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Mike Babcock

Mike Babcock  (born April 29, 1963) is a Canadian ice hockey coach and former player. He spent parts of eighteen seasons as a head coach in the National Hockey League (NHL), beginning when he was named head coach of the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, whom he led to the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. In 2005, Babcock signed with the Detroit Red Wings, winning the Stanley Cup with them in 2008, and helping them to the Stanley Cup playoffs every year during his tenure and setting a record for most wins in Red Wings history. In 2015, he left Detroit to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs, a position he held until he was fired in 2019. During his coaching tenure from 1991 to 2019, Babcock's teams missed the post-season only four times. In 2023, he attempted a return to the NHL with the Columbus Blue Jackets; however, he resigned before the beginning of the 2023–24 season amidst investigations into allegations of misconduct.

Babcock also gained extensive experience coaching internationally. As of July 2024, he is the only coach to gain entry to the Triple Gold Club, winning the Stanley Cup, IIHF World Championships, and coaching an Olympic gold medal-winning team. He guided the Red Wings to the Stanley Cup in 2008; he coached Team Canada to gold at the IIHF Ice Hockey World Championships in 2004; and he coached Canada to gold at both the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. Babcock is the only coach to win six distinct national or international titles. He also guided Canada to gold at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the IIHF World Junior Championships in 1997, and he coached the University of Lethbridge to the CIS University Cup in 1994.

Since the end of his tenure with the Maple Leafs, Babcock has been the subject of public criticism from many former players about his professional conduct, including allegations of verbal abuse and mistreatment.

Education and playing career
Babcock was born in Manitouwadge, Ontario, and grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Babcock played for the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1980–81 and spent a season with the Kelowna Wings in 1982–83. In between, he played a year under Dave King at the University of Saskatchewan, and after Kelowna, he transferred to McGill University to play for coach Ken Tyler. In September 1985, Babcock also attended the Vancouver Canucks NHL training camp, and played one exhibition game with the team.

Babcock graduated from McGill in 1986 with a bachelor's degree in physical education and also did post-graduate work in sports psychology. In 146 career games with the Redmen, he tallied 22 goals and 85 assists for a total of 107 points and 301 penalty minutes, graduating as the second-highest-scoring defenceman in McGill history. Over four seasons from 1983–84 to 1986–87, he was a two-time all-star defenceman, served as captain, and won the Bobby Bell trophy as team MVP. While at McGill, Babcock joined the Tau Alpha chapter of Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

After his time at McGill, Babcock moved to the United Kingdom in 1987 as a player-coach for the Whitley Warriors. The team missed out on the league title by two points. In 49 games, he contributed 45 goals and 127 assists and accumulated 123 penalty minutes.

Coaching career
Babcock is one of four McGill University players to coach an NHL team, joining Lester Patrick with the New York Rangers, George Burnett with the Edmonton Oilers, and Guy Boucher with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ottawa Senators. In 2008, Babcock became the second McGill hockey player to coach a Stanley Cup winner after Patrick.

Babcock has had a distinguished coaching career, coaching continuously from 1987 to 2019, including from 2002 to 2019 in the NHL. When he was fired by the Maple Leafs in 2019, he had amassed an NHL coaching record of 700-418-164-19, with his 700 wins currently placing him 12th all-time in coaching wins, as of 2023.

College, juniors, and minors (1988–2002)
Red Deer College

In 1988, Babcock was appointed head coach at Red Deer College in Alberta. He spent three seasons at the school, winning the provincial collegiate championship and earning coach-of-the-year honours in 1989.

Moose Jaw (WHL)

Babcock moved to the Western Hockey League (WHL) in 1991, where he guided the Moose Jaw Warriors for a two-year term. Babcock was fired by the team in 1993 after missing the playoffs and nearly left coaching when he accepted a job in business consulting; however, he was then offered the head coaching position at the University of Lethbridge, and decided to accept.

University of Lethbridge (CIS)

Babcock coached the struggling Lethbridge Pronghorns and helped turn the program around. He earned Canada West coach-of-the-year honours in 1993–94 after guiding Lethbridge to their first-ever appearance in post-season play with a 34–11–3 overall mark and a national CIS Cup title after defeating the Guelph Gryphons 5–2 in the championship final.

Spokane (WHL)

In 1994, Babcock was appointed head coach of the WHL's Spokane Chiefs, with whom he posted a regular-season record of 224–172–29 over six seasons for a .564 winning percentage. He was twice named as the West Division coach of the year, in 1995–1996 and 1999–2000. The team advanced to the final round of the playoffs in 1995–96, a series they lost 4–1 to the Brandon Wheat Kings. The team also participated in the 1998 Memorial Cup by virtue of hosting the tournament; Spokane lost in the semi-final against the Guelph Storm, 2–1 in overtime.

Cincinnati (AHL)

From 2000–01 to 2001–02, Babcock guided the American Hockey League's Cincinnati Mighty Ducks to a 74–59–20–7 record, including a franchise-high 41 wins and 95 points. The team qualified for the playoffs in both years.

Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (2002–2004)
Babcock was named head coach of the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim on May 22, 2002, and through two seasons, guided them to a combined 69–62–19–14 regular season record. In the Stanley Cup playoffs with the Ducks, he posted a 15–6 record, leading the Mighty Ducks to the team's first Stanley Cup Finals in 2003, where they lost in seven games to the New Jersey Devils.

Detroit Red Wings (2005–2015)
Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, Babcock declined an offer to remain with the Ducks, and on July 15, 2005, was named head coach of the Detroit Red Wings. In his first three seasons, Babcock led the Red Wings to a combined 162–56–28 regular season record and a 28–18 playoff record. The team won the Presidents' Trophy with the league's best record in 2005–06 and 2007–08. In the 2006 playoffs, the heavily favored Red Wings were upset in the first round by the Edmonton Oilers. The following season, Babcock and the Red Wings were eliminated by his former club, the Anaheim Ducks, in the Western Conference Finals of the 2007 playoffs; the Ducks went on to win the Stanley Cup.

Babcock earned his 200th NHL career win the following season in Detroit's 5–2 victory over the Florida Panthers on December 15, 2007. Babcock was selected to coach the Western Conference at the 2008 All-Star Game. The Red Wings entered the 2008 playoffs as favorites, and dispatched the Nashville Predators, Colorado Avalanche, and Dallas Stars en route to the Stanley Cup Finals. On June 4, 2008, he led the Red Wings to a Stanley Cup championship, the team's fourth since 1997, by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in game six of the Finals.

Babcock was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award after the season, awarded to the coach who best contributes to his team's success, but ultimately finished third behind Bruce Boudreau of the Washington Capitals and Guy Carbonneau of the Montreal Canadiens. In June 2008, Babcock signed a three-year contract extension with the Red Wings.

In the 2008–09 season, the Red Wings finished second in the Western Conference and again made the Stanley Cup Finals, where they faced a re-match against the Penguins. Although the Wings had home-ice advantage and held a 3–2 series lead after a 5–0 victory at home in game five, the Penguins came back to avenge their loss and defeated Detroit in seven games. With the loss in game seven, Babcock became the first head coach to lose a Stanley Cup Finals series in game seven with two different teams.

In October 2010, Babcock signed a four-year extension with the Red Wings that saw him through to the end of the 2014–15 season. In the 2011 playoffs, Babcock's Red Wings fell behind the San Jose Sharks three games to none in the second round but won three straight to force a seventh game, which the Wings lost 3–2.

On April 8, 2014, Babcock earned his 414th career win as head coach of the Red Wings, surpassing Jack Adams for most wins as coach in team history. Babcock was announced as a finalist for the Jack Adams Award for the 2013–14 season, his second nomination, but finished second in voting behind Patrick Roy of the Avalanche.

On December 6, 2014, Babcock earned his 500th career win as a head coach, becoming the second-fastest coach in NHL history to do so; only Hockey Hall of Famer and former Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman reached the 500-win plateau faster.

In 10 seasons with the Wings, Babcock coached the team past the 100-point plateau eight times; however, after their second consecutive trip to the Finals in 2009, the team won only three more playoff series under Babcock and failed to advance past the second round.

Toronto Maple Leafs (2015–2019)
After failing to come to terms on a contract extension with the Red Wings, Babcock received permission to seek employment elsewhere on May 8, 2015. The Buffalo Sabres, who had the best odds at picking first overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft for the right to select phenom Connor McDavid, were considered the most serious contenders for Babcock's services, with the St. Louis Blues and San Jose Sharks also being in the mix. However, on May 20, 2015, it was announced that Babcock would become the new head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He signed an eight-year contract worth $50 million (an average of $6.25 million per season), making him the highest-paid coach in NHL history by more than double the previous record holder's annual earnings. Before Babcock signed the contract, Todd McLellan of the Edmonton Oilers was the highest-paid coach in the NHL, reportedly earning $3 million per season. The Leafs had failed to make the playoffs in nine of the previous ten seasons, and had not won a playoff series since 2004. The signing of Babcock by general manager Lou Lamoriello was seen as an important move in changing the team's fortunes.

On October 7, 2015, Babcock became the first NHL coach to use the league's newly implemented coach's challenge in a season opener loss against the Montreal Canadiens. Babcock coached his 1,000th NHL game during his first season with the Leafs, on February 4, 2016, against the New Jersey Devils. The Maple Leafs finished last overall that season, compiling a record of 29–42–11 for 69 points. However, the rebuilding team had been expected to do poorly. This season marked the first time Babcock missed the playoffs since 2004 with the Mighty Ducks. The last-place finish gave the Maple Leafs the best odds at winning the draft lottery ahead of the 2016 draft. They were awarded the first selection and picked the coveted centre Auston Matthews. The draft helped to increase expectations for the Leafs, and the 2016–17 season was marked by many high-end rookies making the team, including Matthews, William Nylander, Mitch Marner, Nikita Zaitsev and Connor Brown. Those rookies, along with the addition of goaltender Frederik Andersen, helped the team to qualify for the 2017 playoffs as the eighth and final seed in the Eastern Conference, marking a rare occasion where a team goes from last in the league to capture a playoff appearance. Toronto faced the back-to-back Presidents' Trophy winning Washington Capitals in the first round. The Maple Leafs pushed the Capitals to six games—with five games going to overtime, tying an NHL record—before the team was eliminated by the Capitals. Babcock's coaching was praised throughout the playoffs as it was during the regular season, with many lauding his attempts at player development while maintaining a high level of team success. Babcock was nominated for the Jack Adams Award, but once again lost, this time to John Tortorella of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

After their rapid turnaround, expectations for the Maple Leafs grew, but despite regular season success having finished as the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference in both the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons, the team proved unable to break through in the playoffs, losing seven-game first-round playoff series in back-to-back years to the Boston Bruins in 2018 and 2019.

On November 20, 2019, nearly two months into the 2019–20 season, the Maple Leafs fired Babcock after a six-game losing streak and amidst allegations of a toxic work environment. At the time, the team had a record of 9–10–4 and were outside of the playoffs, despite being projected before the season began to be playoff contenders. This was the first time in Babcock's professional coaching career that he had been fired.

College athletics (2020–2022)
On July 29, 2020, the University of Vermont announced that Babcock would be joining the school's Catamounts ice hockey team as an unpaid assistant coach under head coach Todd Woodcroft. On February 20, 2021, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies announced that Babcock would become the coach of the men's ice hockey team for two seasons starting May 2021 on a volunteer basis. Babcock took the opportunity to coach in his hometown in large part for the chance to coach alongside his son, Michael Jr, who was pursuing a degree at the U of S and joined Mike on the bench as an assistant coach. Despite accepting a position with Saskatchewan, Babcock remained with Vermont until the end of the 2020–21 season.

Babcock opted to resign after one season with the Huskies on August 25, 2022, stating that he wanted to provide an opportunity for a bigger role for the team's assistant coaches. The team had posted a 14–9 record under Babcock. The following day, Babcock announced that he was retiring from coaching.

Columbus Blue Jackets (2023)
On July 1, 2023, Babcock was named the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets, his first NHL position since 2019, signing a two-year, $8 million contract to become the highest paid coach in team history. On September 12, ten weeks after being named head coach, allegations of improper behavior surfaced on the Spittin' Chiclets podcast, with reports that Babcock had ordered players to show him their cellphone photos as part of a character building exercise. In response to the reports, the NHL and NHLPA both opened investigations into Babcock's behavior. Initial investigations did not find any reports of wrongdoing or discomfort from the players, including general manager Jarmo Kekäläinen, who Babcock had also asked to see photos from. However, as the investigations progressed, it was learned that several players, especially younger members of the roster, were uncomfortable with Babcock's behavior. Shortly after both investigations concluded, the parties contacted the Blue Jackets with their findings, at which point the team determined that there was no path forward where Babcock could coach. After two days of contract settlement negotiations, Babcock announced his resignation as head coach on September 17, before the start of the team's training camp. The team subsequently apologized to their players for hiring Babcock amid fan criticism of the decision, given previous revelations regarding Babcock's perceived toxic coaching methodologies and interactions in both Detroit and Toronto.

International coaching career
In addition to his club coaching roles, Babcock has had a long career coaching with Hockey Canada. He first coached Canada's junior team at the 1997 World Junior Championships in Switzerland, where the country won a fifth consecutive gold medal, defeating the United States 2–0 in the final. Babcock coached Canada's senior team for the first time at the 2004 IIHF World Championships in the Czech Republic, guiding Canada to a second consecutive gold medal with a 5–3 win over Sweden in the final.

On June 24, 2009, Babcock was announced as the head coach of Team Canada for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The team finished the round robin with a regulation win over Norway, a shootout win over Switzerland, and a loss to the United States. In the elimination rounds they defeated Germany, Russia, and then Slovakia to advance to the final, where they defeated the United States 3–2 in overtime to win the gold medal. With the win, Babcock became the first coach—and only thus far—in the International Ice Hockey Federation's Triple Gold Club, which he earned through his team's Olympic Gold, World Championship gold, and 2008 Stanley Cup titles. To honour Babcock's entrance into the Triple Gold Club, his hometown of Saskatoon announced that July 17, 2010 would be known as "Mike Babcock Day."

On July 22, 2013, it was announced that Babcock would return as head coach of Team Canada for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. The team finished the round robin with regulation wins over Norway, and Austria, and an overtime win over Finland. In the quarterfinals they defeated Latvia, and in the semifinals, they defeated the United States to advance to the gold medal game, where they defeated Sweden 3–0. With the win, Babcock became only the second head coach to lead one country to a gold medal victory in consecutive Olympic appearances, after Viktor Tikhonov with the Soviet team in 1984 and 1988.

Babcock also coached Canada to victory at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, making him the first and only coach to date to have won the Stanley Cup, Olympic gold medal, World Cup, World Championship, and World Junior Championship.

Coaching style
Babcock's teams generally focus on puck possession over physical play and toughness. Babcock emphasized building a team that excelled at puck possession rather than enforcement in Detroit. Babcock's teams consistently had the fewest penalty minutes of any NHL team; from 2005 to 2015, the Red Wings averaged 22 percent fewer penalty minutes than the league average, and 44 percent fewer penalty minutes than the highest league total.

Criticism
Babcock has faced public criticism from a number of former players who allege mistreatment throughout the length of his NHL career. Mike Commodore was among the first to voice public criticism towards Babcock, and has been among his fiercest critics, stemming from Commodore's days in the Mighty Ducks organization. Commodore has alleged that Babcock purposefully held him back in Cincinnati because he did not like him, doing the same thing a decade later with the Red Wings after reassuring Commodore before the season that he would get playing time if he signed with the team. Babcock addressed Commodore's criticisms in March 2021, stating that Commodore was scratched because he did not perform better than other defenders on the 2011–12 Red Wings team—he claimed that he did not recall many interactions with Commodore in Cincinnati—and refuted that Commodore was scratched because of a personal vendetta.

However, numerous other players have also voiced criticism of Babcock for his management style and treatment of players. Johan Franzén, who played for Babcock in Detroit, called him a "terrible man, the worst person I've ever met," and accused Babcock of verbally abusing him during a game in the first round of the 2012 Stanley Cup playoffs against the Nashville Predators, which was corroborated by former teammate Chris Chelios. On their podcast Spittin' Chiclets, former NHL players Paul Bissonnette and Ryan Whitney described Babcock as "a truly bad person", and his coaching methods as personally-directed psychological abuse.

Babcock has been criticized for mistreating both veteran and rookie players alike. He has been accused of scratching players ahead of games of personal significance, such as removing Mike Modano from the lineup before his 1500th game in towards the end of the 2010–11 season in April 2011 without any reasoning behind it, benching Chelios at the 2009 Winter Classic against his hometown team, the Chicago Blackhawks on January 1, 2009, and not playing Jason Spezza in the Maple Leafs' 2019–20 season-opening game on October 3, 2019, without any reasoning against his former team whom Spezza spent the bulk of his career with, the Ottawa Senators with his family and friends in attendance. Jason York has accused Babcock of arbitrarily banning a group of three veteran players from the Mighty Ducks training camp in 2002. Babcock was criticized for mistreating Mitch Marner during the 2016–17 season, his rookie season with the Maple Leafs, asking him in a January 2017 meeting to rank his teammates in order of their work ethic and then sharing the list with other members of the team—Babcock apologized to Marner for the incident. Moreover, Babcock has been accused of verbally abusing arena staff throughout his career.

Such revelations were seen to have delayed Babcock's return to the NHL after he was fired by the Leafs in November 2019. It was not until July 2023 that he was hired by Columbus. Babcock's brief tenure with the Blue Jackets was marked by controversy after it was reported in September 2023 that he had asked players in pre-season meetings to look through photos on their phones. Although the team and captain Boone Jenner initially downplayed the alleged incidents, an investigation by the NHLPA revealed that several members of the Blue Jackets were uncomfortable with Babcock's approach and that in at least one instance, Babcock spent several minutes looking through a player's phone. The controversy resulted in Babcock announcing his resignation before coaching a game for the team.

By the end of his time in Columbus, Babcock's coaching methodologies, personality, and interpersonal interactions had led to the coach being broadly unpopular among hockey players and several hockey circles.

Personal life
Babcock is of Irish descent through a grandfather. Babcock and his wife, Maureen, have three children. Born in Manitouwadge, Ontario, he spent the majority of his childhood moving around between Northern Ontario, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories, before his family settled in Saskatoon, which he considers his hometown, in 1975. Babcock attended both St. James Elementary School and Holy Cross High School; Babcock is one of the many notable graduates on Holy Cross High School's "Wall of Honour."

Babcock has been an advocate for the Bell Let's Talk campaign, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and other mental health awareness campaigns. In 2017, he became involved with a campaign called Ahead of the Game to raise money for youth mental health in sport.

On November 25, 2013, he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws by McGill University. He received the same honour from the University of Saskatchewan on June 2, 2016. Babcock was made a member of the Order of Hockey in Canada in 2018.

NHL

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title: Mike Babcock


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Ken Hitchcock

Kenneth S. Hitchcock (born December 17, 1951) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey coach. Hitchcock coached the Dallas Stars, Philadelphia Flyers, Columbus Blue Jackets, St. Louis Blues and Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He also served as an assistant coach for Canada national team in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Hitchcock won a Stanley Cup with the Stars in 1999, and is the fourth-winningest coach in NHL history with a total of 849 victories. He was named a 2019 Order of Hockey in Canada recipient. Hitchcock was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder in 2023.

Early years
While growing up playing hockey in western Canada, Hitchcock found he could motivate players. This led him into coaching, first at various levels in the Edmonton area, and later a ten-year stint at the helm of the midget AAA Sherwood Park Chain Gang. Hitchcock led Sherwood Park to a record of 575–69. In his spare time, he taught hockey fundamentals to girls at a local hockey school.

Hitchcock submitted his credentials to the new owners of the WHL's Kamloops Blazers, Gary Cooper and Colin Day. Hitchcock assumed his position behind the bench for the 1984–85 season and had an immediate effect on the Blazers, leading them to four consecutive division titles and league titles in 1985–86 and 1989–90. In both of the seasons he guided the Blazers to the league title, Hitchcock was named the WHL Coach of the Year, and he was named the top coach in Canadian major junior hockey in 1990. Hitch's team appeared in the Memorial Cup tournament twice, never advancing beyond the semi-finals. In six seasons in Kamloops, Hitchcock recorded a 291–125–15 record, which stands as the second best in WHL history.

Dallas Stars
In 1990, Hitchcock left the WHL and joined the Philadelphia Flyers as an assistant coach. Hitchcock spent three seasons with the Flyers organization before leaving to helm the IHL affiliate of the Dallas Stars, the Kalamazoo Wings, for the 1993–94 season.

In the middle of his third season with the team (then renamed the Michigan K-Wings), he was offered the head coaching position with the Dallas Stars, and on January 8, 1996, he was named head coach, replacing Bob Gainey, who remained with the Stars as general manager. In his first full season with the Stars, he led the team to a first-place finish in the Central Division and a playoff berth. In his second full season with the Stars, Hitchcock again led the Stars to the playoffs, losing in the Conference Finals to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Detroit Red Wings. Also during the 1997–98 season, Hitchcock was named to his first of three consecutive NHL All-Star Game teams as coach.

During the 1998–99 NHL season, Hitchcock led the Stars to a regular season record of 51–19–12. In the 1999 playoffs, Hitchcock led the team to a Stanley Cup victory over the Buffalo Sabres, the team's first. The next season, Hitchcock again led the team to the Stanley Cup Finals, only to lose to the New Jersey Devils.

In the 2000–01 season, Hitchcock again led the Stars to the playoffs, but the team exited in the Conference Semifinals. Midway through the following season, after getting off to a mediocre 23–21–6 start and in the midst of strife between the players and management, Hitchcock was fired as head coach.

Philadelphia Flyers
Hitchcock was quickly picked up in the 2002 off-season by his old team, the Philadelphia Flyers, who had just fired their head coach, Bill Barber, after an early exit from the playoffs. Hitchcock brought much-needed discipline and direction to the Flyers and led them to a 45–24–13 record in his first season, losing in the Conference Semifinals. In Hitchcock's second season with the Flyers, they finished first in the Atlantic Division with a 40–21–15 record and advanced to the Conference Finals, losing to the eventual champion Tampa Bay Lightning in seven games.

In the 2006–07 NHL season, the Flyers got off to a 1–6–1 start over their first eight games, their worst start in 15 years. After a 9–1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres, management promised there would be some major changes to the organization. On October 22, 2006, the Flyers fired Hitchcock, and general manager Bobby Clarke stepped down. On November 1, the Flyers assigned Hitchcock to be a scout for the club.

Columbus Blue Jackets
On November 22, 2006, Hitchcock and the Columbus Blue Jackets agreed to a three-year contract to become their new head coach. He coached his first game for the Blue Jackets on November 24, against his former team, the Philadelphia Flyers, a game Columbus lost, 3–2.

On July 9, 2008, the Blue Jackets announced that they had signed Hitchcock to a three-year extension to remain as their head coach. On February 19, 2009, the Blue Jackets earned Hitchcock his 500th career NHL win as a head coach by defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs. On April 8, 2009, Hitchcock secured the Blue Jackets' first-ever postseason appearance with a 4–3 shootout win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Their playoff appearance would be a short one as they were swept in the Conference Quarterfinals by the Detroit Red Wings.

On November 11, 2009, in a 9–1 loss to the Detroit Red Wings, Hitchcock became the 16th NHL coach to reach the 1,000-game milestone. On February 3, 2010, the Blue Jackets relieved Hitchcock of his duties behind the bench and named assistant coach Claude Noël as the club's interim head coach.

St. Louis Blues
On November 6, 2011, the St. Louis Blues fired coach Davis Payne and hired Hitchcock in his place. On June 20, 2012, Hitchcock won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's best head coach.

On February 12, 2015, Hitchcock earned his 693rd career regular season win in a 6–3 defeat of the Tampa Bay Lightning, passing Dick Irvin for sole possession of fourth place on the all-time coaching wins list. On March 12, Hitchcock earned his 700th career win as head coach in a 1–0 win over the Philadelphia Flyers.

In the 2015–16 season, Hitchcock coached the Blues to the Conference Finals. Despite home ice advantage against the San Jose Sharks, the Blues were defeated in six games. On May 31, 2016, Hitchcock announced that he would retire from coaching at the end of the 2016–17 season. However, Hitchcock did not finish his planned last season with St. Louis as on February 1, 2017, Hitchcock was fired by the Blues and was replaced by Mike Yeo. Hitchcock was fired one game before tying Al Arbour's record (782) for third-most wins by an NHL head coach.

Return to Dallas
On April 13, 2017, Hitchcock was named as the head coach of the Dallas Stars for the second time. On December 21, Hitchcock earned his 800th win as NHL head coach when the Stars defeated the Blackhawks 4–0. On April 13, 2018, Hitchcock announced his retirement.

Edmonton Oilers
On November 20, 2018, Hitchcock came out of retirement and was named head coach of the Edmonton Oilers after Todd McLellan was relieved of his duties. In early May 2019, it was announced that Hitchcock was dismissed and would not return.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

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Talk:Slovakia

March 14, 1938
I am sorry I got stuck making this edit, but perhaps the editors can help. The problem with the original write up is that it is factually inaccurate and does not correspond to the referenced declaration of the Slovak Parliament. In the below I provide a new text, with two references: a Cambridge University Press book and an AEPress book, with detailed accounts of the participants of the events by a renowned historian.

Original: In the lead up to World War II, ...., Reference 11

Proposed: In the lead-up to World War II, Nazi Germany exploited the geopolitical situation, including the Munich Agreement, the pragmatism of the Western powers, and the fragility of the security situation in Slovakia, to pressure Slovak leaders to declare independence to establish the first Slovak Republic as a client state under its control.

Landlocked country, landlocked state
I would like to remove "landlocked country" remark, as it is the repetition of already mentioned landlocked state in the previous sentence. It doesn't sound good when same things are repeated several times. Can you just leave the word "country" instead. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Denisademkova (talk • contribs) 16:03, November 4, 2011 (UTC)

History in Infobox
The country infobox serves to briefly provide basic information. The same is true for the part involving history. However, this is not currently the case in this article. This section does not show the basic historical events crucial to statehood, but the whole historical discourse. This is not right and no other country's Infobox has it. Note that there are 10 historical events with lots of parentheses and notes. Compared to Germany, which has a much longer statehood, for which 5 events are enough. Simply compared to any other country - this Infobox in wiki article about a country is crazy and unprecedented. Not to mention that there is a historical event about the state (Slovak state during WW2), to which the current Slovakia does not reference politically or legally, and therefore it is not an event in its statehood. Therefore, I perform standardization with really basic and key events, not the whole discourse.--Igec133 (talk) 07:53, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Opposite. If, it is very big problem for You, the section can be collapsed. ✍ Dušan Kreheľ (talk) 08:03, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * Opposite. Every country has different kind of history, you cant remove important facts in infobox about Slovak history to only few basic points, just because you dont like how many information it has. The infobox is without change for many months and it looks like you are the only one editor who has problem with that. You constantly removing map - Slovakia on the globe, informations about Slovak history and also even anthem from infobox (thats pure vandalism). Please stop with your disturbing edits. Peter11700 (talk) 20:36, 27 March 2022 (UTC)
 * I would also support removing the First Slovak Republic from the establishment history section. Croatia and Ukraine's articles don't include their respective Axis collaborationist governments in the establishment history section, so I don't see a reason to include a similar government in this page's infobox's establishment history section. CJ-Moki (talk) 02:50, 6 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Opposite. The First Slovak Republic didn't come to being as a result of a 'simple' ruling party change. It was the first Slovak country. Gyalu22 (talk) 13:40, 26 April 2023 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:23, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Slovakia Product Exports (2019).svg

Slovakia
Slovakia culturally Eastern Europe Milenka26 (talk) 03:52, 23 October 2023 (UTC)

title: Talk:Slovakia


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Stock valuation

Stock valuation is the method of calculating theoretical values of companies and their stocks. The main use of these methods is to predict future market prices, or more generally, potential market prices, and thus to profit from price movement – stocks that are judged undervalued (with respect to their theoretical value) are bought, while stocks that are judged overvalued are sold, in the expectation that undervalued stocks will overall rise in value, while overvalued stocks will generally decrease in value. A target price is a price at which an analyst believes a stock to be fairly valued relative to its projected and historical earnings.

In the view of fundamental analysis, stock valuation based on fundamentals aims to give an estimate of the intrinsic value of a stock, based on predictions of the future cash flows and profitability of the business. Fundamental analysis may be replaced or augmented by market criteria – what the market will pay for the stock, disregarding intrinsic value. These can be combined as "predictions of future cash flows/profits (fundamental)", together with "what will the market pay for these profits?" These can be seen as "supply and demand" sides – what underlies the supply (of stock), and what drives the (market) demand for stock?

Stock valuation is different from business valuation, which is about calculating the economic value of an owner's interest in a business, used to determine the price interested parties would be willing to pay or receive to effect a sale of the business. Re. valuation in cases where both parties are corporations, see under Mergers and acquisitions and Corporate finance.

Fundamental criteria (fair value)
There are many different ways to value stocks. The key is to take each approach into account while formulating an overall opinion of the stock. If the valuation of a company is lower or higher than other similar stocks, then the next step would be to determine the reasons.

The first approach, Fundamental analysis, is typically associated with investors and financial analysts - its output is used to justify stock prices. The most theoretically sound stock valuation method, is called "income valuation" or the discounted cash flow (DCF) method. It is widely applied in all areas of finance. Perhaps the most common fundamental methodology is the P/E ratio (Price to Earnings Ratio). This example of "relative valuation" is based on historic ratios and aims to assign value to a stock based on measurable attributes. This form of valuation is typically what drives long-term stock prices.

The alternative approach – Technical analysis – is to base the assessment on supply and demand: simply, the more people that want to buy the stock, the higher its price will be; and conversely, the more people that want to sell the stock, the lower the price will be. This form of valuation often drives the short-term stock market trends; and is associated with speculators as opposed to investors.

Discounted cash flow
The discounted cash flow (DCF) method involves discounting of the profits (dividends, earnings, or cash flows) that the stock will bring to the stockholder in the foreseeable future, and sometimes a final value on disposal, depending on the valuation method. The discounted rate normally includes a risk premium which is commonly based on the capital asset pricing model. For discussion of the mechanics, see Valuation using discounted cash flows.

In July 2010, a Delaware court ruled on appropriate inputs to use in discounted cash flow analysis in a dispute between shareholders and a company over the proper fair value of the stock. In this case the shareholders' model provided value of $139 per share and the company's model provided $89 per share. Contested inputs included the terminal growth rate, the equity risk premium, and beta.

Earnings per share (EPS)
EPS is the Net income available to common shareholders of the company divided by the number of shares outstanding. Usually, there will be two types of EPS listed: a GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles) EPS and a Pro Forma EPS, which means that the income has been adjusted to exclude any one time items as well as some non-cash items like amortization of goodwill or stock option expenses. The most important thing to look for in the EPS figure is the overall quality of earnings. Make sure the company is not trying to manipulate their EPS numbers to make it look like they are more profitable. Also, look at the growth in EPS over the past several quarters / years to understand how volatile their EPS is, and to see if they are an underachiever or an overachiever. In other words, have they consistently beaten expectations or are they constantly restating and lowering their forecasts?

The EPS number that most analysts use is the pro forma EPS. To compute this number, use the net income that excludes any one-time gains or losses and excludes any non-cash expenses like amortization of goodwill. Never exclude non-cash compensation expense as that does impact earnings per share. Then divide this number by the number of fully diluted shares outstanding. Historical EPS figures and forecasts for the next 1–2 years can be found by visiting free financial sites such as Yahoo Finance (enter the ticker and then click on "estimates").

Price to Earnings (P/E)
Now that the analyst has several EPS figures (historical and forecasts), the analyst will be able to look at the most common valuation technique used, the price to earnings ratio, or P/E. To compute this figure, one divides the stock price by the annual EPS figure. For example, if the stock is trading at $10 and the EPS is $0.50, the P/E is 20 times. A complete analysis of the P/E multiple includes a look at the historical and forward ratios.

Historical P/Es are computed by taking the current price divided by the sum of the EPS for the last four quarters, or for the previous year. Historical trends of the P/E should also be considered by viewing a chart of its historical P/E over the last several years (one can find this on most finance sites like Yahoo Finance). Specifically, consider what range the P/E has traded in so as to determine whether the current P/E is high or low versus its historical average.

Forward P/Es reflect the growth of the company into the future. Forward P/Es are computed by taking the current stock price divided by the sum of the EPS estimates for the next four quarters, or for the EPS estimate for next calendar or fiscal year or two.

P/Es change constantly. If there is a large price change in a stock, or if the earnings (EPS) estimates change, the ratio is recomputed.

Growth rate
Discounted cash flow based valuations rely (very) heavily on the expected growth rate of a company. An accurate assessment is therefore critical to the valuation

Here, the analyst will typically look at the historical growth rate of both sales and income to derive a base for the type of future growth expected. However, since, companies are constantly evolving, as is the economy, solely using historical growth rates to predict the future will not be appropriate (the "problem of induction"; see Discounted cash flow ). These, instead, are used as guidelines for what future growth "could look like" if similar circumstances are encountered by the company.

Calculating the future growth rate, therefore, requires personal investment research – familiarity with a company is essential before making a forecast. This may take form in listening to the company's quarterly conference call or reading a press release or other company article that discusses the company's growth guidance. However, although companies are in the best position to forecast their own growth, they are often far from accurate; further, unforeseen macro-events could cause impact the economy and /or the company's industry.

Regardless of research effort, a growth-rate based valuation, therefore, relies heavily on experience and judgement ("gut feel"), and analysts will thus (often) make inaccurate forecasts. It is for this reason, that analysts often display a range of forecast values, especially based on different terminal value assumptions. [As an example here, if the company being valued has been growing earnings between 5 and 10% each year for the last 5 years, but believes that it will grow 15 –20% this year, a more conservative growth rate of 10–15% would be appropriate in valuations. Another example would be for a company that has been going through restructuring. It may have been growing earnings at 10–15% over the past several quarters or years because of cost cutting, but their sales growth could be only 0–5%. This would signal that their earnings growth will probably slow when the cost cutting has fully taken effect. Therefore, forecasting an earnings growth closer to the 0–5% rate would be more appropriate rather than the 15–20%.]

Capital structure substitution - asset pricing formula
The capital structure substitution theory (CSS) describes the relationship between earnings, stock price and capital structure of public companies. The equilibrium condition of the CSS theory can be easily rearranged to an asset pricing formula:

$$P_{\text{x}}=\frac{E_{\text{x}}}{R_{\text{x}}[1-T]}$$

where
 * P is the current market price of public company x
 * E is the earnings-per-share of company x
 * R is the nominal interest rate on corporate bonds of company x
 * T is the corporate tax rate

The CSS theory suggests that company share prices are strongly influenced by bondholders. As a result of active repurchasing or issuing of shares by company managements, equilibrium pricing is no longer a result of balancing shareholder demand and supply. The asset pricing formula only applies to debt-holding companies.

The asset pricing formula can be used on a market aggregate level as well. The resulting graph shows at what times the S&P 500 Composite was overpriced and at what times it was under-priced relative to the capital structure substitution theory equilibrium. In times when the market is under-priced, corporate buyback programs will allow companies to drive up earnings-per-share, and generate extra demand in the stock market.

Price earnings to growth (PEG) ratio
This valuation technique has become popular over the past decade or so. It is better than simply looking at a P/E because it takes three factors into account; the price, earnings, and earnings growth rates. To compute the PEG ratio, the Forward P/E is divided by the expected earnings growth rate (one can also use historical P/E and historical growth rate to see where it has traded in the past). This will yield a ratio that is usually expressed as a percentage. The conjecture goes that as the percentage rises over 100% the stock becomes more and more overvalued, and as the PEG ratio falls below 100% the stock becomes more and more undervalued. The conjecture is based on a belief that P/E ratios should approximate the long-term growth rate of a company's earnings. Whether or not this is true will never be proven and the conjecture is therefore just a rule of thumb to use in the overall valuation process.

Here is an example of how to use the PEG ratio to compare stocks. Stock A is trading at a forward P/E of 15 and expected to grow at 20%. Stock B is trading at a forward P/E of 30 and expected to grow at 25%. The PEG ratio for Stock A is 75% (15/20) and for Stock B is 120% (30/25). According to the PEG ratio, Stock A is a better purchase because it has a lower PEG ratio, or in other words, its future earnings growth can be purchased for a lower relative price than that of Stock B.

Sum of perpetuities method
The PEG ratio is a special case in the sum of perpetuities method (SPM) equation. A generalized version of the Walter model (1956), SPM considers the effects of dividends, earnings growth, as well as the risk profile of a firm on a stock's value. Derived from the compound interest formula using the present value of a perpetuity equation, SPM is an alternative to the Gordon Growth Model. The variables are:

 * $$P$$ is the value of the stock or business
 * $$E$$ is a company's earnings
 * $$G$$ is the company's constant growth rate
 * $$K$$ is the company's risk adjusted discount rate
 * $$D$$ is the company's dividend payment

 * $$P = \left(\frac{E*G}{K^2}\right) + \left(\frac{D}{K}\right)$$

In a special case where $$K$$ is equal to 10%, and the company does not pay dividends, SPM reduces to the PEG ratio.

Additional models represent the sum of perpetuities in terms of earnings, growth rate, the risk-adjusted discount rate, and accounting book value.

Return on Invested Capital (ROIC)
This valuation technique measures how much money the company makes each year per dollar of invested capital. Invested Capital is the amount of money invested in the company by both stockholders and debtors. The ratio is expressed as a percent and one looks for a percent that approximates the level of growth that expected. In its simplest definition, this ratio measures the investment return that management is able to get for its capital. The higher the number, the better the return.

To compute the ratio, take the pro forma net income (same one used in the EPS figure mentioned above) and divide it by the invested capital. Invested capital can be estimated by adding together the stockholders equity, the total long and short term debt and accounts payable, and then subtracting accounts receivable and cash (all of these numbers can be found on the company's latest quarterly balance sheet). This ratio is much more useful when comparing it to other companies being valued.

Return on Assets (ROA)
Similar to ROIC, ROA, expressed as a percent, measures the company's ability to make money from its assets. To measure the ROA, take the pro forma net income divided by the total assets. However, because of very common irregularities in balance sheets (due to things like Goodwill, write-offs, discontinuations, etc.) this ratio is not always a good indicator of the company's potential. If the ratio is higher or lower than expected, one should look closely at the assets to see what could be over or understating the figure.

Price to Sales (P/S)
This figure is useful because it compares the current stock price to the annual sales. In other words, it describes how much the stock costs per dollar of sales earned.

Market Cap
Market cap, which is short for market capitalization, is the value of all of the company's stock. To measure it, multiply the current stock price by the fully diluted shares outstanding. The market cap is only the value of the stock. To get a more complete picture, look at the enterprise value.

Enterprise Value (EV)
Enterprise value is equal to the total value of the company, as it is trading for on the stock market. To compute it, add the market cap (see above) and the total net debt of the company. The total net debt is equal to total long and short term debt plus accounts payable, minus accounts receivable, minus cash. The enterprise value is the best approximation of what a company is worth at any point in time because it takes into account the actual stock price instead of balance sheet prices. When analysts say that a company is a "billion dollar" company, they are often referring to its total enterprise value. Enterprise value fluctuates rapidly based on stock price changes.

EV to Sales
This ratio measures the total company value as compared to its annual sales. A high ratio means that the company's value is much more than its sales. To compute it, divide the EV by the net sales for the last four quarters. This ratio is especially useful when valuing companies that do not have earnings, or that are going through unusually rough times. For example, if a company is facing restructuring and it is currently losing money, then the P/E ratio would be irrelevant. However, by applying an EV to Sales ratio, one could compute what that company could trade for when its restructuring is over and its earnings are back to normal.

EBITDA
EBITDA stands for earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. It is one of the best measures of a company's cash flow and is used for valuing both public and private companies. To compute EBITDA, use a company's income statement, take the net income and then add back interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization and any other non-cash or one-time charges. This results in a number that approximates how much cash the company is producing. EBITDA is a very popular figure because it can easily be compared across companies, even if not all of the companies are profit.

EV to EBITDA
This is perhaps one of the best measurements of whether or not a company is cheap or expensive. To compute, divide the EV by EBITDA (see above for calculations). The higher the number, the more expensive the company is. However, more expensive companies are often valued higher because they are growing faster or because they are a higher quality company. With that said, the best way to use EV/EBITDA is to compare it to that of other similar companies.

Average growth approximation
Assuming that two stocks have the same earnings growth, the one with a lower P/E is a better value. The P/E method is perhaps the most commonly used valuation method in the stock brokerage industry. By using comparison firms, a target price/earnings (or P/E) ratio is selected for the company, and then the future earnings of the company are estimated. The valuation's fair price is simply estimated earnings times target P/E. This model is essentially the same model as Gordon's model, if k-g is estimated as the dividend payout ratio (D/E) divided by the target P/E ratio.

Constant growth approximation
The Gordon model or Gordon's growth model is the best known of a class of discounted dividend models. It assumes that dividends will increase at a constant growth rate (less than the discount rate) forever. The valuation is given by the formula:

 * $$P = D\cdot\sum_{i=1}^{\infty}\left(\frac{1+g}{1+k}\right)^{i} = D\cdot\frac{1+g}{k-g} $$.

and the following table defines each symbol:

Dividend growth rate is not known, but earnings growth may be used in its place, assuming that the payout ratio is constant.

title: Stock valuation


text:
CFT

CFT may refer to:

Chemistry

 * (-)-2β-Carbomethoxy-3β-(4-fluorophenyl)tropane
 * Cefatrizine, a cephalosporin antibiotic
 * Crystal field theory, describes the breaking of degeneracies of electron orbital states

Mathematics and physics

 * Class field theory, a branch of algebraic number theory
 * Classical field theory, electromagnetism and gravitation
 * Conformal field theory, a quantum field theory that is invariant under conformal transformations
 * Continuous Fourier transform

Military

 * Cadet Field Training, part of United States Military Academy
 * Combat Fitness Test, a British Army test of a soldier's lower and upper body strength, the Annual Fitness Test
 * Combat Fitness Test, a US Marine Corps test that assesses the Marine's field readiness
 * Contract Field Teams, a United States Air Force designed to supplement maintenance of military assets
 * Corps Féminin des Transmissions, part of the Free French forces during World War II
 * United States Army Futures Command's CFTs, each a team of teams, led by a requirements leader, program manager, sustainer, tester
 * Secretary of Defense-Empowered Cross-Functional Teams, specialized organizations within the DOD designed to assist it in addressing complex, cross-cutting problems and facilitating reforms

Transport

 * Crofton Park railway station, in London, England (National Rail station code)
 * Greenlee County Airport, in Clifton, Arizona, United States (FAA code)

Others

 * Chichester Festival Theatre

 * Combating the Financing of Terrorism, related to Anti-money laundering
 * Comhairle Fo-Thuinn, the national body in Ireland for recreational diving and underwater sports
 * Compassion-focused therapy, a system of psychotherapy developed by Paul Gilbert
 * Confédération française du travail (National Confederation of Labour), former name of the Confédération des syndicats libres a French right-wing union dissolved in 2002
 * Conformal fuel tanks, additional fuel tanks fitted to an aircraft
 * Cross File Transfer, a secure computer file transfer program
 * Cross-functional team, a group of people with different expertise working toward a common goal

title: CFT


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Transwiki wiktionary

 * Was listed on Special:Ancientpages (until I added the VfD notice, that is). The title makes little sense; it's an article about "testa-lying" as police slang for "perjury". Should be, as the title says, moved to wiktionary and then deleted. Grendelkhan 16:55, 2004 May 9 (UTC)

 * Move to Wiktionary:Transwiki:Testa-lying ? - TB 20:36, 9 May 2004 (UTC)
 * You mean Testa-lying? Grendelkhan
 * What you said. Must work out transwiki one day. - TB 22:37, 9 May 2004 (UTC)


text:
Zach Galifianakis

Zachary Knight Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969 ) is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for his role as Alan in The Hangover trilogy (2009–2013). On television, he starred in the FX series Baskets (2016–2019), which he was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series in 2017. He also hosted the Funny or Die talk show Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis (2008–2018).

Galifianakis's other films include Due Date (2010), It's Kind of a Funny Story (2010), The Campaign (2012) and Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014). He has also voiced characters in animated films such as Puss in Boots (2011), The Lego Batman Movie (2017), Missing Link (2019), Ron's Gone Wrong (2021) and The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022).

Early life
Zachary Knight Galifianakis was born in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, on October 1, 1969, to community arts center director Mary Frances (née Cashion) and heating oil vendor Harry Galifianakis. His mother is of Scots-Irish and English descent, while his paternal grandparents were Greek immigrants from Crete. He was baptized in his father's Greek Orthodox faith.

He has a younger sister, Merritt, and an older brother, Greg. Their cousin is Washington Post cartoonist Nick Galifianakis, while their uncle, also named Nick Galifianakis, was a Durham attorney and politician.

He attended Wilkes Central High School, Wilkes Community College and subsequently attended North Carolina State University, where he majored in communications. While in college, Galifianakis worked at a public access station. He taught a waltz class in 1991 and crossed paths with Mary J. Blige there.

Early work
After his television debut on Boston Common, Galifianakis joined Saturday Night Live for two weeks. He has stated "I worked on Saturday Night Live for two weeks, and Britney Spears was the host one week when I was doing it. Wrote a sketch, Will Ferrell was going to play a bodyguard to her belly-button, and we were going to shrink Will down to fit into a belly-button. ...she just stared at me after I explained it to her. And then, she finally goes 'Yeah, that's funny.'" Galifianakis co-starred in the film Out Cold, and had small roles in Corky Romano, Below, Bubble Boy, Heartbreakers, Into the Wild, Super High Me, Little Fish Strange Pond and Largo.

In September 2001, he appeared in an episode of Comedy Central Presents. It included a stand-up routine, a segment with a piano, and a cappella group The Night Owls (introduced as his "12 ex-girlfriends") singing "Eternal Flame" by The Bangles while he made jokes. In 2002, he hosted his own VH1 talk show called Late World with Zach. It featured many of his friends and regular performers from the Los Angeles comedy and music venue Largo where he appeared frequently during this time period. He played Davis in the Fox drama series Tru Calling. He appeared many times on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and played Frisbee in Reno 911!

Galifianakis played Alan Finger on the Comedy Central show Dog Bites Man, a fake news program that caught people during candid moments thinking they were being interviewed by a real news crew. He also guest-starred in the episode of the Comedy Central show The Sarah Silverman Program as Fred the Homeless Guy. He also had a recurring guest role as a doctor on the animated Adult Swim show Tom Goes to the Mayor and appeared in several episodes of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! in a recurring role as Tairy Greene.

In 2006, Galifianakis appeared in Fiona Apple's music video for the song "Not About Love", where he is seen lip-syncing the lyrics to the song. A year later, Kanye West employed Galifianakis and indie rock musician Will Oldham for similar purposes in the second version of the video for his song "Can't Tell Me Nothing". In June 2006, Galifianakis released the single "Come On and Get It (Up in 'Dem Guts)", a comedic hip-hop dance song which features Apple's vocals.

Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn and Maria Bamford, are the four Comedians of Comedy, a periodic packaged comedy tour in the style of The Original Kings of Comedy and the Blue Collar Comedy Tour. They chose to perform at live rock clubs as opposed to comedy clubs to try to reach a different audience. Much of the tour was taped and has been featured in both a short-lived TV series on Comedy Central and a full-length film that has appeared at SXSW and on Showtime. On February 22, 2008, he made an appearance on the Jackassworld.com: 24 Hour Takeover. He interviewed various members of the Jackass cast. Galifianakis starred in first leading role in the independent film Visioneers which premiered in 2008. The film was released on direct-to-DVD. That same year, Galifianakis appeared in a web video series of advertisements for Absolut vodka, along with Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, creating a parody of the Golden Girls in which one has a deep anger issue, breaking the fourth wall in exasperation and outright violence on the set. He also completed the pilot Speed Freaks for Comedy Central.

His 2006 stand-up concert film Zach Galifianakis Live at the Purple Onion was one of the first original programs from Netflix.

Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis
Galifianakis has a series of videos on the Funny or Die website titled Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis where he conducts interviews with popular celebrities between two potted ferns. He has interviewed Jimmy Kimmel, Michael Cera, Jon Hamm, Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Bradley Cooper, Carrot Top, Conan O'Brien, Andy Richter, Andy Dick, Ben Stiller, Steve Carell, Sean Penn, Bruce Willis, Tila Tequila, Jennifer Aniston, Will Ferrell, Samuel L. Jackson, Tobey Maguire, Arcade Fire, Justin Bieber, Brie Larson, David Letterman, former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Brad Pitt and Keanu Reeves. His interview style consists of typical interview questions, bizarre non sequiturs, awkward product endorsements and sometimes inappropriate sexual questions and comments. Galifianakis won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short-Format Live-Action Entertainment Program as a producer of the show at the 66th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

Mainstream performances
Galifianakis played Alan Garner in the hit comedy The Hangover and earned the MTV Movie Award for the Best Comedic Performance. He was also prominently advertised in subsequent films that featured him in supporting roles, such as G-Force, Youth in Revolt and Up in the Air.

Galifianakis starred in the HBO series Bored to Death and hosted Saturday Night Live on March 6, 2010 during the show's 35th season, during which he shaved his beard mid-show for a sketch, and closed the show wearing a fake one. He hosted again on March 12, 2011, and shaved his head this time, in a Mr. T-like hairstyle, which was allegedly supposed to be used for a sketch that never aired due to time constraints.

In 2010, he starred in several films, including Dinner for Schmucks, It's Kind of a Funny Story, and Due Date. On October 29, 2010, while debating marijuana legalization on the show HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher, Galifianakis appeared to have smoked marijuana on live television; host Bill Maher denied that it was real marijuana in an interview with Wolf Blitzer during an episode of The Situation Room. In 2011, he reprised his role for The Hangover Part II, which was set in Thailand and voiced Humpty Dumpty in Puss in Boots. Galifianakis starred alongside Will Ferrell in Jay Roach's 2012 political comedy The Campaign. He received critical praise for his performance in the 2014 film Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), in which he starred with Michael Keaton, Emma Stone and Edward Norton. In 2017, Galifianakis voiced The Joker in The Lego Batman Movie. In February 2023, Galifianakis joined the live-action film adaptation of Lilo & Stitch as Jumba.

Charity work
In January 2014, Galifianakis and his Night of a Thousand Vaginas co-star Sarah Silverman announced their intention to raise $20,000 to help fund the Texas Abortion Fund, part of a nationwide network of funds set up to assist women in obtaining abortions in states whose legislatures had placed restrictions on the practice. The fundraiser was set up in response to the passage of Texas H.B. 2, which established several restrictions that forced a majority of the state's abortion clinics to close.

Galifianakis befriended Marie "Mimi" Haist, a homeless woman in her 80s who was living in a Santa Monica laundromat for 18 years, and bought her an apartment across the street from the laundromat. The story was revealed in the 2015 documentary Queen Mimi.

Personal life
In August 2012, Zach Galifianakis married Canadian charity worker Quinn Lundberg at the UBC Farm in Vancouver. They have two sons together: one born on September 7, 2013 (Galifianakis skipped the premiere of his film Are You Here to attend the birth) and another born on November 7, 2016.

Galifianakis has a house in Venice, Los Angeles and previously lived in Brooklyn. Galifianakis owns a farm in Sparta, North Carolina, and splits his time between the farm and his work. He said, "My farm is a place that I get to think clearly and pretend to know what I am doing." He also resides on an island in British Columbia, Canada.

title: Zach Galifianakis


text:
Conemaugh River

The Conemaugh River is a 70 mi tributary of the Kiskiminetas River in Westmoreland, Indiana, and Cambria counties in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The name means 'Otter Creek', originating from the Unami-Lenape language word kwənəmuxkw 'otter'.

Course
The Conemaugh River is formed at Johnstown (site of the Johnstown Flood) in southwestern Cambria County by the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stonycreek rivers. It flows generally west–northwest, in a winding course through the mountains along the northern edge of Laurel Hill and Chestnut Ridge. Northwest of Blairsville it is joined by Blacklick Creek. At Saltsburg it is joined from the south by Loyalhanna Creek to form the Kiskiminetas River. Along much of its lower course, the Conemaugh forms part of the boundary between Westmoreland and Indiana counties.

Watershed
The Kiskiminetas-Conemaugh river basin flows through scenic mountainous country that forms the heart of the historic coal-producing areas of western Pennsylvania. Before the Dam was constructed, the town of Livermore served the area between Blairsville and Saltsburg as an important stop along the former canal, as well as the railroad. The watershed is considered among the most degraded in the state, largely from abandoned mine drainages. The recovery of the river has been an important ongoing ecological management project of state and private agencies.

Communities
Source:

 * Blairsville
 * Bolivar
 * Johnstown
 * New Florence
 * Robinson
 * Saltsburg
 * Seward

title: Conemaugh River


text:
Boogie Pimps

Boogie Pimps are an electronic music duo from Erfurt, Germany. It was formed by two DJs: Mark J Klak and Mirko Jacob.

History
Their collaboration started in 2000, when Mirko Jacob started performing in Klak's JoueJoueClub in Erfurt. Jacob has since left the group, and his place was filled by Australian-born Jon Henderson.

In Autumn 2003, Boogie Pimps released their first single, a remix of Jefferson Airplane's cover of The Great Society's "Somebody to Love". In January 2004, this song entered the top ten of the UK Singles Chart. The music video for "Somebody to Love" features several infants sky diving out of an aeroplane towards a giant woman (Natasha Mealey) lying on a grassy hill country landscape in her underwear, singing the song.

Their second single, "Sunny" is also a cover, originally recorded by Bobby Hebb.

In 2004, they appeared on a white label, which was not widely released, under the pseudonym 'Pimps Guerilla'. They performed songs such as "Right Out of Here" and "Make 'em Drop". While "Make 'em Drop" made it onto a few compilations, "Right Out of Here" is not commercially available, with the exception of white labels. This could be for legal reasons, as extracts of lyrics and melody were sampled from the end of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody".

Albums

 * 2012 - In Pimps We Trust - The Album

Singles

 * 2003 - "Somebody to Love" - #3 UK, BPI: Silver, #10 AUS
 * 2004 - "Sunny" - #10 UK, #23 AUS
 * 2006 - "The Music in Me"
 * 2007 - God's Pimp - The Electronic EP [on CD Pussy Lounge, Vol. 2]
 * 2007 - "Then Came You"
 * 2008 - "Gang Bang"
 * 2009 - The Fresh EP
 * 2009 - "Promised Land"
 * 2009 - "PeeBoy"
 * 2010 - "All Day and All of the Night"
 * 2011 - "Knocking" feat. Darryl Pandy
 * 2011 - Brown Paper EP
 * 2012 - "24Seven"

Remixes

 * Julien Scalzo & Ron Carroll - It's You (Boogie Pimps Remix) 2018
 * Murano meets Toka feat. Dumbstruke - Nachtleben (Boogie Pimps Remix) 2012
 * Agent Greg & Terri B! Time Won't Wait - Boogie Pimps Club Mix & Soulful House Mix 2012
 * Tom Wax + Alex Stadler 	Welcome Back - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2011
 * Tujamo Mombasa - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2011
 * Sebastian Krieg & StrobeTwist in my Sobriety - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2010
 * Francesco Gomez	Primavera feat. Lety - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2010
 * Kid Massive & Blacktron Turn it up - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2010
 * Albin Myers + Dabruck & Klein	Loenneberga - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2010
 * Peter Brown & Jonathan Ulysses No Friends - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2010
 * Dirty Funker	Flat Beat - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2010
 * Sharam (Deep Dish) feat. Kid Cudi She came along - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2009
 * DBN	Jack is Back - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2009
 * Tune Brothers	Finally 2009 - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2009
 * Disco Dice Let's have a Party - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2009
 * Rosenstolz Blaue Flecken - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2009
 * Rosenstolz Blaue Flecken - Boogie Pimps Dub Remix - 2009
 * DJ P.i.P. Yostar - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2009
 * Marshall Jefferson vs. Noosa Heads Mushrooms - Boogie Pimps Rmx- 2008
 * Twisted Society vs. Bilingual Freaks Nasty Seven - Boogie Pimps Remix - 2008
 * De Jeugd van Tegenwoordig Watskeburt - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2007
 * Diego Ray Afterlite - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2007
 * Rosenstolz Wir sind wir - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2006
 * Shibuku Crazy Situation - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2006
 * Milk & Sugar	What is Love - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2005
 * Villa & Gant Wind him up - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2005
 * Voodoo & Serano	Don't you know - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2005
 * Rosenstolz	Ich komm an Dir nicht weiter - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2004
 * KLF	Build a fire - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2004
 * Kay Cee The Truth - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2003
 * Wackside vs. Chic Le Freak - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2003
 * Mondo Grande	Mondo Grande - Boogie Pimps Rmx - 2003
 * Jason Nevins I'm In Heaven - Boogie Pimps Rmx- 2003

title: Boogie Pimps


text:
Juan Maldacena

Juan Martín Maldacena (born 10 September 1968) is an Argentine theoretical physicist and the Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. He has made significant contributions to the foundations of string theory and quantum gravity. His most famous discovery is the AdS/CFT correspondence, a realization of the holographic principle in string theory.

Biography
Maldacena obtained his licenciatura (a six-year degree) in 1991 at the Instituto Balseiro, Bariloche, Argentina, under the supervision of Gerardo Aldazábal. He then obtained his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University after completing a doctoral dissertation titled "Black holes in string theory" under the supervision of Curtis Callan in 1996, and went on to a post-doctoral position at Rutgers University. In 1997, he joined Harvard University as associate professor, being quickly promoted to Professor of Physics in 1999. Since 2001 he has been a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and in 2016 became the first Carl P. Feinberg Professor of Theoretical Physics in the institute's School of Natural Sciences.

Contributions to physics
Maldacena has made numerous discoveries in theoretical physics. Leonard Susskind called him "perhaps the greatest physicist of his generation... certainly the greatest theoretical physicist of his generation". His most famous discovery is the most reliable realization of the holographic principle – namely the AdS/CFT correspondence, a conjecture about the equivalence of string theory on Anti-de Sitter (AdS) space, and a conformal field theory defined on the boundary of the AdS space. According to the conjecture, certain theories of quantum gravity are equivalent to other quantum mechanical theories (with no gravitational force) in one fewer spacetime dimensions.

In subsequent works, Maldacena elucidated several aspects of the AdS/CFT correspondence, describing how certain physical observables defined in one theory can be described in the equivalent theory. Shortly after his original work on the AdS/CFT correspondence, Maldacena showed how Wilson lines can be computed in a corresponding string theory by considering the area swept by an evolving fundamental string. Wilson lines are non-local physical observables defined in gauge theory. In 2001, Maldacena proposed that an eternal black hole, an object defined in a gravitational theory, is equivalent to a certain entangled state involving two copies of the corresponding quantum mechanical theory. Ordinary black holes emit Hawking radiation and eventually evaporate. An eternal black hole is a type of black hole that survives forever because it eventually re-absorbs the radiation it emits.

In 2013, Maldacena co-authored an analysis of the 2012 black hole firewall paradox with Leonard Susskind, arguing that the paradox can be resolved if entangled particles are connected by minor wormholes."

Awards
Maldacena has received these awards:

 * Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Fellowship, 1998
 * Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering, 1998
 * MacArthur Fellowship, 1999
 * UNESCO Husein Prize for Young Scientists, 1999
 * Sackler Prize in Physics, 2000
 * Xanthopoulos International Award for Research in Gravitational Physics, 2001
 * Pius XI Medal, 2002
 * Edward A. Bouchet Award of the American Physical Society, 2004
 * Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, elected 2007
 * Dannie Heineman Prize, 2007
 * Dirac Medal of the ICTP, 2008
 * Pomeranchuk Prize, 2012
 * Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, 2012.
 * Member of the National Academy of Sciences, elected 2013
 * Diamond Konex Award as the most important scientist in the last decade in Argentina, 2013
 * Lorentz Medal, 2018
 * Albert Einstein Medal, 2018
 * St. Albert Award, 2018
 * Galileo Galilei Medal, 2019
 * Les Houches School of Physics prize 2020

title: Juan Maldacena


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Bob Hartley

Robert "Bob" Hartley (born September 7, 1960) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach. He most recently served as the head coach of Avangard Omsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He has additionally coached the Latvia men's national ice hockey team. He coached the Colorado Avalanche from 1998–2002 and won the Stanley Cup in 2001. He also coached the Atlanta Thrashers from the 2003–04 season up until the beginning of the 2007–08 season, when he was fired after the Thrashers got off to an 0–6 start. Hartley was an ice hockey analyst for the French-language RDS television channel until 2011, when he became the head coach of the ZSC Lions of the Swiss National League A. From 2012 to 2016, Hartley was the head coach of the Calgary Flames.

Early years
Bob Hartley never played a game in the NHL, instead beginning his coaching career with a junior A team in his hometown of Hawkesbury. After guiding the team to a championship, his accolades caught the eye of the Laval Titan of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). While Hartley was coaching the junior A Hawkesbury Hawks, he worked full-time as an assembly line worker at PPG Industries in Hawkesbury.

Laval Titan
Hartley's tenure as the Laval Titan head coach was marked with success. He recorded an 81–52–7 record in two seasons with the team. In his second season as the team's head coach, he guided the team to a Memorial Cup participation in 1993.

American Hockey League
Hartley was hired as an assistant coach of the American Hockey League (AHL)'s Cornwall Aces under Jacques Martin. When Martin was appointed assistant coach of the parent Quebec Nordiques, Hartley was promoted to head coach and guided the Aces to two division titles during the team's three-year history. When the relocated Nordiques, now known as the Colorado Avalanche, became affiliated with the Hershey Bears, Hartley followed the team and was named head coach of the Bears. Hartley's tenure with the Bears was a success as he guided the team to four consecutive playoff appearances and a Calder Cup title in 1997.

Colorado Avalanche
Hartley's success with the Bears caught the eye of then-Avalanche general manager Pierre Lacroix, who was looking for a replacement for Marc Crawford, who had suddenly resigned after a surprising first round playoff exit. Hartley was hired as the team's second head coach since the relocation to Denver on June 2, 1998. In his first season with the Avalanche, the team got off to a 2–1–6 start, the mediocre start prompted skeptics to question the hiring. When the team caught fire in mid-December, they won their first Northwest Division title and fifth-straight overall. During the 1999 Stanley Cup playoffs, the team defeated the San Jose Sharks in the first round and halted the Detroit Red Wings quest for a three-peat before bowing to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Dallas Stars in the Western Finals. Hartley's second season saw the team win their sixth consecutive division title along with playoff victories over the Phoenix Coyotes and a rematch with the Red Wings before bowing to the defending champion Dallas in the Western Final for the second consecutive year.

Hartley's third season was ultimately his most successful one. Motivated by Ray Bourque's desire to win a Stanley Cup championship, the Avalanche coasted through the league with a 52–16–10–4 record, a seventh consecutive division title along with the Presidents' Trophy. The playoffs began with a first round sweep of the eighth seed Vancouver Canucks before enduring a seven-game scare by the Los Angeles Kings in the Western Semi-Finals before taking down the St. Louis Blues in five games, setting up a Stanley Cup Finals matchup with the Eastern Conference's top seed, the New Jersey Devils. After falling behind three games to two in the series, the Avalanche rallied back to win the Stanley Cup, accomplishing Bourque's goal and making it the second-straight year the defending champions had lost in the finals, as the Devils themselves defeated the 1999 champion Dallas Stars the year prior.

Another notable milestone from the 2000–01 NHL season for Hartley included coaching the North American All-Star team to a 14–11 victory on home ice. Hartley brought the Stanley Cup to his hometown of Hawkesbury, bringing the trophy to the PPG Industries plant he worked at. The following season, the team won their eighth consecutive division title and looked sharp in their quest for a second consecutive Stanley Cup. At the start of the playoffs, Hartley became the first head coach since Billy Reay to guide his teams to four consecutive conference final appearances. After two grueling playoff series victories over the Los Angeles Kings and San Jose Sharks, in a repeat of the 1997 Western Finals, the team bowed to the archrival Detroit Red Wings, who would go on to win the Stanley Cup. Hartley's tenure with the Avalanche ended on December 17, 2002, when the team endured a 10–8–9–4 start and he was replaced by assistant coach Tony Granato. Hartley left the Avalanche franchise with a 193–109–48 regular season record and a 49–31 playoff record. His 193 wins were the most in the Colorado portion of franchise history at the time. He became the only coach in team history to record 40 or more wins during his first four seasons as head coach.

Atlanta Thrashers
One month after being fired by the Avalanche, Hartley was appointed as the second full-time head coach of the Atlanta Thrashers, who were looking for a replacement after original head coach Curt Fraser was fired following an 8–20–4–1 start on January 15, 2003. Hartley immediately went to work on the team's fortunes. The team went 20–14–5–1 down the stretch and were in the playoff race for the second half of the season, giving hope to Thrasher fans. Hartley's first full season behind the Atlanta bench began with tragedy following the death of Dan Snyder and loss of Dany Heatley for the majority of the season. The team overcame the adversity and set new franchise records for wins and points in a single season with a 33–37–8–4 record. Under Hartley's guidance, rising star Ilya Kovalchuk became a tri-winner of the Maurice "Rocket" Richard Trophy. Following the 2004–05 NHL lockout, the Thrashers endured yet another slow start and multiple injuries at the goaltending position. After original goaltenders Kari Lehtonen and Mike Dunham were injured, Hartley was forced to use prospects Adam Berkhoel and Michael Garnett along with journeyman Steve Shields, the Thrashers posted the first winning season in franchise history with a 41–33–8 record, but fell short for a playoff appearance after losing out to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the final week of the regular season by two points. The 2006–07 NHL season was one of many accomplishments for the young Thrashers under Hartley's guidance. The team won their first Southeast Division title, setting new franchise records for wins and points with a 43–28–11 record, good enough for 97 points and third seed in the Eastern Conference. The team also clinched its first playoff berth in franchise history and played the New York Rangers in the first round. As of April 16, 2007, Hartley is the all-time winningest coach in franchise history. On October 17, 2007, Hartley was fired and was temporarily replaced by Don Waddell, the general manager at the time. Hartley was under fire because the team had yet to register a point in six regular season games, was 30th and 27th in the NHL in goals for and against, respectively.

ZSC Lions
On March 14, 2011, Hartley signed a two-year contract to coach the ZSC Lions, replacing former Sweden national team head coach Bengt-Åke Gustafsson. On April 17, 2012, Hartley led ZSC Lions to a Game 7 upset victory against favourite SC Bern to claim the Swiss championship. Hartley then used his escape clause to return to the NHL and was replaced as Lions head coach by Marc Crawford, the man he had replaced as Avalanche head coach in 1998.

Calgary Flames
On May 31, 2012, Hartley returned to the NHL as head coach of the Calgary Flames. On June 24, 2015, Hartley won the Jack Adams Award as the NHL's coach of the year. He was the first coach in Flames franchise history to win the award. He was fired on May 3, 2016, less than one year after receiving the award, but achieving a 134–135–25 record and one playoff appearance over his four seasons in Calgary.

Latvian national team
On December 20, 2016, the Latvian Ice Hockey Federation announced that Hartley agreed to become the head coach of Latvia national team. During the 2021 IIHF World Championship, he led the Latvians to victory in a match against Canada, scoring 2-0. This historical victory marked the first time Latvia won against the superior Canadian men's national ice hockey team.

Avangard Omsk
On May 27, 2018, he was appointed head coach of Avangard Omsk, playing in the Kontinental Hockey League. He signed a contract with Avangard for a period of two years. He brought the team to the final of the Gagarin Cup, in which the club from Omsk lost in four matches to CSKA Moscow.

On April 28, 2021, while remaining the head coach of Avangard, he won the Gagarin Cup.

Personal life
Hartley and his wife Micheline have one daughter, Kristine, and one son, Steve.

Despite his anglophone-sounding name, Hartley is a Franco-Ontarian. French is his first language; his English has a marked French accent.

Championships

 * Gagarin Cup - 2021
 * Stanley Cup – 2001
 * Calder Cup – 1997
 * NLA champion – 2012
 * President's Cup – 1993

title: Bob Hartley


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User talk:Ormondad

Hello "Ormondad" and welcome to Wikipedia. A few tips for you:

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Copyright violation
Hello Ormondad. Please be more careful in what you copy from the internet. You can copy content only from another site to Wikipedia if it explicitly says that the content is either public domain or GNU General Public License. We have to delete all other stuff that is copyrighted. If you find a site with public domain info, then you can copy some information. Please spend also some time to wikify the content, i.e. to add links to other sites and to format the text. Thank you -- Chris 73 | Talk 12:16, 12 May 2004 (UTC)

Hi Ormondad! Please note that you cannot just copy stuff from other web pages. In most cases, this is a copyright violation, and such articles will be removed from Wikipedia. See Copyright for more information.

Also please be careful not to copy entries from some website that (quite legally) mirrors Wikipedia content. The Sieur de Maisonneuve and related articles, for instance, already existed here under the title Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve.

Apart from that: have fun! Lupo 12:21, 12 May 2004 (UTC)

title: User talk:Ormondad