The cost of Moncton's new Tower Road dam and reservoir project in Turtle Creek is $8 million over budget, a 20 per cent increase over its original forecast.

Sports

Robert Murray - CUP Sports Editor

SACKVILLE (CUP) - The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) has most of the things you'd expect a hockey league to have: rinks, teams, players, money and the best thing about hockey, hockey. However it lacks one important facet: a fantasy league. With the uncertainty about whether or not my friends and I could carry out our dreams as armchair General Managers for fantasy hockey in the National Hockey League (NHL), we decided to jump ship to the United Kingdom's premier hockey league.

Click here for the original story from The Argosy

So on the opening day of the EIHL season two friends of mine: Marshall Thomas and Bryce Works from St. Albert, Alberta and Belmont, NS respectively created the first annual EIHL Fantasy Hockey League. With team names like "Five for Tea Time" (Marshall), "London Silly Nannies" (Bryce), and the "Titty Ho Express" (myself) we dived head first into the world of English hockey. Titty Ho is an actual town name in England. Google it.

How were our teams selected? We each get to choose two goalies (standard) but the forwards and defence get a bit trickier. We picked six forwards and four defencemen and tracked their point totals. Since the league is apparently full of players who like to beat the crap out of each other (this year's leader in penalty minutes through five games is American Hockey League dropout Benn Olson with 99), we also picked an additional three forwards and two defencemen to score points based solely on penalty minutes, with players gaining a point for every five penalty minutes.

The EIHL has no big name talent. Heck, games are on weekends and the players hold down part-time jobs in the week. Regardless I developed a solid system for selecting my players. I was happy to take Stuart MacRae from Sydney, Nova Scotia who played with the Devils. These Devils weren't from New Jersey, they are from Cardiff. I also selected a forward to count penalty minutes who happened too be named Jeff Hutchins, only because his name sort of resembled Geoff Hutchinson, my co-worker at The Argosy last year.

I also picked Sylvain Cloutier based on the fact that he is related to former Vancouver Canucks goaltender Dan Cloutier. One also can't forget the Israeli superstar Maxim Birbraer who is currently the only player from the Middle Eastern country to be drafted in the NHL (the New Jersey Devils drafted him sixty-seventh overall in 2000.) The steal of the draft went to Marshall as he randomly discovered that former Moncton Wildcats goaltender Nicola Riopel signed with the Dundee Stars.

Of course this league isn't perfect and my lack of knowledge on the league made my team suffer. My top defenceman, Jeff Mason was supposed to carry my defensive core. Nope, turns out he's playing in Switzerland this year, whoops.

Are we crazy? Maybe, but we need our fantasy hockey fix. Lockout or no lockout, we are going to satisfy our our fantasy hockey craving. The powers that be can take away our hockey but just like in 2004-05 we will find alternatives.

Instead of watching the Washington Capitals we'll watch the Edinburgh Capitals, the Florida Panthers become the Nottingham Panthers, and the Philadelphia Flyers become the Fife Flyers. It's as simple as that. Over there, players aren't doing it for the money - some of them are even coaches.

I think this is just the beginning for EIHL Fantasy hockey. All aboard the Titty Ho Express!

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News

Chad Betteridge - The Aquinian (St. Thomas University)

FREDERICTON (CUP) - Those who don't know Jan Wong might not believe she has been responsible for striking fear into the hearts of many, for nearly two decades.

Wong is a small woman, sitting in a dark green velvet chair and sipping a cup of coffee. Her dark hair may be greying, but Wong is the furthest thing from the frail image of a 60-year old. She has more energy, more fire than most people a third of her age. And she is tough.

Click here for the original article from The Aquinian

Infamous for her unflinching, brutally honest style of interviewing and reporting, the Montreal-raised, self-admitted provocateur is preparing for an upcoming public lecture about her recent book Out of the Blue, a Memoir of Workplace Depression, Recovery, Redemption and, Yes, Happiness.

"The reason there are no other books on workplace depression is because employers don't want you to write about this," Wong said.

"Inevitably, when you finally settle with them, they want you to sign a confidentiality order. They don't want you to write about it."

Wong began to suffer from clinical depression after being fired from The Globe and Mail, following controversial comments she made in an article about the Dawson College shooting in 2006. She was immediately lashed out against, receiving hate mail, death threats and being denounced by the Prime Minister and the House of Commons.

The sickness left her unable to write or report, and tested her relationship with her husband and two sons. But just as she had recovered and had finished writing Out of the Blue, Wong was thrown another curveball.

"Doubleday, the company that published my previous four books, backed out at the last second," Wong said.

"The Globe and Mail's lawyer called Doubleday, and suddenly Doubleday refused to publish the book with any mention of the Globe in it. They didn't have a solution. I said 'I don't know what you want me to do.' The book is about clinical depression triggered by the workplace, so I couldn't fix it. I couldn't take it out."

Wong was devastated, but she didn't fall into depression again. Instead, she pulled through and managed to self-publish the book earlier this year, a tasking process that required her learning the ins and outs of the book publishing industry.

Despite all the hardships she has gone through over the past six years, Wong still manages to see things in an optimistic light.

"I think it all worked out very well," Wong said.

"This was a major struggle but look at what happened. I got an interesting book out of it, a useful book that will help people. Every catastrophe is interesting copy."

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Sports

Matt Tidcombe - The Aquinian (St. Thomas University)

FREDERICTON (CUP) - The St. Thomas University men's rugby team has been given a one game suspension due to underage drinking that took part at a party one week ago.

Click here for the original story from The Aquinian

The ban will see them forfeit their game this weekend away at UPEI and they could forfeit further games based on a remedial session.

Athletics Director Mike Eagles says the athletic code of conduct being breached was the source of the ban.

"One of the points in the code of conduct is that we don't expect our of-age athletes will provide alcohol to athletes that are under the age of majority. We felt like that in this situation, that point was broken."

Director of Communications Jeffrey Carlton says that the ban is based solely on the activities which took place at the party.

"Because of the events at the party, we felt that a sanction from the university under the athletics code of conduct was warranted," he said. "It's a significant punishment for a rugby team to lose a game when you have only six regular season games."

Carlton adds that "there was no question there was going to be a sanction. It was just a matter of what would be the length of it."

Eagles says that each student-athlete signs a code of conduct before the season begins and are expected to follow its rules. In the code of conduct, one major topic is that of alcohol and its use.

"We feel strongly enough about it to have it in our code of conduct," he says.

At least three underage players are on the team according to Eagles and he estimates that more than fifty-percent of the people at the party were from the men's rugby team, where players of age bought substantial amounts of alcohol that were available to anyone at the party.

Although drinking games were present at the party, Eagles dismisses the notion that there was hazing involved. Despite that, Eagles says that it can be perceived that pressure to drink could have been a factor.

"People might feel perceived pressure whether they want to or not," he says. "Someone without a real high level of self-confidence might feel like they should participate in this even when they don't want to."

According to Eagles that's the kind of pressure he doesn't want to be seen put on the university's student athletes.

Eagles stresses that players are expected to "know, understand, and sign the code of conduct. He says that he doesn't want the students in situations where negative consequences could happen.

St. Thomas caught wind of the situation on Wednesday where they held preliminary discussions about the situation. Eagles spoke with other members of the university hierarchy about an appropriate suspension and then informed the team. The process took forty-eight hours.

The police were not involved however with Eagles saying that "Fredericton's a small community. STU's a smaller community so at the end of the day you're just going to find these things out."

The final two games of the season are contingent on the team appropriately completing a remedial session, in which they will present to Vice President Finance and Administration Lily Fraser as well as Eagles.

The team will make their presentation this week, although a day and time has not been set.

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Sports

Robert Murray - CUP Sports Editor

SACKVILLE (CUP) - As the 2013 International University Sports Federation (FISU) summer games in Kazan, Russia approach, Canadian coaches have laid the foundation for athletes to succeed. University students across Canada have set aside precious hours in their week to train at the local, provincial and national levels to reach the world stage. However despite all their training and effort, Greg Ryan will be recognized as the solitary factor behind Canada's success or failure at the games.

The FISU games are one of the largest international events for university student-athletes in the world. In numerous cases it acts as a stepping stone for these student-athletes to launch successful Olympic or post-secondary athletic careers.

Ryan, who is the Athletic Director at the University of Alberta's Augustana campus in Camrose is Team Canada's technical director for the games, his fifth appearance at a FISU games dating back to 1987.

The technical director preforms the majority of the intermediary work between the host organization and a nation's mission staff, ensuring athletes are properly treated throughout the course of their events and the preparation leading up to the event.

Ryan described his role as "a lot of liaison work between the host organization and the mission staff." He characterized his job as taking care of the "mundane things" - everything from arranging uniforms to working with international sports organizations to design the placement of numbers on a uniform in a certain way.

He said that his role is "a little bit of a problem solver," noting that in some cases university athletes make the transition from playing under one set of rules in a program such as Canadian Inter-university Sport (CIS) to a different set at the international level. These rule changes can mean that an athlete approaches his or her sport with a different style of play national and internationally.

The formation of teams for each sport also comes into question when balancing the two major national university sports leagues in Canada. Ryan noted that in choosing between athletes from the CIS or Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) that "there is an interesting philosophical discussion in that question."

He said that several governing bodies for sports submit their own teams, with the only qualification being that each athlete is a full-time student at a post-secondary school in Canada.

He did note that sometimes the proximity to an Olympic games can determine the make-up of a team. In cases such as the 2011 FISU Summer Games, held in Shenzhen, China the 2012 London Olympics were right around the corner.

In that instance, Ryan believed that Canada's contingent would be stronger with the hopeful medal contenders gaining invaluable international experience, shortly before competing at the biggest event in their life.]

He talked about a twelve-year cycle that athletes often went through, four years at the university level, with one or potentially two trips to the FISU games and then the following eight years at the Olympics. The athlete would ideally use their first Olympic games to gain footing at the international level, with their second games as their chance to maximize their potential and hopefully earning a meda

Ultimately, Ryan responded positively to the role the games play in acting as a stepping stone for Olympic success, "to learn how to travel, play in a foreign environment, where the food is different, weather is differ the humidity is different all these things in the summer time play a large role in being ready to play for your country at the Olympics."

As Canada heads into the 2013 FISU games, Ryan will lead a large Canadian contingent to Russia that is looking to rebound from their eight medal (five silver and three bronze) showing in 2011. The games offer a wide range of sports, some not belonging to the Olympic program, while other sports are making their debut.

Chess is offered on the FISU program, while 2016 Olympic debut event Rugby sevens will be added to the FISU program for the first time in Russia. Canada has hosted the FISU games once back in 1983 when Edmonton, Alberta hosted the summer portion.

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Sports

Bronte James - The Brunswickan (University of New Brunswick)

FREDERICTON (CUP) - From the moment the plane landed in Malawi, Africa, Melissa Foster knew her trip with the Active Youth Organization and Right to Play would change her life.

Click here for the original story from the Brunswickan

"When we first got off the plane, there was this little girl in the window, and it was just so cute because we were high fiving her through the window and playing," Foster said.

Click here for a preview of Melissa's trip posted to the CUP Wire last year

"It kind of set the tone for the whole trip because this little girl was so excited to see us."

Foster and others involved in the Active Youth Group paid the toll to cross the man-made bridge, and only bridge into the village, to meet the Chiefs – a tradition when first visiting the village. Seen as intrusive to travel through the village without a proper meeting, it was the first stop they made, she said.

Once in the village, they were greeted with people singing, dancing, cooking, and an atmosphere much different than they had known all their lives.

"I don't even know the right word to describe it; the energy in there was beautiful. They welcomed us, which was really cool and we thanked them, and after that, they were super welcoming. "

With a population of 33,000, it was hard not to stand out as one of eleven white people, said Foster.

"All these kids see this big group of white people, so they just see you from a mile away and go sprinting. It was really cute," she said.

"The first time we walked through the village I looked back and we had almost 100 kids following us."

With four schools in the village, known as Community Based Child Care Centres, she worked with children aged five and under.

Attending school in the mornings, the children were then fed through a program called Vitameal, part of a feeding program provided by Feed the Children, which consisted of a nutrient dense porridge.

Weighing the children and measuring their height to determine if they were healthy or underweight, allowed Foster and others to place them in a rehab program suited to their needs.

Each day with the children was different, said Foster. Some days they were shy and on others, they would latch onto her and want to play games all day.

"They would always touch your hair, because our hair is so different, or touch your skin, and just so excited to play," she said.

"The cool thing too is that we can't communicate, we can't speak the same language yet, and you're able to just play."

Always wanting to play is one of the ways they involve the children in activities to promote awareness. Active Youth Organization teamed up with the Lilongwe Organization to create Soccer Day, and organize the second annual Kicking AIDS Out soccer tournament – a full day event on July 6, their Independence Day holiday.

"We had netball games for the girls to play and three soccer games, and we had races. There were 2,000 people from the village who came to watch," said Foster.

Bringing people together throughout the village, handing out flyers that had health information about AIDS, and explaining what the two organizations did in the village, were the main goals of the event.

"We handed out over 4,000 condoms at the event too, and the best part of the day was that there was free HIV/AIDS testing and counselling, so over 50 people got tested that day, which was amazing."

Briefed on how heavy the workload would be, Foster said they took a mini-bus on weekend trips.

"Lake Malawi is absolutely beautiful, it spans most of the country and it's a lake they are really proud of, and so we'd all pile in a mini-bus and go there on the weekend."

The Active Youth Group also used the mini-buses for travelling to get groceries, between villages, or other necessities, where walking was not an option. Crammed into a small bus that is falling apart became normal for Foster.

"It was squished sometimes, and there would be chickens on the bus, and babies, and it was funny because sometimes it would be the first time the baby would see someone who was white so they would just look at us, or take it in and lose it," she said.

"But it was always fun, and music would always be blaring."

Working with everyone in the village, not just those who travelled with her, Foster said one man in particular touched her heart.

A father of two boys and a volunteer at the Active Youth Organization every morning, Levi Son biked an hour to school after work, another hour bike-ride home, and work six at night until six the next morning at one of the embassies, and still come to work with a smile.

Leading cooking demonstrations, introducing recipes, teaching the women of the village how to prepare food, and counselling the women on proper nutrition while the food cooked, were some of the ways Son inspired Foster.

"Every day at work, he would have tons of energy, he'd be smiling and it was incredible. It was amazing too because they were so passionate about the work they did," said Foster.

"He loved teaching people, and it was really inspiring to see people love their work that much."

Although Foster said it was an experience she will never forget, it was not always one to smile about. One of her biggest challenges was visiting the village's hospital where there was one nurse for every 60 patients.

"That was really difficult because it was a lack of resources that were there, and you hear those statistics and it's hard for anybody to heal or get better in that kind of environment."

Even living in states of extreme poverty with majority of the population living off less than one dollar a day, they were some of the happiest people she had met, she said.

"They do what they have to in order to get by, and it's beautiful, but it's not that negative thing you think it is going to be. They are happy and the kids are always playing and smiling."

Finishing off her trip in Africa by travelling to a Global Youth Summit in Rwanda, Africa, Foster was one of 30 Canadian student delegates to meet with ten African delegates from countries such as Rwanda, Mali, Benin, Ghana and Uganda.

"It was this amazing week where we got to exchange all these ideas, and they learned about our clubs in Canada and we got to learn about their Right to Play programs in their respective countries," she said.

"The coolest part was being able to see the work Right to Play does. We participated in one of their play days, so we got to see how Right to Play uses these basic games and how to teach these kids these incredible life lessons."

Some of the ways Foster was able to see firsthand how Right to Play is able to teach youth important lessons was visiting a school and playing a game with boys aged eight to 15. A simple game of running to grab a ball, and if you were the first one to grab it you were able to pick a card.

"All of these cards had questions relating to HIV and AIDS, and it was one of those moments where it just gave me goosebumps because we were having all of these open, honest conversations about such a difficult topic that this game allowed us to do."

Foster was also able to meet with the National Children's Council, who meet once a year, and bring issues to the government relating to youth.

Originally costing money to attend school in Rwanda, a group of 13-19 year olds met with the Rwandan government, explaining how children were unable to afford the cost of education.

"Because this group of kids' education is free in Rwanda now, it's a law that every child goes [to school]. So you think back, 'what was I doing when I was 13?', and these 13 year olds are making policy changes and bringing forth these really big issues. It was really inspiring."

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OTTAWA - The Employment Insurance program must be improved to prevent tens of thousands of workers, their families and communities from suffering fallout from the worst economic crisis in a generation, says Canadian Labour Congress President Ken Georgetti.

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OTTAWA – The Canadian Labour Congress and affiliated unions joined people from human rights, church and community organizations on Parliament Hill on June 10th to protest against the Ottawa visit of Colombian president Alvaro Uribe and the free trade agreement that he is desperate to promote with Canada.

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