MIAMI (AP) H. Wayne Huizenga Womens Jason Demers Jersey , a college dropout who built a business empire that included Blockbuster Entertainment, AutoNation and three professional sports franchises, has died. He was 80.Huizenga (HY’-zing-ah) died Thursday night at his home, said Valerie Hinkell, a longtime assistant. The cause was cancer, said Bob Henninger, executive vice president of Huizenga Holdings.Starting with a single garbage truck in 1968, Huizenga built Waste Management Inc. into a Fortune 500 company. He purchased independent sanitation engineering companies, and by the time he took the company public in 1972, he had completed the acquisition of 133 small-time haulers. By 1983, Waste Management was the largest waste disposal company in the United States.The business model worked again with Blockbuster Video, which he started in 1985 and built into the leading movie rental chain nine years later. In 1996, he formed AutoNation and built it into a Fortune 500 company.Huizenga was founding owner of baseball’s Florida Marlins and the NHL’s Florida Panthers – expansion teams that played their first games in 1993. He bought the NFL’s Miami Dolphins and their stadium for $168 million in 1994 from the children of founder Joe Robbie but had sold all three teams by 2009.”Wayne Huizenga was a seminal figure in the cultural history of South Florida,” current Dolphins owner Stephen Ross said in a statement. ”He completely changed the landscape of the region’s sports scene. … Sports fans throughout the region owe him a debt of thanks.”The Marlins won the 1997 World Series, and the Panthers reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1996, but Huizenga’s beloved Dolphins never reached a Super Bowl while he owned the team.”If I have one disappointment, the disappointment would be that we did not bring a championship home,” Huizenga said shortly after he sold the Dolphins to Ross. ”It’s something we failed to do.”Huizenga earned an almost cult-like following among business investors who watched him build Blockbuster Entertainment into the leading video rental chain by snapping up competitors. He cracked Forbes’ list of the 100 richest Americans, becoming chairman of Republic Services, one of the nation’s top waste management companies, and AutoNation, the nation’s largest automotive retailer. In 2013, Forbes estimated his wealth at $2.5 billion.For a time, Huizenga was also a favorite with South Florida sports fans, drawing cheers and autograph seekers in public. The crowd roared when he danced the hokeypokey on the field during an early Marlins game. He went on a spending spree to build a veteran team that won the World Series in the franchise’s fifth year.But his popularity plummeted when he ordered the roster dismantled after that season. He was frustrated by poor attendance and his failure to swing a deal for a new ballpark built with taxpayer money.Many South Florida fans never forgave him for breaking up the championship team. Huizenga drew boos when introduced at Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino’s retirement celebration in 2000 and kept a lower public profile after that.In 2009, Huizenga said he regretted ordering the Marlins’ payroll purge.”We lost $34 million the year we won the World Series, and I just said, `You know what, I’m not going to do that,”’ Huizenga said. ”If I had it to do over again, I’d say, `OK, we’ll go one more year.”’He sold the Marlins in 1999 to John Henry, and sold the Panthers in 2001, unhappy with rising NHL player salaries and the stock price for the team’s public company.Tributes from three sports and beyond poured in, reflecting the range of his reach.”Saddened to hear about the passing of successful entrepreneur and Great Floridian Wayne Huizenga,” Gov. Rick Scott tweeted. ”He had a tremendous impact on our state and the world of business.”The Marlins released a statement describing Huizenga as ”the original Florida Marlin,” and said he ”will be remembered as much for his contributions to South Florida professional sports as he was for his many charitable endeavors in the surrounding community.”Huizenga’s first sports love was the Dolphins – he had been a season-ticket holder since their first season in 1966. But he fared better in the NFL as a businessman than as a sports fan.He turned a nifty profit by selling the Dolphins and their stadium for $1.1 billion, nearly seven times what he paid to become sole owner. But he knew the bottom line in the NFL is championships, and his Dolphins perennially came up short.Huizenga earned a reputation as a hands-off owner and won raves from many loyal employees, even though he made six coaching changes. He eased Pro Football Hall of Famer Don Shula into retirement in early 1996, and Jimmy Johnson, Dave Wannstedt, interim coach Jim Bates, Nick Saban http://www.officialavalanche.com/authentic-adidas-sven-andrighetto-jersey , Cam Cameron and Tony Sparano followed as coach.Johnson tweeted: ”A great man, one of the nicest individuals I have ever known, Wayne Huizenga passed away. RIP.”Harry Wayne Huizenga was born in the Chicago suburbs on Dec. 29, 1937, to a family of garbage haulers. He began his business career in Pompano Beach in 1962, driving a garbage truck from 2 a.m. to noon each day for $500 a month.One customer successfully sued Huizenga, saying that in an argument over a delinquent account, Huizenga injured him by grabbing his testicles – an allegation Huizenga always denied.”I never did that. The guy was a deputy cop. It was his word against mine, a young kid,” he told Fortune magazine in 1996.Huizenga was a five-time recipient of Financial World magazine’s ”CEO of the Year” award, and was the Ernst & Young ”2005 World Entrepreneur of the Year.”Regarding his business acumen, Huizenga said: ”You just have to be in the right place at the right time. It can only happen in America.”In 1960, he married Joyce VanderWagon. Together they had two children, Wayne Jr. and Scott. They divorced in 1966. Wayne married his second wife, Marti Goldsby, in 1972. She died in 2017.A memorial service will be held Thursday – opening day for the Marlins, the team Huizenga founded 25 years ago.— RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The New York Islanders don’t have John Tavares anymore. They still have playmakers.Reigning rookie of the year Mathew Barzal set up Josh Bailey’s power-play winner 43 seconds into overtime, and the Islanders began their post-Tavares era by beating the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1 on Thursday night.“That whole power play has been really good through the preseason,” Trotz said. “(Bailey) understands the spots. Obviously, it runs through Mathew on that one side. They’ve got a real good understanding.”Valtteri Filppula also scored as the Islanders gave Trotz a victory in his debut with the team and spoiled Rod Brind’Amour’s first game behind the Carolina bench.“The amount of work this whole staff has put in has been pretty remarkable, and the amount of information coming our way is overwhelming at times,” alternate captain Cal Clutterbuck said. “Good to see him get that first one. He’s a seasoned guy and I think he’s prepared us well.”Trotz took over shortly after leading Washington to its first Stanley Cup, taking over after Doug Weight was fired. Brind’Amour, the captain of Carolina’s Cup-winning team in 2006, replaced Bill Peters after he left for Calgary. Tavares signed with Toronto as a free agent.Jordan Staal sent it to OT by scoring a deflected goal with 1:35 remaining in regulation for Carolina, but the Islanders started overtime with a 4-on-3 advantage after Micheal Ferland was called for tripping Barzal with 3.2 seconds left.Barzal threaded a cross-ice pass from the circle to Bailey, who ended it by snapping the puck past Mrazek.“They made a great shot. They made a great play,” Carolina captain Justin Williams said. “Our goalie was there, but it was the perfect shot.”Mrazek stopped 18 shots for Carolina. Thomas Greiss made 45 saves for the Islanders, and for a long while appeared headed for another save-heavy shutout in Raleigh. He also stopped 45 shots in a 3-0 victory over Carolina on Feb. 16.“They like to shoot the puck, that’s what it is,” Greiss said.But with Mrazek on the bench for an extra attacker, Dougie Hamilton uncorked a blast that clipped Staal’s backside on its way past Greiss. The goal stood following a review to determine whether Ferland interfered with the Islanders goalie.“We dug in,” Brind’Amour said. “We didn’t just fold.”Both teams enter the season optimistic that their meager recent playoff histories are just that — history.The Islanders, who have just one playoff series win since 1993, have made the postseason just three times in the past 11 years.The Hurricanes have been worse. They’ve made the playoffs just once since Brind’Amour hoisted the Cup, and their nine-year postseason drought is not only the longest active dry spell in the league but one year shy of matching the NHL record for futility.A bad omen for them, perhaps: Since the lockout that wiped out the 2004-05 season, the Hurricanes have not made the playoffs in any season in which they lost their first game at PNC Arena.“We’re planning on playing a lot more than 82 games this year,” Williams said. “This was just one. One that didn’t go our way.”Six players — led by No. 2 overall draft pick Andrei Svechnikov — made their debuts with the new-look Hurricanes, including Mrazek, who signed with Carolina in July after club stalwart Cam Ward left for Chicago. He drew the start on opening night after Scott Darling injured his hamstring in the preseason finale four days earlier against Nashville.NOTES: Carolina D Justin Faulk and Svechnikov each rang the post in the first. … Both teams had five wins during the preseason, tied for the most in the Metropolitan Division. … The Hurricanes’ 5-0-1 mark in the preseason was its best since the club moved to North Carolina in 1997.UP NEXTIslanders: Play their home opener Saturday night against Nashville.Hurricanes: Play at Columbus on Friday night.