The National Hockey League (NHL; French: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH) is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States. Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is widely considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada. The Stanley Cup, the oldest professional sports trophy in North America, is awarded annually to the league playoff champion at the end of each season.

The league was organized on November 26, 1917, in Montreal, Canada, after the suspension of operations of its predecessor organization, the National Hockey Association (NHA), which had been founded in 1909. It started with four teams and, through a series of expansions, contractions, and relocations, the league is now composed of 30 active franchises. The nation to which the name of the league originally referred was Canada, although the league is now binational with a preponderance of teams in the United States. After a labour dispute that led to the cancellation of the entire 2004–05 season, the league resumed play under a new collective bargaining agreement that included a salary cap. In 2009, the NHL enjoyed record highs in terms of sponsorships, crowds and television audiences.

Dustin Brown (born December 8, 1984 in Celle, West Germany) is a German-Jamaican professional tennis player. Brown competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour, both in singles and doubles. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking, No. 89, and his highest ATP doubles ranking, No. 53, on January 17, 2011.

Brown announced in June 2010, that due to a lack of funding and support from the Jamaican Tennis Association, he is tempted to switch nationality, and play professional tennis for Great Britain, due to his paternal British grandparents.

In October 2010 he decided to play under the German flag. He was first marked as a German player at the Main Draw at Eckental. The move was also confirmed on his official Facebook page.

In his second main circuit appearance after a first round loss at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in 2003, Brown defeated 4th seed Marco Chiudinelli and ATP No. 139 Laurent Recouderc to reach the quarterfinals of the 2010 SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg, South Africa, where he lost to eventual runner-up Stéphane Robert. Brown became the second Jamaican after Doug Burke at the 1989 BP National Championships in Wellington, New Zealand, to reach the quarterfinals of a main Tour event.

Marc Staal (born January 13, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman and alternate captain for the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League. He is the younger brother of Eric Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes, and older brother of Jordan Staal of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Jared Staal, who plays in the Hurricanes organization. Of the four brothers, Marc is the only defenseman.

Staal grew up playing minor hockey in his hometown of Thunder Bay, ON and was a minor hockey teammate of future NHL'ers Tom Pyatt, Ryan Parent and Taylor Chorney with the Thunder Bay Kings AAA program.

He was selected 2nd overall in the 2003 OHL Priority Selection by the Sudbury Wolves after a solid season with the Minor Midget Kings.

Staal played junior hockey from 2003–2007 for the Sudbury Wolves in the Ontario Hockey League where he was the team's captain, and led the Wolves to their first trip to the OHL finals in 30 years.[1] He was drafted by the New York Rangers in 2005 NHL Entry Draft in the 1st round, 12th pick overall.

Taylor Strba Hall (born November 14, 1991) is a Canadian ice hockey left winger currently playing for the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was the first overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Hall has had a highly successful junior career, helping the Windsor Spitfires to two consecutive Memorial Cup championships in 2009 and 2010. He was named Most Valuable Player of the Memorial Cup tournament both years. Hall's agent is former NHL defenceman Bobby Orr. On July 5, 2010, Hall signed his first professional contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

Hall was born in Calgary, Alberta, he is the son of Steve Hall and Kim Strba. His father was a former Canadian Football League player for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts and Ottawa Rough Riders in the mid-1980s, after which he was a member of the Canadian national bobsleigh team. His mother introduced him to organized hockey at the age of five while his father maintained a backyard rink every winter which Hall and his friends practiced on relentlessly. His family moved to Kingston, Ontario, in 2005, where he attended high school at Frontenac Secondary School.^{[citation needed]}

Sidney Patrick Crosby, ONS (born August 7, 1987) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player who is captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). Crosby was drafted first overall by the Penguins out of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). During his two-year major junior career with the Rimouski Océanic, he earned back-to-back CHL Player of the Year awards and led his club to the 2005 Memorial Cup final. Nicknamed "The Next One", he was one of the most highly regarded draft picks in hockey history, leading many to refer to the 2005 Draft Lottery as the "Sidney Crosby Sweepstakes".