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As general manager of the NHLs expansion Las Vegas franchise, George McPhee wants to build a team that will entertain fans in a unique market and bring hockeys hallowed trophy to the desert sooner rather than later.Named the first GM in franchise history Wednesday, the seasoned McPhee had the deep resume to convince owner Bill Foley to choose him from among seven candidates. Now its up to him to build Las Vegas from scratch to begin play in 2017-18, a task he knows wont be easy.Our mission here is clear: Were going to build an organization and a team that people in Nevada and Las Vegas will be proud of, and were going to do it quickly and were aiming at the Stanley Cup, McPhee said. Its that simple.McPhee most recently served as special adviser to New York Islanders GM Garth Snow and before that spent 16 seasons as GM of the Washington Capitals. As the Capitals GM, McPhee oversaw a complete rebuild around star winger Alex Ovechkin that led to six consecutive playoff appearances before he was fired in 2014.He took Washington from being a team that was scrambling and sort of turned it around, so I think that experience will be a big plus, said Doug MacLean, who was the Columbus Blue Jackets GM when they entered the league in 2000. I think its a real good fit.McPhee has a strong history of drafting and developing players, and his extensive NHL experience earned him the position over younger candidates. Foley said McPhee got the nod over two other finalists because of his communication skills.Foley said he wanted a GM who was focused, dedicated and had a take-no-prisoner attitude and feels he got that in McPhee.We all want to win, and hes going to win for us, but I like to have people that I really get along with and that I can communicate with, Foley said. We had great candidates, they were all good. I just felt there was a little something extra with George.Despite not winning the Cup in Washington, McPhees success with the Capitals is what made him a sought-after candidate for openings in Toronto and Boston a year ago and now in Las Vegas. His experience in taking the second-oldest team in the league, tearing it down and creating a perennial playoff contender in the salary-cap era will suit him well in his new endeavor.I think Ill be hopefully even better the second time around, McPhee said. There are lots of GMs in this business that have done a good job in one place and gone to the next place and won Cups. Id like to be one of those guys.A long rebuilding process McPhee said can be negative fun and called taking over a brand new team a phenomenal opportunity.Here you come in and its a clean slate and you get to pick everyone in your organization, McPhee said. This is what every GM wants to experience at some point in his career, to be able to start with a new franchise.With Las Vegas -- which Foley said doesnt have a name yet because of trademark issues -- McPhee will have it a bit easier based on stricter NHL rules on how many players can be protected. The 58-year-old from Guelph, Ontario deemed it a much more generous pool of players than previous expansion teams have been able to choose from.McPhee expects to have a nice start from the June 2017 expansion draft but cautioned that in the NHL teams dont win by spending big in free agency. He pointed to his enormous success in drafting well in Washington and said that will be the key to Las Vegas being a short- and long-term winner.McPhee helped construct back-to-back gold-medal winners for Canada at the past two world hockey championships. Brad Treliving, his co-GM at the 2016 worlds and GM of the Calgary Flames, selfishly would have liked to see McPhee working outside the Pacific Division and the Western Conference.I was hoping maybe George could go back to the East, just take the team and move it to the East, Treliving said by phone Wednesday. Youre really happy for him. Then you take a deep breath and go, `Oh great, another excellent manager that youre competing against. But thats the game, everybodys good.McPhees duties with the Islanders included scouting, which will be one of his primary jobs next season in preparation for the launch of the franchise. McPhee expects to begin hiring staff next week and will spend the 2016-17 season watching plenty of games to find players at the amateur and pro levels.For all his talk about wanting to win right away and win the Cup within Foleys eight-year window, McPhee has shown restraint and patience as a GM. A title is his goal, but first its about putting a team on the ice that will thrill the 15,000-plus fans who signed up for season tickets to make the NHL in Vegas happen.The whole thing is a process, McPhee said. Well play a brand of hockey that people will like. Ive never enjoyed that sit-back style of hockey. I like a team thats attacking all the time, pressuring pucks all over the ice. I love the way Pittsburgh played this year and they won the Stanley Cup. Well be doing the same sorts of things.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno .Custom San Jose Sharks Jerseys . Isner, ranked No. 14, won his eighth career singles title and took the title in New Zealand for the second time after his victory in 2010. The match was similar to Isners quarterfinal victory over fifth-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber which went to three sets, all tiebreaks and contained no breaks of serve. Brent Burns Jersey . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. 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Aaron Dell Sharks Jersey .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals.NEW YORK -- Northwestern came into the Legends Classic off a last-second loss to Butler.It didnt seem to bother the Wildcats as they beat No. 22 Texas 77-58 on Monday night.Im really proud of my guys tonight. We had a very tough loss Wednesday in Hinkle Fieldhouse at Butler, Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. Teams can go two separate ways after a loss like that. You can go on a little bit of a tailspin or you can rally together and come out fighting. There was never a doubt in my mind that our guys were going to keep fighting. We came in confident, yet very respectful of Texas. We knew it was going to take a great effort to beat a team like that. I thought a lot of guys played well.Bryant McIntosh had 20 points and five assists in the convincing win that propelled the Wildcats (3-1) into a championship showdown against Notre Dame, which beat Colorado 89-81, on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.McIntosh turned the ball over that led to Butlers buzzer-beater.I thought right after the Butler game, I knew we wouldnt go into a tailspin just because we didnt feel sorry for ourselves, McIntosh said. We were upset that we lost a game that we thought we could win. Thats a difference with this team than on the other teams Ive been on since being here. If we lost a close game, we felt sorry for ourselves where this team were hungry. We think were good and I thought tonight we played exceptionally well.Northwestern opened the game with an 11-0 run and closed the first half on a 9-0 spurt to take a 34-26 lead.The Wildcats opened the second half on a 10-1 run to go up by 17 points and the Longhorns (3-1) were never closer than 14 points the rest of the way.Scottie Lindsey had 16 points and Dererk Pardon had 10 points and 11 rebounds for Northwestern which took advantage of an out-of-synch Texas offense for the easy win.We came in to win, Collins said. We have the utmost respect for Texas, just like we did at Butler the other night. I just think theres a mindset with these guys. I think we believe were good. I believe we can play with these teams, not only play with them but beat them.Tavin Maack scored 18 points for the Longhorns, who finished with 14 turnovers and just seven assists.dddddddddddd Texas didnt help itself at the free throw line going 13 for 27.I thought Northwestern did a great job of starting the game with aggressiveness and got off to that big lead, Texas coach Shaka Smart said. Our guys responded really well and battled back and took the lead but obviously from there, Northwestern was just a much better team tonight.Northwestern, which shot 48.2 percent (27 for 56), led by as many as 20 points as nine of the 10 players who saw time scored.Texas, which came into the game averaging 82 points per game, shot 37.3 percent (19 for 51) and were outrebounded 40-31.I was a little bit concerned this morning because sometimes you can feel when guys get in the bright lights, you can tell theyre playing a little bit away from what really goes into it, Smart said. Its natural. I think we were a step off with a lot of things we know how to do.BIG PICTURE:Texas: The Longhorns allowed opponents to shoot 21.8 percent from 3-point range in their first three games. Northwestern was 10 of 24 (41.7 percent) from beyond the arc. ... Six Texas players were averaging double figures entering the game and only Mack reached that against the Wildcats.Northwestern: Vic Law came into the game shooting 76.8 percent (11 of 14) from 3-point range including eight in a row at one stretch. He went 1 for 2 Monday. ... Law was the Wildcats leading scorer at 20.3 points per game. He had just nine against Texas.BIRTHDAY WISH:McIntosh celebrated his birthday Sunday by heading to the famed Rucker Park with his godfather to shoot baskets.RARE MEETING:Northwestern leads the all-time series 2-1. The last time the teams met was in 1974, a 63-59 Texas victory. The first meeting was a 73-71 Northwestern victory in 1965.UP NEXT:Texas: will play Colorado for third place in the Legends Classic.Northwestern: will play Notre Dame in the championship game of the Legends Classic. ' ' '