Issue 24, Vol 141, The Brunswickan

The Brunswickan

Volume 141 Issue 24 • Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication • UNB Fredericton’s Student Paper • Mar. 26, 2008

Hell

Freezes Over V-Reds fall to Alberta for gold

T

he UNB Varsity Reds’ dream season was put on ice Sunday night at the hands of the Alberta Golden Bears. The V-Reds, who have been the unanimous topranked team in the country for most of the 2007-08 season, fell 3-2 to Alberta in the University Cup finals. Golden Bears goalie Aaron Sorochan made 40 saves – several of the spectacular variety – to quiet UNB’s offense, which has been dazzling all season.

Justin DaCosta and Rob Hennigar scored for the Reds, who were backstopped by a brilliant effort from CIS Second-Team AllStar Mike Ouzas. Ouzas allowed just four goals over the course of the tournament and

recorded a shutout against the Saskatchewan Huskies in the second game.

UNB held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 over Alberta, but a lethal powerplay by the Golden Bears early in the third period put them ahead to stay. Despite a 6-5 in the final minute and a flurry of shots at the Alberta keeper, the VReds were unable to beat Sorochan to send the game to overtime.

Hennigar, Ouzas, and defenseman David Bowman were all recognized as tournament All-Stars, but it was little compensation after bitter defeat – just the third loss for the team in CIS competition this season – capped off the most impressive season in UNB history.

Full coverage inside, page 13

Jennifer McKenzie/ The Brunswickan

Doug Estey/ The Brunswickan

News

2 • March 26, 2008 • Issue 24

STEPping into the future terms of statistics, are lower in terms of finding employment than the general population. At our conferences, we try to dispel some of the commonly held myths around hiring a person with a disability.”

The perception, according to Howard, that STEP sees a lot of is that employers believe there would be more human resources that would have to be put in place to employ a person with a disability. But she says that is not the case, and that often there can be very small types of accommodations that can be manageable within the employer’s budget and also in terms of flexibility.

They work very closely with many different employers, mostly with banks and particularly with TD. They provide funding as well as job shadow opportunities for students and help with providing workshops. However, at

The STEP program at UNB helps to ensure students with disabilities get the proper training to help make the transition into the workforce

by Lauren Kennedy After a three year pilot program, Jane Howard, the Transition Coordinator of STEP (Successful Transition to Employment Program), is pleased that the program will continue at UNB. “The program has been sustained but we will still be continuing to look for funds to keep the program sustainable,” she said.

The program works in partnership with the UNB Student Accessibility Centre, Easter Seals New Brunswick, and TD Canada Trust, a company which donated $25,000 to help continue the program at UNB. STEP provides services to over 60 students a year and pairs students who have a wide variety of disabilities with mentors who are in the student’s specific field, for example, an engineering student would be paired with a graduate student working in the field which the student would like to one day get into.

The main focus of the program is to work with students at the level they are at, explained Howard.

“We work with students who are at very early stages of their university careers, right up to students who are preparing to graduate. The skills they learn can be very different depending on where they are in their own specific stage,” she said. “It’s a very self directed program and students work on job skills that are paired to their own needs. It’s not a cookie cutter approach by any means.”

“It’s not a cookie cutter approach by any means.”

- Jane Howard,

Transition Coordinator of STEP

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Lindsay Welsford, Technology Mentor of the STEP program at UNB helps students ease into an easy transition in the work place STEP works with employers in the year on what types of accommodations community to raise awareness around that are available to employers. Howemploying students with disabilities ard explains more.

“Individuals with disabilities, in and offers conferences throughout the

this point, STEP is not using the word “internship” to describe what students get to experience in the program; they use the word “job shadow”.

“We’re not at this stage using the word ‘internship’ – we are looking at the future and hoping to work with employers who do provide internships.

We have, on the other hand, been using the word ‘job shadow’ for now, but that doesn’t mean that in the future, we couldn’t be looking to have more substantial opportunities for students,” explained Howard.

So far, Howard has said that the program has experienced some very positive feedback from students who have participated, and as far as she knows, the program here at UNB is the only one of its kind.

No obstacle is too big

by Naomi Osborne

University is a time of enlightenment for every student, even those who may have to overcome unexpected obstacles in their everyday lives.

Both St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick are dedicated to ensuring that every student is able to stay on the same playing field with each other when it comes to both education and accessibility. Each campus has departments that focus on providing the best services to students who need them most.

Director of Student Life at STU, Jane McGinn works with students who have added challenges in their lives, and she says she is amazed by them.

“I know students with physical and academic challenges and they astound me with their determination, good humour, and assertiveness,” said McGinn.

“I’m in awe of them.”

She works alongside with Marina Nedashkivska, the Coordinator for Student Accessibility at STU. Together, they work with students on an individual basis to hear what their specific needs are.

“Our job is to make sure all our students have the opportunity to learn and grow,” said McGinn. “It is great to see them all being successful.”

Some of the needs turn out to be simple ones, such as hiring a student to take notes for a person who is hearing impaired, or hiring a student to guide a person who is visually impaired around the campus. Many of these obstacles are easily fixed because everyone on this campus is good at working together.

“We are a community, we are all here together so that people can learn and grow,” said McGinn. “If there are barriers, we need to figure them out and fix them. It’s all about leveling the playing field.”

In order for students to be hired for one of these jobs, they first have to go through a training program and sign a confidentiality agreement. It is very important for them to take it seriously because they are signing up to help one of their fellow students with issues that may be private.

Shirley Cleave is the Chair of the Accessibility Committee at UNB, and their services are very similar to the ones provided at STU. Both campuses help students who may have difficulty learning or writing exams by providing a quiet place for them to write their exams.

Cleave says it is important for students to realize they could find themselves at any time in a situation where they need some type of help.

McGinn says that one of the most rewarding things is that these services allow students to improve.

“Every student improves. If you’re a student with an obstacle and you try to go straight ahead, you [might find you] can’t go through that brick wall. You need to find a way to either go under or around it.”

McGinn and Cleave both feel it is important for students to be aware that at any time, they could find themselves as the one who is in need of certain accessibility services.

It is not only the academic side of accessibility that is important, though – the physical side is just as concerning.

One of the biggest problems that STU faced when the new building, Margaret Norrie McCain Hall, was built was providing access for all students from the lower level of campus, said McGinn.

Campus has been made accessible for all students, including those with wheelchairs. With McCain Hall, the newest building built on STU’s campus, the opportunity to provide a larger elevator presented itself and it was immediately taken.

“It is important because it is possible that someone with a larger wheelchair could come to the university, and we want to be able to accommodate them,” said McGinn.

Even though the STU campus is very accommodating and wheelchair accessible, winter is still an obstacle that is much too big.

The important thing to realize is that by making campus accessible to people who are facing challenges, it is ultimately making accessibility better for everyone, said McGinn.

“Not one of us is perfect; we have to strive to be perfect. You have to keep pushing, improving, growing, and changing.”

News

Issue 24 • March 26, 2008 • 3

New Cellar lease to fight ambiguity

Paul Martin to kick off Lightbulb Lecture Series

by Melanie Bell

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

The Cellar Pub & Grill, pictured here, is in the process of signing a new short-term lease

by Josh O’Kane Though a new lease was supposed to be signed for The Cellar Pub & Grill in February, no pen has yet to hit paper.

The establishment, nestled in the basement of the SUB, has been working towards clearing up ambiguities in its existing contract with the university.

The new lease being negotiated will be a short-term one, lasting about a year, to test the waters of the new terms of agreement with the university.

Lyle Skinner is President of SUBS Inc, the governing body behind The Cellar. He argued for the short-term lease to assure that the both parties, UNB and SUBS Inc, were comfortable enough with the terms of this lease to sign it for a longer term.

“I was the one who asked for that, simply out of respect for both parties who were considering some of these provisions as simply in a trial period,” says Skinner. “ We’re determining how successful this new lease will be, and if there are any problems, that we can negotiate them at that point [at the end of the lease] instead of having a situation where we would walk into a longer agreement.”

“Next year, we’d be signing for a longer term, I’d say roughly between five and seven years. But that’s something that would be decided at a later point in time.”

He says that despite nothing being on paper, some changes that were agreed upon in negotiating the lease are already being enforced, pending final approval of the SUB Board, the committee responsible for general policy surrounding the building.

“For example,” says Skinner, “the university is now taking over maintaining of The Cellar landing area for security purposes. That was one of the issues of larger concern for me, simply due to our staff being out in the landing in the middle of winter, which created an uncomfortable work environment.

“We were able to have that provision come into force sooner rather than later.

As the semester goes on, it’s less and less

of a concern, but that’s something good from the perspective of my staff. They had significant concerns about it. That’s an example of something that’s currently enforced, pending the formality of final approval of the lease.”

The new lease will take into account more specifics from an administrative and procedural perspective, says Skinner.

“There’s more of a general understanding of what is permitted and what isn’t permitted. In the last lease, there were a series of provisions that were ambiguous, which caused confusion between SUBS Inc and the university in interpreting the legal requirements arising from that. The main benefit of this new lease is that everything is explicit and both parties understand what their respective responsibilities are.”

In an interview with The Brunswickan in November 2007, Skinner said that he had hoped to sign the lease by the end of the fall semester. This soon changed to February, when he said the new lease was to be signed. At that point, however, he says the SUB Board and university were held back by a backlog of other work, holding back the lease from being reviewed.

“For all intensive purposes at the moment, the exact contents have been looked upon, and SUBS Inc and the university are awaiting final review by the SUB Board,” says Skinner.

The review will be in more of an advisory capacity, and Skinner says the main substance of what has been negotiated between SUBS Inc and the university won’t change.

“It’s more to have final approval for the general framework of the lease itself.”

The SUBS Inc Board is in the midst of replacing board members for the next year. Skinner, in his sixth year at UNB, hopes to be graduating in May, thus leaving the future of The Cellar in other hands.

“We’ll be appointing a new president, which I can’t comment on at the moment, as the decision hasn’t been made yet.”

As well, a longer-term business

strategy will be coming from the capable hands of a group of UNB MBA students. The group is currently compiling a report on The Cellar, covering everything from corporate governance, to business strategies, to long-term upgrades and renovations for The Cellar.

Skinner says that the most successful thing the SUBS Inc Board has done this school year was changing the political environment in which The Cellar is operated.

“When I came into the position, there was a lot of confusion with respect to the university, but also on The Cellar’s side. That’s stemming from things that I didn’t have any control over, as that came from prior administration with respect to The Cellar.

“However, right now, there have been very little problems with The Cellar in terms of safety and security which were UNB’s overall concern. I agreed with them at that time and I still agree with them… As far as the working relationship between UNB and The Cellar, it couldn’t be any better than it is now.

That’s a very, very positive change.”

Skinner believes this is The Cellar’s most successful year to date in terms of operating and generating business, for which he thanks Manager Pat Hanson and The Cellar’s staff. As a unit of the Student Union, this means more money going back to students.

“We’re looking to have a significant amount of money transferred back into clubs and societies... for next year. At the moment, I don’t know the specific amount, but there would be a significant amount of money sent back to the Student Union proper...to benefit students.

That’s again the whole backdrop of The Cellar – a revenue-generating unit for students.”

He hopes to see the lease signed within the next couple of weeks. This requires his own signature as a tenant of the SUB, as well as that of James Brown, in his capacity as an agent of the university, or landlord. Brown, Executive Director of Residential Life, Campus & Conference Services, oversees the SUB and sits on the SUB Board as a non-voting ex-officio member.

“The best job ever”

by Lauren Kennedy

Imagine making a difference in someone’s life so much that it makes them want to keep coming back and experience the wonders of camp for not just one week of the year, but all 52 weeks.

This is the reality that Chad Duplessie, Director of Camp Rotary describes.

“A camper in his 40s who has Downs Syndrome wakes up every day of the year and packs for camp. For 51 weeks, he packs everyday just because he is so excited to get back to a place he loves,” he described with a smile on his face.

Camp Rotary is an accessible summer camp designed for people who have a wide variety of disabilities. It was started in the mid 1950s as a place for polio survivors, and from there it has grown into a variety of different camps. They have adult camps for adults who live with cognitive and physical disabilities and camps for kids with diabetes. They also host Camp Goodtime, a summer camp for cancer survivors. Camp is held for eight weeks during the summer and each different camp runs for a week.

Camp Rotary is described as a place where kids and adults alike can go to have fun and get away from their everyday lives and a place where they can be around their peers and friends.

Some of the campers have been going for 20-25 years and the staff continues to see them come back every year. Matt Lavigne is a Program Coordinator at Camp Rotary and a second year English student at UNB and says what sets the camp apart from others is something very unique.

“What makes Camp Rotary is that extra-special personal connection that’s there. There are so many funny and good people that go and that is what camp is about, the people,” he said.

“It gives these kids and adults a place to go where they are not different. For the 51 weeks of the year they are different and are outsiders, but when they come to camp they are amongst their peers and friends,” said David Barry, an instructor at Camp Rotary.

Typical summer camps are based on just any kid being there, but this one in particular is specific to persons with disabilities but as Barry says, they (the staff) try to focus on their abilities rather then their disabilities.

“During game times, we incorporate everyone into the game and make games that everyone can play, and by doing that, it gives the campers a sense of pride and involvement.”

Not only is it the campers that get a thrill from being there, the staff is just as excited as the campers to participate, and each have had their own favourite camp memories.

The most rewarding part for Barry is making a difference in campers’ lives.

“Being at camp feels to me like everyday I am doing something good. I’ve never had a harder job, and I’ve planted trees before, and this was tougher. But everyday, I had a smile on my face and was smiling and laughing with everyone,” he said. “My face actually hurt I was smiling so much, with such good people around you can’t help but enjoy what you are doing,” he said.

Duplessie agrees and says the positive energy at the camp is wonderful and makes a great atmosphere for everyone involved.

“Everything is just so unconditional.

If a camper runs up and gives you a hug, they really are so grateful and happy to be there,” he described. “It’s a very demanding job but it’s the positive aspects that keep you going.”

Lavigne says that like every job, there are highs and lows but it’s the personal one-on-one connection with campers that keeps him coming back for more.

“It is hard work, but what really struck me when I was there was that I found myself to have kept getting into these situations where I realized that no one else is experiencing what I am, like communicating for the first time with someone who is non-verbal and really making a connection with that person.

It’s unreal,” he said.

Duplessie describes how happy some campers are to go to camp for that one week and meet up with their life-long friends. And these life-long friends, as he says, can some times develop into more than that.

“We have some ‘camp couples’ that rotate from day to day. I once pretend married two people in the deep end of the pool while swimming and in one swift swimming stroke, I saw the guy divorce his ‘wife’ in the shallow end,” he described with a chuckle.

In the end, Duplessie, Barry, and Lavigne agree that at the end of the summer when all is said and done, you know that you have changed a life in one way or another and forget about your own needs and focus on someone else for awhile.

“It’s really the best job in the world,” said both Duplessie and Lavigne.

“I wish camp was year round; I just can’t wait for the summer to come and go to camp again!” said Barry.

In 2006, a group of UNB Engineers Without Borders members set out to start something unprecedented in Fredericton. They decided to host a sustainable, high-profile lecture series.

“The idea is so new that no one in our organization had an idea of how to do it,” says Alejandro Gomez-Juliao, a member of the organizing committee.

The group met with Member of Parliament Andy Scott to ask if he could help bring in a well-known and experienced individual to UNB to speak about international development issues.

“We never even contemplated the idea of Paul Martin. It was Scott who mentioned, ‘What about Paul?’” says Gomez-Juliao.

Since that meeting, the group has been working closely with Scott on bringing Canada’s 21st Prime Minister to Fredericton for the first annual run of the Lightbulb Lecture Series.

Martin will explore how government and businesses can help Africa climb out of poverty. Students and residents of Fredericton will have a rare opportunity to hear from and ask questions to one of our nation’s former leaders.

“As one of Canada’s most successful finance ministers, Mr. Martin is a world leader who is uniquely qualified to discuss how businesses and government can make the economic decisions necessary to combat poverty and improve the quality of life of Africa’s 53 nations,” says Brent Langille, EWB-UNB President. “If we can harness the power of government and industry, we have a real chance to make a big impact on African prosperity through socially responsible practices.”

The Lightbulb Lecture series has seen its share of obstacles. Since the project has taken two years, many members of the initial committee have graduated and others have since joined.

However, according to Gomez-Juliao, a more significant challenge was to “demonstrate that we are bringing Paul Martin as a former Prime Minister and not a partisan Liberal. Our non-partisan status demands that we do not side with any political group and our focus is on international development.”

Internet

Paul Martin will be speaking, Monday, March 31 in the Dineen Auditorium in Head Hall Martin’s experience intersects with tin will speak from numerous perspecinternational development on many tives, from government, to business, to fronts. As a Liberal, he witnessed for- NGOs in addressing the roles all of these mer PM Lester B. Pearson’s pledge to actors can play in development. set aside 0.7% of Canada’s GDP for the The lecture’s format emphasizes its purpose of aid in developing nations. focus on engaging as many people as As Prime Minister, he has taken part possible. Martin’s speech will be folin significant developmental efforts lowed by opening the floor to questions within Canada’s own borders. These in- on the topic of international developclude the negotiation of a 10-year, $41B ment. George Roter, Co-Founder of plan to improve health care, and the EWB, will moderate the event. The Kelowna Accord, a consensus reached lecture is free and open to the public. with Canada’s provinces, territories and “We have provided ample space for as First Nations people that focuses on many people as possible,” says Gomezeliminating the rift between First Na- Juliao. “We want the LLS to become a tions and non-First Nations Canadians yearly event that draws the attention of in terms of health, housing, education, all Frederictonians. The topics that [our] and economic opportunity. speakers will touch upon go far and As Finance Minister, Martin repre- beyond the benefit of the selected few. sented the country at numerous interna- We want people from all walks of life to tional summits and served as chair of the feel welcome and to participate.”

G-20, a group consisting of G-7 nations The Lightbulb Lecture Series aims to in addition to nations with developing bring in further high-profile speakers to markets. He played a significant role in address the many facets of international developing a new financial order aimed development in years to come. to prevent emerging economies from “We are thinking big,” says Gomezfalling into crisis.

Juliao. “The idea is to bring in individuPrior to his involvement in politics, he als that are known by everybody.” served as a business executive at Power While future speakers have not yet Corporation of Canada and acted as been contacted, suggested names include Chairman and CEO of Canada Steam- George Stroumboulopoulos and Kofi ship Lines. He has also been actively Annan.

The two-hour presentation will take involved in numerous community and place on March 31 at 7 pm in the Dineen service organizations.

Given this range of experience, Mar- Auditorium. Doors will open at 6:30.

News

2 • March 26, 2008 • Issue 24

Breaking your lease Food and waste at UNB

by Amanda Thibodeau, Co-Coordinator of UNB Student Leagal Information Centre Exam season is fast approaching, and that means summer vacation is just around the corner. Did you land a great summer job out of province? Are you graduating and moving away? Just going to home to mooch off Mom and Dad for the summer? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, then you might be wondering how to find a way out of your lease.

The first thing to consider is what type of lease you have. The amount of time you need to give notice in advance of terminating your lease depends on the terms of your lease. If you have a fixed term lease, it will end automatically at the end of the term. If you have a month-to-month lease, then you need to make sure you give your notice at least one month in advance. If it’s a year-to-year lease, which is the most common, then you may have a bit more work to do.

If you have a yearly lease, and you’ve been living at that address for less than five years, then you’ll need to give notice to your landlord no less than 3 months from the anniversary date of the lease.

This means that if your lease began September 1, you need to give notice

by June 1.

Remember when giving notice to make sure you do it in writing, and it is always a good idea to make a copy and keep it for your own records.

What can you do if you need to leave before your lease expires?

You could ask your landlord if they would agree to end the lease early. If they agree, be sure to get it in writing!

If they won’t agree to an early termination, there are some other options to consider.

If you do not intend to return to your apartment, you may consider assigning your lease to someone else. This transfers the right of tenancy to the new tenant, and the original tenant is no longer responsible for the rented premises.

You may also consider subletting

your apartment, if your lease allows it.

A sublet allows the tenant to rent the premises to someone else for a portion of the lease, allowing the tenant to move back when the sublet ends. It is advisable to be cautious in choosing a subtenant, because in the event that they cause damage or leave rent owing, the original tenant may lose their security deposit and be responsible for additional damages caused by the subletter, or their lease may be put at risk.

Depending on the terms of your lease, you may not be permitted to assign or sublet, or you may need the permission of your landlord to do so. If consent is required, inform your landlord (in writing!), they have seven days to reply.

If there is no reply, you can assume they have consented. If your lease permits assignments or sublets, your landlord cannot refuse without a good reason to do so.

What will happen if I just leave?

Do not forget that when you took possession of your apartment, you entered into a legally binding contract with your landlord. If you leave before your lease expires, you may be liable for the unpaid rent. Keep in mind that the landlord cannot sit back and claim that you are responsible for the remaining term of the lease. The landlord must make an effort to rent the now vacant apartment. If the landlord has made a reasonable effort to rent the premises but is unable find a new tenant, they could file a small claims suit against you for recovery of lost rent.

If you have any landlord/tenant issues, you can contact the Fredericton Rentalsman at 453-2557 for assistance.

You can also contact the UNB Student Legal Information Centre, open from 9 am-4:30 pm Monday to Friday. Our office is located in the Student Union Building, Room 122.

Amanda Thibodeau is a third-year law student at the University of New Brunswick and the Co-Coordinator of UNB’s Student Legal Information Centre. This article is intended to provide information of a personal nature only and not legal advice.

The last in a series of sustainability articles, talks about food waste and what you can do to improve the amount of food waste on campus.

by Marc Girard, Melissa Fulton, and Becky Graham

Food production is filled with environmental problems. Unsustainable agricultural practices, massive transportation demands, and disposal of food waste products can’t be overhauled overnight.

But being aware of the problems is step one to becoming sustainable.

In order to limit transportation requirements, more and more people (not just “hippy granolas”) are choosing local food.

Sodexho, the company responsible for catering and food services at UNB, has made attempts to increase the amount of local food they purchase, working with distributors that supply some local produce. Are there closer local vendors? Yes. Can Sodexho actually use these vendors? Probably not.

Vendors must achieve certification and gain corporate recognition before they can be considered a viable option.

While our local food is most likely safe, Sodexho feeds thousands of people daily on campus and is therefore stringent about food safety. There is another barrier to local food on campus, that Sodexho does not adequately advertise their local food options.

There have been some initiatives on campus; the problem is most students don’t have a clue about them. For

example, you can receive discounts on your coffee from cafes simply by bringing your own mug. Also, Sodexho has recently shifted from Styrofoam and plastics to biodegradable take-out containers.

That’s fine, but why stop there?

Students can bring reusable mugs, so why not implement a program where students could bring in their own Tupperware when they buy a meal? This is just one small way we can continue to cut down on packaging. Waste is often considered an unusable thing that needs to be discarded. However, the engineers of life (bacteria, fungi, insects, and yes, engineers) have taught us that waste is in the eye of the beholder. One hippo’s poop is another beetle’s home; one person’s leftovers are another hungry person’s dinner.

To reduce our waste, we often need to find new uses for things we’ve been discarding, perhaps rashly. Spent batteries, ill-fated for a one-way trip to the abyss,

can now be recycled. Go to Head Hall and send them off for rejuvenation via their battery recycling plan. Move on to Sir Howard Douglas Hall to witness the impressive four-slotted multi-purpose recycling bin, able to accommodate paper, metals, plastics, and cardboard.

Why isn’t there one of those in every building on campus, you ask? The initiative costs $30,000 tomatoes and some people are just waiting for the funding to put down the hammer on that.

Waste is heavily scrutinized in today’s informed and educated public. As members of a high educational institution, we need to keep pressuring the Student Union and the UNB administration to do everything in their power to fulfill the three Rs. To know more about food, waste, or sustainability on campus, e-mail waste@ unb.ca, food@unb.ca, engage@unb.ca, or visit our Facebook group “University of New Brunswick Fredericton Campus Sustainability Project”.

brunswickan awards banquet. saturday, april 5, 2008 mcginnis landing, 5:30 pm all volunteers, staff, members and editors welcome. eic@unb.ca for details

Comments & Letters

eic@unb.ca • March 26, 2008

The old man rant an opinion from Dave Evans

Jennifer McKenzie / The Brunswickan

Some of UNB’s recently eliminated Women’s Varsity Reds hockey team were out in full force to support their former male counterparts at the CIS Championships last weekend

The Price of Victory Dear Editor: As someone who doesn’t take much notice of university politics, it takes a pretty big shake-up for me to speak out about anything. I’m not usually prone to worry about the allocation of money that doesn’t end up in my pocket. Still, I can’t help but feel for the teams that have recently lost their varsity status, and the support that came with it. Going from the prestige of being an elite varsity athlete to the anonymity of a simple member in a club open to all students would seem to a lot of people to be a demotion. This attitude is dead wrong. I would rather be an athletic club member than a varsity athlete any day.

Who am I to tell athletes the real meaning of club status? I am a UNB woodsman. For over 40 years the Woodsmen have been a club, not even a recognized club team, but a club like the debating union or the wildlife society. We compete annually in lumberjack competitions across eastern Canada,

and this season we captured the league championship, beating VARSITY woodsmen teams from McGill and NSAC (among many others). We are fortunate, in a way, to have never had the strong support that varsity status brings. We have never come to depend on anyone but ourselves, and the outside help we receive is graciously accepted as a gift, not seen an entitlement. We have sweat and toiled for most of the money that has ever come to our team, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Nobody likes change, and this is admittedly a drastic and poorly-timed change for the six teams concerned.

Despite all this, I have a simple message to the members of those teams: seize the opportunity! This is a challenge, yes, but also a great chance to strengthen and improve your organizations. It will require the dedication and commitment of every member to keep your club running, and it will make or break you as a team. If you survive these try-

ing times, I know that you will emerge stronger and more determined to win than ever before. If you work your ass off outside of practice just to be able to afford to compete, then you’ll see how unthinkable it becomes to give any less than your best, to waste even a second of your hard-won practice time. If you really give everything you have to a team, you will not tolerate anything less than being the best.

You will pay the price for victory, to be sure, but for me it is not too high to pay.

Thomas Paine said it best “…the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly.” With this in mind, step onto your various fields of competition come next season, and show us all what determined, independent group of students can do.

Sincerely, Andrew Holt

Have we become too dependent on technology?

Mugwump by Tony von Richter

Though it makes lives easier, technology may be responsible for raising already high levels of student stress

Last week, a report on the stress levels of university students was released. Suffice it to say, the results weren’t good. According to this report, university students are stressed all the time; even when they're on vacation like I currently am.

Actually, while I'm writing this, it's 4 am on Saturday morning and I'm sitting in a dorm room at Acadia University, host of this semester's Atlantic Student Journalism Conference, so technically, I'm working. iTunes is playing some Four Star Mary and Oasis to help me sleep, and for the most part, life is good.

I'm surrounded by dozens of my compatriots from around the country and everything is set for this to be a great weekend.

Except right now, part of me is frustrated and a little angry, which are two moods that I don't typically find myself in.

So what's got me wide awake in the middle of the night?

I don't have access to the Internet.

The part of me that isn't frustrated realizes how ridiculous that

sentence sounds. I mean, who cares that I don't have access to the Internet? It's 4 am and I should be asleep instead of worrying about whether my group members have e-mailed me the latest part of our project or if I'm going to be able to get online and complete my portion of this week's Capstone simulation.

I think that a large part of the reason university students are more stressed than ever is that due to technology, we're always connected to each other; instant communication or more work is only a click away.

Last semester, I wrote about how technology is changing the way we communicate with each other; that with the myriad of ways we interact with our peers on a daily basis, it seemed almost impossible that someone wouldn't be instantly available. Whereas in the past, this would have only been an inconvenience, our culture has changed to the point that this is extremely frustrating.

I still believe this to be true, but I think that another side effect of our always-connected society is that it's not hard to feel as though we should always being doing something “productive”. Since that next part of the group project is just one e-mail away or you could easily be using Google to research your next paper, it's easy to believe that you're letting your group members or yourself down by not taking advantage of this time and doing work.

While it is certainly admirable to have a strong work ethic, is this really how we want to live our lives?

Constantly sitting by our computers and worrying about what we could be doing instead of what we actually are doing?

Sadly, that seems to be the case as I can't see students' stress levels coming down anytime soon and a large part of the reason could be

through our new always-connected lifestyle. It certainly isn't the only reason that stress levels are higher than ever, however, it is one of the easiest to fix as we just have to remember that we're aloud to relax from time to time and that we don't have to get everything done right this second.

Hopefully, someday soon, we'll find the balance we need with these new technologies and forms of communication and we'll be able to return to when they helped ease our problems, not added to them.

I

t’s time for another week of me shouting my mouth off like a cheap drunk at the Legion on a Friday night. You know what can go to hell this week? The entire music industry. Don’t get me wrong – I like music – but all these half-naked harlots and questionably feminine male pop singers make me die a little on the inside whenever I see or hear them. What happened to all the classics of old? Johnny Cash, The Eagles, Queen… these and others of the time set standards and were original for Pete’s sake! Everything modern I hear on the radio can be classified in three simple categories: 1. “Look at my boobs, don’t listen to my voice”, 2. “Boo-hoo, I’m a wiener who can’t get girls because I look like a girl myself”, and 3. “We couldn’t figure out what else to sing, so we may as well sound like Nickelback”. I’m so sick and God damned tired of it.

I don’t usually endorse things, but at least that Fred FM station has it right. I can listen to manly men and ugly women belt out the classics of yore. Oh, and don’t get me started on that rap (or as I call it, crap) music. Whoever started “crapping” about shooting up cops should get shot themselves. The police do a fine job of keeping our streets safe from hoodlums like them (but they’ve never caught the rhubarb fiends…) and the idea of my tax dollars being lost by “busting a cap” in someone makes me sick. Oh well, maybe it’s not their fault for not making any sense – not getting your seventh grade will tend to do that. So, in short, stop listening to whatever little Johnny son-of-a-bitch on the MTV tells you to. Oh, and by the way, if you don’t think it’s worth your time to see The Eagles this summer, you may as well do the world a favour, get a horse, go up in the mountains, and don’t bother anyone ever again.

Export - Trade Trap: SelfSufficiency taken to foolishness Dear Editor: So much emphasis is given to export markets. New pellet factories supplying wood pellets to markets in Europe, Asia and the USA. Why do we have our blinkered mindset always firmly in place, repeating the old dynamics, using the same tired thinking? It will be no different, encouraging outside companies to invest in setting up new factories, using the taxpayers money to give them a sweet deal, then when the tax breaks are done and the resource dries up they move off, to new pastures. Then we have outraged communities and people out of work yet again.

What is wrong with thinking smaller?

With harvesting what we need here for New Brunswick and then the Maritimes. Having pellet factories for supplying the New Brunswick markets.

Why focus on exports? Exports are

the greed factor. We shall need all our renewable resources before long. We need to scale back, harvest less, find new ways of earning good livelihoods, not just using up resources in the fastest possible way to make a quick buck now and never mind the future. It will be the same old contractors, those who like to clear-cut, those who pretend to be small woodlot owners, but are actually contractors, buying and selling land that they use up as quickly as possible.

We have a culture that promotes exports above self-sufficiency. Selfsufficiency means taking care of local first, then within a region of Canada; ours is the Maritimes. Exports are for greed, selling and competing with the lowest common denominator. Selling our potatoes primarily for export means that we have no mixed vegetable farms, we are not food self-sufficient. Potato

production uses masses amounts of chemical inputs, pesticides and herbicides. In 20 years time the farmers will be crying out for compensation as they ‘didn’t realize’ toxics would harm them, like the roadside Dioxin sprayers of a previous era. There was an organization then “Mothers against Dioxin” who called out to protest against road side spraying, have we forgotten all that. In the same way now we should be demanding no more chemicals going into our waterways, into our precious soils and foods. It is the export market mentality that throws us off track, that forces us into allowing foreign companies to pillage our land. Let’s produce good food and clean fuel for New Brunswickers and Maritimers.

Jean Arnold – Knowlesville, New Brunswick

Comments & Letters

6 • March 26, 2008 • Issue 24

The Brunswickan Editorial Board

Editor-In-Chief • Jennifer McKenzie Managing Editor • Tony von Richter Co-News Editor • Josh O’Kane Co-News Editor • Lauren Kennedy Arts Editor • Ashley Bursey Photo Editor • Andrew Meade Sports Editor • Brian Munn Copy Editor • Alicia Del Frate Production Editor • Ed Cullinan Staff Advertising Sales Rep • Bill Traer Delivery • Mike Lee Contributors Christian Hapgood, Brad Conley, Alison Clack, Jordan Gill, Doug Estey, Dan Hagerman, Sean Horsley, Dave Briggs, Melanie Bell, Naomi Osborne, Mitchell Bernard, Ed Bowes, Jason Henry, Nick Ouellette About Us The Brunswickan, in its 141st year of publication, is Canada’s Oldest Official Student Publication.

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StudentRepresentation: SU, GSA, and ALPS Dear Editor: I am writing in response to Mr. Colin Curry’s letter, “Misrepresentation to GSA by future SU President.” I would like to take this opportunity to explain the process of finding representation on the various Senate committees.

The three student groups at UNB Fredericton - Student Union (full-time undergraduate), GSA (graduate), and ALPS (part-time undergraduate students) - each have a representative that together forms the Inter-organization Selection Committee (IOSC). These three students also serve on the Senate Nominating Committee, which in addition to appointing students from the Senate floor, is the only means by which students are selected for committees to represent students’ interests in decisions made at this university. In some cases, each student group selects their own student from their own group to serve on a committee; however, there are cases where all three groups must work together. This occurs when there is only one student seat on a committee and the student can be either a full time undergraduate, part time, or graduate student. The student is then selected by the IOSC. During my transition into the position of Vice-President Academic, the University Secretariat contacted me and explained the IOSC. The SU VicePresident Academic typically serves on the IOSC. My term began in May, and I immediately contacted the GSA representative at the time, Colin Curry, and the ALPS representative at the time, Emma Cunningham, to set up a meeting to discuss the IOSC and how we planned to proceed in finding equitable student representation for the upcoming year. This is the one time meeting that Mr. Curry mentioned. Since that initial meeting, the GSA has initiated no further contact regarding the IOSC. In addition, I received no reply to any of my emails concerning the IOSC and student committee membership after May 2007. When the Senate Nominating Committee began to meet for this year’s selections, I was surprised to see

that I was the only student representative attending the meetings; both graduate and part-time representatives were absent. Since I was the only student in attendance of these meetings, I was the only student who had the ability to put forward motions to ensure there was student representation on Senate and search committees.

Shirley Cleave, the Associate VicePresident Academic (Learning Environment), expressed to me that she had had a difficult time reaching the GSA representatives as well. Therefore, I worked with her to search for graduate students for various Senate and search committees. The most recent committee for which we selected a graduate student was the Teaching and Learning Services Coordinator Review/Search Committee.

It is my belief that communication break-downs in this year’s GSA can be attributed to an internal re-organization; Mr. Curry resigned his position of temporary President in October 2007. This is unfortunate, because there should be equal representation from all student groups at this university. It is this belief that prompted me to work with Shirley Cleave to find representation for graduate students despite the lack of initiative from their own student organization. I understand that the GSA has now worked out its issues, and I look forward to next year when the GSA representatives may again attend the Senate Nominating Committee meetings and the Fredericton Senate meetings to put forward names of graduate students.

I am also excited to be serving on the Board of Governors next year with Ms. Stacey Wilson-Forsberg, a graduate student. We have already been in touch to work on plans for next year. I have no hostility toward the GSA, and I am more than happy to work with them on any of the number of issues facing both undergraduate and graduate students at UNB. Sincerely, Bethany Vail

Comments & Letters

Mission Impossible: Obtaining tickets to Leonard Cohen.

by Ed Cullinan

“Well, they didn’t break the record,” says the man across from me in line. I’m thinking “no shit.” The record he’s referring to was how fast a show could sell out at the Playhouse. The system didn’t work, the website wasn’t functioning, the phone lines were impossible, and their measly two window box office service was mediocre at best. The Playhouse is supposed to be one of the best venues around – I mean they’ve got the awards to prove it – but it just wasn’t living up to its reputation when I tried to snag a pair of tickets to see the living legend, Leonard Cohen.

I had been on two phones at once, and had multiple browsers running on multiple computers and I hadn’t been able to get tickets. I went down to the Playhouse after realizing it wasn’t going to work and stood in line for an hour and a half. One woman said she had been there for five hours. She barely got tickets. Everyone in line was on the phone the whole time. I only saw one person who was successful.

OK, so you can say that maybe I’m a little pissed, probably more disappointed than anything. Actually standing in line was depressing in itself. The impending doom of knowing that it was actually impossible to get tickets once the 400 other people in front of me got tickets for themselves and four friends was too much. When someone from the box office came through the line and said he’d put our names on a waiting list in case the artist released any tickets, I was disgusted. Most people didn’t understand, and a lot of people who had more invested in the idea of seeing this show were crushed.

Some surmised they might add another show. As if. Cohen is more likely to keel over than to add another show. The man is 74, and he hasn’t toured in 15 years; you’re

damn lucky we’re even on the map. Everywhere else he’s playing massive arenas. So here is the real question: Why isn’t he in the Aitken Centre? Or neighbouring Harbour Station?

Now, for the lucky ones who got their tickets, an intimate evening with the one of the most famous songwriters of all time is going to be a night to remember. Obviously, this show was in high demand, and being at the 709 seat Playhouse, they should have been more prepared.

I also tried to get tickets to the show in Moncton at The Capitol theatre, but there were none left online 15 minutes after they went on sale. Why were they able to sell out quicker? They obviously were prepared. Their online ticketing system is handled by a company called Admissions, under TicketMaster.

Clearly a more professional, secure, and reliable way to ensure customer satisfaction.

The Playhouse does it old school, from their own website. Well, if you know it can’t handle the traffic, then you shouldn’t bother. Making the tickets exclusively available at the box office would have been acceptable, because at least then it would have removed the ambiguity of the situation. Upon arriving at the Playhouse to stand in line, I said to one of the staff, “Is your website not working?” and she replied, “No, we’re having problems with it today.” Well, that’s convenient for you, but how the hell was I supposed to know that?

To cap it off, I went online to see if anyone is selling their tickets. Some asshole put a pair up on kijiji.ca for $3000. Good job, way to grease out a payday. This whole thing is a mess – really a disgrace to the man who will honour your stage.

Props though, to the people in Moncton who are auctioning extra tickets, and giving the extra proceeds to a local orphanage. What with the Capitol’s efficient ticketing system and their philanthropic ideals, the Monctonians have really upstaged the capital city on this one.

iewpoint V

Issue 24 • March 26, 2008 • 7

The

Brunswickan

Question: What is your ‘Roll Up the Rim to Win’ win record?

0-8 Chantal Arsenault

Zero wins Holly Steves

1-25 Jenna Hilliard

15-70 Julia MacDonald

2 wins Kyle Wedge

1-10 Patrick Sharkey

1-30 Quinn Mercer

Zero wins Rachel Adams

Never ever Rapha Rebelone

Zero wins Ryan Daley

Maybe 3 in 100 Shawn Cunningham

Three wins Vanessa Anderson

Military ad

Arts & Entertainment

bruns.arts@gmail.com • March 26, 2008

Pony Up and (Bloc) Party down: it’s Indie Pop Night

by Ashley Bursey

It’s scuffed stiletto boots, Amy Winehouse eyeliner, and faded vintage tees.

It’s confetti, candy suckers, and flinging hair. It’s a mishmash of bodies squeezed on the tiny dance floor, grinning into the camera flash and vying for attention near the DJ, who’s sporting a shirt with a graphic that pulsates in accordance with the noise level of the tunes he’s spinning.

It’s hot. Sweaty. Drops spill from forgotten drinks as dancers raise their arms above the crowd, shouting their requests or screaming in unison with M.I.A, Metric, and LCD Soundsystem.

It’s a glorified birthday party for the one-year-old Indie Pop Night, and for Marc Xavier Leblanc, it’s one of the best presents he could ask for. Tonight, Leblanc is left far behind as DJ Bones takes over, bringing sell-out-size crowds into The Capital in Fredericton for one of the most fun and fancy-free parties a music-lover could ask for.

Bones, as the chalk-written sign on the drum next to the stage proclaims, has been a DJ for 17 years, he says from his home in Moncton. But he doesn’t look anywhere near that old, and his taste in music is distinctly youthful.

It all began with a radio show at the Université de Moncton 17 years ago, which Bones still hosts every Thursday night. Four years ago, he held the inaugural Indie Pop Night in Moncton – a night filled with sugary-sweet pop tunes, dancing fans, and an itch to grow, especially when Bones began counting the number of out-of-towners driving in from Fredericton or P.E.I. for their dose of indie pop.

Shows in Charlottetown, Halifax, and Fredericton were soon to follow, and the Fredericton shows really took off, blossoming into a monthly phe-

Submitted

Marc Xavier Leblanc, also known as DJ Bones, is the founder of Indie Pop Night in New Brunswick. nomenon that draws in music-lovers of I play. I find in Fredericton, they’re a have small candies, and I get my high all disciplines with one thing in com- lot more open, so it’s a lot more fun – I with music and sugar,” he says. “That’s mon: they really, really love to dance. can experiment. I’m not too much of kind of me, and the pop [music sounds One year later and Indie Pop Night, a music snob. Some scenes, you want like] lollipop. You have a drink, you with its recognizable posters of lollipop- a specific type of music, but I’m really have a candy instead of a cigarette, it’s swilling dancers (Bones does all his open to playing [different things]. I almost a little cool status – I don’t know own photography as well as supplies want people to have fun. So I’ll mix if that would be the good term for it, but the sweet treats) is an established phe- the stuff that people want to hear, the people have a sweet tooth and I always nomenon. requests, with the stuff that I want try to bring a few new candies.”

Its appeal? It’s all about mixing the people to discover. I try to mix in stuff Bones got his start with music as a oldies-but-goodies with fresh new tracks, that’s a little bit more underground with youngster; now, he marries the old and and not necessarily sticking to what’s stuff that’s a little bit more mainstream, the new for a distinctly eclectic playlist. ‘scene’ (he admits to playing “Mickey” so every two or three songs I try to put “I’ve had music in my family forever

by Tony Basil in the same breath as The a song that people will know, so they and I remember just kind of digging Pipettes), through and inmy fa“I get my high with music and sugar.” troducther’s - DJ Bones ing Euvinyl reropop or cords and Canadian newcomers to Fredericton don’t feel left out.” listening to them, day in and day out, fans.

Not likely; Bones also carts along a and it was always in my blood to have “I just try to create a fun, all-around plastic tub of lollipop-rings and candy music around,” he says. “I’m kind of kinda danceable party and if people want suckers for club goers. old. I just keep current with the times to come earlier, I always try to play a “I’m always giving out candy. I and people are kind of shocked when few more mellow tunes,” Bones says. started doing it just for fun, because I tell them how old I am. I was just “Whatever vibe I feel from the crowd, I don’t really drink so I would always keeping a close ear on what’s happening

musically.”

Keeping current means getting advance copies of some of the latest and greatest from soon-to-be popular bands in Europe (think Sweden and the U.K., which have raging indie pop scenes) or little-known Canadian groups who’ve managed to find their way on his radar.

And current favourites?

“Every few months, I’ll have a song that I love playing. There’s this cover, a Radiohead cover that Mark Ronson does, it’s a song called ‘Just’ and [the original] isn’t too danceable, but that cover is kinda funkified and has a really great groove to it, so that’s a great song.

There’s also Munk and James Murphy, the singer from LCD Soundsystem; [they] have a song called ‘Kick Out the Chairs’, which is a hard song to find that was on a German compilation.”

Bones also invites locals to his listening parties, which feature full CDs (like Interpol), publishing playlists on iTunes or Myspace, and, camera in hand, by documenting everything (because, as he says, “people want to be seen because it’s a scene”). His involvement led to a nomination for 2008 ECMA Media Person of the Year, as well as landed him music and photo exhibitions in Japan.

It’s the local scene, he says, that really keeps him going.

“I love it. I really think having a good record store, like Backstreet Records, really helps,” he says, “and I’m trying to get something going, a little collaboration with them, spotlighting new music.

If a city has a good record shop, I think people are really hungry in listening to new music, and with the Internet, it’s really easy to have new music...I think people still need that local shop and [the people who] work there...

“And being a university town too, it has a few universities – I think that really helps create the scene. There’re a lot of really great bands coming from Fredericton.”

The next Indie Pop Night is at the Capital on April 5.

Top 15 songs that make people dance and that are IPN classics or crowd favorites: - Franz Ferdinand “Take Me Out” - Datarock “Fa Fa Fa” - Le Tigre “Deceptacon” - Bloc Party “Banquet” - The Rapture “House of Jealous Lovers” - Metric “Dead Disco” - Spoon “I Turn My Camera On” - The Arcade Fire “Neighbourhood #3: Power Out” - LCD Soundsystem “Daft Punk Is Playing at my House” - Cansei De Ser Sexy “Music Is My Hot Hot Sex” - Mark Ronson featuring Alex Grenwald “just” (radiohead cover) - The Postal Service “Such Great Heights” - Justice “D.A.N.C.E (MSTRKFT remix)” - Junior Senior “Can I Get Get Get” - Peter Bjorn and John “Young Folks” Top 15 bands and songs that people should check out: - Munk & James Murphy “Kick Out The Chairs (WMW version)” - TheVirgins “Rich Girls” -Vampire Weekend “A-Punk” - The Asteroid Galaxy “Around the Bend” - M.I.A.“Paper Planes (DFA remix)” - The Wombats “Kill The Director(CSS remix)” or “Let’s Dance To Joy Division” - Los Campesinos! “You! Me! Dancing!”

- Two Hours Traffic “Stuck For The Summer” - Shina Rae “Touch” - Tokyo Police Club “Tessellate” - Disco Drunkards “Let’s Get Physical” (thanks to M.Woodside for the suggestion) - The Billionaires “The End Of Summer Song” - The Magnetic Fields “Smoke & Mirrors(Mark Robinson remix)” - Creature “Brigitte Bardot” & “Pop Culture” - Behavior with Andrea Revel “Clap!

Shake! Jump!”

Sean talks about CDs without Dave

Mahogany Frog “Last Stand at Fisher Farm” This CD is kind of stupid. It has funny names for songs like “You’re meshugah!” and “I am not your sugar” but when you listen to it, there’re no words. It’s all instrumental. It’s like buying a comedy CD with a picture of Richard Prior on the cover but getting Dane Cook.

The songs sound more like art house movie soundtracks or something you’d hear on Castlevania; a lot of distortion and weird sounds, but not in a cool way.

How can you fuck up distortion?

Although the cover is kind of cool, but not really, I say this CD isn’t worth a bucket of crap.

Samuel James “Songs Famed for Sorrow and Joy” This is your typical blues album. The cover is sepia-toned with pictures of this guy looking all sensitive and shit. Plus, there’s that token picture of a guy in a suit with a guitar but you can’t see

more intention than ability.

There is nothing about this album

The only kind of cool thing is the poster that comes with the CD. It’s got a skeleton in a space suit standing on a stump in some kind of wasteland.

Kind of an apt metaphor for the CD, I guess.

by Sean Horsley

his face.

But what can I say? I’m a sucker for a few things and the blues is one of them. This album isn’t anything ballbreaking, but it rocks. This guy can play.

Anyone who has ever picked up a guitar can appreciate it. He uses a slide, steel guitar, and a banjo – and it’s just great, although, as I said, typical.

My only problem is that this guy looks a little too pretty to have the blues, and in some way, I can’t help but think he learned about it from records instead of blues bars.

Woodhands “Heart Attack” Electric disco meets alterna-rock.

There’s nothing about that sentence I liked. This album wouldn’t even get a drugged-up raver dancing. It’s boring, repetitive, unoriginal, and stupid.

Forest City Lovers “Haunting Moon Sinking” This is one of those CDs they give me on purpose. They know I’ll hate it and go off on it because I can’t stand hippie crap. Although they won’t admit it, they think I (and Dave) am funnier when I (we) hate something. And there’s no way in the world anyone can like this.

They’re Cranberries wannabes with a church organ.

So if they want funny, instead of talking about this stupid CD, I’ll go steal a joke from the Internet…

Q: What did the instructor at the school for Kamikaze pilots say to his students?

A: “Watch closely. I'm only going to do this once.”

Zing!!!

Moreland & Arbuckle “1861” Wow. Two blues albums in one week. It almost makes up for the rest of the stupid looking CDs I have piled on my desk.

Looking at the cover and at the pictures inside, I thought I was going to hate it but I don’t. It’s good, even better than that last blues guy. I think it might be the harmonica. This guy can play the hell out of it.

These guys don’t look like blues guys. They look more like a college altrock band or Gen-Xers with a staring problem. I like that they’re not buying into the image stereotypes… although they did sing about fried chicken, taters, gravy, and greens, which is as cliché as you can get. I hope that’s a cover song because these guys look more like fishermen from Newfoundland than soul food eaters from the Deep South.

The Jealous Girlfriends self-titled Ugh. This is the kind of stuff you find in a Michel Gondry movie, two scenes before the denouement. It’s all slow and boring and it wants to sound poetic and intense but it just comes off like it has

that I like. Every song they have you can tell what band they’re trying to sound like.

Don’t take my word for it. I have trouble with indie music because I don’t believe it exists anymore.

But whatever, a lot of people will probably like these wieners. I mean, shit, some people actually like Phish.

How fucked up is that?

What Made Milwaukee Famous “What Doesn’t Kill Us” How many Beatles wannabes do we have to suffer through before we finally stop putting up with it? I don’t even understand it in the first place. Am I the only person that thinks the Beatles

are kind of lame? Am I?!?

But this is it. I have officially listened to my last CD that sounds like this. I can’t stand it. What’s worse is these guys suck for what they’re trying to do.

I hate it. My God, I hate it.

Goldfrapp “Seventh Tree” Yeah, I was saving this one for the end because I knew it would be the worst.

The cover has some chick dressed as a pirate and on the inside she’s dressed like a clown. I guess she’s trying to distract us from her crappy music by dressing weird and being kind of hot.

The songs all have names like “Little Bird”, “Happiness”, and “Monster Love”. It’s just ridiculous.

This CD is like taking Valium and crystal meth. It makes you tired and sleepy but all sketchy and easily pissed off at the same time.

Seriously, do not buy this garbage unless you want even the emo kids to make fun of you.

Arts & Entertainment

10 • March 26, 2008 • Issue 24

The flavor of Nassau The upcoming “Treasures of the Caribbean” night is aiming to provide students with a better understanding of Caribbean culture

by Naomi Osborne

When Amelia Ritchie first came to Fredericton from Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, to go to university, she was shocked at how little students here knew about where she was from.

“I was struck by two things: the unbearable cold, and the fact that most students know so little about the Caribbean,” said Ritchie. “My roommates would ask me questions like, ‘Do you wear grass skirts?’ and ‘Do you use shampoo to wash your hair?’”

It was questions like these that gave her a negative impression of Canada.

While some of the questions were merely inquisitive, Ritchie says she found others to be very ignorant.

“It wasn’t until one day when one of my Canadian friends said to me, ‘I was in the [United] States and someone asked me if we all live in igloos’ that I realized that ignorance is all over the world. It is so important to gain knowledge of other places and expand our horizons, because ignorance isn’t bliss,” Ritchie said.

Ritchie is now the President of the Caribbean Immersion Association at STU and UNB. Every year, there’s a Caribbean Night event held for students from both campuses. This year, she’s taken it into her own hands to make sure that students who attend learn more about the Caribbean than ever before.

“The theme of the night is ‘Treasures of the Caribbean’,” said Ritchie. “The point I want to get across is that the Caribbean is so diverse in itself and I want to show each treasure from each country within the Caribbean and what makes it so unique in itself.”

The event itself is made up of a

Caribbean dinner with all the exotic foods from that area. There is then a show put on by students, there will be showcases of art, drama, dance, music, and even a fashion show, with costumes ordered from the Caribbean and lots of local flavor.

The association is made up of a mixture of about 30 students from UNB and STU. Ritchie feels that events like this one are extremely important in order to bring everyone together.

Since she has been in Fredericton, she has found some major differences between the culture here and back home.

“We can be anywhere and once the music starts, that’s a party,” said Ritchie.

“When people hear Caribbean music they gravitate to it and before you know it, a huge party is started.”

She says that Fredericton is a diverse city but its people still have a long way to go in terms of learning how to respond and act around people from diverse backgrounds.

“One thing I get from Canadians is that if I talk to them in class everything is fine, but when I see them outside and try to talk to them I don’t get a response,” said Ritchie. “It’s that uncertainty of what is accepted. I’m not sure how you solve that, but I think that once the motive is understood then it’s a lot better.”

She hopes that events like Caribbean Night will give people the ability to develop a genuine admiration for other cultures.

“I hope this event will spark an appreciation for the Caribbean and that it will bring everyone together, and at the end of the night, everyone will be smiling and more aware of another culture.”

Being a part of this community and in charge of the association has taught her many things.

“I have gone through a lot of challenges and been rewarded, but I have learned a lot about myself in the process.”

In fact, it was this association that convinced Ritchie to stay at STU and finish her degree – she’s now in her fourth year.

The show will take place this Saturday, March 29. It starts at 6:30 pm in the SUB and is expected to go until 10 pm.

Drop everything and read Schedule (in part)

by Ashley Bursey

Last year, the first-ever open reading from a coffee can – done in Shakespearean style, no less – took place right here in Fredericton.

It was part of the No Limits 12-Hour Read-a-Thon, an event created to raise literary awareness in the city. One man, inspired by the readings of local word masters, picked up a can of coffee and proceeded to tell the crowd its tale.

He was just one of more than 30 readers and over 100 attendees of the day-long reading celebration, which took place in downtown Fredericton in coffee shops, art galleries, the local library, and even outdoors, despite the rainy weather. This year, organizer and local writer Biff Mitchell says the event, called Words of the People, will reach even more listeners for its second time around, with more than 60 readers already lined up and almost two dozen locations set to be confirmed for reads throughout the day.

And the event, which was held in May last year, has been bumped ahead a few months to attract some of the city’s biggest readers: university students.

“There’s a lack of time, people are busy today. People don’t read anymore; they scan, they look at websites, and play games,” Mitchell says. He adds that he spoke with one person completing a study on abbreviated forms of literature, like text-messaging or instant messenger.

“Computers are actually bringing out a whole new form of literature, a whole new language. The bad thing about that is it’s just communication among people, as opposed to someone writing something that explores life and having people read that. But then, if you look on Facebook, those little things at the top where people update their status... it’s almost literature in a sense – literature that happens on the spur of the moment.”

The Read-a-Thon parallels that idea of spontaneous reading; often, people will wander into one of the event’s locations, have a listen, and ultimately pull a poem or a bookmark out of their bag

9:00-10:00 Entrance to Science East: Postcards, letters, journals, and diaries 10:00-12:00 Officer’s Square: Open (any and all types of reading) 11:00-1:00 Trinitea’s Cup: Readings on the topic of tea 1:00-2:00 Doodles (Charlotte Street Arts Centre): Children’s stories from adults/children 1:30-5:00 Fredericton Public Library: Lloyd Salomone reading the script from his upcoming documentary Submitted

The 2007 12-hour Read-a-Thon drew more than 100 people. This year, organizers hope to bring in 300 listeners and readers on March 29. to read to the crowd.

This time around, the organizational committee (consisting mainly of Mitchell and STU professor Andrew Titus) is planning for specific, themed reads, including several Freeze and Read events outdoors. Coffee shop lit, Internet literature, and Revenge Romance (vindictive stories of love gone sour) will sporadically occur around the city over periods of a few hours each.

The evening caps off with a poetry slam featuring the BlackTop MotorCycle Gang at Memorial Hall, as well as the induction of newcomers into the Gang, which currently consists of approximately 12 readers and writers.

The event is also set to promote the decades-old Maritimes Writers Workshop, which takes place in July.

One of the oldest in Canada, at 30 years old, Mitchell says they had a revelation a few years ago when he was teaching a course on cyberpunk, a literary genre that encompasses works similar to The Matrix, or many Margaret Atwood novels.

“The whole workshop didn’t get the same turnout that it usually does, but they noticed that the workshop I did got a good turnout, because it was not just

how to write a novel – it was specific,” he says. “And that’s what we’re going to be doing this year; making these things more specific, so it’s things they’re interested in, as opposed to a writer they’d like to study under. It’s Canada, and most people don’t know Canadian writers. I’ve got fan clubs in Japan and China and England, but in Canada no one’s heard of Biff Mitchell.”

He expects the new approach to draw crowds interested in honing their craft, be it in science fiction or romantic-style poetry. Fredericton, he says, is really beginning to come alive as an arts Mecca in New Brunswick.

“Just recently in the last couple of years, the arts community has taken off.

We have the artists at Studio Forward, Emerge artists, Silverfish, the BlackTop Motorcycle Gang...it’s getting a lot better. Things are happening in this town like they’ve never happened before, so I’m going to stick around. I think this is part of that; people are starting to take more of an interest and play a more active role, and it’s more accessible than other places.”

Words of the People, the 12-hour Read-a-Thon, will be happening on March 29 all over the city.

1:00-2:00 Read’s Coffee Shop: Blogs, Facebook, anything from the Internet 2:00-3:00 Crumbs: Coffee shop lit 1:00-3:00 Savages Bikes: Sports lit 3:00-5:00 Art + Concepts: Art Reads featuring Whitefeather and Deanna Musgrave 2:00-4:00 Molly’s Coffee House: River and Nature Lit, featuring Nanook of the Nashwaak and Dino Kubik 2:00-4:00 Gallery Connexion:The six-word short story and Revenge Romance stories 2:00-5:00 Westminster Books: Readings by Querty 2:00-4:00 Owl’s Nest Bookstore: Grab and Read 9:00-Whenever Memorial Hall: Black Top Motorcycle Gang reading/poetry slam

Monday Night Movie Series The Diving Bell and the Butterfly March 31, 2008, 8 pm The Diving Bell and the Butterfly Director: Julian Schnabel Cast: Mathieu Amalric, Emmanuelle Seigner, Marie-Josée Croze, Anne Consigny, Max Von Sydow Run Time: 112 minutes Country: France Year: 2007 Language: French with English subtitles By turns dreamlike, brave, and breathtaking, “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly”, a Special Presentation at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival and winner of the best director prize at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, is the beautiful adaptation of Jean Dominique Bauby’s affecting, revelatory memoir. Once a successful fashion editor and carefree womanizer, Bauby awoke one day to find himself a prisoner in his own body. He had been paralyzed by a massive stroke that rendered him

powerless to move a muscle – except his left eyelid.

This flawless gem of a film is among filmmaker and artist Julian Schnabel’‘s finest works. Schnabel and cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (“Saving Private Ryan” and “Munich”) follow Bauby (movingly played by Mathieu Amalric), recreating his subjective agony and his most intimate memories.

His wife (Emmanuelle Seigner), whom he had left a year before the stroke, selflessly attends to him and goes so far as to translate correspondence between him and a new lover. He wrestles with feelings of regret over missed opportunities for happiness, though he mostly feels guilty for not having spent more time with his children.

Bauby’s nurses develop an ingenious, if exhausting method of communication, through which he painstakingly writes his memoirs. By listening to the letters of the alphabet and blinking when the correct one is uttered, he is able

to preserve his final link to the outside world – the winking butterfly that frees him from the diving bell of his broken body. As we are shown more of Bauby’s life in flashbacks, the lines between dream, memory, hallucination, and consciousness begin to falter, granting us insight into the mind of someone in a near-vegetative state.

Schnabel’s painterly creativity runs free here, showing us dense colours and visions limited only by his – and Bauby’s – powers of fabrication. Schnabel has favoured misunderstood artist characters in his previous films “Basquiat” and “Before the Falls”. When he was healthy, Bauby was desensitized to life.

Trapped in a phenomenological jail, he is reborn, as Schnabel points out, as a pure “I”.

The Diving Bell and the Butterfly should cement his reputation as an artist of supreme achievement.

Arts & Entertainment

Issue 24 • March 26, 2008 • 11

Why, oh why, didn’t I take the blue pill?

Going nowhere but up

by Mitchell Bernard

The guys were set to rehearse for their upcoming tour of eastern Canada when the weather put a halt to their plans.

“Yeah, the weather is just too nasty out to travel tonight,” said bassist Graeme Walker.

Currently, the boys of Grand Theft Bus have been hard at work, hammering out the fine details of their show as they get set to release their first studio album since 2005.

And the hard work definitely shows.

Their latest release, “Made Upwards”, takes the band’s sound to the next level.

“We have been working hard so that we can tour with a quality product,” said Walker.

And the product is definitely just that.

Strong vocals and melodies intertwine with colourful lyrics to help produce a top-notch product that even non-GTB junkies will enjoy.

The album takes the listener on a journey, with each song providing a different emotion. Songs like “Roses” and “Private Wars” offer a laid back, sunny-summer-day feeling, whereas tracks like “OMA” or “Don’t Go Say That” keep a solid beat that just makes you wanna move.

It’s been a long journey, and a deliberate one: the boys of Grand Theft Bus realize that they are getting out exactly what they put into the album.

“I think if anything, we are more mature on the new album. The songs are more precise, shorter, and more to the point,” said Walker, referring to the technicality and musicianship of the tunes.

Some tracks on the album may provide a change of scenery for GTB fans, but the band also holds on to its jam/ instrumental roots throughout the disc.

For example, “Fifo” is a beautifully written instrumental, giving the band ample opportunity to display their endless improvisation talent. Making sure not to overcrowd the sound, the band allows each instrument to take its full effect on the listener.

Although GTB’s sounds on the

The Final Score by Dan Hagerman

Internet

Fredericton band Grand Theft Bus are set to debut their new CD, “Made Upwards”, on March 29 at the Playhouse. new album vary from the past, Walker was quick to note that they’ve stayed true to themselves in their years spent together.

“I don’t think we’ve changed that much. We’ve been together for eight years and to survive that long, we need to adapt,” said Walker. “Fans may notice big differences in our sound, but we spend so much time together that it is a gradual change for us.”

For the new album, GTB added a little hometown touch. Percussion and bass tracks were recorded at the Old Government House in Fredericton, under consent of the Lieutenant Governor.

“When we played for New Brunswick Day, we were approached by Tim Richardson [secretary to Lieutenant Governor]. He said that the Lieutenant Governor was interested in bringing more arts and culture to the building.

We were looking for a place to record, so it worked out great. The building produces great acoustics,” said Walker.

Although the band has taken the better part of the last year off to record the album, the Freddy-based rock group will be hitting the road again to promote Made Upwards. But this is nothing new for a band that, in the past, has played up to 200 shows in a year.

The east coast leg of the tour will involve many theatre appearances, something not typical of the seasoned rockers of Fredericton. But rest assured that the guys will turn it up when they showcase

their new sounds at the Playhouse.

“We are pretty excited to play. We’ve never played [the Playhouse] before. It will be a good hometown show, which is an all-ages event. My parents will be there, too. It’s really just a chance for us to show our music in a real kind of concert,” said Walker.

The first single off the album, Private Wars, has received airplay in both Fredericton and abroad. Walker said that the choice of what song to release as a single was a unanimous one, since everyone felt that it had the potential to be a hit.

“We’ve never traveled that route before [radio airplay]. It’s just a catchy little pop song and we thought it would work well,” said Walker.

And for all you Grand Theft Bus junkies out there, rest assured that the band won’t be waiting another three years to make the follow up to Made Upwards.

“It won’t be as big of a break this time. We are actually hoping to get back in the studio as soon as possible.

“We’ve been so lucky. Although none of us are originally from Fredericton, everyone has just been so supportive. I really hope the fans will enjoy the record and continue to share the music,” said Walker.

Grand Theft Bus will take stage at the Playhouse this Saturday at 8 pm.

Their latest album, Made Upwards, will be released on April 1 from coast to coast. For more information, visit www. grandtheftbus.com.

Enter the Matrix (PC) Some things age well with time.

Wine, true love, and Patrick Stewart all get better the older they get. Some things, like many Saturday morning cartoons – I’m looking at you, Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon series – get surprisingly worse after going back for repeat viewings many years later.

And then there are some things, like Enter the Matrix, which were not only bad when they came out, but have actually gotten worse with age.

Let’s don our leather trench coats and badass shades and go back in time to 2003. The Wachowski brothers had pretty much everybody frothing at the mouth – myself included – in anticipation of the two new Matrix movies coming out that year, Reloaded and Revolutions. To make things even more exciting for us, it was announced that they’d be releasing a tie-in series of animated shorts called The Animatrix and a game to coincide with The Matrix Reloaded’s release, titled Enter the Matrix.

Expectations were high. We all wanted to play as Neo and kick some serious ass with our slow-motion wire-aided kung fu. But then, the first of many disappointments: you’d barely even see Neo in this game. Instead, you’d be playing as Jada Pinkett-Smith’s character Niobe and her bodyguard, Ghost.

Regardless, we were still promised slow motion kick-assery, so expectations didn’t drop that much.

And then somebody dropped the ball so hard that they now need a foot cast for the rest of their lives.

The game was touted as being the

next big thing in terms of graphics, what with its release on the Almighty Xbox and PC. PS2 and Gamecube versions were released as well, but technophiles assured us that we needed the Big Boxes to get the most out of this game. I was promised that fireworks would be coming out of my eyes after seeing this game – except for one thing: somebody forget to tell the developers that they should be making a goodlooking game. Everything about this game looks terrible. While the characters mostly look like their real-life counterparts from a distance, if you’re zoomed in any closer than a full body shot you will see the horrors that this game presents you.

Have you ever been to a wax museum and said to yourself, “Hey, that kinda looks like the celebrity it’s supposed to?” Now replace the words “kinda looks like” with “looks nothing like.” If you were to then make this abomination run around in slow motion woodenly with a gun and have it lip synch like a Muppet, you’ve got a good idea what this game is all about. I mean, you can tell who a person is supposed to be because they look vaguely like what they’re supposed to, not unlike the Muppet Babies. Except the Muppet Babies were awesome.

But it’s not just the character models that make this game so bad. Even on my swanktastic computer, appropriately dubbed “Big Pimpin’”, the game runs slowly at best, and when you trigger your Bullet Time special moves the game slows to a crawl. And when the game slows down to a crawl, it makes dodging bullets, and killing tons of innocent security guards just trying to do their jobs, a whole lot more difficult.

But let’s assume for a second that you don’t mind the headaches caused by choppy frame rates. There must be a few masochists out there, right? The camera usually stays centered behind you, which is fine, and when you start fighting somebody the camera pans to a side shot of you and whomever you’re fighting, which is also fine. The problem comes when you defeat your enemy and the camera stays in a side

view, which sucks if you want to move somewhere in a hurry.

Now, in terms of the gameplay itself, this game had so much potential.

Driving around in cars, hacking power plants, knocking agents out of flying airplanes, this game would have been so cool if any of it were fun. Except that it’s not. The game touts its twobutton combo system, but no matter which combinations you try, you’ll find that only a couple of moves are even remotely useful.

Also, despite having a directional arrow to help you navigate the levels, it’s not always the most accurate. Sometimes it’ll tell you to go through a wall, without letting you know that there’s a doorway 20 feet back. Sometimes it won’t even show up at all, forcing the player to explore numerous other areas just to find an unlabelled exit.

I’m pretty sure Jack Bauer from 24 uses this game to get information out of people.

I’ve only played this game on PC, so I can’t speak about the control for the other versions of the game. But the controls on the PC using a mouse and keyboard are so awful I can’t recommend it to anybody. It’s not very responsive, and the camera is very wacky when it pans to the side in combat, often getting stuck.

If there were to be a hypothetical saving grace to this game, it would be the voiceovers for the characters. They used the original voices for all of the primary actors, which lends a bit of authenticity to what would otherwise appear to be a very shoddy game. That’s pretty much the best thing I can say about the sound, though, because the music, while inspired from the movies, loops very oddly. The sound effects in general are okay, I suppose, but hardly anything to write home about.

Instead of playing this game, I recommend the marginally-better “The Matrix: Path of Neo” because it actually lets you play as Neo. If you really want fun, watch the Matrix trilogy on DVD while playing with a game controller. You’ll experience much less pain that way.

12 • The Brunswickan

March 26 • 2008

Classifieds

Classifieds are a FREE service for members of the university community. Please try to limit submissions to 35 words or less. Your name, student number, and phone number are required at submission, but will not be published. We can accept them at Room 35, SUB, 453-5073 (Fax), or e-mail: bruns-ad@unb.ca. Please do not submit by phone. We reserve the right to edit or refuse publication. All classifieds are subject to available space. For display advertising contact Bill at 447-3388. Classified deadline is Monday at noon.

FOR SALE I collect old camcorders or vcrs. if you got any to give away. E-mail me now Gordon.knight@live.ca.

One three-quarter box spring and frame $50. One queen size mattress $70. One pair of down hill skis $10.

Pick up before April 2008. Please, phone 455-6771. Additional ten dollars for first phone call!

TANNING SPECIALS

3 LOCATIONS 530 Queen St. 458-9771 1113 Regent St. 454-8267 154 Main St. 472-5048

ONE FREE TAN

20% OFF

1990 Volvo sedan, standard, AC, heated seats, cruise, body excellent, mech. good condition, MVI good until Sept. Call 453-1978 or e-mail: jaime@unb.ca.

Eureka upright bagless vacuum cleaner only $40, excellent condition, won’t last. call 449-0101.

03/31/08

Main Street Bowl-A-Drome 301 Main Street 472-2361

1 FREE GAME

• Shoe Rental Included • Birthday Parties a Speciality • Restaurant – Licensed Lounge • Air Conditioned • Student Rates

Student I.D. Required.

Valid Until April 15/2008

Limit 1 per person per day. During public bowling times.

Cannot be combined with other offers. Not valid with group booking. No cash value

Offered: Spanish lessons. Beginner & intermediate levels, 6 wks. Mond & Wedn 6-7:30pm. For more information, or to register, contact Miguel at m_america_789@hotmail.com or call 206-2939.

Small computer desk $40. Caned seat rocker $75. Child’s dresser $80.

Two Lyre back chairs $50 each.

Cherrywood corner computer desk $125 obo. Duncan Phyffe table $200. Green leather/vinyl recliner & ottoman $90. Phone 454-6096.

ACCOMMODATONS One bedroom in two bedroom apt. in House near UNB. Bathroom, kitchen, laundry, parking, yard and back deck. Available May 1st for a one year lease. Call 450-9315 for details.

A nice spacious four bedroom apartment on Graham Avenue available for rent until the end of August, 2008. Three minutes to campus.

Laundry, parking, and air exchanger.

Please call 459-5465.

Renting now for September 08. Five bedroom house, two minute walk to UNB. All utilities included. Laundry, parking. Call 461-2500.

Rooms for rent. Five minute walk from UNB & STU. Share a large den, kitchen, dining area. Furnished, heat, cable TV, laundry, wireless internet. Air conditioning, private entry and washrooms. Rent: $250 May to August. $375 Sept-April. Female students only. Call 452-7293 or 470-5554.

For September - Three bedroom basement apartment in a private house in Skyline Acres. Electricity, cable connection, some furniture and off-street parking included in rent of

$1,065 a month. Near bus stop on nearby Forest Hill Road. Quiet tenants wanted. No smoking and no pets. Call 471-5624.

Three bedroom Apt Aberdeen St, across from Queen square for rent. $1200 per month heated, lighted.

Washer / Dryer & dishwasher.

Available September 1st. One year lease. Quiet building. Damage deposit required. Contact Rose or Ben 260-2115.

Renting now for September 08. Two bedroom apartment, five minute walk to UNB. All utilities included.

Parking. Call 461-2500.

Three bedroom apartment and a bachelor apartment at 796 Hanson Street. Call 453-9188.

Nice, spacious two bedroom apartment, available May 1, 2008, Montgomery Street, heat, laundry, hot water, parking space. Please call 454-0282.

Three bedroom apartment (top floor of a house) for rent. York St. close to campus. $800 per month. Utilities extra. Call 454-8825 or 476-3959.

Room to rent: InterSession and summer session – May to August – serious, mature students only-furnished bedroom, separate kitchen, bath, laundry and entrance. Utilities included. Cable and Internet available. Five minute walk to UNB. Five rooms available on Kitchen St. $90 week Phone 455-1979 or 451-2979.

Eight month lease. Great deal for students. Three or four bedroom apartment for rent. Scully St., literally at the bottom of campus. $1200 per month for four bedroom or $1000 for three bedroom - everything included. Call 454-8825 or 476-3959.

For rent five bedroom house near UNB. House has two bathrooms, two kitchens, laundry, parking, yard and back deck. Available May 1st for a one year lease. Call 450-9315.

A nice four bedroom apartment on Graham Avenue available for rent until the end of August, 2008.

Three minutes to campus. Laundry, parking and air exchanger. Please call 459-5465.

Subletter

wanted.

Looking

for

mature student for the months of May, June and July. The apartment is: Three bedroom, big apartment, roomy living room, furnished. Close to bus that goes to campus, mall, and downtown. $433 a month of rent (with heat, power, hydro, furniture, snow clearing, internet and cable). If you are interested please e-mail me at y2ai6@unb.ca.

Rooms for rent. Five minute walk from UNB & STU. Share a large den, kitchen, dining area. Furnished, heat, cable TV, laundry, wireless internet. Air conditioning, private entry and washrooms. Rent: $250 May to August. $375 Sept-April. Female students only. Call 452-7293 or 470-5554.

Available September 08. Three bedroom apartments. DunDonald St. and Canterbury Drive. $825 and up.

Also available a SIX bedroom house.

Call 457-2509.

Nice, spacious two bedroom apartment, available May 1, 2008, Montgomery Street, heat, laundry, hot water, parking space. Please call 454-0282.

PSAS Spring into Spring with a wide variety of non-credit courses offered by UNB’s College of Extended Learning. Starting in April, we have a series of courses for beginners in everything from pottery, painting, and printmaking to knitting, quilting and gardening. If you’re looking for something shorter, consider our courses on making slip covers, our series on the Lost Maliseet Trail or an evening of wine tasting. These courses are in addition to our tried and true courses in photography, writing, languages and our “Welcome baby” course for new parents. For more information, please call 452-6360 or visit our website at www.cel.unb.ca/pce.

Julien Le Blanc performs on Wednesday, March 26, 8:00 p.m. at Memorial Hall, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. After several appearances this season with other musicians, UNB’s Resident Musician will take the stage alone in a solo recital of piano works by Schumann, Ravel, and Dutilleux. This concert is part of Music on the Hill’s 50th anniversary series. Tickets, $23 for adults, $21 for seniors, and $7 for students, are available at Westminster Books, Gallery 78, The Paper Trail and at the door. For more information call 453-4697.

The Fredericton Chapter of Parkinson Society Maritime Region invites you to attend their 6th annual “Porridge For Parkinson’s” breakfast on Saturday, April 19th from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the Christ Church (Parish) Church on the corner of Westmorland and Charlotte Streets, Fredericton.

Sports

brunswickansports@gmail.com • March 26, 2008

V-Reds fall one goal short in quest for Cup Game 1 vs. Brock The UNB Varsity Reds kicked off their University Cup defense against the Brock Badgers in their red road jerseys, with CIS Second-team All-star Mike Ouzas between the pipes.

Neither UNB nor Brock came out of the gates quickly, with the biggest play in the early going coming when Dustin Friesen made a great sliding defensive play to break up a Brock two-on-one chance.

Just after a UNB scoring opportunity at 12:44 of the first, the lights above the Brock zone went out, prompting a 25 minute delay while power was restored.

The break seemed to do the V-Reds well, however, as they came back to outshoot the Badgers 10-2 over the last twelve minutes of the period. Brock goalie Matt Harpwood turned aside every UNB chance, including a great breakaway opportunity by Nathan O’Nabigon, keeping the game scoreless going into the first intermission.

UNB carried their momentum into the second period, continuing to control the play in the Brock zone. UNB had their powerplay opportunity early in the frame after Kevin Henderson was drilled into the Brock goal, but the V-Reds still couldn’t solve Harpwood.

UNB’s penalty killing soon became a major factor, as Justin Dacosta took two penalties in a six minute span. UNB was flawless on the kill, not allowing the Badgers to register a single shot.

The V-Reds got another powerplay opportunity at 12:42, but it was Mike Ouzas who made the biggest impact on this opportunity. When the puck squeaked past David Bowman at the blue line, Ouzas made two game-saving stops, including one when he sprawled to cover a wide-open net. UNB then went on the attack, and Hunter Tremblay tallied the first goal of the tournament on a wraparound chance. CIS Player of the Year Rob Hennigar picked up the assist on the goal.

The goal brought UNB to life, and within the next five minutes of play, both Tremblay and Lachlan MacIntosh were nearly successful on wraparound attempts.

Game2vs.Saskatchewan

With 1:01 remaining the period, Kevin Henderson lost the puck behind the net, but it made its way onto the stick of Nathan O’Nabigon. O’Nabigon beat the Brock goalie to put UNB up 2-0 after two periods of play.

Nathan O’Nabigon got UNB going again in the third, pushing both the puck and Matt Harpwood over the goal line just 27 seconds into the period.

With Friesen in the box, Brock forward Jonathan Labelle finally managed to solve Ouzas, pulling the Badgers within two goals.

That was short lived, however, as UNB scored twice in the next minute and forty-three seconds to pull out to a 5-1 lead. Kyle Bailey scored UNB’s fourth goal, from Rob Pearce and MacIntosh, before Kevin Henderson scored from Bowman and O’Nabigon. Brad Efthimiou, back on the ice after missing six games, made it a 6-1 UNB lead just over four minutes later.

Harpwood shut down the V-Reds after that, but the damage had been done in the 6-1 UNB win. The victory pushes UNB through to a match-up with the Saskatchewan Huskies on Saturday.

Brock Coach Murray Nystrom, a former captain and coach with UNB, said the Reds were simply the better team.

“This was a tough game for us,” said Nystrom. “When UNB got their opportunities, they made the most of them.

“They’re an excellent team.”

AUS Rookie of the Year Hunter Tremblay, who opened the scoring for the V-Reds, said the team just started to roll after the scoring started.

“It just takes one to get things going,” said Tremblay, “and it worked for us.”

Games Notes: Forward Brad Efthimiou made his return to the UNB lineup, after missing the season finale against UdeM and the entire AUS playoff run due to injury. – UNB’s scratches include Ryan Seymour, Andrew de Sousa, Andrea Johansson, and Tyler Dietrich. – Attendance: 3089.

– Final shots were 48 – 21 in favour of the Varsity Reds. – Players of the Game were Nathan O’Nabigon (UNB) and Jonathan Labelle (Brock).

Jennifer McKenzie / The Brunswickan

It was a simple “win and we’re in” situation as UNB and Saskatchewan faced off in the second game of the University Cup for both teams. The Huskies and V-Reds are each 1-0, after beating up on the hapless Brock Badgers in their respective tournament openers.

There was a sea of red and white in the crowd, as it appeared as though most of Fredericton made the trip east on the Trans-Canada.

UNB pressured the Huskies early, with Rob Pearce and Lachlan MacIntosh notching quality scoring chances in the first 30 seconds. Saskatchewan quickly found their footing, however, and forced Michael Ouzas to make a couple of solid saves in the UNB goal.

UNB opened the scoring on the powerplay at 11:28 when Alex Aldred made a beautiful cross-ice pass to Kyle Bailey, who buried it past Saskatchewan goalie Jeff Harvey.

Saskatchewan had two powerplay opportunities in the first frame, but the V-Reds’ relentless penalty killing held the Huskies to just one shot with the man advantage.

Saskatchewan’s best chance came with just under two minutes remaining in the period, when they managed to get a puck past Ouzas, but hit the post.

The Varsity Reds came out fast in the second, as John Scott Dickson beat Harvey with a snapshot from the right wing to put UNB up 2-0. Rob Hennigar and Hunter Tremblay picked up assists on the goal.

UNB carried the momentum from that goal through the rest of the period, as they dominated the Huskies in all facets of the game. The exclamation point came late in the period, when V-Reds winger Chris Hodgson leveled Saskatchewan defenseman Cole Simpson with a huge open-ice hit.

With five minutes left in the second, UNB added another insurance marker when Rob Pearce tipped Alex Aldred’s point shot in front, and the puck deflected five-hole on Harvey.

UNB carried the play for the rest of the period, and held a 3-0 lead while outshooting the Huskies 31-19.

Saskatchewan had a couple of great opportunities to get back in the game early in the third, but a shot off the post and a great save by Luke Gallant helped Ouzas keep the Huskies off the board.

The fast-paced back and forth action continued until Jeff Harvey made a great glove save on Justin DaCosta on a 3-on-2 break for UNB with just over twelve minutes remaining.

Hunter Tremblay stretched the UNB lead to 4-0 at 12:20, when he redirected a cross-crease pass from John Scott Dickson into the Huskies net. Rob Hennigar also picked up an assist on the play.

With the 4-0 victory, UNB secured their second consecutive trip to the University Cup finals. Their opponent will not be decided until after the game between UdeM and McGill later tonight, but none of the teams in Pool B (Alberta, Moncton, and McGill) have been eliminated.

UNB defenceman Alex Aldred said the game plan was simple. “We wanted to come out and set the tone, rather than being back on our heels.”

Head Coach Gardiner MacDougall said having a day off in between games was crucial to the team’s preparation.

“Saturday is a key day,” said MacDougall. “Obviously you have to be successful.”

With a spot in the final locked up, the V-Reds aren’t looking past whatever team they’ll face tomorrow night.

“Whoever the opponent is they’re going to be a pretty worthy opponent,” said MacDougall.

“We know tomorrow that we have to be a little bit better than we were today.”

Game Notes: Scratches for UNB include Tyler Dietrich, Ryan Seymour, Andrew De Sousa, and Andreas Johansson. – UNB was 2/2 on the powerplay, while Saskatchewan was 0/4. – Attendance: 3487. – Final shots: UNB – 40, Saskatchewan – 23. – Players of the game were John Scott Dickson (UNB) and Casey Lee (Saskatchewan).

Championship Game vs. Alberta The “best of the west” and the “beasts of the east” squared off the in the 2008 Cavendish University Cup finals in front of 4,712 fans at the Moncton Coliseum.

UNB, riding a 21-game win streak, was looking to win their second consecutive CIS title; the Golden Bears were in the hunt for their CIS-record 13th championship.

Alberta began the game short handed on the back end, as they lost defenseman Derek Price to a concussion during their overtime loss to Moncton.

Michael Ouzas carried his 0.50 GAA and 0.977 save percentage into the game, looking to win his second title with the Reds.

The first period began with some back and forth play in the early going, with Alberta having a great scoring chance just over a minute into the game.

UNB opened the scoring, as Kevin Henderson picked up the puck in the Alberta zone, outworked the Alberta defense to carry it behind the net, and centered to Justin DaCosta in the slot.

DaCosta buried it, giving UNB a 1-0 lead on just their fourth shot of the game. Denny Johnston also picked up an assist on the play.

The goal seemed to shift the momentum in UNB’s favor for the next few shifts, but the Golden Bears fought back and quickly tied it. Brian Woolger was able to walk in off the wing and snap a shot under the arm of Ouzas at 9:12 to tie the game at 1-1.

Josh Hepditch, who saw an increased role for UNB when an injury kept Andrew De Sousa out of action, saved an Alberta breakaway opportunity just over twelve minutes into the period, as he won a footrace with a Golden Bears’ forward before diving to knock the puck into the corner.

UNB had another great scoring chance at the five-minute mark, when Kyle Bailey fired a shot from the top of the right circle that Alberta goalie Aaron Sorochan just directed wide of the goal. Sorochan remained solid, as he absolutely robbed Hunter Tremblay and Rob Hennigar on two quick op-

Jennifer McKenzie / The Brunswickan

Alberta’s Golden Bears pulled an upset out of their hats to defeat the Varsity Reds and win their record 13th CIS Championship portunities a minute later.

UNB wrapped up the period with a great display of physical play, as John Scott Dickson laid out two Alberta players in the last minute of the period.

Shots after one were 14-9 in favor of UNB. UNB came out quickly in the second, scoring the go-ahead go just 0:34 into the second period when Rob Hennigar

batted the puck past Sorochan from a scramble in front of the Alberta net.

The lead was short lived, though, as Alberta’s Tim Krymusa responded exactly two minutes later to once again tie the score.

Nathan O’Nabigon, who scored twice in UNB’s opening game, had an amazing scoring chance just over five minutes into the period when he had

a breakaway from centre ice. Sorochan stood tall, however, stoning O’Nabigon to keep the game tied.

The V-Reds got their first powerplay opportunity of the game shortly thereafter, when Alberta’s Richard Hamula got a two-minute minor and a ten minute misconduct for checking to the head; however, UNB’s powerplay was unable to muster much offense.

Alberta got a crack at the manadvantage with seven minutes remaining in the period when Henderson was called for closing his hand on the puck. The V-Reds penalty kill was more than effective, though, as both Denny Johnston and Hunter Tremblay had quality scoring chances while playing a man short.

Although UNB held a considerable

advantage in shots, the score remained tied after two periods.

The V-Reds registered the first solid scoring chance of the third nearly five minutes in, but the shot off the post was batted away thanks to an acrobatic save

by Sorochan. The Alberta netminder continued his impressive play, making a great pad save just seconds later.

Ouzas, not to be outdone, responded with a great glove save on Alberta’s next rush into UNB territory.

Alberta got a break with just under nine minutes remaining in the third, when UNB’s David Bowman was called for interference attempting to break up the Golden Bears’ attack.

Alberta didn’t waste any time, as Ian McDonald scored 44 seconds into the powerplay to give the Golden Bears a 3-2 lead.

Unable to create any sustained offensive pressure, the V-Reds got a powerplay chance when Rob Pearce was hauled down in the Alberta zone.

Although they controlled the play for much of the two-minute man advantage, UNB could seem to find the net.

The Reds appeared to be headed to the powerplay again with just under two minutes remaining in the game, but the referee also called a penalty on UNB’s Bowman to keep the teams even.

As time wound down in the third, UNB couldn’t control the puck long enough to allow Ouzas to retreat to the bench to get an extra attacker on the ice.

Ouzas finally got to the bench to give the Reds a 6 on 5 advantage for the final thirty seconds of the game, but it was too little too late for the Varsity Reds, as they dropped their first game of 2008 when it counted the most.

Aaron Sorochan was simply amazing in goal, virtually stealing the victory for Alberta as the Reds outshot the Golden Bears 42 – 25.

After easily the most impressive season of UNB hockey, the V-Reds could not tame the Golden Bears of Alberta. Still, losing only three games in CIS competition, they may just be the best Canadian university hockey has to offer.

Sports

Wading through the Sea of Red

by Mitchell Bernard They started to gather a few hours prior to puck drop, waiting for their beloved Varsity Reds to take the ice. Fans traveled from abroad in hopes of witnessing a second straight CIS championship for one of the most dominant forces in university hockey.

In the fan zone sat a few fans with a bit of a personal connection to the team. Girlfriends of the V-Red players assembled, as they prepared to watch the final game of the long season they’ve endured.

“I am really excited,” said Sarah Jane MacGuigan. “I think I was more nervous last night. But we are going to party either way – win or lose.”

Soon enough, the Reds took the ice for warm-up as spectators were finally allowed to enter the arena. Among those were Brian Beaudette and Tyler Stokes, members of Aitken House. Traveling up from Fredericton to watch the event, both were excited for the game that was about to unfold.

“I think it will be a 5-1 win,” said a confident Stokes.

But a nervous tension was held throughout the arena. Not knowing what the outcome was going to be, people wondered if UNB could hold on to win the coveted national championship.

“It was a little easier when I was a coach and I could yell at people,” laughed Kevin Dickie, Director of Athletics at UNB. “We’ll see how it goes, though.”

Finally, UNB took to the ice following the Alberta entrance and the building erupted. A sea of red stood as the UNB squad exploded onto the ice.

The crowd didn’t have to wait long to explode once again. The Reds opened the scoring, thanks to defenseman Justin

DaCosta, allowing for the hundreds of fans dressed in red to cheer in joy.

James Beaton and James McGuigan were two members of the crowd who were proudly displaying their UNB pride. Painted and dressed in UNB colours, the boys carried around a UNB flag attached to a hockey stick.

“That’s the goal – to get on TV,” said McGuigan. The guys were standing in front of a TV camera from Rogers Sportsnet, hoping to get their 15 minutes of fame pronouncing their UNB pride.

“We were on for like ten seconds yesterday!” exclaimed McGuigan.

It wasn’t the first trip to watch the national championships for these fans.

Both were in attendance for the finals last year in Moncton, when the Reds defeat the hometown UdeM Aigles Bleus in overtime. Beaton recalls the eventful evening last year’s championship was.

“We were really into it last year as well. I actually ended up punching the [UdeM] mascot. We were getting death threats as we were leaving the rink! It was a pretty crazy night,” said Beaton, a Neville House alumnus.

Just as he finished his sentence, Alberta’s Brian Woolger nets the first goal of the game for the Golden Bears.

Both Beaton and McGuigan shake their heads.

“No worries, we’ll get that back,” said Beaton.

With the final minutes ticking down in the first period, Reds forward Chris Hodgson stepped over the red line and immediately started to stride down the ice toward a Golden Bear defenseman.

The result was a bone chilling hit that sent the fans in frenzy.

“How’s the taste of glass, Alberta?

Disgusting!” yelled Beaton, waving his UNB flag in delight.

With that, the first period came to a close with the score tied at one.

First intermission left the UNB fans

a little uneasy. Although coming out strong to begin the game, UNB was outplayed for the most part in the remainder of the first period.

“Man, that Alberta squad has some small, speedy players. And chippy, too.

UNB is going to have to step it up a notch if they want to win this one,” said one UNB fanatic.

The UNB fans did not have to wait long to have another reason to cheer in the second, though, because before the ice had enough time to dry, Rob Hennigar notched yet another goal in his MVP season. The goal came much to the delight of his girlfriend, who stood up and waved her poster saying, “Henny Hops to Gold”.

But yet again, Alberta responded with a goal just minutes later. The sea of red took yet another deep breath, and they crossing their fingers in hopes that their boys could notch another one soon.

The second period drew to a close and yet again, the game was tied. Fans remained hopeful, but they knew well that this period was going to be a nervewracking one.

One fan that had a pretty justified reason to not be able to sit still was UNB forward Tyler Dietrich. A scratch for the final, Dietrich watched intensely as he hoped his team could just net another goal for the go ahead.

The third period resumed and five minutes in, 2007 national championship hero Rob Pearce was fed the puck in front of the net, only to be denied by Golden Bear goalie Aaron Sorochan.

Dietrich and the other UNB players all held their collective breath.

“I’d sure love to be out there right now. I’m a little bit handcuffed but the boys are working hard. We didn’t go down into the dressing room [between the second and third period]. We just left the guys alone. I’m sure Coach is just telling them to keep on digging and play hard. There is really no sense

changing anything at this point in the season,” said Dietrich.

Sitting only a few rows up from the UNB players were members of the Brock Badgers. After UNB defeated the Badgers in the first game of the season, Brock would be all too happy to see the Reds season go down the drain.

Their wish then came one step closer to reality. Just after the halfway point of the third period, Alberta slipped a puck pass UNB net minder Michael Ouzas to take a 3-2 lead. Nonchalantly, the Brock players smirk, with some even clapping, as they hoped to see their first-round opponents knocked out of title contention.

The minutes ticked by and the UNB fans became more and more uneasy.

Members of the women’s hockey team, men’s soccer team, and other UNB sports gathered to try and cheer on the team.

Loud, boisterous, and hopeful, they all stood as UNB called a time-out with only a minute remaining in the game.

They began a “U-N-B” chant, encouraging everyone in the area to join in to help the V-Reds gain momentum for the last push.

It was to no avail. The Reds couldn’t get the puck into the Alberta goal, and the clock ran out. The Alberta squad leaped in joy as the UNB players dropped their heads in disappointment.

In the stands, the fans sat in shock.

The crowd joins in for one last “U-NB” chant to congratulate the team on a season well done. Meanwhile, Alberta fans poured onto the concourse to pick up their “Golden Bears – CIS Champs” t-shirts.

Despite the loss, UNB fans were still proud of their team’s performance.

Dave Morrell, director of marketing for the V-Reds, summed it up best: “It’s great when you win, but it’s tough when you lose.”

Jennifer McKenzie / The Brunswickan

“It’s great when you win, but it’s tough when you lose.”

-Dave Morell, V-Reds Marketing / Events Manager

Doug Estey / The Brunswickan

Red hot rookie made impact for UNB

by Brad Conley

It was a year full of ups for Hunter Tremblay, who played out his freshman year with the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds. The season that once held such promise for Tremblay and his teammates ended on a down, as the Reds fell to the University of Alberta in the national title bout.

Tremblay, who played his junior hockey with the Barrie Colts, said his route to UNB was an odd one. As a result of his all-star over aged season with the Colts in 2006-07, Tremblay was invited to numerous NHL camps but wasn’t sure what he wanted to do.

After trying out for the San Jose Sharks farm club, he found his gut telling him to play university hockey.

“I had a tryout in the AHL for San Jose’s farm club, and then something happened. My gut was telling me to go to school and get a degree and sometimes in life you just go with your gut.

I figured I would take my chances with school and try to improve there, then eventually try to go pro,” said Tremblay shortly after UNB’s tournament opening 6-1 win over the Brock Badgers.

Although Tremblay did have many opportunities to go and play elsewhere, he felt that both hockey and academics needed to be included in his new environment, and the University of New Brunswick provided this.

“I knew if I was to come here they would have another strong team and a chance to improve and potentially win another National Championship,” Tremblay reflected. “I figured I would come here to work on getting a degree and at the same time be able to improve as a hockey player.”

Jennifer McKenzie / The Brunswickan

Hunter Tremblay was the AUS rookie of the year, was named to the CIS All-Rookie team, and finished third in CIS scoring.

His coach, Gardner McDougall, couldn’t be any happier that he followed his gut and made the choice to play for UNB. “We wanted to find the best available player in Canada, and all arrows pointed

to Hunter Tremblay,” McDougall said.

“He made an immediate impact, not just as a player, but he has been a real leader.

He has a real passion for the game.”

It seems as if Tremblay’s choice to play for UNB has not only benefited him, as his teammates have benefited as well. Although Tremblay came into the season wondering if he would be able to crack the line-up, he was able to contribute to the team every night, finishing the season third in the country in scoring, and winning the Atlantic Conference Rookie of the Year Award – feats that he modestly credits to his teammates.

“I played all year with (Rob) Hennigar and (John Scott) Dickson, who I can’t say enough about. This is probably the best line I have ever played on,” noted Tremblay.

In the end, Tremblay’s Varsity Reds could not take home the National Championship as they were favoured to do. Although Tremblay’s team only suffered two regulation loses to other Canadian universities this year, a hot goaltender stood in front of them which stole the coveted National Championship away.

This, however, hasn’t taken away from the year Tremblay has had. In the end, he is still happy to be where he is.

“I am happy to be at UNB because I am still improving every day as both a player and a person,” said Tremblay, “and that’s what it’s all about.”

Issue 24 • March 26, 2008 • 15

A heartbreaker now is just a Hunting small memory tomorrow

by Mitchell Bernard

It felt like losing a loved one. You know that empty-pit feeling in your stomach?

That’s the exact feeling I had when the UNB men’s hockey team lost to Alberta in the CIS National Championships this past weekend in Moncton.

But here’s the thing – before the national championships this season, I had only been to one game in the 2007-08 campaign. It was an 8-1 win over STU back in September, and since then I hadn’t watched the V-Reds play.

So why did I take the loss so hard?

Well, that’s exactly what I wondered.

You see, working for a newspaper, I followed the V-Reds around all weekend. From the opening press conference to the heart-breaking final, I was there.

I sat through each shot, each save, and each goal the Reds scored.

I knew some of the players’ stats at the tournament better than I knew the status in my bank account.

I’ll admit I wasn’t the biggest V-Reds fan before the tournament. Yeah, I kept up with their stats and I’d view the AUS

standings briefly to see how the boys of winter were performing. But I never expected to take the loss so hard.

I wasn’t the only one on staff here at The Brunswickan who felt uneasy following the game, though. The four of us at the tournament – Jenn McKenzie, Brian Munn, Brad Conley, and myself – chatted briefly following the game, each describing how crummy we felt. Granted some of the staff had been following the boys all year, with a few even having personal connections, so the queasy feeling may have been justified.

But why me? For someone with no interest in the team entering the tournament, why did I feel like something was missing in me after the game?

I realized that over the course of the tournament, I developed somewhat of a personal relationship to this team. My life revolved around their performance, to the point where I almost felt part of the team. When the team’s fate was finally determined after the clock ran out in the third period, I felt like I lost the game.

I watched as the players’ bowed their heads in defeat. I watched as the fans cheered on their Reds for their valiant performance. And I watched as the trophy was awarded to the wrong team.

As an athlete myself, I remember those days of defeat. I can recall losing in a semi-final match-up in the provincial hockey championships. As a team entering the tournament in the first seed position, we were expected to win. And then the unexpected occurred.

In overtime, versus the eight-seed underdogs, a blocked shot led to a breakaway goal to eliminate our team from championship contention. I was heartbroken.

Maybe in my mind, I made a personal connection between the Reds loss and my own team’s loss a few years back.

Maybe the horrible memories rekindled as I watched the top team in the nation have their championship stolen away.

Following my own loss at the provincial championships, I sat on the bench unable to move, thinking that my life was over.

But you know what? Life continued.

And it will for the Reds as well. What feels like an eternity will pass on as if nothing happened. Life goes on, despite the fact that we think it’s over.

The Reds will be back in contention again next year. With a strong group a returnees, rest assured that the 2009 championships in Thunder Bay, Ontario, will have UNB on the schedule.

lining

The Fifty Mission Cap by Brian Munn

“I… umm… Wow.” That was all I could muster as I stood in the press box, high in the rafters of the Moncton Coliseum, as I tried to articulate my feelings about what had just happened.

If you’re reading this, it means you fought through the pages upon pages of “V-Reds lost, hell freezes over” headlines, and you know exactly what I’m talking about.

After going 26-1-1 in the regular season, 5-0 in the playoffs, and 2-0 to start the CIS Nationals, the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds men’s hockey team lost. And they did it on

for a silver

the biggest stage of all.

The thought that the guys would lose didn’t really cross my mind until earlier on Sunday, when I was talking to the managing editor of The Gateway, the University of Alberta’s student paper.

He said something along the lines of, “When all those stupid behindthe-back passes and fancy plays are working, you know the Alberta offense is working.”

It hit me that the Golden Bears were a good hockey team. UNB was still number one, but Alberta, at least on paper, was number two.

But there was no way I was prepared to accept that the V-Reds could lose. So when Mike Ouzas skated to the bench as the final seconds ticked off the clock, I couldn’t muster a full sentence.

“I… umm… Wow.” So Alberta won, and at least according to TSN on Monday morning, are the best university hockey team in the country.

No offense to the Golden Bears and their record 13th CIS title, but I’m going to have to disagree with that one.

UNB has the best individual player in the country, the best goaltending tandem in the country, and from top to bottom, the best lineup in the country.

They demolished all comers in the toughest division in Canada, the AUS. And when the hardware was on the line, they fired 42 shots at Alberta goalie Aaron Sorochan.

I don’t think the fact that only two of those shots went in makes UNB any less incredible.

For those keeping track, UNB’s combined record in CIS competition this season was 33-2-1. To that, you can add a victory over the University of New Hampshire, which is playing in the NCAA Frozen Four tournament.

You can call it an attempt at justification or poor sportsmanship. Truthfully, I don’t care.

Yeah, Alberta was great. Their offense was impressive and their goaltending was impeccable. They won when it counted the most.

But simply put, UNB was incREDible – trophy or not.

Jennifer McKenzie / The Brunswickan

Jennifer McKenzie / The Brunswickan

With one year of eligibility remaining, Hennigar has not decided whether he will suit up for the Varsity Reds next season. The reigning CIS Player of the Year, who also has a scoring title and a national championship under his belt, has accomplished everything imaginable in his illustrious career with UNB.

Last hurrah for MVP?

by Brad Conley

It was a weekend that could have ended Rob Hennigar’s university hockey career on a down note, losing to the University of Alberta Golden Bears 3-2 in the National Championship game.

It was an end to a season that was full of highs though, highs that saw Hennigar surpass Dax McLean to break the UNB all-time points record.

“To break Dax’s record – it was a big thrill for me. It was something that I thought may have been attainable at the beginning of the year, but I wasn’t really sure,” recalled Hennigar.

“To actually break the record and for [Dax] to be there was pretty special.”

Of course, this wasn’t the only special moment for Hennigar this season, as he won the CIS scoring title with 58 points, and as a result of his record-breaking season, was recognized as the CIS Player

of the Year Award.

“To win the CIS Player of the year award was really nice, especially because I am just having fun doing it,” said Hennigar.

As a result of Hennigar’s strong play throughout his four years at UNB, there is strong speculation that he has had offers to play professional hockey elsewhere.

According to Hennigar, however, he couldn’t leave a school that has been as good to him as UNB has.

“The atmosphere has kept me here. I love the school, I love the people here, and Fredericton has been so great to me. I love trying to grow the tradition there as much as I can. It is really fun to be a part of.”

With one year of CIS eligibility remaining, Hennigar says he isn’t quite sure what he’s going to be doing next season. Although he does have some pro options, he also has some courses to finish up in his education degree – which would allow for him to continue his Varsity Reds career.

“I haven’t really made my mind up with regards to what I am going to do next year,” said Hennigar. “I still have some school to finish up with my education degree, so really the door is open for either route.”

Hennigar now has some tough choices in front of him. Pro scouts flocked to the national tournament in Moncton last weekend to take a good hard look at the senior, which will probably result in at least a few offers for Hennigar to finish out the season in the pro ranks.

But as he has said, education is still important to him, which should make the choice for him that much harder.

Gardiner MacDougall, meanwhile, would love to see his all-star forward back next season.

“Rob has made a positive, significant difference in the success of our hockey program,” said UNB Head Coach Gardiner MacDougall. “This season he has culminated his excellent four-year career by having his best campaign and leading our team to our best regular schedule ever.”

16 • March 26, 2008 • Issue 24

N

ear perfect end to a near perfect season

Sports

After a record-setting run to the University Cup finals, the UNB Varsity Reds couldn’t pull off a repeat. The V-Reds were bested 3-2 by the Alberta Golden Bears in Sunday night’s final, which gave Alberta their CIS-record 13th national championship. With the majority of this year’s roster returning, however, the Reds will look to defend their AUS title next season en route to a national championship berth in Thunder Bay. Doug Estey and Jennifer McKenzie / The Brunswickan