Field has hosted several United States mens national soccer teams home games, including Landon Donovans last game for the National Team on October 10,2014. Rentschler Field has hosted several United States womens national teams home games. The Hartford Colonials were a United Football League team that played their games at Rentschler Field. During their, the Colonials played all four games at Rentschler, after having played one there the previous season while they were known as the New York Sentinels. Attendance at Colonials games averaged a consistent 15,000 people, third place in the league behind Omaha
26.
University of Connecticut
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The University of Connecticut is a land grant public research university in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881, and is also a sea-grant university, the university serves more than 32,000 students on its five campuses, including more than 8,000 graduate students in multiple programs. UConn is one of the institutions of the Hartford, Connecticut/Springfield, Massachusetts regional economic. UConn is a member of Universitas 21, a network of 24 research-intensive universities. UConn is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, UConn was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two brothers who donated the land for the school. In 1893, the became a land grant college. In 1939, the name was changed to the University of Connecticut, over the next decade, social work, nursing, and graduate programs were established, and the schools of law and pharmacy were absorbed into the university. During the 1960s, UConn Health was established for new medical and dental schools, John Dempsey Hospital opened in Farmington in 1975. Competing in the American Athletic Conference as the Huskies, UConn has been successful in their mens and womens basketball programs. The Huskies have won 21 NCAA championships, UConn was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School. It was named after Charles and Augustus Storrs, brothers who donated the land for the school as well as initial funding. Women began attending classes in 1891 and were admitted in 1893. In 1899, the name changed again to Connecticut Agricultural College, in 1933, to Connecticut State College, in 1940, the school was first divided into individual colleges and schools, reflecting its new university status. This was also the year the School of Social Work and School of Nursing were established, the graduate program was also started at this time, and the schools of law and pharmacy were absorbed into the university. Ph. D. s have been awarded since 1949, during the 1960s, UConn Health was established in Farmington as a home for the new School of Medicine and School of Dental Medicine. John Dempsey Hospital opened in Farmington in 1975 and has operated by UConn ever since. In 1995, a program called UConn 2000 was passed by the Connecticut General Assembly. This 10-year program set aside $1 billion to upgrade facilities, add faculty
27.
Connecticut Huskies men's ice hockey
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The Connecticut Huskies mens ice hockey team is a National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I college ice hockey program that represents the University of Connecticut. The Huskies are a member of Hockey East and they play at the XL Center in Hartford, Connecticut. The Huskies mens ice hockey began in 1960 under head coach John Chapman. UConn began NCAA competition at the NCAA Division III level in the ECAC East, prior to 1998, the Huskies played all home games outdoors at a partially enclosed rink on-campus near Memorial Stadium. The UConn Hockey Rink had a roof but was open on the sides, however, in preparation for the upgrade to Division I, the University built the Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum. Construction began in 1996, and the first indoor home game for UConn was on November 7,1998, the move to NCAA Division I status allowed the team to join other Husky athletic programs. In 1998 they joined the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, after playing for 38 years in the Division III ECAC East. At the time, head coach Bruce Marshall was in his season at the position. In its 2nd season in the 2000 MAAC Mens Ice Hockey Tournament and it has been the only championship Uconn would earn since moving to Division I. In 2003, the MAAC formed a new league called Atlantic Hockey, the Huskies won this game 3-1, in front of 1,711 fans. The Huskies also played their first ever game at the XL Center in downtown Hartford that year, though this was not originally scheduled. Due to heavy snow accumulation on the Freitas roof, the teams February 5 game against Army was moved to the off-camps arena, in spite of free admission, only 891 fans turned up on short notice to watch the Huskies lose 5-3. As a whole, the 2010-11 season was also an improvement for the Huskies. They finished with a record of 16-18-4. One of the factors in the turnaround was the young recruits the Huskies had signed. Freshman Cole Schneider led the team with 32 points, while sophomore Sean Ambrosie finished second with 29, meanwhile, sophomore Garrett Bartus set a school record with 1,085 saves. The 2011-12 AHA preseason rankings reflected the newly gained reputation, with the Huskies ranked fifth out of twelve teams, the Huskies posted a winning record once again in the 2012-13 season. On June 21,2012 Connecticut announced the program will join Hockey East as the conferences 12th member beginning in the 2014-15 season, a study by the university projected a cost around $20,000 a game to play at the XL Center
28.
Harry A. Gampel Pavilion
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Harry A. Gampel Pavilion is a 10, 167-seat multi-purpose arena in Storrs, Connecticut, United States, on the campus of the University of Connecticut. The arena opened on January 21,1990, and is the largest on-campus arena in New England. It was named after industrialist and 1943 UConn graduate Harry A. Gampel, a philanthropist who walked with Martin Luther King Jr. and who donated one million dollars for the construction of the arena. It is about 216,000 sq ft. Gampel Pavilion is the home to the Connecticut Huskies mens basketball, womens basketball. For most of the time since the late 1990s, the basketball team has played most of their more important games at the XL Center in Hartford. During the 2011–12 season, the basketball team played 11 home games in Hartford. The pavilion is the centerpiece of the UConn Sports Center, which also includes Wolff-Zackin Natatorium and it replaced the Hugh S. Greer Field House, which only held 4,604 people and still stands to the northwest of the pavilion. The facility has expanded three times. As originally constructed, it seated 8,241, after the 1995–96 season,1,900 seats were added around the entrances, increasing capacity to 10,027. A seating adjustment after the 2001–02 season added 140 more seats to result in the current capacity, the first basketball game was played on January 27,1990, between the then 20th ranked Connecticut Huskies and the 15th ranked St. Johns Red Storm. Since 1990 through 2016 the Huskies mens basketball team has a 168–30 record at Gampel Pavilion, the National Championship Banners and NIT Championship Banners have been replaced with newer versions, along with banners commemorating Jim Calhoun and Geno Auriemmas Hall of Fame inductions
29.
American Athletic Conference
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The American was considered one of the six collegiate power conferences of the Bowl Championship Series era. With the advent of the College Football Playoff in 2014, The American became a Group of Five conference, the league is the product of substantial turmoil in the original Big East Conference during the 2010–14 conference realignment period. It is one of two conferences to emerge from the all-sports Big East in 2013, while the other successor, which does not sponsor football, purchased the Big East Conference name, The American inherited the old Big Easts structure and is that conferences legal successor. However, both conferences claim 1979 as their date, and the same history up to 2013. The American is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, and led by Commissioner Michael Aresco, UConn and Boston College would accept the invitation, while Holy Cross soon thereafter declined the invitation, and Rutgers eventually declined and remained in the Atlantic 10 Conference. Seton Hall was then invited as a replacement, and the conference started play with seven members, villanova and Pittsburgh joined shortly thereafter under the leadership of the Big Easts first commissioner, Dave Gavitt. The conference remained largely unchanged until 1991, when it began to sponsor football, adding Miami as a member, and Rutgers, Temple, Virginia Tech. Rutgers and West Virginia upgraded to full Big East membership in 1995, Temple football was kicked out after the 2004 season, but rejoined in 2012 and intended to become a full Big East member in 2013. The unusual structure of the Big East, with the football and non-football schools, the conference was reorganized following the tumultuous period of realignment that hobbled the Big East between 2010 and 2013. The Big East was one of the most severely impacted conferences during the most recent conference realignment period, in all,14 member schools announced their departure for other conferences, and 15 other schools announced plans to join the conference. Three of the group later backed out of their plans to join. The Catholic 7, by leaving, were looking for a lucrative television deal than the one they would receive by remaining with the football schools. Various names were considered, with the America 12 conference reportedly one of the finalists until rejected by college presidents sensitive of adding a number to the end of the conference name. On April 3,2013, the announced that it had chosen a new name. The conference also revealed that it prefers the nickname The American because it was thought AAC would cause too much confusion with the Atlantic Coast Conference, Louisville and Rutgers spent one season in the renamed conference. On July 1,2014, Louisville joined the ACC and Rutgers joined the Big Ten Conference, on that same day, East Carolina, Tulane, and Tulsa joined The American for all sports, while Sacramento State and San Diego State joined as associate members for womens rowing. Navy joined as a member in football on July 1,2015. Wichita State, Dayton, and VCU were reportedly considered, with Wichita State being seen as the strongest candidate, the report indicated that a final decision would be made in April
30.
Hockey East
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The Hockey East Association, also known as Hockey East, is a college ice hockey conference which operates mostly in New England. It participates in the NCAAs Division I as a hockey-only conference, Hockey East came into existence in 1984 for mens hockey when most of its current members split from what is today known as ECAC Hockey. It largely sought to emulate the Big East Conference, which had grown quickly since its creation a few years earlier, the womens league, the WHEA, began play in 2002. On October 5,2011, the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish announced they would be joining Hockey East as the conferences first non-New England school in 2013 after the CCHA folded. On March 22,2016, Notre Dame subsequently announced their mens team would leave Hockey East for the Big Ten Conference at the start of the 2017-2018 season. The University of Connecticut and Hockey East jointly announced on June 21,2012 that UConns mens team, then in Atlantic Hockey, there are currently 12 member schools, with all 12 participating in the mens division and nine in the womens division. Men Women Both The Hockey East Championship Game has been held in Boston since 1987, first at the Boston Garden and now the TD Garden, the first two were held in Providence, Rhode Island at the Providence Civic Center. The final game and the games are held on consecutive nights in mid-March at the Garden. The quarterfinal round takes place the previous weekend, the top eight teams in the league advance to the quarterfinal round, the quarterfinal round series are 2-out-of-3 series with all games played at the higher seeds rink. There have been two cases where the #8 seed won on the #1 teams ice, the Hockey East Championship was held in Boston from its inception in 2003 until 2007. The event was held at Northeasterns Matthews Arena in 2003 and 2004 before moving to BUs Walter Brown Arena in 2005, the tournament returned to Matthews Arena in 2006, was held at UNHs Whittemore Center in 2007, and at UConns Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum in 2008. The tournament went back to UNH in 2009, Providence in 2010, the tournament moved to Hyannis, Massachusetts in 2012 and has been held there ever since. Boston College, Boston University, and Northeastern all take part in the annual Beanpot tournament with Harvard of ECAC Hockey, the previously existing fierce rivalry between Boston College and Notre Dame, the Holy War on Ice, became a conference matchup with Notre Dames arrival in Hockey East. The two are rivals in sports as well, as both are members of the Atlantic Coast Conference for most sports. Maine also has a rivalry with New Hampshire, often called The Border War. Providence and UConn also have a rivalry which spills over from the basketball court. At the conclusion of regular season schedule the coaches of each Hockey East team vote which players they choose to be on the three All-Conference Teams, first team, second team and rookie team. Additionally they vote to award up to 6 individual trophies to a player at the same time
31.
Ice hockey
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Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponents net to score points. Ice hockey teams usually consist of six each, one goaltender. A fast-paced, physical sport, ice hockey is most popular in areas of North America, Ice hockey is the official national winter sport of Canada, where the game enjoys immense popularity. In North America, the National Hockey League is the highest level for mens hockey, the Kontinental Hockey League is the highest league in Russia and much of Eastern Europe. The International Ice Hockey Federation is the governing body for international ice hockey. The IIHF manages international tournaments and maintains the IIHF World Ranking, worldwide, there are ice hockey federations in 74 countries. Ice hockey is believed to have evolved from simple stick and ball games played in the 18th and 19th century United Kingdom and these games were brought to North America and several similar winter games using informal rules were developed, such as shinny and ice polo. The contemporary sport of ice hockey was developed in Canada, most notably in Montreal, some characteristics of that game, such as the length of the ice rink and the use of a puck, have been retained to this day. Amateur ice hockey began in the 1880s, and professional ice hockey originated around 1900. The Stanley Cup, emblematic of ice hockey club supremacy, was first awarded in 1893 to recognize the Canadian amateur champion, in international competitions, the national teams of six countries predominate, Canada, Czech Republic, Finland, Russia, Sweden and the United States. Of the 69 medals awarded all-time in mens competition at the Olympics, in the annual Ice Hockey World Championships,177 of 201 medals have been awarded to the six nations. In Russia and the Ukraine, where hockey can also refer to bandy, the name hockey has no clear origin. The English historian and biographer John Strype did not use the word hockey when he translated the proclamation in 1720, the 1573 Statute of Galway banned a sport called hokie—the hurling of a little ball with sticks or staves. A form of this word was thus being used in the 16th century, though much removed from its current usage. According to the Austin Hockey Association, the word derives from the Scots Gaelic puc or the Irish poc. The blow given by a hurler to the ball with his caman or hurley is always called a puck. Stick-and-ball games date back to pre-Christian times, in Europe, these games included the Irish game of hurling, the closely related Scottish game of shinty and versions of field hockey. IJscolf, a game resembling colf on a surface, was popular in the Low Countries between the Middle Ages and the Dutch Golden Age. It was played with a curved bat, a wooden or leather ball
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Basketball
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Basketball is a non-contact team sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of five players each. The objective is to shoot a ball through a hoop 18 inches in diameter and 10 feet high that is mounted to a backboard at each end of the court. The game was invented in 1891 by Dr. James Naismith, a team can score a field goal by shooting the ball through the basket being defended by the opposition team during regular play. A field goal scores three points for the team if the player shoots from behind the three-point line. A team can also score via free throws, which are worth one point, the team with the most points at the end of the game wins, but additional time is mandated when the score is tied at the end of regulation. The ball can be advanced on the court by passing it to a teammate and it is a violation to lift, or drag, ones pivot foot without dribbling the ball, to carry it, or to hold the ball with both hands then resume dribbling. The game has many techniques for displaying skill—ball-handling, shooting, passing, dribbling, dunking, shot-blocking. The point guard directs the on court action of the team, implementing the coachs game plan, Basketball is one of the worlds most popular and widely viewed sports. Outside North America, the top clubs from national leagues qualify to continental championships such as the Euroleague, the FIBA Basketball World Cup attracts the top national teams from around the world. Each continent hosts regional competitions for teams, like EuroBasket. The FIBA Womens Basketball World Cup features the top womens basketball teams from continental championships. The main North American league is the WNBA, whereas the EuroLeague Women has been dominated by teams from the Russian Womens Basketball Premier League, in early December 1891, Canadian Dr. He sought a vigorous indoor game to keep his students occupied, after rejecting other ideas as either too rough or poorly suited to walled-in gymnasiums, he wrote the basic rules and nailed a peach basket onto a 10-foot elevated track. Basketball was originally played with a soccer ball and these laces could cause bounce passes and dribbling to be unpredictable. Eventually a lace-free ball construction method was invented, and this change to the game was endorsed by Naismith, dribbling was not part of the original game except for the bounce pass to teammates. Passing the ball was the means of ball movement. Dribbling was eventually introduced but limited by the shape of early balls. Dribbling only became a part of the game around the 1950s
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Concert
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A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. A recital is a concert by a soloist or small group which follows a program, a recitalist is a musician who gives frequent recitals. The invention of the piano recital has been attributed to Franz Liszt. The performance may be by a musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir. Indoor concerts held in the largest venues are sometimes called arena concerts or amphitheatre concerts, informal names for a concert include show and gig. Regardless of the venue, musicians perform on a stage. Concerts often require live event support with professional audio equipment, before recorded music, concerts provided the main opportunity to hear musicians play. The nature of a concert varies by musical genre, individual performers, concerts by a small jazz combo or small bluegrass band may have the same order of program, mood, and volume—but vary in music and dress. In a similar way, a musician, band, or genre of music might attract concert attendees with similar dress, hairstyle. For example, concert goers in the 1960s often had hair, sandals. Regular attendees to a concert venue might also have a style that comprises that venues scene. Other Types of concerts, To plan or arrange by mutual agreement, some performers or groups put on very elaborate and expensive shows. To create a memorable and exciting atmosphere and increase the spectacle, some singers, especially popular music, augment concert sound with pre-recorded accompaniment, back-up dancers, and even broadcast vocal tracks of the singers own voice. Activities during these concerts can include dancing, sing-alongs, and moshing, concerts involving a greater number of artists, especially those that last for multiple days, are known as festivals. Unlike other concerts, which remain in a single genre of music or work of a particular artist, festivals often cover a broad scope of music. Due to their size, festivals are almost exclusively held outdoors, new platforms for festivals are becoming increasingly popular such as Jam Cruise, which is a festival held on a cruise ship, as well as Mayan Holidaze, which is a destination festival held in Tulum. Often concert tours are named, to differentiate different tours by the same artist, different segments of longer concert tours are known as legs. In the largest concert tours it is becoming common for different legs to employ separate touring production crews and equipment
34.
University of Massachusetts Amherst
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The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public research and land-grant university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States, and the flagship of the University of Massachusetts system. The university offers degrees, masters degrees, and doctoral degrees in 111 undergraduate,75 masters and 47 doctoral programs in nine schools. The main campus is situated north of downtown Amherst, in a 2009 article for MSN. com, Amherst was ranked first in Best College Towns in the United States. In 2012, U. S. News and World Report ranked Amherst among the Top 10 Great College Towns in America and it is also a member of the Five College Consortium. The University of Massachusetts Amherst is categorized as a Research University with Highest research activity by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, in fiscal year 2014, UMass Amherst had research expenditures exceeding $200 million. UMass Amherst sports teams are called the Minutemen and Minutewomen, the colors being maroon, black, and white, all teams participate in NCAA Division I. The university is a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference, while playing ice hockey in Hockey East, accordingly, the university was initially named the Massachusetts Agricultural College, popularly referred to as Mass Aggie or M. A. C. In 1867, the college had yet to admit any students, had been through two Presidents, and still had not completed any college buildings, in that year, William S. Clark was appointed President of the college and Professor of Botany. He quickly appointed a faculty, completed the plan. Clark became the first functioning President and arguably the founding father of the college. The original buildings consisted of Old South College, North College, the Chemistry Laboratory, also known as College Hall, the Boarding House, the Botanic Museum, although enrollment was slow during the 1870s, the fledgling college built momentum under the leadership of President Henry Hill Goodell. In the 1880s, Goodell implemented a plan, adding the College Drill Hall in 1883, the Old Chapel Library in 1885. The Campus Pond, now the focus of the University Campus, was created in 1893 by damming a small brook. The early 20th century saw expansion in terms of enrollment. The first female student was admitted in 1875 on a part-time basis, in 1903, Draper Hall was constructed for the dual purpose of a dining hall and female housing. The first female students graduated with the class of 1905, the first dedicated female dormitory, the Abigail Adams House was built in 1920. By the start of the 20th century, the college was thriving, the Education curriculum was established in 1907. In recognition of the enrollment and broader curriculum, the college was renamed Massachusetts State College in 1931
35.
Raleigh, North Carolina
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Raleigh is the capital of the state of North Carolina, the seat of Wake County in the United States. Raleigh is known as the City of Oaks for its oak trees. The city covers a area of 142.8 square miles. The U. S. Census Bureau estimated the population as 451,066 as of July 1,2015. It is also one of the cities in the country. The city of Raleigh is named after Sir Walter Raleigh, who established the lost Roanoke Colony in present-day Dare County, Raleigh is home to North Carolina State University and is part of the Research Triangle area, together with Durham and Chapel Hill. The Triangle nickname originated after the 1959 creation of the Research Triangle Park, located in Durham and Wake Counties, partway between the three cities and their universities. The Research Triangle region encompasses the U. S. Census Bureaus Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Combined Statistical Area, the Raleigh Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated population of 1,214,516 in 2013. Most of Raleigh is located within Wake County, with a small portion extending into Durham County. Raleigh is an example in the United States of a planned city. It was chosen as the site of the capital in 1788. The city was laid out in a grid pattern with the North Carolina State Capitol in Union Square at the center. Raleigh is home to cultural, educational, and historic sites. The Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Downtown Raleigh features three venues and serves as the home for the North Carolina Symphony and the Carolina Ballet. Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek is a large music amphitheater located in southeast Raleigh, one U. S. president, Andrew Johnson, was born in Raleigh. Bath, the oldest town in North Carolina, was the first nominal capital from 1705 until 1722, the colony had no permanent institutions of government until the establishment at the new capital New Bern in 1743. In December 1770, Joel Lane successfully petitioned the North Carolina General Assembly to create a new county, on January 5,1771, the bill creating Wake County was passed in the General Assembly. The county was formed from portions of Cumberland, Orange, the county gets its name from Margaret Wake Tryon, the wife of Governor William Tryon
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Carolina Hurricanes
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The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the Hurricanes play their home games at the 18, 680-seat PNC Arena. The franchise was formed in 1971 as the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association, the team relocated to North Carolina in 1997 and won its first Stanley Cup during the 2005–06 season, beating the Edmonton Oilers, four games to three. The New England Whalers were established in November 1971 when the World Hockey Association awarded a franchise to play in Boston. For the first two years of their existence, the club played their games at the Boston Arena. With the increasing difficulty of scheduling games at Boston Garden, the decided to move the team to Hartford, Connecticut. While waiting for the completion of a new arena in Hartford, on January 11,1975, the team played its first game in front of a sellout crowd at the Hartford Civic Center Coliseum, and would maintain its home there through 1997. As one of the most stable WHA teams, the Whalers, along with the Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, however, under pressure from the extant NHL team in the New England area, the Boston Bruins, the Whalers were compelled to rename the team the Hartford Whalers. The Whalers were never as successful in the NHL as they had been in the WHA, the next year, the club secured the regular-season Adams Division title, only to fall to the Nordiques in six games in the first round of the playoffs. In 1992, the Whalers made the playoffs for the final time, the Whalers were plagued for most of their existence by limited marketability. Hartford was the smallest American market in the league, and was located on the dividing line between the home territories for New York City and Boston teams. It did not help matters that the Hartford Civic Center was one of the smallest arenas in the league, the Whalers off-ice problems were magnified when the start of the 1990s triggered a spike in player salaries. On May 6,1997, Karmanos announced that the Whalers would move to the Research Triangle area of North Carolina, the Hurricanes inherited the Whalers place in the Northeast Division. Unfortunately for the team, the ESA would not be complete for two more years, the only arena in the Triangle area with an ice plant was 45-year-old Dorton Arena, at 5,100 seats, it was completely inadequate even for temporary use. The Hurricanes were thus forced to play games in Greensboro,90 minutes west of Raleigh. However, the team would be based in Raleigh and practice in nearby Hillsborough—effectively saddling the Hurricanes with 82 road games for the two years. This choice was disastrous for the attendance and reputation. With a capacity of over 21,000 people for hockey, however, Triangle-area fans balked at making the 80-mile drive down I-40 to Greensboro
37.
Peter Karmanos Jr.
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Peter Karmanos Jr. is the majority owner and chief executive officer of the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Everblades hockey franchises. He owned the Plymouth Whalers junior hockey club from its establishment in 1990 until 2015, the oldest of three sons of a Greek immigrant family who owned a small restaurant in Detroit, Karmanos attended Henry Ford High School and graduated from Wayne State University in 1973. Soon after leaving college he founded software company Compuware with two partners, Thomas Thewes and Allen Cutting, Karmanos served as Compuwares CEO until June 20,2011, when he became executive chairman. Karmanos retired from Compuware on March 31,2013, but maintained a consultant role within the company, Compuware terminated his post-retirement consulting agreement, effective October 1,2013. He has since opened a new firm, Mad Dog Technology. Karmanos co-founded the Detroit Compuware Hockey organization in the late 1970s with Thewes, the organization includes all levels of hockey from recreational to AAA and Junior A. The Ontario Hockey League awarded a franchise on December 11,1989. The team later became the Detroit Junior Red Wings, Detroit Whalers, in 2015, Karmanos sold the Whalers to the owners of Flints Perani Arena and Event Center, and the franchise was renamed Flint Firebirds. He also sold the Plymouth arena to USA Hockey, Karmanos, his Compuware partner Thewes and former player Jim Rutherford purchased the Hartford Whalers in 1994, for $47.5 million. At the time, they had committed to keeping the team in Hartford for at least four years, connecticuts then-governor Lowell P. Weicker announced that Karmanos would be critical for the team to stay in Hartford. Weicker later became a member of the Compuware Board of Directors, even though they surpassed 11,000 season tickets in 1996-97, the team was moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and renamed the Carolina Hurricanes following the 1996–1997 season. As a result, Karmanos is still reviled by many people in Connecticut, the Hurricanes went on to win the Stanley Cup in 2006, with Karmanos eagerly donning his skates, hoisting the Cup, and skating around with it briefly after the game-7 win. For his day with the Cup, he brought it to Compuware HQ in Detroit, Karmanos Gale Force Holdings has a subsidiary dedicated to the NHL, Hurricanes Holdings, LLC, which includes the Hurricanes and their stadium, PNC Arena. The holdings also include the Hurricaness ECHL affiliate Florida Everblades, along with stadium Germain Arena in Fort Myers and he was inducted to the Hockey Hall of Fame in the Builder Category in 2015. Karmanos also sponsors youth programs in Michigan. Under his backing, Karmanos youth hockey teams have accumulated numerous state, in addition to three children with Barbara, Karmanos has four others with current wife Danialle, and nine grandchildren. Compuware Web Site Carolina Hurricanes - Official NHL Web Site Pete Karmanos Personal Blog
38.
John G. Rowland
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John Grosvenor Rowland is an American former politician and twice convicted felon. He was the 86th Governor of Connecticut from 1995 to 2004, as a politician and he is married to Patty Rowland, his second wife, and the couple has five children between them. He was the first Connecticut governor to be elected to three terms since 1784 and he served ten months in a federal prison until February 10,2006, followed by four months house arrest at his home in West Hartford, Connecticut, until June 2006. His lieutenant governor, M. Jodi Rell, replaced him as governor and he was convicted on all seven counts in September 2014, and was subsequently sentenced to 30 months in prison on March 18,2015. Rowlands political career began in 1980 when, at age 23 and he held his seat until 1984, when he was elected to represent Connecticuts 5th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives and was reelected in 1986 and 1988. After losing the 1990 gubernatorial race to Lowell P. Weicker and he was later elected governor in 1994 at age 37 and later defeated two Democratic opponents, former US Congresswoman Barbara Bailey Kennelly in 1998 and former State Comptroller Bill Curry in 2002. Rowland was the only Republican re-elected Governor of Connecticut in a 50-year period and he was the first governor elected to a third, four-year term after the 1950 election. His plurality over Kennelly in 1998 was among the largest recorded for any Connecticut politician, Rowland resigned as Governor of Connecticut effective July 1,2004. Lieutenant Governor M. Jodi Rell served out the remainder of his term, Rowland is the only Connecticut governor to have ever faced impeachment and he is the only Connecticut governor to have served prison time. He adhered to a spending cap voters added to the constitution in 1992. During those years, the state invested more than $2 billion to rebuild the University of Connecticut, major investments were also made in the Connecticut State University and Community Technical College systems, enrollments as of 2004 were at an all-time high. As of 2004, Connecticut students led the nation in performance, the Adriaen’s Landing project, the most ambitious capital city development project in decades in the state, continued to progress during Rowlands time in office. College campuses were moved, which brought thousands downtown in Hartford, Stamford, Bridgeport, New Londons waterfront was thriving as of 2004, with a new global research facility and rebuilt pier. Theaters and museums in all cities were revitalized, from the Palace Theater in Waterbury to the New Britains Museum of American Art. In 1998, Rowland implemented the HUSKY Plan to provide insurance to uninsured Connecticut children. During his tenure, the budget for the Department of Children, Rowland supported addition to government of the state’s first Child Advocate. Rowland was a proponent of a tough stance against violent crime as governor. The prison population grew rapidly during his term, which caused the state to send inmates to prisons in Virginia to deal with overcrowding, legislative opponents of this policy such as Representative Michael Lawlor urged more rapid release of nonviolent offenders
39.
New York Rangers
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The New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League, the team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, located in the borough of Manhattan. The Rangers are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils, the club is also one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise. They are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six, along with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers were the first NHL franchise in the United States to win the Stanley Cup, the new team was quickly nicknamed Texs Rangers. Rickards franchise began play in the 1926–27 season, the first team crest was a horse sketched in blue carrying a cowboy waving a hockey stick aloft, before being changed to the familiar R-A-N-G-E-R-S in diagonal. Rickard managed to get future legendary Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe to assemble the team. However, Smythe had a falling-out with Rickards hockey man, Col. John S. Hammond, Smythe was replaced by Pacific Coast Hockey Association co-founder Lester Patrick. The new team Smythe assembled turned out to be a winner, the Rangers won the American Division title their first year but lost to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs. The teams early success led to players becoming minor celebrities and fixtures in New York Citys Roaring Twenties nightlife and it was also during this time, playing at the Garden on 48th Street, blocks away from Times Square, that the Rangers obtained their now-famous nickname The Broadway Blueshirts. In only their season, the Rangers won the Stanley Cup. One of the most memorable stories that emerged from the Finals involved Patrick playing in goal at the age of 44, an angry Patrick lined up between the pipes for two periods in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals, allowing one goal to Maroons center Nels Stewart. Frank Boucher would eventually score the goal in overtime for New York. The Rangers would spend the rest of the 1930s playing close to 0.500 hockey until their next Cup win, Lester Patrick stepped down as head coach and was replaced by Frank Boucher. In 1939–40 season, the Rangers finished the season in second place behind Boston. The two teams would meet in the first round of the playoffs. The Bruins gained a series lead from New York, but the Rangers recovered to win three-straight games. The Rangers first round victory gave them a bye until the finals, the Detroit Red Wings defeated the New York Americans in their first round best-of-three series two games to one, and the Toronto Maple Leafs ousted the Chicago Black Hawks two games to none
40.
Atlanta Hawks
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The Atlanta Hawks are a professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association as a team of the leagues Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays its games at Philips Arena. The teams origins can be traced to the establishment of the Buffalo Bisons in 1946 in Buffalo, New York, after 38 days in Buffalo, the team moved to Moline, Illinois, where they were renamed the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. In 1949, they joined the NBA as part of the merger between the NBL and the Basketball Association of America, and had Red Auerbach as coach briefly, in 1951, Kerner moved the team to Milwaukee, where they changed their name to the Hawks. Kerner and the team moved again in 1955 to St. Louis, the Hawks played the Boston Celtics in all four of their trips to the NBA Finals. The St. Louis Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968, when Kerner sold the franchise to Thomas Cousins, the Hawks currently own the second-longest drought of not winning an NBA championship at 57 seasons. The franchises lone NBA championship, as well as all four NBA Finals appearances, meanwhile, they went 48 years without advancing past the second round of the playoffs in any format, until finally breaking through in 2015. Much of the failure theyve experienced in the postseason can be traced back to their history in the NBA draft. Since 1980, the Hawks have drafted four players who have been chosen to play in an NBA All-Star Game. Dominique Wilkins was actually selected by the Utah Jazz and traded to the Hawks a few months after the draft, the origins of the Atlanta Hawks can be traced to the Buffalo Bisons franchise, which was founded in 1946. The Bisons were a member of the National Basketball League, the club was organized by the Erie County American Legion and was coached by Nat Hickey. Their first game – a 50–39 victory over the Syracuse Nationals – was played on November 8,1946, on the team was William Pop Gates, who, along with William Dolly King, was one of the first two African-American players in the NBL. The team, which needed to draw 3,600 fans per game to break even struggled to draw 1,000 fans per game to the Auditorium. Upon relocation to Moline, the team was renamed the Tri-Cities Blackhawks, and played their games at Wharton Field House. The team featured guard/forward and coach Deanglo King, and was owned by Leo Ferris, Pop Gates remained on the Blackhawks roster, and finished second on the team in scoring behind future 1948 NBL MVP Don Otten. A Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member, Gates helped to integrate the league and later become the first African-American coach in a sports league. In 1949 the Blackhawks became one of the National Basketball Associations 17 original teams after a merger of the 12-year-old NBL and they reached the playoffs in the NBAs inaugural year under the leadership of coach Red Auerbach
41.
Sacramento Kings
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The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the team in the major professional North American sports leagues located in Sacramento. The team play its games at the Golden 1 Center. The Kings are the oldest franchise in the NBA, and one of the oldest continuously operating professional basketball franchises in the nation and they originated in Rochester, New York as the Rochester Seagrams in 1923 and joined the National Basketball League in 1945 as the Rochester Royals. They jumped to the Basketball Association of America, forerunner of the NBA, as the Royals, the team was often successful on the court, winning the NBA championship in 1951. However, they found it difficult to turn a profit in the comparatively small market of Rochester. In 1972, the relocated to Kansas City, Missouri. In 1975, the Kings ceased playing home games in Omaha, the team again failed to find success in that market, and moved to Sacramento in 1985. The Royals defected to the NBLs rival, the Basketball Association of America, in 1948. In 1949, as a result of that absorption of the NBL by the BAA, the Royals became members of the newly formed NBA along with the Fort Wayne Pistons, Minneapolis Lakers. A year later, the BAA absorbed the remaining NBL teams to become the National Basketball Association, the move to the BAA took away Rochesters profitable exhibition schedule, and placed it in the same Western Division that Minneapolis was in. Of the two best teams in pro basketball, only one of them could play in the finals from 1949 to 1954. Minneapolis, with George Mikan, was almost always a little better at playoff time than the Royals, Harrison knew that the NBA was outgrowing Rochester, and spent most of the 1950s looking for a buyer for his team. The Royals won the NBA title in 1951 by defeating the New York Knicks 4 games to 3 and it is the only NBA championship in the franchises history. However, the title did not translate into profit for the Royals, the roster turned over in 1955, except for Bobby Wanzer, the team moved to the larger Rochester War Memorial. Now a losing team filled with rookies, the Royals still did not turn a profit, meanwhile, the NBA was putting pressure on Harrison to sell or relocate his team to a larger city. With this in mind, the 1956–57 season was the Royals last in Rochester, in April 1957, the Harrison brothers moved the Royals to Cincinnati
42.
Portland Trail Blazers
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The Portland Trail Blazers, commonly known as the Blazers, are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the leagues Western Conference Northwest Division. The team played its games in the Memorial Coliseum before moving to Moda Center in 1995. The team has advanced to the NBA Finals three times, winning the NBA championship once in 1977 and their other NBA Finals appearances were in 1990 and 1992. The team has qualified for the playoffs in 31 seasons of their 45-season existence, including a streak of 21 straight appearances from 1983 through 2003, the second longest streak in NBA history. The Trail Blazers 31 playoff appearances rank third in the NBA only behind the Los Angeles Lakers, six Hall of Fame players have played for the Trail Blazers. Bill Walton is the franchises most decorated player, he was the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 1977, four Blazer rookies have won the NBA Rookie of the Year award. Sports promoter Harry Glickman sought a National Basketball Association franchise for Portland as far back as 1955 when he proposed two new teams, the other to be located in Los Angeles. To raise the money for the $3.7 million admission tax, Glickman associated himself to real estate magnates Robert Schmertz of New Jersey, Larry Weinberg of Los Angeles and Herman Sarkowsky of Seattle. Two weeks later, on February 24, team management held a contest to select the teams name, the most popular choice was Pioneers, but that name was excluded from consideration as it was already used by sports teams at Portlands Lewis & Clark College. The name Trail Blazers received 172 entries, and was selected by the judging panel. Despite initial mixed response, the Trail Blazers name, often shortened to just Blazers, along with the Cleveland Cavaliers and Buffalo Braves, the Trail Blazers entered the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team, under coach Rolland Todd. Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks led the team in its years. During that span, the team had three coaches, team executive Stu Inman also served as coach. The team won the first pick in the NBA draft twice during that span, in 1972, the team drafted LaRue Martin with the number one pick, and in 1974 the team selected Bill Walton from UCLA. In 1976, the ABA–NBA merger saw those two rival leagues join forces, four ABA teams joined the NBA, the remaining teams were dissolved and their players distributed among the remaining NBA squads in a dispersal draft. The Trail Blazers selected Maurice Lucas in the dispersal draft and that summer, they also hired Jack Ramsay as head coach. The two moves, coupled with the stellar play, led Portland to several firsts, winning record, playoff appearance
