In a stunning mid-August shake-up, Patrick Roy stepped down as coach and vice president of hockey operations for the Colorado Avalanche, citing disagreements within the organization.Roy made the announcement Thursday through a public relations agency, two months before the start of the NHL regular season.I have thought long and hard over the course of the summer about how I might improve this team to give it the depth it needs and bring it to a higher level, Roy said in a statement. To achieve this, the vision of the coach and VP-Hockey Operations needs to be perfectly aligned with that of the organization. He must also have a say in the decisions that impact the teams performance. These conditions are not currently met.Roy has split control with executive vice president and general manager Joe Sakic, a former teammate. He said he has done his job with energy, passion and determination.Sakic said he was definitely caught off-guard by Roys decision, so much that it took him a few seconds to comprehend that he was resigning. Sakic said Roy had been contemplating the decision for weeks but repeatedly denied that the two disagreed over personnel decisions or didnt get along.Patty was always involved, Sakic said on a conference call Thursday evening. Especially early he was a big help to me. He was always involved. He was aware of all the decisions we were making. To be honest with you I think thats a question that youll have to ask Patrick, but I know we talked about everything.The team didnt acknowledge Roys announcement until 90 minutes after it was released by Quebec-based PR firm Nationals Luc Ouellet. Sakic said Roy called him before the statement went out.Asked about the inconsistencies between his own comments and Roys statement about conditions not being met, Sakic said: I know we were on the same page. ... We were all on that same page.Roy, a Hall of Fame goaltender, spent the past three seasons as coach and VP of hockey operations for the team that he led to two Stanley Cups as a player. Colorado made the playoffs in Roys first year behind the bench and missed the past two.Though it saddens me, I have put much thought about this decision in recent weeks and have come to be fully comfortable with it, Roy said in the statement, which added that Roy does not intend to comment further on his decision.Sakic said he was glad Roy stepped down now rather than waiting until training camp and that he and his staff would get together Friday to begin coming up with a list of potential coaching candidates.Colorado went 130-92-24 under Roy, who won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 2013-14. Before that he coached the Quebec Remparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.According to Sakic, the Avalanches lack of success recently played into Roys decision to leave.The big thing when he talked to me today was last year was a tough year, he didnt have a lot of fun and we always said as long as were enjoying what were doing and having fun well keep doing it, Sakic said. He said in the last three, four weeks he just really contemplated not coming back and not coaching and thought he made the right decision for himself. I totally respect him for that.In his playing days, Roy won four Cups, two with the Montreal Canadiens and then two with the Avalanche, three Vezina Trophies as the leagues top goaltender and three Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP.His abrupt departure from the Avalanche is reminiscent of his exit from Montreal in 1995. After coach Mario Tremblay kept him in a game in which he allowed nine goals on 26 shots, Roy stormed off and told team President Ronald Corey, Its my last game in Montreal.Roy said he believed he was kept in the game to be humiliated, was suspended and then traded to the Avalanche.---Follow Stephen Whyno on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/SWhyno . Cheap Adidas Nmd Wholesale .ca NFL Power Rankings, overtaking the Denver Broncos and remaining ahead of NFC competition San Francisco, Carolina and New Orleans. 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Reigning champion Lewis Hamilton believes Formula One needs a New York City street race to crack the U.S. market.F1 currently has one grand prix on American soil, but the ongoing purchase of its commercial rights by Colorado-based Liberty Media has led to speculation more are in the pipeline.The U.S. Grand Prix in Austin was supposed to be joined by the Grand Prix of America in New Jersey in 2013, but a lack of funding and eye-watering development costs saw the plan fall through. Hamilton believes the New Jersey plan did not aim high enough, however, and believes F1 needs to make a statement by hosting a race on the streets of Manhattan.They had the New Jersey plan, but I wasnt massively disappointed because I want it in New York City -- in the centre of New York City, he told ESPN. I think if Formula One wants to be big in the States we need to have that race in the heart of New York City somehow. The roads are terrible, but that would be epic!Street races are special, particularly when the sound [of the cars] was really good -- it might not sound as great now, but it would still be epic. If we are able to do that it would be great, because then people are forced to watch it and maybe you can infect more people with that F1 bug.When the whole of New York knows that one of the biggest events coming to town is F1, that would be big. Right now, probably half the people in New York dont know what F1 is, maybe more, but its certainly a large proportion.Hamilton often travels to America between races and lists New York, Colorado, Tennessee and Hawaii among his favourrite places to visit.ddddddddddddFrom his experiences in the States, the British driver believes F1 needs to work harder to capture the imaginations of American sports fans.Its a lot different to how it used to be, I might be running in LA and people notice me, which Im shocked by. Last time I was in LA, which is a while ago now, I was running and bumped into some people and they just happened to be hardcore Formula One fans. I think in the States they are such big sporting fans that they dont half-arse it and just casually watch Formula One, they are actually super into it and addicted or not at all.Most Americans I meet, if they ask me about my job to start a conversation they get hooked and they start asking me a whole lot of questions. They really get hooked and then they start watching, and Ive got people that Ive met from American who have become dear friends and they message me religiously on race weekends. They know where Im going to be before I know and they get up at all the funny hours to watch.I dont mean it in a bad way, but its like a bit like a virus thats not that easy to catch, but when you do catch it you get hooked on it. I think Americans are more immune to it, not 100 percent immune to it, but when they get caught they are pulled in.Thats great and thats why we need to add more races and get more people knowing about it, because they are crazy sportsmen and women and theyve been fascinated by it in my experience. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '