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National Hockey League

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Sports events

   National Hockey League
   The modernized NHL shield logo debuted in 2005, replacing the orange
   and black shield.
   Sport Ice hockey
   Founded 1917
   No. of teams 30
   Country Flag of Canada  Canada
   Flag of United States  United States
   Current champions Carolina Hurricanes
   Official website NHL.com

   The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional sports organization
   composed of ice hockey teams in North America. Its French name is Ligue
   Nationale de Hockey (LNH). It is the premier professional ice hockey
   league in the world, and one of the North American major professional
   sports leagues. The league's teams are divided into two conferences,
   each comprising three divisions.

   The league was founded in 1917 in Montreal, Quebec with five teams, and
   through a series of expansions, reductions and relocations is now
   composed of 30 teams, 24 of which are based in the United States and
   six in Canada. After a labour dispute that led to the cancellation of
   the complete 2004–05 season, the league has staged a successful 2005–06
   regular season and 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

   Historically, due to its origins in Canada, a large majority of players
   in the National Hockey League are Canadians. Over the past 25 years,
   due to the NHL's continued expansion into the United States, its high
   standard of play compared to other leagues, and the availability of
   highly skilled European players from Eastern Europe after the fall of
   communism, there has been an increasing presence of American and
   European players. Nevertheless, more than half of the league's players
   on the 2005–06 roster were born in Canada.

History

   After a series of disputes in the Canadian National Hockey Association
   (NHA) between the owner of the Toronto Blueshirts and the owners of
   other teams, all the owners met at the Windsor Hotel in Montreal to
   talk about the NHA's future. Their discussions eventually led to the
   creation of the National Hockey League in 1917; the founding teams were
   the Montreal Canadiens, Montreal Wanderers, Ottawa Senators, Quebec
   Bulldogs and the newly-renamed Toronto Arenas.
   Montreal Canadiens in 1942
   Enlarge
   Montreal Canadiens in 1942

   Even though the league struggled to stay in business during its first
   decade, the NHL's teams were very successful on the ice; during the
   NHL's first nine years, NHL teams won the Stanley Cup seven times. By
   1926 the NHL was the only league competing for the Stanley Cup. The NHL
   then started a process of expansion; the Hamilton Tigers were added in
   the 1920–21 season; the Boston Bruins (the first United States based
   NHL franchise in 1924) and Montreal Maroons entered the league in
   1924–25; the New York Americans and the Pittsburgh Pirates entered in
   the 1925–26 season; and the New York Rangers, Chicago Blackhawks, and
   the Detroit Cougars (now known as the Red Wings) entered in the 1926–27
   season. By the end of the 1930–31 season, the NHL had a total of 10
   teams. Among other reasons, the Great Depression and the onset of World
   War II, however, took a toll on the league, and the NHL was reduced to
   six teams in 1942. These six teams (Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple
   Leafs, Detroit Red Wings, Chicago Blackhawks, Boston Bruins, and New
   York Rangers) are collectively known as the Original Six, and for the
   next quarter-century were the only teams in the National Hockey League.

   The rise of the Western Hockey League, which many pundits thought would
   transform into a major league and challenge for the Stanley Cup,
   spurred the NHL in 1967 to undertake its first expansion since the
   1920s. Six new teams were added to the NHL roster, and placed in their
   own newly-created division. These six teams included the Philadelphia
   Flyers, St. Louis Blues, Minnesota North Stars, Los Angeles Kings,
   Oakland Seals, and Pittsburgh Penguins. Three years later, the NHL
   added the Vancouver Canucks and Buffalo Sabres as franchises.

   In 1972, the World Hockey Association (WHA) was formed and though it
   never challenged for the Stanley Cup, its status as a potential rival
   to the NHL did not go unnoticed. In response, the NHL decided to rush
   its own expansion plans by adding the New York Islanders and Atlanta
   Flames in the same year, which was followed by the addition of the
   Kansas City Scouts and Washington Capitals two years later. The two
   leagues fought for hockey players and fans until the WHA folded in
   1979. Four of the remaining six WHA teams merged into the NHL: the
   Hartford Whalers, Québec Nordiques, Edmonton Oilers, and Winnipeg Jets.

   In the early 1990s, the NHL further expanded with five new franchises.
   The San Jose Sharks entered in 1991; a season later the Ottawa Senators
   would join the NHL along with the Tampa Bay Lightning. In 1993, the
   league added two additional teams, the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and the
   Florida Panthers. Approaching the new millennium, the NHL added another
   four teams: the Nashville Predators (1998), the Atlanta Thrashers
   (1999), the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets (both added in
   2000), bringing the total to 30 teams.

Game

   Los Angeles Kings' Mike Weaver battling for the puck against Calgary
   Flames' Daymond Langkow, December 21, 2005
   Enlarge
   Los Angeles Kings' Mike Weaver battling for the puck against Calgary
   Flames' Daymond Langkow, December 21, 2005

   Each National Hockey League regulation game is an ice hockey game
   played between two teams and is 60 minutes long. The game is composed
   of three 20-minute periods with an intermission of 15.5 minutes
   (17-minutes for nationally televised games) between periods. At the end
   of the 60 minute regulation time, the team with the most goals wins the
   game. If a game is tied after regulation time, overtime ensues. During
   the regular season, overtime is a five-minute, four-player on
   four-player sudden-death period, in which the first team to score a
   goal wins the game. Beginning in 2005–06, if the game is still tied at
   the end of overtime, the game enters a shootout. Three players for each
   team in turn take a penalty shot. The team with the most goals during
   the three round shootout wins the game. If the game is still tied after
   the three shootout rounds, the shootout continues, but becomes sudden
   death. Whichever team ultimately wins the shootout is awarded the goal.
   Shootout goals and saves are not tracked in hockey statistics; Shootout
   statistics are tracked separately.

   Shootouts do not occur during the playoffs. In the playoffs, an
   unlimited number of sudden-death 20 minute five-on-five periods occur
   until one team scores. While a game can theoretically continue forever,
   only a handful of games have ever surpassed four overtime periods, and
   none have gone beyond six.

Teams

   Locations of teams in the National Hockey League
   Enlarge
   Locations of teams in the National Hockey League

   The National Hockey League originated in 1917 with 5 teams, and through
   a sequence of team expansions, reductions and relocations currently
   consists of 30 teams, 24 of which are based in the United States and 6
   in Canada. The Montreal Canadiens are the most successful franchise
   with twenty-four Stanley Cup championships; in the four major North
   American professional sports leagues the Montreal Canadiens are only
   surpassed in the number of championships by the New York Yankees of
   Major League Baseball. The next most successful franchise is the
   Toronto Maple Leafs with thirteen Stanley Cups, but they have not won a
   championship since 1967. The Detroit Red Wings, with 10 Stanley Cups,
   are the most successful American franchise. The longest streak of
   winning the Stanley Cup in consecutive years is five held by the
   Montreal Canadiens from 1955-56 to 1959-60; the New York Islanders
   (from 1980-1983) and the Montreal Canadiens (from 1976-1979) have
   four-year championship streaks. The 1977 edition of the Montreal
   Canadiens, the second of four straight Stanley Cup champions, was named
   by ESPN as the second greatest sports team of all-time. More recently,
   the Carolina Hurricanes and the Tampa Bay Lightning have won the
   Stanley Cup in the past two seasons.

   Of the four major leagues in the United States, the NHL is the only
   league to field teams that play in the capital cities of two countries
   (Ottawa and Washington, D.c.. The league also boasts more Canadian
   teams than the three other major leagues (the NBA and MLB both have one
   each, both based in Toronto. The NHL currently has six.

   The current league organization divides the teams into two conferences.
   Each conference has three divisions, and each division has 5 teams. The
   current organization has roots in the 1998–99 season where a league
   realignment added two divisions to bring the total number of divisions
   to six; the current team alignment began with the 2000–2001 season when
   the Minnesota Wild and the Columbus Blue Jackets joined the league as
   expansion teams.

Eastern Conference

   Division Team City Arena Capacity
   Atlantic New Jersey Devils East Rutherford, New Jersey Continental
   Airlines Arena 19,040
   New York Islanders Uniondale, New York Nassau Veterans Memorial
   Coliseum 16,297
   New York Rangers New York, New York Madison Square Garden 18,200
   Philadelphia Flyers Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Wachovia Centre 19,500
   Pittsburgh Penguins Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Mellon Arena 17,181
   Northeast Boston Bruins Boston, Massachusetts TD Banknorth Garden
   17,565
   Buffalo Sabres Buffalo, New York HSBC Arena 18,690
   Montreal Canadiens Montreal, Quebec Bell Centre 21,273
   Ottawa Senators Ottawa, Ontario Scotiabank Place 20,004
   Toronto Maple Leafs Toronto, Ontario Air Canada Centre 18,800
   Southeast Atlanta Thrashers Atlanta, Georgia Philips Arena 18,750
   Carolina Hurricanes Raleigh, North Carolina RBC Centre 18,730
   Florida Panthers Sunrise, Florida BankAtlantic Centre 19,452
   Tampa Bay Lightning Tampa, Florida St. Pete Times Forum 19,500
   Washington Capitals Washington, D.C. Verizon Centre 19,700

Western Conference

   Division Team City Arena Capacity
   Central Chicago Blackhawks Chicago, Illinois United Centre 20,500
   Columbus Blue Jackets Columbus, Ohio Nationwide Arena 18,500
   Detroit Red Wings Detroit, Michigan Joe Louis Arena 19,383
   Nashville Predators Nashville, Tennessee Gaylord Entertainment Centre
   17,113
   St. Louis Blues St. Louis, Missouri Scottrade Centre 19,260
   Northwest Calgary Flames Calgary, Alberta Pengrowth Saddledome 20,140
   Colorado Avalanche Denver, Colorado Pepsi Centre 18,007
   Edmonton Oilers Edmonton, Alberta Rexall Place 16,839
   Minnesota Wild St. Paul, Minnesota Xcel Energy Centre 18,600
   Vancouver Canucks Vancouver, British Columbia General Motors Place
   18,630
   Pacific Anaheim Ducks Anaheim, California Honda Centre 17,147
   Dallas Stars Dallas, Texas American Airlines Centre 18,500
   Los Angeles Kings Los Angeles, California Staples Centre 18,500
   Phoenix Coyotes Glendale, Arizona Jobing.com Arena 18,000
   San Jose Sharks San Jose, California HP Pavilion 17,483

Season structure

   Stanley Cup, on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame, is awarded to the
   league champion.
   Enlarge
   Stanley Cup, on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame, is awarded to the
   league champion.

   The National Hockey League season is divided into a regular season,
   where teams play each other in a predefined schedule, and a playoffs,
   which is an elimination tournament where two teams play against each
   other to win a best-of-seven series in order to advance to the next
   round. The final remaining team is crowned the Stanley Cup champions.
   The past season is the 2005–06 regular season, which culminated with
   the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

   In the regular season, each team plays 82 games; 41 games at home and
   41 on the road. Beginning in 2005-06 regular season, of the 82 games,
   teams play 32 games within their division, 40 games against
   non-divisional intra-conference opponents and 10 inter-conference games
   (1 game against each team in two of the three divisions in the opposite
   conference). The two divisions from the opposite conference which each
   team plays against are rotated every year, much like interleague play
   in baseball. Points are awarded for each game, where two points are
   awarded for a win, one point for losing in overtime or a shootout, and
   zero points for a loss in regulation. Among major professional sports
   leagues, the NHL is the only one to award a team points for losing in
   overtime.

   At the end of the regular season, the team that finishes with the most
   points in each division is crowned the division champion with the
   league overall leader awarded the Presidents' Trophy. The three
   division champions along with the five other teams in each conference
   with the next highest number of points, for a total of 8 teams in each
   conference, qualify for the playoffs. The division winners are seeded
   one through three (even if a non-division winner has a higher point
   total), and the next five teams with the best records in the conference
   are seeded four through eight. The Stanley Cup Playoffs is an
   elimination tournament, where two teams battle to win a best-of-seven
   series in order to advance to the next round. The first round of the
   playoffs, or conference quarterfinals, consists of the first seed
   playing the eighth seed, the second playing the seventh, third playing
   the sixth, and the fourth playing the fifth. In the second round, or
   conference semifinals, the NHL re-seeds the teams, with the top
   remaining conference seed playing against the lowest remaining seed,
   and the other two remaining conference teams pairing off. In the third
   round, the conference finals, the two remaining teams in each
   conference play each other, with the conference champions proceeding to
   the Stanley Cup Finals.

   In each round the higher-ranked team is said to be the team with the
   home-ice advantage. Four of the seven games are played at this team's
   home venue — the first and second, and, when necessary, the fifth and
   seventh games — with the other games played at the lower-ranked team's
   home venue.

Notable players

   Mario Lemieux in 2001
   Enlarge
   Mario Lemieux in 2001

   The best known NHL players have historically included Gordie Howe,
   Bobby Orr, Maurice Richard, Howie Morenz, Newsy Lalonde, Jacques
   Plante, Eddie Shore and Bobby Hull. In recent years, Wayne Gretzky,
   Mario Lemieux, Steve Yzerman, Ray Bourque, Mark Messier, Pavel Bure and
   Patrick Roy were among the most celebrated and honoured players.

   The top five scoring forwards in the 2005–06 season were Joe Thornton,
   Jaromir Jagr, Alexander Ovechkin, Daniel Alfredsson, and Dany Heatley.
   The top three scoring defencemen were Nicklas Lidstrom, Sergei Zubov,
   and Bryan McCabe, and the top three goaltenders (by wins) were Martin
   Brodeur, Miikka Kiprusoff, and Marty Turco. The rookie race between
   Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby also garnered much attention
   during the 2005-06 season.

   In addition to Canadian and American players, which have historically
   composed a large majority of NHL players, the NHL draws players from
   all over the world. Since the 1990s when communism collapsed in Eastern
   Europe and the newly formed nations did not restrict the movements of
   players there has been a large increase in amount of European players
   in the NHL. European players were drafted and signed by NHL teams in an
   effort to bring in more skilled offensive players. The addition of
   European players has changed the style of play in the NHL considerably;
   European style hockey has been accepted, if not embraced, in the NHL.
   The league also voluntarily stops its season so that its players can
   play in the Winter Olympics to have the players represent their own
   country. Currently the NHL has players from 18 different countries,
   with the majority still coming from Canada.

   For more information about the origins of NHL players, see the List of
   NHL statistical leaders by country.

Hockey rink

   Diagram on a hockey rink

   National Hockey League games are played on a hockey rink which is
   rectangular ice rink with rounded corners and surrounded by a wall. It
   measures 25.91 by 60.92 metres (85 by 200 ft) in the NHL, while
   international standards call for a rink measuring 60–61 metres long by
   29–30 metres wide (196.85–200.13 ft by 95.14–98.43 ft). The centre line
   divides the ice in half, and is used to judge icing violations. There
   are two blue lines that divide the rink roughly into thirds, which
   divide the ice into two attacking and one neutral zone. Near the end of
   both ends of the rink, there is a thin red goal line spanning the width
   of the ice, which is used to judge goals and icing calls.

   Starting in the 2005–2006 season, after testing in the American Hockey
   League, a trapezoid area behind each goal net has been introduced. The
   goaltender can only play the puck within that area or in front of the
   goal line; if the goaltender plays the puck behind the goal line and
   not in the trapezoid area, a 2 minute minor penalty for delay of game
   is assessed by the referees.

Rules

   While the National Hockey League follows the general rules of ice
   hockey, it differs slightly from those used in international games
   organized by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) such as the
   Olympics. Infractions of the rules can lead to either the stoppage of
   play in the case of offside and icing calls, or a penalty call for more
   serious infractions.

   During the 2004–05 lockout, the league changed some of the rules
   regarding being offside; first the league removed the offside pass or
   two-line pass rule, which required a stoppage in play if a pass
   originating from inside a team's defending zone was completed on the
   offensive side of the centre line, unless the puck crossed the line
   before the player; and second the league reinstated the tag-up offside
   which allows an attacking player a chance to get back onside by to
   returning to the neutral zone. The changes to the offside rule were one
   of several rule changes intended to increase overall scoring, which had
   been in decline since the expansion years of the mid-nineties.

   Another rule difference between the NHL and the IIHF rules concerns how
   icings are called. In the NHL, a linesman stops play due to icing if a
   defending player (other than the goaltender) touches the puck before an
   attacking player is able to, in contrast to the IIHF rules where play
   is stopped the moment the puck crosses the goal line. As a result of
   the rule changes following the 2004–05 lockout, when a team is guilty
   of icing the puck they are not allowed to make a line change before the
   following faceoff.

   In regards to penalties, the NHL, in addition to the minor and double
   minor penalties called in IIHF games, calls major penalties which are
   more dangerous infractions of the rules, such as fighting, and have a
   duration of five minutes; this is in contrast to the IIHF rule, where
   players who fight are ejected from the game. Usually a penalized team
   cannot replace a player that is penalized on the ice and is thus
   shorthanded for the duration of the penalty, but if the penalties are
   coincidental, such as with fighting, both teams remain at full
   strength. Also, unlike minor penalties, major penalties must be served
   to their full completion, regardless of number of goals scored during
   the power play.

Trophies and awards

   Hart Memorial Trophy on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame
   Enlarge
   Hart Memorial Trophy on display at the Hockey Hall of Fame

   The National Hockey League presents numerous trophies per year. The
   most prestigious team award is the Stanley Cup, which is awarded to the
   league champion at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs. The team that
   has the most points in the regular season is awarded the Presidents'
   Trophy. There are also numerous trophies that are awarded to players
   based on their statistics during the regular season; they include,
   among others, the Art Ross Trophy for the league scoring champion
   (goals and assists), the Maurice 'Rocket' Richard Trophy for the
   goal-scoring leader, and the William M. Jennings Trophy for the
   goalkeeper(s) for the team with the fewest goals against them. For the
   2005–06 season these statistics-based trophies were awarded to Joe
   Thornton, and Jonathan Cheechoo of the San Jose Sharks and Miikka
   Kiprusoff of the Calgary Flames respectively.

   The other player trophies are voted on by the Professional Hockey
   Writers Association or the team general managers. The most prestigious
   individual award is the Hart Memorial Trophy which is awarded annually
   to the Most Valuable Player; the voting is conducted by members of the
   Professional Hockey Writers Association to judge the player who is the
   most valuable to his team during the regular season. The Vezina Trophy
   is awarded annually to the person deemed the best goalkeeper as voted
   on by the general managers of the teams in the NHL. The James Norris
   Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the National Hockey League's top
   defenceman, the Calder Memorial Trophy is awarded annually to the top
   rookie, and the Lady Byng Memorial Trophy is awarded to the player
   deemed to combine the highest degree of skill and sportsmanship; all
   three of these awards are voted on by members of the Professional
   Hockey Writers Association.
   The Hockey Hall of Fame in downtown Toronto
   Enlarge
   The Hockey Hall of Fame in downtown Toronto

   In addition to the regular season awards, the Conn Smythe Trophy is
   awarded annually to the most valuable player during the NHL's Stanley
   Cup playoffs. Furthermore, the top coach in the league wins the Jack
   Adams Award as selected by a poll of the National Hockey League
   Broadcasters Association. The National Hockey League releases the top
   three vote getters for all awards, and then names the award winner
   during the NHL Awards Ceremony.

   Players, coaches, officials, and team builders who have had notable
   careers are eligible to be voted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. For
   players there is a waiting time of three years after their last
   professional game; this time period, the shortest of any major sport,
   has led in three cases ( Gordie Howe, Guy Lafleur and Mario Lemieux) to
   Hall of Fame members coming out of retirement to play once more. In the
   past, however, if a player was deemed significant enough, the pending
   period would be waived; only 10 individuals have been honoured in this
   manner. In 1999, Wayne Gretzky became the last player to have the
   three-year restriction waived, and after Gretzky's induction, the NHL
   declared that he would be the last one to have the waiting period
   omitted.

Labour issues

   There have been three league-wide work stoppages in NHL history, all
   happening between 1992 and 2005. The first was a strike by the National
   Hockey League Players Association in April 1992 which lasted for 10
   days, but the strike was settled quickly and all affected games were
   rescheduled. A lockout at the start of the 1994–95 forced the league to
   reduce the schedule from 84 games to just 48, with the teams playing
   only intra-conference games during the reduced season. The resulting
   collective bargaining agreement was set for renegotiation in 1998 and
   extended to September 15, 2004.

   With no new agreement in hand when the existing contract expired on
   September 15, 2004, league commissioner Gary Bettman announced a
   lockout of the players union and cessation of operations by the NHL
   head office. The lockout shut down the league for 310 days, the longest
   in sports history; the NHL was the first professional sports league to
   lose an entire season. The league vowed to install what it dubbed "cost
   certainty" for its teams, but the National Hockey League Players
   Association countered that the move was little more than a euphemism
   for a salary cap, which the union initially said it would not accept. A
   new collective bargaining agreement was ratified in July 2005 with a
   term of six years with an option of extending the collective bargaining
   agreement for an additional year at the end of the term, allowing the
   NHL to resume as of the 2005–06 season.

   On October 5, 2005, the first post-lockout NHL season took to the ice
   with 15 games. Of those 15 games, 11 were in front of sell out crowds.
   The NHL received record attendance in the 2005–06 season. 20,854,169
   fans, an average of 16,955 per game, was a 1.2% increase over the
   previous mark held in the 2001–02 season. Also, the Montreal Canadiens,
   Colorado Avalanche, and the Vancouver Canucks sold out all of their
   home games; all six Canadian teams played to 98% capacity or better at
   every home game. Twenty-four of the thirty clubs finished even or ahead
   of their 2003–04 mark. The Pittsburgh Penguins had the highest increase
   at 33%, probably because of Canadian phenom Sidney Crosby.

Television and radio

   In Canada, National Hockey League games are aired nationally by the
   Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and The Sports Network (TSN).
   Regional games are broadcast by a number of networks including Rogers
   Sportsnet (RSN). French language games are broadcast by the Réseau des
   sports (RDS), but no longer is on Radio-Canada (the French-language
   counterpart of the CBC), which created a contreversy in French-speaking
   Canada. The program Hockey Night in Canada, aired on Saturday nights on
   CBC, is a long-standing Canadian tradition since first airing on
   television in 1952. During the playoffs, the CBC airs all games that
   involve Canadian teams and the Stanley Cup finals; TSN airs certain
   other games during the first three rounds.

   In the United States NHL games are aired nationally by Versus
   (previously the "Outdoor Life Network" and "OLN"), and by NBC. NBC
   replaced the previous over-the-air network, ABC, and has a
   revenue-sharing deal with the NHL. Versus replaced ESPN as the cable
   network; Comcast, which owns Versus, offered a two-year $120 million
   deal, while ESPN offered a revenue sharing deal.

   Versus has about 20 million fewer subscribers than ESPN, but Comcast
   switched Versus from a digital tier to basic cable to make NHL games
   available to more cable subscribers. For Versus the NHL coverage was a
   good addition as Versus' ratings grew by about 275% when it showed an
   NHL game,, but television ratings in the United States have seen record
   lows. Versus posted a 0.4 rating for the 2006 playoffs while ESPN
   posted a 0.7 rating two years ago; NBC posted a rating of 1.1, compared
   to ABC's 1.5 rating two years ago.

   In Canada, for the first four games of the Stanley Cup finals, the CBC
   averaged 2.63 million viewers, and RDS averaged 346,000 viewers. In the
   United States ratings fared worse due to the inclusion of two
   small-market teams, including one Canadian team; the first two games on
   Versus posted a 0.9 rating (621,000 households), and game 3 and game 4
   on NBC had ratings of 1.6 and 2.0 respectively (1.7 million and 2.2
   million households). In 1994, when the New York Rangers were involved,
   game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals posted a rating of 5.2. Game 7 of the
   Stanley Cup playoffs gained the highest Stanley Cup rating in the
   series with a rating of 3.5 (3.8 million households), but it was down
   from the previous season's game 7 final.

   Currently, both XM Satellite Radio & Sirius Satellite Radio and their
   Canadian counterparts broadcast over 1000 games on their respective
   services. Starting with the 2007-2008 season, XM Satellite Radio will
   be the exclusive satellite radio partner of the NHL.

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