ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Hawks are sticking with general manager Danny Ferry even though the teams new majority owner wants him fired for racially charged comments about Luol Deng. Custom Chicago Blackhawks Jerseys . CEO Steve Koonin on Tuesday told the Hawks flagship radio station that he made the decision to discipline Ferry but allowed him to keep his job managing the team. He did not say what the punishment was, but noted that he relied on a law firms three-month investigation of Ferry and him describing Deng as someone who has a little African in him. Ferry made the inflammatory comments about Deng in a conference call with the Hawks ownership group in June when the team pursued Deng as a free agent. Deng, who now plays for the Miami Heat, responded saying, Im proud to say I actually have a lot of African in me, not just a little. A letter from co-owner Michael Gearon Jr. recommends that Ferry resign or be fired. Gearon said Ferry made that description of Deng to the teams ownership group. His June 12 letter to co-owner Bruce Levenson said Ferry went on to say, Not in a bad way, but hes like a guy who would have a nice store out front and sell you counterfeit stuff out of the back. Added Gearon: Ferry completed the racial slur by describing the player (and impliedly all persons of African descent) as a two-faced liar and cheat. Deng, 29, was born in what is now South Sudan. His father moved his family to Egypt and then England. The 10-year NBA veteran is now a British citizen, played for England in the 2012 Olympics and said hes proud to represent his heritage on the highest stage. Deng, like Ferry, also played at Duke. Every person should have the right to be treated with respect and evaluated as an individual, rather than be reduced to a stereotype, Deng said. I am saddened and disappointed that this way of thinking still exists today. I am even more disturbed that it was shared so freely in a business setting. Koonin said Atlanta law firm Alston and Bird went through 24,000 documents, conducted 19 interviews and read every email Danny Ferry has ever sent as general manager of the Atlanta Hawks. Koonin said no other negative information on Ferry was found in the probe. I took their advice and far exceeded their advice, Koonin said of the undisclosed punishment he imposed on Ferry. Hawks spokesman Garin Narain said the investigation of Ferrys comments uncovered a racially inflammatory email written two years ago by Levenson. That discovery led to Levensons announcement Sunday that he will sell his controlling share of the team. Despite Gearons desire to remove Ferry, Koonin is standing by him. I understand that emotion, Koonin said of Gearons recommendation. I certainly understand that emotion. I know people who have said that to me. But if we sentence people based on what everybody wanted, we wouldnt have a justice system. I listened to what (the law firm) said because they had done the work ... so thats a decision Im willing to live with. Gearon warned Levenson he believed Ferrys comments could be fatal to the franchise if made public. Gearon said he and the other co-owners were appalled that anyone would make such a racist slur under any circumstance, much less the GM of an NBA franchise on a major conference call. Gearon declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press on Tuesday. Ferry apologized Tuesday but said he was only repeating what he had heard about Deng. In regards to the insensitive remarks that were used during our due diligence process, I was repeating comments that were gathered from numerous sources during background conversations and scouting about different players, Ferry said in a statement released by the team. I repeated those comments during a telephone conversation reviewing the draft and free agency process. Those words do not reflect my views, or words that I would use to describe an individual and I certainly regret it. I apologize to those I offended and to Luol, who I reached out to Monday morning. Koonin has agreed to meet with Atlanta civil rights leaders on Wednesday. The Rev. Markel Hutchins said Monday he asked for the meeting to discuss what he believes is a racist attitude throughout the organization. In his letter to Levenson, Gearon compared Ferrys remarks to much-publicized racist comments which forced Donald Sterling to sell the Clippers. We believe these comments by Ferry were far worse than Sterlings because they were not from a private personal conversation -- they were in a business environment on a business matter in front of a dozen or more people, Gearon wrote. If Ferry would make such a slur in a semi-public forum, we can only imagine what he has said in smaller groups or to individuals. Ferry was named the Hawks general manager in 2012 following two years as vice-president of basketball operations for the San Antonio Spurs. He was general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-2010 and helped build the team that advanced to the 2007 NBA Finals. There was renewed optimism about the direction of the team after Ferry hired coach Mike Budenholzer from San Antonio in 2013. Now, the turmoil threatens to derail all their efforts. New ownership must be found and despite the support of Koonin, Ferrys ability to survive the crisis is unknown. In his letter of apology, Ferry pledged he would learn from the incident. I am committed to learning from this and deeply regret this situation, Ferry said. I fully understand we have work to do in order to help us create a better organization; one that our players and fans will be proud of, on and off the court, and that is where my focus is moving forward. Stitched Blackhawks Jerseys . Belfort was originally schedule to fight Chris Weidman at UFC 173 on May 24, but a Nevada State Athletic Commission ban on testosterone replacement therapy forced the former light heavyweight champ to withdraw. Chicago Blackhawks Shirts .com) - Oregon wasnt going to let Arizona ruin its national title dreams for a second straight season. https://www.cheapblackhawks.com/ . And Richard Bachman, their rookie goalie, is facing a penalty shot a few seconds after the opening face-off. No pressure, right? Bachman stood his ground against Zack Kassian and saw the puck dribble off the Canuck rookies stick, then settled in and backstopped the Stars to a 5-2 win over Vancouver Tuesday that put Dallas in first place in the Pacific Division.SUNRISE, Fla. - The New York Rangers finished a strong December in strong fashion.Ryan McDonagh, Chris Kreider and Martin St. Louis had a goal and an assist each, and the Rangers got back to their winning ways with a 5-2 victory over the Florida Panthers on Wednesday night.Derick Brassard, Martin St. Louis and Dominic Moore also scored for New York, and Derek Stepan had three assists. Henrik Lundqvist made 19 saves.The Rangers won their first game after having an eight-game winning streak snapped at Dallas on Monday. It was the longest run in 40 years for New York (20-11-4), which went 9-3 in December.We knew they played (Montreal) last night, and we just wanted to play fast and push the pace. I think thats what we did, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.Tomas Fleischmann and Jimmy Hayes scored for Florida.New York dominated play from the outset. The Panthers were outshot 24-12 through the first two periods and 34-21 overall.It took us maybe six or seven minutes to get going in the first period, but I thought once we got going our north-south game was quick and our passing was good and we did what we had to do to win the game, Vigneault said.The Rangers are 16-0-1 when they allow two goals or fewer.We didnt spend a lot of time in our end and, without a doubt, it was a good team effort, Vigneault said.Florida (16-10-9) tied its franchise record with 17 points in December. The Panthers, who lost to Montreal 2-1 in a shootout on Tuesday, went 2-1-1 on their traditional holiday homestand.Panthers coach Gerard Gallant was impressed by the Rangers in his teams first game against New York.They dominated most of the night, Gallant said. I thought we had seven or eight good minutes in the third, but most of the night the Rangers were all over us. We were totally dominated.Thats the best team Ive seen so far this year. They really took control of the game.Al Montoya made big stops in the first period on Kreider on a breakaway, J.T. Miller on a rebound and Maats Zuccarello on a slap shot with traffic in front before Kreider scored his sixth goal at 16:42. Fake Blackhawks Jerseys. The Rangers struck quickly in the second when Brassard put in a rebound off a shot by McDonagh from the left circle at 1:29. It was Brassards ninth goal and first since he netted a pair against Philadelphia on Nov. 29.(The Panthers) keep games tight, Brassard said. They get those extra points and they stay in a lot of games. We knew going in that it was going to be a game from start to finish.We were lucky there to get a couple more (goals) and keep the lead.McDonagh made it 3-0 by keeping in a clearing attempt with his foot. He then zipped a slap shot past Montoya at 14:48 for a power-play tally — his third goal this season.He was awesome, defenceman Marc Staal said of McDonagh. He made some great plays during the rush. He was using his legs. He had a great game.Fleischmann took a long stretch pass from Jonathan Huberdeau and beat Lundqvist on the stick side with 3:22 left in the second for his fourth goal to make it 3-1.Hayes brought the Panthers within a goal at 7:39, scoring his 11th.It was a good momentum swing for us to get right back in it, Hayes said. You score one, then youve got to go right back in and put the press on,We need to play more of a north-south game and be on top of their defence.St. Louis 12th goal came at 9:51 and increased New Yorks lead to 4-2.Moore scored after St. Louis was stopped by Montoya on a breakaway. Moore put back the shot at 15:35 for his second goal.NOTES: Florida signed returning top scorer Nick Bjugstad to a six-year, $24.6 million contract extension. ... Rangers D Kevin Kleins assist in the first period was his 100th career point. ... Floridas Jimmy Hayes and younger brother Kevin, a Rangers forward, faced each other professionally for the first time. The Boston natives were teammates at Boston College for one year and played together for Team USA at the 2014 IIHF World Championship. ' ' '