Task: Question Answering
Input (English): Context: 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 (NHL). He is the younger brother of Eric Staal of the Minnesota Wild, and the older brother of Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes, and Jared Staal, of the Edinburgh Capitals in the Elite Ice Hockey League. Of the four brothers, Marc is the only defenceman., Jordan Staal (born September 10, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player and an alternate captain of the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He is regarded as one of the NHL's premier penalty-killers, both for his strong defensive skills, along with his scoring touch that makes him a threat for shorthanded goals., In ice hockey, the goaltender is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender usually plays in or near the area in front of the net called the "goal crease" (often referred to simply as " the crease" or "the net"). Goaltenders tend to stay at or beyond the top of the crease to cut down on the angle of shots. In today's age of goaltending there are two common styles, butterfly and hybrid (hybrid is a mix of the traditional stand-up style and butterfly technique). Because of the power of shots, the goaltender wears special equipment designed to protect the body from direct impact. The goalie is one of the most valuable players on the ice, as their performance can greatly change the outcome or score of the game. One-on-one situations, such as breakaways and shootouts, have the tendency to highlight a goaltender's pure skill, or lack thereof. Only one goaltender is allowed to be on the ice for each team at any given time., The Carolina Hurricanes are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The Hurricanes play their home games at the 18,680-seat PNC Arena. The franchise was formed in 1971 as the New England Whalers of the World Hockey Association (WHA), and joined the NHL in 1979 as part of the NHLWHA merger, renaming themselves the Hartford Whalers. The team relocated to North Carolina in 1997 and won its first Stanley Cup during the 200506 season, beating the Edmonton Oilers, four games to three., Jeffrey Heerema (born January 17, 1980) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey winger. He last played for the Nottingham Panthers of the EIHL. He was drafted in the first round, 11th overall, by the Carolina Hurricanes in the 1998 NHL Entry Draft. Prior to signing for the Nottingham club he most recently played for KHL Medvešak Zagreb in Croatia., The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). They have won six Stanley Cup championships since their founding in 1926. The Blackhawks are one of the "Original Six" NHL teams along with the Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Toronto Maple Leafs, Boston Bruins and New York Rangers. Since , the club's home rink is the United Center. The club had previously played for 65 years at Chicago Stadium., The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The club was founded as the Kansas City Scouts in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1974. The Scouts moved to Denver, Colorado in 1976 and became the Colorado Rockies. In 1982, they moved to East Rutherford, New Jersey and took their current name. For their first 25 seasons in New Jersey, the Devils were based at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford and played their home games at Brendan Byrne Arena (later renamed to Continental Airlines Arena). Beginning with the 200708 season, the Devils relocated to Newark and now play their home games at the Prudential Center., The National Hockey League (NHL) is a professional ice hockey league currently composed of 31 member clubs. Of the 30 clubs currently playing, 23 are in the United States and 7 in Canada. Headquartered in New York City, the NHL is considered to be the premier professional ice hockey league in the world, and one of the major professional sports leagues in 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 New York Rangers are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team plays its home games at Madison Square Garden, located in the borough of Manhattan. The Rangers are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders. The club is also one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise. They are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six, along with the Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens and Toronto Maple Leafs. The Rangers were the first NHL franchise in the United States to win the Stanley Cup, which they have done four times, most recently in 199394.
History.
Early years.
George Lewis "Tex" Rickard, president of Madison Square Garden, was awarded an NHL franchise for the 192627 season to compete with the now-defunct New York Americans, who had begun play at the Garden the previous season. The Americans (also known as the "Amerks") proved to be an even greater success than expected during their inaugural season, leading Rickard to pursue a second team for the Garden despite promising the Amerks that they would be the only hockey team to play there. The new team was quickly nicknamed "Tex's Rangers".
Rickard's franchise began play in the 192627 season. The first team crest was a horse sketched in blue carrying a cowboy waving a hockey stick aloft, before being changed to the familiar R-A-N-G-E-R-S in diagonal. Rickard managed to get future legendary Toronto Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe to assemble the team. However, Smythe had a falling-out with Rickard's hockey man, Col. John S. Hammond, and was fired as manager-coach on the eve of the first seasonhe was paid a then-hefty $2,500 to leave. Smythe was replaced by Pacific Coast Hockey Association co-founder Lester Patrick. The new team Smythe assembled turned out to be a winner. The Rangers won the American Division title their first year but lost to the Boston Bruins in the playoffs., Toronto is the most populous city in Canada, the provincial capital of Ontario, and the centre of the Greater Toronto Area, the most populous metropolitan area in Canada. Growing in population, the 2011 census recorded a population of 2,615,060. As of 2015, the population is now estimated at 2,826,498, making Toronto the fourth-largest city in North America based on the population within its city limits. Toronto trails only Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles by this measure, while it is the fifth-largest (behind also Chicago) if ranked by the size of its metropolitan area . An established global city, Toronto is an international centre of business, finance, arts, and culture, and widely recognized as one of the most multicultural and cosmopolitan cities in the world., Manhattan is the most densely populated borough of New York City, its economic and administrative center, and the city's historical birthplace. The borough is coextensive with New York County, founded on November 1, 1683, as one of the original counties of the U.S. state of New York. The borough consists mostly of Manhattan Island, bounded by the East, Hudson, and Harlem rivers, and also includes several small adjacent islands and Marble Hill, a small neighborhood on the U.S. mainland., Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region., The 1998 NHL Entry Draft was held on June 27 at the Marine Midland Arena (now First Niagara Center) in Buffalo, New York. A total of 258 players were drafted., North Carolina is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west, Virginia to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. North Carolina is the 28th most extensive and the 9th most populous of the U.S. states. The state is divided into 100 counties. The capital is Raleigh. The most populous municipality is Charlotte, and it is the second largest banking center in the United States after New York City., The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team is one of the "Original Six" league members. They are owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, Ltd. and are represented by Chairman Larry Tanenbaum. In February 1999, they moved to the Air Canada Centre, which replaced Maple Leaf Gardens, the team's home since 1931., PNC Arena (originally Raleigh Entertainment & Sports Arena and formerly the RBC Center) is an indoor arena, located in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Arena seats 19,722 for basketball, and 18,680 for ice hockey, including 66 luxury suites and 2,000 club seats. The building has three concourses and includes a 300-seat restaurant., Ice hockey is a contact team sport played on ice, usually in a rink, in which two teams of skaters use their sticks to shoot a vulcanized rubber puck into their opponent's net to score points. Ice hockey teams usually consist of six players each: one goaltender, and five players who skate up and down the ice trying to take the puck and score a goal against the opposing team., The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in New York City. They are members of the Metropolitan Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The team plays its home games at Barclays Center, located in the borough of Brooklyn. The Islanders are one of three NHL franchises in the New York metropolitan area, along with the New Jersey Devils and New York Rangers, and their primary geographic fan base resides on Long Island., The City of New York, often called New York City or simply New York, is the most populous city in the United States. With an estimated 2015 population of 8,550,405 distributed over a land area of just , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the United States. Located at the southern tip of the state of New York, the city is the center of the New York metropolitan area, one of the most populous urban agglomerations in the world. A global power city, New York City exerts a significant impact upon commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and entertainment, its fast pace defining the term "New York minute". Home to the headquarters of the United Nations, New York is an important center for international diplomacy and has been described as the cultural and financial capital of the world., Jared John Staal ( born August 21 , 1990 ) is a Canadian ice hockey player who is currently under contract to the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL . Staal was previously a member of the Carolina Hurricanes organization of the National Hockey League . He is the younger brother of Eric Staal and Jordan Staal of the Carolina Hurricanes and Marc Staal of the New York Rangers . He is also the cousin of Jeff Heerema of the Nottingham Panthers ., Subject: jared staal, Relation: position_played_on_team_/_speciality, Options: (A) captain (B) center (C) centre (D) defenceman (E) end (F) goaltender (G) winger
Output (English): winger