Prospective Isles co-owners Ledecky and Malkin go back....way back.

Check out this profile on Ledecky from The (Harvard) Crimson:

Philanthropist Makes Fortune on 'Rollup' Concept |News | The Harvard Crimson

				Philanthropist Makes Fortune on 'Rollup' Concept |News |... The principles of economics were too much for Jonathan J. Ledecky '79 to handle his first year at Harvard: he had to withdraw from Ec10 after failing a first-semest...
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Contains this:

"In his 25th reunion class report, Ledecky relates how he first became interested in philanthropy. The grandfather of Scott D. Malkin '80, Ledecky's upperclass roommate, told Ledecky as a first-year that he wished he had given away his money earlier, so he could see the fruits of his philanthropy. Ledecky writes that he has taken that advice to heart.

Giving away his money, Ledecky says, "is God's work in a way for me. I think I went through a lot of good stuff, a lot of bad stuff. This last time through I really kind of found myself."

Ledecky, who is single and has no family, has embraced his communities instead.

"The time that I have free, because I don't have a family, I try to spend in the community," he says. "The New York and Washington communities have become family."

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

The Skinny on Jonathan Ledecky

If the Isles' sale goes through, their new co-owners, Jonathan (although I've seen it numerous times in print as Jon) Ledecky and Scott Malkin will come with quite the pedigree of their own.

Both Ledecky and Malkin are Harvard-educated (undergraduate and MBA).  The Crimson hockey team, FWIW, is coached by ex-Islander Ted Donato.

Ledecky should be media friendly.  After all, he funded not one, but two scholarships at Harvard related to media:

The Berta Greenwald Ledecky Undergraduate Fellowship program, supported by Jonathan J. Ledecky '79, M.B.A. '83, and named in honor of his mother, enables the magazine to appoint two undergraduates to the editorial staff each academic year. The fellows write the "Undergraduate" column that appears in each issue, report and file news stories and short features, contribute to harvardmagazine.com, and learn the workings of a magazine through a broad range of other editorial tasks. Although former fellows have pursued a diverse array of careers, many remain professionally engaged in writing and editing at publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, and The Wall Street Journal, in the electronic media, or as authors of books.

Jonathan Ledecky also funds the Jaromir Ledecky International Journalism Fellowship, which is named for his father and supports overseas summer internships in journalism for Harvard undergraduates.

Ledecky is the non-executive Chairman of the Board at Forbes.  You can read more about him here: http://www.forbes.com/profile/jonathan-ledecky/

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

The Skinny on Scott Malkin (from Women's Wear Daily and others)

https://www.valueretail.com/res/content/documents/2013-WWD-CEO-Summit-Scott-Malkin-jan.pdf

This profile is about 19 months old -- interesting quote from the potential Islander co-owner:

... calling (Marvin) Traub the "Wayne Gretzky of the retailing industry," he noted Gretzky... was "good at ice hockey because he went where the puck was going, not where it had been."

From Value Retail's website:

"Scott Malkin is the founder and Chairman of Value Retail PLC. He also serves as Chairman of S.D. Malkin Properties, Inc. which develops retail, residential and hotel projects in the United States. Scott Malkin is a Trustee of the New York Public Library, and is a Vice Chair of the Urban Land Institute as well as Chair of the Urban Land Institute Europe."

While he has lived in London for over two decades, Malkin is "a graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School and serves in various roles at Harvard University including on its Global Advisory Committee and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute Advisory Committee."

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

ALS Bucket Challenge.. answered!

I have accepted Jiggs McDonald's ‪#‎IceBucketChallenge‬ for ALS.

In turn, I have challenged the following:Islanders radio voice Chris King, my MSG Networks colleagues Jim Townsend and Mike Mancuso, former Union College SID George Cuttita and my former broadcast partner, Scott Wykoff.

You have 24 hours! Please also join me in supporting ALS.

Whether you've been nominated or not, click the link and make a donation!

Link to donation  
Donate here!!!!

"

The Skinny on ALS: From Howie to Jiggs to ....me....

The ALS Bucket Challenge has been sweeping the continent -- and has seen a tremendous amount of support from the hockey community, particularly the Islanders.


So --

Howie Rose accepted Doug Weight's challenge....

http://video.islanders.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=629343


and then nominated (among others) Jiggs McDonald

http://video.islanders.nhl.com/videocenter/console?catid=756&id=629422&lang=en


Now, in 32+ years of working on Islanders telecasts I've only worked regularly with two play-by-play men -- Howie and Jiggs.

(from Ed Westfall Night in 2011 -- a little bit younger, and a little bit drier)

Jiggs has nominated me (along with Ed Westfall, who worked with Jiggs, and then with Howie).

What will I do?  Stay tuned.


But in the meantime, whether you've been nominated or not, visit ALSA.org and make a donation and help fight this disease.

Link to donation  
Donate here!!!!


And here's The Skinny I promised you, according to the ALS Association:

"As of Friday, August 15, 2014, The ALS Association has received $9.5 million in donations compared to $1.6 million during the same time period last year (July 29 to August 15). These donations have come from existing donors and 184,812 new donors to The Association."

Feature story on Billy Smith

From the StarPhoenix (Saskatoon, SK)

Battlin' Billy still doing it his way

				Battlin' Billy still doing it his way Battlin' Billy Smith offers no apologies, even to this day.
				View on www.thestarphoeni...	Preview by Yahoo

 

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick

Could AHL Rule Changes be a sign of those to come to NHL? Let's hope so.

The AHL announced several rule changes today -- two of them mirror NHL changes  -- overtime will now be preceded by a dry scrape and team will switch ends.

However, the AHL has gone an extra step (or two) in reducing the number of shootouts with two additional changes:

• Overtime will now be 7 minutes long, instead of 5 (40% increase in length of overtime).
  
• At the first whistle after three minutes are played, overtime will switch from 4-on-4 to 3-on-3.

These changes should all lead to more chances that produce more goals and reduce the number of shootouts.  (Last season 275 of 1140 AHL games needed extra time, with 97 decided in overtime and 178 in shootouts.  This compares to 129 OT goals and 178 shootouts in the 307 of 1230 NHL games that were tied after 60 minutes).

The AHL will also now mirror the NHL in that shootouts will be a 3-player, not a 5-player, process.  AHL scribe Tim Leone tweeted  @timleone  "Shootout moving in a positive direction with AHL rule changes. Down to 3 shooters from 5. Next, let's go down to 0 shooters from 3."

Two other AHL changes -- players will now be given Game Misconducts after their 2nd Fighting Major (or 3rd Major in total) and players whose helmets are knocked off must replace it immediately or get off the ice (minor penalty if they do not).

 

Forever1940 is the nom de plume of Eric Hornick, statistician on Islander home telecasts since January 21, 1982. Visit my blog: NYISkinny.com and follow me on Twitter @ehornick