champion Ted Ligety can hardly ski at al

NEW YORK -- Jon Ledecky values the two-year transition period he and Scott Malkin had before taking over control of the New York Islanders this month.Ledecky visited every NHL arena and met with about 20 team presidents, picking their brains about the best business practices in running their franchises.Having those two years to learn and do that was very helpful, Ledecky said Wednesday at a luncheon with local media.Ledecky and Malkin, childhood friends and college roommates at Harvard, took over the majority stake in the Islanders on July 1 under a deal agreed to in 2014. Charles Wang, who bought the team in 2000, retains a minority stake.The way we bought the team, Commissioner [Gary] Bettman said that should be a model for other team sales, Ledecky said. Were now in our third year, and in our third year, we shouldnt be making rookie mistakes.Ledecky, who intends to be more involved than Malkin in the business operations of the team, said he was able to subtly interact with fans at the arena and while traveling to games on the subway and Long Island Rail Road.I felt great to be able to be anonymous and be able to talk to them openly, he said. The fans want a winner. They want to know that youre going to spend to the cap, if you have to, to build a winner, which we are willing to do.The Islanders are coming off a successful first season in Brooklyns Barclays Center after spending the franchises first 43 years at Long Islands Nassau Coliseum. They overcame injuries down the stretch to earn a playoff berth for the second straight year -- and the third such berth in the past four years -- while reaching the 100-point mark in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1982. New York then beat the Florida Panthers to win a postseason series for the first time since 1993 before losing to the Tampa Bay Lightning in five games in the second round.The Islanders will have a different look next season, having signed forwards Andrew Ladd, Jason Chimera and?P.A. Parenteau?to replace departed longtime stars Frans Nielsen, Kyle Okposo and Matt Martin. Ledecky said the franchises goal is to keep improving and win a Stanley Cup, but he wont get involved in player personnel decisions. Those are left to general manager Garth Snow.You have to have full faith and confidence in your people, Ledecky said. You set the tone, you provide a budget -- and in this case, the budget is the cap at the NHL -- and you hope that your GM and his team do the right thing.Ledecky acknowledged the growing pains in the transition to the new arena and pointed to the improvements made along the way, including the hiring of an outside company for game-day presentations -- something Barclays Center CEO Brett Yormark had disclosed in March.In the second half of the season, we started seeing tweaks, Ledecky said. We started doing a little bit more with the scoreboard and tried to personalize the arena a little bit. Tried to understand how you made better ice, tried to reach out to experts in the NHL to help us with that.Ledecky also said he hopes Barclays hosts an NHL All-Star Game someday.That means the ice has got to be great, he said. That means the fan experience has got to be great. That means the arena has to look like a hockey arena. We have to personalize it when were playing in it; we have to make it Islanders-centric.Asked whether there was a possibility the Islanders could play a handful of regular-season games back at Nassau Coliseum once the arenas renovations are complete -- and at a reduced capacity than before -- Ledecky said that would be a decision made by the NHL.No team owner has the right unilaterally or otherwise to go to the National Hockey League and say Im playing games over here, Im playing games over there, he said. Thats not an issue were involved in. Thats an issue the folks would have to take up with the commissioner. China Jerseys Online . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Wholesale China Jerseys . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. http://www.chinawholesalejerseysnfl.com/ . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. Wholesale MLB Jerseys . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. Wholesale NFL Jerseys .Y. -- Syracuse has turned up the defence at the right time all season, and when High Point threatened to pull off a monumental upset the second-ranked Orange did what they do best with their quick hands and savvy play. LA VILLA, Italy -- His back ravaged by a shooting pain that stretches all the way down his leg, Olympic giant slalom champion Ted Ligety can hardly ski at all these days.No wonder he lost control and slid out several gates into his opening run down the steep and dark Gran Risa course Sunday.Ive been getting injections and trying to get it sorted out but it hasnt really turned the corner yet, Ligety said. I just got to try to figure out how to calm it down. Theres not a direct, easy way of doing that.Backs and nerve issues are not like a knee thats cut and dry and you know what you need to do, Ligety added. Its really dependent person by person and situation by situation.Marcel Hirscher of Austria won the race to match Italian great Alberto Tomba for a record fourth GS win on the Gran Risa.Having already been slowed by back problems at the start of last season, Ligety tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a training accident in Germany in January.He returned to action in this seasons opening race in Soelden, Austria, in October, finishing fifth. Since then, its been a struggle for the Park City, Utah, resident, who has had three herniated disks in his career.Ligety will sit out a parallel GS on Monday.We got to get thiss physically taken care of so he can get his rhythm and timing back, U.dddddddddddd.S. head coach Sasha Rearick said. For any great champion its not technical its just the rhythm and timing of the movements. How those things fit together is where you gain your confidence. When you cant train, your rhythm and timing go off.Ligety has won 24 World Cup GS races, second only to Swedish legend Ingemar Stenmarks record of 46. Four years ago, Ligety won the first run by an almost unheard of 2.40 seconds en route to his second win in Alta Badia.At this point, Ligety is looking forward to the announced rule change for next season and the return of more modern and more extremely shaped skis, which are easier to turn.Thats going to be nice on all of our bodies, he said. Its a welcome change.The top American finishers Sunday were Tommy Ford in 13th and Ryan Cochran-Siegl