The Moose Revisited

The Manitoba Moose came back from the brink of elimination to down the Lake Erie Monsters in the first round of the American Hockey League playoffs. The 4-1 victory in game seven means they now have to face off against their division rivals, the Hamilton Bulldogs.

As part of my Sports Journalism class at Red River College, I was able to cover a Moose - Monsters game from the press box, earlier this year. Because it was a school project it never saw the light of day. Here it is:

Three games of an 80 game schedule may seem insignificant, but when your team is mired in a losing streak, three games can seem like an eternity. Not wanting to extend their misery, the Manitoba Moose broke their losing skid in convincing fashion.

In front of minor hockey players from Swan River to Gateway to Altona, at the MTS Centre celebrating Hockey Night in Manitoba, the Moose downed the Lake Erie Monsters, moving back into a tie for first place in the American Hockey League's North Division. Recovering from a 5-1 loss to the Monsters the previous night, goaltender Eddie Lack backstopped the team to a 4-2 victory. The win prevented the Moose from setting a team record for futility. No Moose team had ever lost four regulation games in a row.

“A lot of things went our way tonight,” said Kevin Clark, the game's first star. “I don't know if it was the crowd, but guys we're making plays for each other. We showed that we weren't the same team from last night and that we're a first place team.”

The Moose took control early, pounding Monsters' goalie Jason Bacashihua with 17 shots in the first period. Their reward for this sustained pressure was a pair of quick goals near the end of the period. Alexandre Bolduc scored on a breakaway that pushed Bacashihua into his net, a minute and a half after Garth Murray opened the scoring.

The Moose kept the pressure on in the second period. Sergei Shirokov scored his team-leading 17th goal and then set up Mario Bliznak for the team's fourth goal of the night. Bliznak's goal meant an early exit for the beleaguered Bacashihua. The Monsters rallied late in third, led by goals from Ben Walter and Luke Walker, but it too little, too late.

After only scoring 15 goals in their past seven games, you couldn't fault the 14,775 in attendance for being surprised by the home team's offensive explosion. Moose coach Claude Noel chalked it up to some soul searching in the dressing room.

“Sometimes it's important to prove that you're a good team and we've got a lot riding on the next few games,” said Noel. “It's a lot about will, the will to play and the will to succeed. Tonight the guys showed that they have that will.”

The Moose have a few days of rest before hitting the road for a franchise record-tying ten game road swing, beginning Wednesday night in Rochester. A win against the North Division cellar dweller Americans would catapult the team past the Monsters for first in the division.

Honouring Manitoba's Athletes

Besides representing Canada at the Olympics, what do Jonathan Toews, Clara Hughes, Shannon Rempel, and Brittany Schussler all have in common? The answer is that they are all former winners of Sport Manitoba’s Junior Athlete of the Year award. On Thursday, April 28, two more young athletes will join these Manitoba sports heroes.




This past year was a banner year for Manitobans and their athletic endeavors. Manitobans made a splash on both the national and international level in many sporting disciplines – from baseball to volleyball, fencing to judo, and swimming to gymnastics (among many others).

A lot of these young athletes have flown under the radar of our province’s consciousness even though they have won major international events or set personal and provincial bests in the past year. Sport Manitoba will give these athletes some shine at the Sport for Life Gala tomorrow night at the Club Regent Casino here in Winnipeg.

At the Gala, awards will be handed out to the Junior Male and Female Athletes of the Year, Coach of the Year, Official of the Year, Volunteer and Youth Volunteer of the Year, and Manitoba Team of the Year. All categories are incredibly competitive this year, as Manitoba athletes had a year to remember on the national and international levels.

Alongside the presentation of the awards, the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame will be adding two new members in the Veteran category. Ronald Turnbull will be inducted for his role in Manitoba cricket, both as an athlete and a builder. In the Team category, the 1963 St. James Rams senior football team is being inducted. Coached by Blue Bomber legend Bud Tinsley, the Rams were the first Western Canadian senior team to win the national championship on eastern soil.

The 2011 Sport for Life Gala takes place Thursday, April 28 at 7 PM at the CanadInns Club Regent. To see the full list of nominees visit here. If you’re interested in coming to the Gala, tickets can be purchased from Sport Manitoba.

Canada's Northern Artist Collective

As a follow up to my blog post yesterday, I think its essential to highlight a positive story coming out of Nunavut. That story is the Cape Dorset artist community. In a settlement plagued by crime, world renowned art has been used for the past half century as an economic engine.

It is mind blowing to learn that in one community, with a population of roughly 1200, roughly 25 per cent of the population earns their living through the arts. These artists bring in around $1.5 million in revenues each year. This is staggering. I'm not sure if there is an artist's collective like this anywhere in Canada.



Beginning in the late 1950s, Inuit artists set up an artists workshop in Cape Dorset, producing prints and soapstone carvings. Each year, the workshop, known as Kinngait Studios, has issued a print collection and carvings are sold through galleries in Toronto and Winnipeg.



It's interesting to note that a true artist community exists and thrives in Canada's North. While cultural forces have almost completely destroyed their traditional way of life, Cape Dorset Inuit have built an economy based on their past.

Canada's Northern Problem

Over the past several years, there has been much discussion about Canada's North and protecting our sovereignty in the Arctic Archipelago. Much of this talk has focused on military and international diplomacy solutions.

Little attention has been paid to the region's inhabitants, the Inuit. Thirty-three thousand Inuit are spread across across the massive Nunavut territory, living in 25 settlements (accessible only by air). They face a myriad of challenges whose roots stem from the transition from a nomadic to sedentary lifestyle, forced relocation to the High Arctic (eg. Resolute and Grise Fiord), and the devastating effects of the residential school system.

In Nunavut, the suicide rate is 40 times higher than in the rest of Canada and the crime rate is more in line with South Africa than the southern provinces. As the territory passes its twelfth anniversary, it is faced with serious social issues that continue to compound.

The Globe and Mail's Patrick White wrote an excellent, in-depth portrait of trials and tribulations of Canada's largely forgotten northern people. It's a long, but extremely educational read about the struggles of our fellow citizens.

Negative PR and sports labour unrest...not limited to North America

It's interesting to note that unchecked greed is not something isolated to North American professional sports.

While the National Football League (the billionaires) and the players (the millionaires) fight not just a labour, but a public relations battle (hears and minds), everything is not rosy in Spanish futbol.

The Spanish government recently decided that one La Liga game per matchday must be shown on free television. This is the equivalent of the Canadian government mandating that Hockey Night in Canada must exist or the American government saying that CBS has a legal right to air Sunday afternoon football.

The concept of sports on non-pay channels in North America is pretty-well accepted. Not so in Spain, apparently. La Liga and its member teams have taken the Spanish government to court over the decision, claiming it will effect their revenue streams. If the decision is changed, the league will collectively go on strike.

This can't be good pr for a league that pays some of the highest salaries in soccer and has some of the largest revenue-grossing teams.

Social Media Slam Dunk

Ah, it's that time of year again. The temperatures are rising, the snow is melting, and Winnipeg is beginning to turn into one gigantic, dirty puddle. Beyond that, another sure sign that its almost spring is that March Madness kicked off on Thursday.



The 68-team, three week NCAA Men's College Basketball Championship is treated like a religion by hundreds of thousands on both sides of the border. The prospect of seeing, not only college's best teams, but also the prospect of a "minnow" knocking off a "big fish" makes casual basketball viewers fanatics for a short period of time each year.



In the world of Web 2.0, March Madness is a perfect avenue for social media marketing. Facebook was one of the first social media websites to take advantage of this, when they launched a NCAA bracket pool in 2007. This year they've expanded on this app, by partnering with Citizen Sports and having a $5,000 grand prize. For the iPhone, Citizen Sports offers a mobile version of its Facebook app.

Talk Hoops offers an app for the iPhone that provides in-depth information, news, and game scores about all 68 teams taking part in the Madness.

The NCAA and tournament broadcaster CBS haven't been left behind in the social media derby. The NCAA offers on-demand streaming of all tournament games, while CBS has an app that allows you to watch every game on your iPhone.

All these new social media avenues for the tournament are a goldmine for their creators and everyone out there jonesing for more coverage of March Madness.

With these new apps you have no chance of missing the 2011 version of Valparaiso-Mississippi or Princeton-UCLA.

IPPP Time

Wow time has flown by over the past few years. It feels like only yesterday that I was sitting in the multi-purpose room at Red River College's Roblin Centre at the Exchange District Campus, having the Creative Communications program explained to me. But, in reality it has been almost a year and a half since this event. In the meantime, countless written, audio, and visual assignments have been produced, I chose public relations as my career path, and I, along with roughly 70 of my peers completed an IPP.

What exactly is an IPP? In order to graduate from Creative Communications, students must complete an Independent Professional Project. This can be a written project, audio or video project, or a promotional project. Students pitch their idea in the form of a written proposal and to a panel of instructors for approval. They then have roughly a year to complete this project.

I chose to produce a travel blog focusing on Manitoba's stunning and diverse provincial parks. Thanks to the support of the Winnipeg Free Press, I was able to market my project by having it featured prominently on the front page of their website. Manitoba Parks: A(sessippi) to Z(ed Lake) ended up being a great success.

Next week marks the completion of the IPP, when every Creative Communications student is tasked with presenting their project in front of an audience of their peers, instructors, family, and media industry professionals. The Independent Professional Project Presentations (IPPPs) will take place Wednesday, March 9 to Friday, March 11 at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. Students will each have 10 minutes to present their project and all the work that they have accomplished.

If you have the time, stop by and learn about Manitoba Parks: A(sessippi) to Z(ed Lake) and Steve Dreger's South African World Cup Odyssey. Watch Jeff Ward's feature film, "The Trainman" and learn about "Debuts" thanks to Lennie Eulalia's documentary, among many other excellent and thought provoking projects.

If you have the time