Growing up in Calgary, George Gosbee had a dream. "Every boy wants to play in the NHL," he said. "Once you realize thats not possible, you change your focus and you start to think about owning a team." Not every boy goes right from thinking about being on the ice to overseeing all aspects of a hockey team as an owner, but Gosbee spent decades honing his business acumen and last week finalized the purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes with his IceArizona group. Not far into his ownership odyssey, he called it a "total dream come true." "Everythings on track for what we wanted to do and were making some progress," Gosbee said in a phone interview this week. "So far theres been no surprises." Maybe there were a few surprises. Gosbee arrived at his Glendale office Wednesday to find flowers sent from a fan on his desk. When he was leaving an Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game, a police officer stopped him just to say thank you. "Its the first time Ive been stopped that way from a police officer," Gosbee said. "I was really surprised by the outpouring and the thank yous coming in in this community. ... Everybodys just been positive and appreciative of what weve done." To get the deal done, Gosbee and his partners, who include fellow Canadian businessmen Anthony LeBlanc and Avik Dey, had to go through the long process of getting NHL approval, securing financing and finishing up a lease deal for Jobing.com arena. So when the Coyotes asked Gosbee to start using Twitter, he was overwhelmed by the flood of positive responses. "Thats been pleasant because weve been really trying to grind out this deal for the last little while and weve been so focused in on the deal that we lost sense of why we were doing it," he said. In the long-term, Gosbee knew exactly why he was doing this. Through years of successful business ventures, the banker and financier became more and more fascinated with the prospect of owning a professional sports team. Gosbee, 43, calls himself a "live-sports junkie," but at the core hes a businessman. "When this opportunity came up," said Gosbee, who is chairman and chief executive officer of Alberta-based AltaCorp Capital Inc. "I just had to keep putting that out of my head and keep focusing on the financial aspects of it." That wasnt just the focus in buying the team. It remains Gosbee and LeBlancs goal moving forward, as they plan to let general manager Don Maloney and coach Dave Tippett work the on-ice product largely unimpeded. "Im not looking to run a team," Gosbee said. "I think, especially in business, its all about people. We had a lot of confidence in what Don Maloney and Dave Tippett have done with this team, given all the adversity and obstacles and a limited budget. ... "We believe in those two guys and want to provide them with all the financial resources we can and let them do their job." But from an ownership standpoint, Gosbee is drawing from his youth in Calgary and not just his feelings and memories of when the Flames moved from Atlanta. "When the Flames came to Calgary, I was the happiest kid on the planet," he said. "I remember how that group came to be, and it was a group of strong, successful, level-headed businessmen, very strong in the community and successful but not flamboyant. And they were all friends as well. So I took that model and put together a group of friends that were successful and similar to the Flames ownership." Gosbee and Co. can only hope to have the same success. But he concedes that Arizona in 2013 is a much different situation than Calgary in 1980. "Back then you were really on your own when you owned a team," Gosbee said. "Now, we really bought one 30th of the NHL and were managing a team in Phoenix, so its a different concept now with regards to how the league works. Im kind of bullish on the structure, how it works, and that was another reason why I wanted to get into it." Mark Chipman and True North bought into that NHL ownership structure two years ago when the Thrashers moved and became the Winnipeg Jets. And while new ownership gives the Coyotes something of a fresh start, this is a unique situation because its the same team that has played in Glendale with varying degrees of success and fan interest. Its a situation Gosbee sees the best in. He called the Coyotes mix of players one of the best in the league, citing the leadership of Shane Doan, and hopes to cultivate an even bigger fan base now that at least the short-term future is secure. "The fan base down here has to be one of the most loyal fan bases Ive seen, to continue to buy season tickets, to continue to make the drive out here (to the arena in Glendale)," he said. "Its asking those fans to come back that werent really wanting to support a team that was thinking about leaving. And theres a lot of those fans around. ... "Theres number of things that are going to happen that I think those fans are going to come back. Also I think were going to be able to generate new fans based off the stability of ownership." Gosbee is confident hockey in Arizona will work out long-term as well, based on the size of the Phoenix metropolitan area and the large number of Canadians who live there. At the moment, Gosbee is homeless. He lost his Calgary house in the floods earlier this year, but bought another one there to fulfil a promise to his wife. Hes looking for a place in Arizona. He and the IceArizona ownership group have already made sure the Coyotes have a home there, for at least the next five years. Leaving hockey to Maloney and his staff, Gosbee and the collective "brain trust" of IceArizona are convinced they can do enough on the business side to ensure an NHL presence in the desert for a long time. "Theres one unique thing about this deal: Its not all dependent upon one thing working," Gosbee said. "Theres five or six or even seven type of avenues that were all pursuing on increasing revenue. Some of those wont work and some of them will, and were not dependent on any one particular avenue to go with." Fake NCAA Jerseys . The 19-year-old Olsen played 34 games with the Kelowna Rockets of the WHL this season. In that time, hes recorded 17 goals and 17 assists with 36 penalty minutes. Wholesale Fake Jerseys . It says Pocklingtons lawyer filed the appeal Friday in a California court. CTV Edmonton also says Pocklington gave a $100,000 cash deposit as part of the conditions of his bail, and that he will be out on bail until his appeal is heard. http://www.fakejersey.com/fake-basketball-jerseys/ . Pirlo limped out of Sundays 1-0 win over Udinese after just 13 minutes. Juventus says Pirlo underwent tests on Monday which revealed he has "a second-degree lesion to the collateral medial ligament in his right knee. Cheap Fake Jerseys . A big centre with all the tools to be an elite player, Johansen paced the Blue Jackets with a standout game Saturday night. He had a goal and two assists for a career-high three points as Columbus beat the New York Islanders 5-2 to snap a five-game losing streak. Fake Jerseys Online . -- Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Alrdridge were again the go-to duo for the Trail Blazers against the Kings.Richard Whiting has brought his 12-year spell at Hull to an end by turning his loan deal with Championship leaders Leigh into a permanent move. The 31-year-old centre or second-rower scored 78 tries in 257 games for Hull after joining them from Featherstone in 2004 and was a member of their 2005 Challenge Cup-winning side. Unable to break into Lee Radfords team this year, he joined the Centurions two months ago and will now stay on loan at the Leigh Sports Village until the end of the season, when he will take up a contract until the end of 2017.Leigh coach Neil Jukes said: Richard is a great professional and has proved himself to be a big asset during his time with us.He is a very versatile player and has really enjoyed his time here. I know that in one way he will be sad to leave Hull after giving many years of valuable service to them but he is excited by the challenge at Leigh Centurions and ready to write a new chapter into his illustrious playing career.Whiting was named Super Leagues young player of the year in 2005 and scored a try in Hulls shock Challenge Cup final win over Leeds. He was also in the Hull team that reached the 2006 Super League Grand Final.Whiting said: I knew at some point it would be time to say goodbye.The opportunity has presented itself at Leigh where I am really enjjoying playing and it is an exciting time to be around the club so it is the right time for me and the club.ddddddddddddWe have a great squad at Leigh and a chance to go up into Super League, which is exciting and something I want to be part of. Whiting joined Leigh on loan earlier this year Hull coach Lee Radford said: Rich has been a fantastic servant to the club since day one and his utility value has been important over the many years he has played for us.Hes done the same job in whichever position hes been asked to play, both in the build-up to matches and switching during games.We are at a point where we couldnt guarantee Rich regular footy and he is at the stage in his career where that is important, he needs to be playing week in-week out.Leigh have presented him with the opportunity to have that both this season and beyond, so the call was a no-brainer for him. Also See: Rugby League on Sky Fixtures and results Follow @SkySportsRL Pundits ' ' '
