BARCELONA, Spain - Tito Vilanova, the coach who succeeded Pep Guardiola at Barcelona and won the Spanish league title in his only season in charge, died Friday following a long battle with throat cancer. He was 45. Vilanova, who has battled a recurring tumour in a saliva gland, was admitted to a local hospital in Barcelona last week. He reportedly had emergency surgery on Thursday. "It is with sadness that Barcelona must announce that Francesc Tito Vilanova has died today at the age of 45," Barcelona said in a statement on its website. "The death of our former coach occurred this afternoon when he could not overcome this disease which he had battled since 2011." Vilanovas death prompted an outpouring of condolences from players and coaches across Europe. Barcelona star Lionel Messi posted a photograph of himself with Vilanova on his Facebook page with the message: "We will always remember you. All my sympathy goes to Titos family." Former Barcelona defender Eric Abidal, who recovered from liver cancer and a liver transplant to help hoist the 2012-13 league trophy with Vilanova, wrote on Twitter: "For everything we went through together, I will always remember you, my friend. Thanks for fighting." Spains royal family and Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy also sent telegrams to Vilanovas family and Barcelona, according to the Europa Press news agency. Vilanova first became ill in November 2011, while still an assistant to Guardiola, and took a leave of absence after undergoing surgery. The soft-spoken Vilanova returned and took over from Guardiola the next season, when he led Barcelona to the Spanish league title with a record-tying 100 points. Vilanova had a second tumour removed in December 2012 and travelled to New York several times during the season to receive further treatment before returning to the sidelines. In April 2013, Vilanova said he felt fine and "had never thought about quitting." He finished the season before suddenly being forced to resign following a relapse in July. As an assistant, Vilanova helped Guardiola propel Barcelona into its most successful period and transform a team led by Messi into the worlds best. With a team that also included several of the players that led Spain to the World Cup title in 2010, Barcelona won 14 of a possible 19 major trophies from 2008-12 under Guardiola before adding the league title with Vilanova in 2013. Despite the impressive league display, Vilanova was unable to win another Champions League title last season. Barcelona lost to eventual champion Bayern Munich 7-0 on aggregate in the semifinals, one of its most humbling results of the last decade. As Guardiolas assistant, Vilanova provided the tactical know-how that helped the coach build one of the best teams in the history of the sport ? winning two Champions League titles in its impressive haul. Vilanova will also be remembered for his role in a brawl in the 2010 Spanish Super Cup won by Barcelona, when Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho poked him in the eye. Mourinho, who is now at Chelsea, also sent his condolences "at this most difficult time." "Tito Vilanovas passing is a sad day for football, for Barcelona and most importantly for his family and friends," Mourinho said. Born in the Catalan village of Bellcaire dEmporda, Vilanova began his career as a player at Barcelonas training academy from 1984-89 but never made it to the first team. Instead, he went on to play for clubs such as Celta Vigo and Mallorca before his career was cut short by a serious knee injury. Vilanova then went into coaching and got a job in Barcelonas youth system, tutoring current players Gerard Pique, Cesc Fabregas and Messi. Vilanova left to work as sport director at third-division club Terrassa before returning to Barcelona to take over the clubs "Barca B" feeder team. His funeral will be on Monday at Barcelonas cathedral. Vilanova is survived by his wife, Montse Chaure, and two children. His son Adrian is currently in Barcelonas youth academy. AP Sports Writer Paul Logothetis contributed to this report from Madrid. Clayton Thorson Womens Jersey . Canada was placed in one of the easiest groups during Saturdays live televised draw in Montreal. DeSean Jackson Womens Jersey .Kraft says Goodell realized before seeing a video showing Baltimore running back Ray Rice striking his then fiance that domestic violence was very serious for society in general. https://www.eaglessportsgoods.com/Womens-Brian-Westbrook-Inverted-Jersey/ . Team officials travelled to Los Angeles on Thursday night to meet with the free agent, a person with knowledge of the plans said. DeSean Jackson Jersey .com) - Maria Sharapova reached her 10th career grand slam final after beating Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets at the Australian Open on Thursday. Reggie White Jersey .Mallais and his team out of Saint John defeated James Grattan 5-4 in Fredericton.The 2015 Tim Hortons Brier from Feb.COLUMBUS, Ohio - The World Cup of Hockey is back with a new format as the NHL seeks to create the best tournament in the world to launch a series of new international events.In the fall of 2016, the World Cup will feature a Young Stars team made up of Canadian and American players aged 23 and under along with Team Europe, a group of all-stars from countries not represented. Those teams will compete with Canada, the United States, Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic at the Sept. 17-Oct. 1 tournament in Toronto. A North American young stars team and a team of the best NHL European players from outside the big four European countries enables us to include more of the very best players in the world who might otherwise have been left out of the competition, commissioner Gary Bettman said. We have concluded that this will provide the most compelling format and the most competitive and entertaining hockey with great story lines.The NHL, NHL Players Association and International Ice Hockey Federation had to agree on all those details and finally came to a consensus that all-star teams made for better competition than the more traditional choice of eight nations.What we wanted to do was we wanted to have the best hockey tournament we could possibly have with as many NHL players as possible and make all eight teams really competitive, NHL chief operating officer John Collins said. This is a way to deliver on the best hockey tournament in the world.The NHLs long-range plan includes a Ryder Cup-style North America vs. Europe series in 2018 and a more expansive 2020 World Cup that could feature North American players with German, English, Irish, Italian or French heritage playing for those countries to grow the game in those nations.No discussions have taken place yet on the possibility of NHL players going to the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Players want to go, as Steven Stamkos of the Tampa Bay Lightning called it the Holy Grail and John Tavares of the New York Islanders said it was important to be there.You talk about the Olympic Games and really what that means to sport across the world and how it connects any game to many different parts of the world and what it means to the people, Tavares said. Its obviously developed a tremendous reputation and certainly its produced some of the best hockey weve ever seen and its done great things for our game.Its the NHLs hope that the World Cup takes on that grand value.I think the World Cup may be influential in terms of how we ultimately decide, because if its as successful as we hope itll be and we think itll be, the Olympics becomes far less important, to the players, even, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said. If the World Cups a big deal, best-on-best tournament, why do we need to go to the Olympics?While the Olympic mens hockey tournament features 12 teams, the World Cup will have eight. Figuring out the seventh and eighth teams beyond the so-called big six was the biggest hurdle to overcome in planning this event.One idea was to keep it as six teams, but Daly and NHLPA executive director Don Fehr did not believe a tournament that small could constitute a true world championship. Daly said 12 teams, like in Sochi, were too much because of the talent discrepancy.Some of those preliminary games, most of those preliminary games, werent competitive, Daly said. They werent good hockey. I think with these eight teams, every game is going to be competitive and its going to be good hockey (with) the best players in the world.Without sufficient time to plan and conduct a qualifying tournament, another idea was to go with the seventh and eighth-ranked teams in the world, which at this point would be Slovakia and Switzerland. But those teams would have only been half full of NHL players.Having Team Europe means an all-NHL group made up of players from countries such as Slovakia, Switzerland, Slovenia, Latvia, Germany, Austria, Belarus, France, Denmark and Norway. The goal was to make sure stars like Slovak Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins and Slovene Anze Kopitar of the Los Angeles Kings got to play.The NHLPA asked star players from those countries their thoughts because the trade-off was not playing for their individual countries.I think the guys are trying to make it competitive and the best possible tournament it can be. If thats the case, thats the way it is, Kopitar said. Just the thought of being part of a World Cup would be a very fun experience.Slovak goaltender Jaroslav Halak of the New York Islanders said 10 years ago it would be upsetting, but with just 13 players from that country who have appeared in at least one game this season, its an idea he likes.Swiss defenceman Mark Streit of the Philadelphia Flyers offered a dissenting opinion.It doesnt make a whole lot of sense, Streit said last week in Buffalo. Im not a big fan of it, not at all. I think its a nations tournament and you want to play for your country and you take pride in it every Olympics and every World Cup. ... It is what it is. I love to play for Switzerland, Im sure guys love to play for Slovakia and Czech and Sweden.Team Europe, which could also have players like Austrian Thomas Vanek of the Minnesota Wild, Latvian Zemgus Girgensons of the Buffalo Sabres and German Dennis Seidenberg of the Bruins, would be able to compete with Canada and the United States. Its still not clear how that team would be selected, but Daly and Collins suggested NHL alumni from those nations would play a role in management and coaching.Collins said theres no dog in the tournament, and Daly isnt worried about what would happen if Team Europe shows its on par with those countries.Its a good problem to have, Daly said. I think itd be intriguing.The Young Stars team is intriguing, too, because its a chance to showcase players like Connor McDavid, Jack Eichel,, Nathan MacKinnon and Seth Jones.dddddddddddd That idea was born out of talk before every Olympics about how a Canadian B team might fare, but no one liked the stigma that came with the concept of a B team.It took some convincing of Hockey Canada and USA Hockey for them to concede U23 players because it could hurt the main teams. Anyone that age will not be eligible to play for Canada and the United States.Collins said the first person to really buy in on the Young Stars idea was Hockey Canada president and CEO Tom Renney, who voiced his support for it again Saturday.I think its great, Renney said. My guess is theyre going to want to win the tournament. My guess is also that none of those other teams are going to want to lose to that group. To me I think its an X-factor that really adds something very special to the event.Like with Team Europe, there are details to be worked out on how the two organizations would determine management, the coaching staff and players, but Daly said the team is likely to have a minimum number from each with open wild-card spots to fill.I think theyll work together and determine how to come to those thresholds, Daly said. Theyve both expressed a lot of optimism in terms of their ability to work together on this and to be something that comes together really quickly and isnt contentious at all.Drew Doughty of the Kings said he didnt think Canadians and Americans would want to play together. But theres also the danger of Canada and the United States having to play the Young Stars, made up of players from their own country.Daly said that they dont love the idea of the North American stars beating one of their teams or competing against their flag. Its possible the Young Stars may be put in a different pool than Canada and the United States.This format isnt locked in for future competitions, just this one because of the time constraints.Its not like were trying to establish that the World Cup becomes this amalgamation of countries and everything else, Collins said. Were just trying to stage the best possible hockey tournament we can, set that up and then transition to this more natural World Cup brand.In 2020, the idea is to have a qualifying tournament featuring some of the other traditional hockey-playing countries along with others, like the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Ireland. Eligibility restrictions would be relaxed so that Canadian and American players who dont make those teams can play for a nation of their ancestry.At the 2016 World Cup, there are still some details to be ironed out, like jerseys and television rights. The NHL owns all of that and can make extra money by making brand-new deals outside the ones they currently have.There will be two pools of four teams each. After round-robin play, four teams will be eliminated and four will move on to the semifinals, something Collins said was a way to make those early games much more meaningful.A best-of-three series will crown the winner of the first World Cup since 2004. The event was also held in 1996 and previously was staged as the Canada Cup from 1976-91.I remember some great ones as a kid and Ive seen a lot of then-Canada Cup highlights and some of the special memories those have produced, Tavares said. Whats exciting is you get a best-on-best tournament. Obviously we dont see it very often and when we do, the tournaments are usually pretty special.The league expects this World Cup to generate over US$100 million in revenue. All profits count outside of hockey-related revenue and is split 50/50 between the league and NHLPA.The 2004 event made less than $34 million and the 1996 event made less than $20 million, Collins said.Those tournaments took place at multiple sites. This time its all in Toronto, though future World Cups could be up for bid and moved around.A lot of this is kind of building blocks, Daly said. But this building block, this is part of a bigger, broader, longer range international plan. You cant get bigger than Toronto for hockey. To have a festival, which is what it would be over a 14-day period, its going to be hockey non-stop and competitive hockey.This World Cup is just one building block for the NHLs international endeavours. Fehr said the impact could be quite significant.You have to engage first of all with long-run planning, but you also have to do it step-by-step and learn from what you do and see, Fehr said. We have an opportunity thats really pretty difficult for other sports because we have an established very high level culture on both sides of an ocean, which people are going back and forth.There are hopes to have teams train in Europe before the season and return for regular-season games, but have them later than the opening weekend to put more of a spotlight on the event.When we go, lets bring everybody with us and make it big, give it scale, Collins said. Scale is something weve been talking about for a while now in terms of when we do things, lets do them big.This World Cup will be big, too. Players will be compensated and receive things such as per diem, including those from the KHL and European leagues.The winning team will receive $1 million to split between the national federation and players and the second-place team will get $500,000.This would be a different event from the Olympics, and Bettman said the World Cup would have no impact on a decision regarding 2018. Players still want to compete in the Olympics, and Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane doesnt believe it has to be one or the other.I think we all enjoy playing in the Olympics, and thats probably the biggest stage for any type of athletic event, Kane said. And then you can add this World Cup, and that can be maybe the biggest stage for a hockey international tournament. I think you kind of get the best of both worlds.---Follow @SWhyno on Twitter. ' ' '