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Dec 1 '16, 05:21AM
Growing up in Calgary, George Gosbee had a dream. Joe Ledley Wales Jersey . "Every boy wants to play in the NHL," he said. "Once you realize thats not possible, you change your focus and you start to think about owning a team." Not every boy goes right from thinking about being on the ice to overseeing all aspects of a hockey team as an owner, but Gosbee spent decades honing his business acumen and last week finalized the purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes with his IceArizona group. Not far into his ownership odyssey, he called it a "total dream come true." "Everythings on track for what we wanted to do and were making some progress," Gosbee said in a phone interview this week. "So far theres been no surprises." Maybe there were a few surprises. Gosbee arrived at his Glendale office Wednesday to find flowers sent from a fan on his desk. When he was leaving an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game, a police officer stopped him just to say thank you. "Its the first time Ive been stopped that way from a police officer," Gosbee said. "I was really surprised by the outpouring and the thank yous coming in in this community. ... Everybodys just been positive and appreciative of what weve done." To get the deal done, Gosbee and his partners, who include fellow Canadian businessmen Anthony LeBlanc and Avik Dey, had to go through the long process of getting NHL approval, securing financing and finishing up a lease deal for Jobing.com arena. So when the Coyotes asked Gosbee to start using Twitter, he was overwhelmed by the flood of positive responses. "Thats been pleasant because weve been really trying to grind out this deal for the last little while and weve been so focused in on the deal that we lost sense of why we were doing it," he said. In the long-term, Gosbee knew exactly why he was doing this. Through years of successful business ventures, the banker and financier became more and more fascinated with the prospect of owning a professional sports team. Gosbee, 43, calls himself a "live-sports junkie," but at the core hes a businessman. "When this opportunity came up," said Gosbee, who is chairman and chief executive officer of Alberta-based AltaCorp Capital Inc. "I just had to keep putting that out of my head and keep focusing on the financial aspects of it." That wasnt just the focus in buying the team. It remains Gosbee and LeBlancs goal moving forward, as they plan to let general manager Don Maloney and coach Dave Tippett work the on-ice product largely unimpeded. "Im not looking to run a team," Gosbee said. "I think, especially in business, its all about people. We had a lot of confidence in what Don Maloney and Dave Tippett have done with this team, given all the adversity and obstacles and a limited budget. ... "We believe in those two guys and want to provide them with all the financial resources we can and let them do their job." But from an ownership standpoint, Gosbee is drawing from his youth in Calgary and not just his feelings and memories of when the Flames moved from Atlanta. "When the Flames came to Calgary, I was the happiest kid on the planet," he said. "I remember how that group came to be, and it was a group of strong, successful, level-headed businessmen, very strong in the community and successful but not flamboyant. And they were all friends as well. So I took that model and put together a group of friends that were successful and similar to the Flames ownership." Gosbee and Co. can only hope to have the same success. But he concedes that Arizona in 2013 is a much different situation than Calgary in 1980. "Back then you were really on your own when you owned a team," Gosbee said. "Now, we really bought one 30th of the NHL and were managing a team in Phoenix, so its a different concept now with regards to how the league works. Im kind of bullish on the structure, how it works, and that was another reason why I wanted to get into it." Mark Chipman and True North bought into that NHL ownership structure two years ago when the Thrashers moved and became the Winnipeg Jets. And while new ownership gives the Coyotes something of a fresh start, this is a unique situation because its the same team that has played in Glendale with varying degrees of success and fan interest. Its a situation Gosbee sees the best in. He called the Coyotes mix of players one of the best in the league, citing the leadership of Shane Doan, and hopes to cultivate an even bigger fan base now that at least the short-term future is secure. "The fan base down here has to be one of the most loyal fan bases Ive seen, to continue to buy season tickets, to continue to make the drive out here (to the arena in Glendale)," he said. "Its asking those fans to come back that werent really wanting to support a team that was thinking about leaving. And theres a lot of those fans around. ... "Theres number of things that are going to happen that I think those fans are going to come back. Also I think were going to be able to generate new fans based off the stability of ownership." Gosbee is confident hockey in Arizona will work out long-term as well, based on the size of the Phoenix metropolitan area and the large number of Canadians who live there. At the moment, Gosbee is homeless. He lost his Calgary house in the floods earlier this year, but bought another one there to fulfil a promise to his wife. Hes looking for a place in Arizona. He and the IceArizona ownership group have already made sure the Coyotes have a home there, for at least the next five years. Leaving hockey to Maloney and his staff, Gosbee and the collective "brain trust" of IceArizona are convinced they can do enough on the business side to ensure an NHL presence in the desert for a long time. "Theres one unique thing about this deal: Its not all dependent upon one thing working," Gosbee said. "Theres five or six or even seven type of avenues that were all pursuing on increasing revenue. Some of those wont work and some of them will, and were not dependent on any one particular avenue to go with." Ashley Williams Jersey .Y. -- Buffalo Bills coach Doug Marrone has drawn on his Syracuse connections once again by hiring Rob Moore to take over as receivers coach. Joe Allen Wales Jersey . Calgary scored on the first shift, and Michael Cammalleri scored twice as the Flames cruised to a 5-2 win over the Washington Capitals on Saturday.http://www.soccerwalesshop.com/gareth-bale-wales-UEFA-EURO-jersey/ . 1 position. The Mustangs (6-0), who beat Queens 50-31 last weekend, earned 17 first-place votes and 287 points in voting by the Football Reporters of Canada. Western was last ranked first in the country in October 2011. Here are our rankings and analysis to help you set lineups for the second-to-last Sunday of the regular season.PitchingSolidSince the All-Star break, Jon Lester is sporting a nifty 1.46 ERA and 0.91 WHIP with 76 whiffs in 80? innings. This second-half surge has thrust the veteran lefty in contention for his first Cy Young award. Sunday might be the last chance Lester has to make his case in full, since hes likely to be lifted early from his final outing of the season next week. Opposing the Cubs southpaw will be the St. Louis Cardinals in the finale of a weekend set at Wrigley Field. The Redbirds hit lefties hard, but they are extremely strikeout prone in this scenario, making Lester an upside GPP option.While the Cubs are biding their time until the postseason, the Cardinals are fighting tooth and nail to get there. Their de facto ace, Carlos Martinez, is tasked with keeping the vaunted Cubs offense in check while his teammates try to scratch out a few tallies against Lester. As his ownership is apt to be low, theres ample strikeout upside to use Martinez as a contrarian option, especially if the NL Central winners give some regulars the day off.Robert Gsellman might only have two wins, but the job the 22-year-old has done for an injury-riddled New York Mets staff is integral to their wild-card push. The rookie right-hander takes the hill at Citi Field, closing out a weekend set with the Philadelphia Phillies. Gsellman faces a lineup with an above-average strikeout rate against righties, putting him in play both cash and GPP contests.The Jekyll and Hyde nature of Michael Pineda has been discussed quite often in this space over the second half of the season. Sundays date with the Toronto Blue Jays north of the border is the ultimate meeting of high risk with high reward. Of the top offenses, the Jays offer the highest strikeout potential. The upside puts Pineda in play for GPP; just beware that his outing, and your sweat, could be cut short if he struggles.It might be surprising to learn that the Dodgers are the weakest team in the league facing southpaws, at least in terms of weighted on base average (wOBA). This puts the Rockies Tyler Anderson in a good spot, as hell take the hill in Dodger Stadium. Consider Anderson viable in all DFS formats.Taijuan Walker has been tinkering with his mechanics with mixed results. After a complete-game blanking of the Angels, the Blue Jays picked up three runs in 5? innings against the Mariners righty. Since Toronto does at least that to most hurlers, lets call Walker a work in progress. Next up for Walker are the Minnesota Twins at Target Field. The hosts have been scuffling lately, adding Walker to the list of intriguing GPP picks.StreamersEven on the high-profile Boston Red Sox, Eduardo Rodriguez is only owned in 19 percent of ESPN leagues. Granted, its late in the season, which impacts ownership, but still, thats low. Rodriguez is battling Clay Buchholz and Drew Pomeranz for a spot in the playoff rotation and is in a great position to improve his chances against the Tampa Bay Rays. In fact, the combination of low wOBA and high whiff rate against southpaws for Tampa Bay not only makes Rodriguez a great streamer but also puts him in play for DFS.Despite rumors of an innings cap for Brandon Finnegan, the Cincinnati Reds young southpaw will get the ball one more time. If this is Finnegans last start of the seasonn, theres a good chance he will go out on a high note in squaring off with the Milwaukee Brewers. Gareth Bale Jersey. Just be aware that hes not likely to pitch more than five or maybe six frames.Need a win? Joe Musgrove and the Houston Astros face the Los Angeles Angels at Minute Maid Park, where theyll be decided favorites against Daniel Wright.Similarly, Josh Tomlin and the Cleveland Indians host the underdog Chicago White Sox at Progressive Field. Despite losing a couple of their top starters, the Indians are in the thick of things for home field advantage throughout the American League playoffs.Matt Boyd is coming off of his best outing of the season after shutting down the Twins for eight innings, allowing just one run with seven strikeouts. The Detroit Tigers southpaw is in a good spot for another strong outing with the Kansas City Royals in town. The guests have been whiffing versus southpaws, putting Boyd in DFS consideration.AvoidIn what could be the most important day in head-to-head leagues, everyone is in play, depending on the scenario. That said, the three hurlers landing in the avoid range --?Colby Lewis, Braden Shipley and Wily Peralta?--?are all huge risks to ratios. Of the three, Lewis in Oakland is the safest.HittingThe Astros grab the top spot with a prime matchup against Daniel Wright and the Angels. The clash is at homer-friendly Minute Maid Park. In 27 frames, Wright has allowed five homers after surrendering 10 in 83 innings before being summoned by the Halos. The Astros are dangerous versus righties, even without the platoon edge, so dont be shy about building around George Springer, Yulieski Gurriel, Carlos Correa and Evan Gattis.Another hurler with a penchant for allowing the long ball is Braden Shipley, who draws the unenviable task of keeping the Baltimore Orioles under wraps at Camden Yards. Shipleys 1.8 HR/9 does not match up well with the club thats bashed more homers versus righties than anyone. Adam Jones, Chris Davis, Manny Machado, Mark Trumbo, Pedro Alvarez and Jonathan Schoop are all power threats.The Mets draw rookie righty Jake Thompson at Citi Field. The hosts vary their lefty hitters, so be sure to check lineups. The top four is very likely to be Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson, all of whom are in play. Some combination of Kelly Johnson, Michael Conforto, Lucas Duda, James Loney and Alejandro De Aza comprise the better ancillary parts.Wily Peralta has been throwing well for the past month, so a full-on Reds stack is ill-advised. That said, lefties Joey Votto and Scott Schebler are an intriguing ministack or useful as stand-alone options.Similarly, piling on Colby Lewis isnt the most efficient use of resources as the Athletics, as a team, dont have the punch to take full advantage of Lewiss fly ball offerings. However, catcher Stephen Vogt and slugger Khris Davis are in play.Most likely to hit a homer: Sometimes we get fancy and look for an under-the-radar option to feature, but with Shipley being very susceptible to left-handed power, Chris Davis is the chalk play.Most likely to steal a base: Trea Turner has nine pilfers in September and is in a great place to hit double digits, facing a Pirates club that is one of the easiest to run on in the league. Cheap NFL Jerseys ' ' '
