00:00John, great to have you here, particularly as the second most famous member of the Ledecky family.
00:04Yes.
00:05Let's talk a little bit about, I mean, you are obviously steeped here in New York, in the New York
00:09sports world.
00:10But I do just want to get your reflection specifically on 2001 and what has sort of transpired in the
00:1825 years since that gives you hope.
00:21Yeah, I think the great thing is that when 9-11 happened, all the teams in New York came together.
00:26The Rangers and the Islanders stood on the blue line together.
00:28And that feeling about New York hasn't changed in 25 years.
00:32Yes, we compete, but New York is blessed to have 13 professional sports teams, and all of them have the
00:38same purpose when it comes to 9-11.
00:39We're all brothers, sisters, and we're all New Yorkers, and that's the most important thing.
00:44And the Islanders Children's Foundation works with the families.
00:48Some of them have lost the loved ones at 9-11.
00:51And we've been working with families for 25 years to provide educational opportunities, scholarships, and other things that relate to
00:57that tragic and horrific day.
00:59And we know that there were a lot of families on Long Island that were really impacted by the deaths
01:05and the losses on those days.
01:07And New York Islanders now back in Long Island itself.
01:10Talk about the power of sports.
01:12I mean, we kind of saw the energy just a few months ago when the Knicks won the championship and
01:17how that just made us all feel like New Yorkers as one.
01:21Why does sports have that type of power?
01:23I think sports is a communer, and sports in the arenas is really the last church of New Yorkers.
01:31Because everybody can agree when there's a championship run that you love the team, but you also love your city.
01:37And I think you're right.
01:38Going to the Knicks games, seeing what was going on there at the Garden, Game 4 comeback, it was just
01:43an unbelievable time.
01:45But, you know, people, strangers hugging, kissing each other, jumping up and down, the whole sense of community that sports
01:51brings to a community is unbelievable.
01:54And I think in New York, you know, New York fans, they're tough, they're opinionated, but they're the best fans
02:01in the world.
02:02Yeah, and now they're going to put a lot of pressure on you.
02:04Now that the Knicks won, everyone's looking at all the other teams and saying, oh, when's the next championship coming?
02:08That's right, that's right.
02:09Yeah, a good season last year.
02:10Matthew Schamper did well.
02:12We're doing well, but I'll tell you one thing.
02:14We are a community trust.
02:16Owners who think they own their sports teams are crazy, right?
02:19The teams belong to the community.
02:21And so as stewards of that trust, our goal in life is we've got to win a Stanley Cup.
02:27And that's how we measure success.
02:29And each year we start 0-0.
02:31Every team has a 3% chance of winning the Cup.
02:34And we're going to start this season with that attitude and hopefully will surprise a lot of people.
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