Nanaimo Daily News, December 23, 2015

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WHAT’S INSIDE Today’s issue

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

Syrian refugees chosen top Canada news story

For many, the sense of malaise is a predictable part of the holidays. The good news for those people is that they are not alone, said Dr. Raymond Lam, a UBC professor. » News, 4

Islamic State to release own app It will gives access to the online portal Amaq News Agency, which western intelligence officers claim is associated with the Islamic State’s propaganda arm. » Nation&World, 11

Comics ................. 25-26 Markets ......................... 26 Sudoku ......................... 26 Horoscope ................. 26 Classified ..................... 27 Obituaries ................... 27 Food ............................... 29

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TOP STORY

‘Winter blahs’ very common

Local news ............... 3-9 Editorials/letters ........ 6 B.C. news ..................... 10 Nation & World ........ 11 Sports ............................ 19 Scoreboard ................ 24 Crossword .................. 25

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STEPHANIE LEVITZ THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — For years, the millions displaced by the ongoing civil war in Syria hardly registered on Canada’s radar, but a single death this fall suddenly brought the conflict home.

And the way the Syrian refugee crisis then galvanized Canadians has prompted news editors across the country to select it as Canada’s News Story of the Year for 2015.

The annual survey by The Canadian Press saw 26 votes cast for the crisis and the ensuing Liberal government response as the most compelling story of the year, with the Liberal election victory in second place with 24 votes.

“The combination of Justin’s Trudeau’s dramatic election victory and how the Syrian refugee crisis played a key role in the midst of that campaign makes these two stories among the most significant of 2015,” said Rick Bogacz, executive producer of MSN.ca.

“We’ll be feeling their impact for years to come.”

While the civil war has raged since 2011, 2015 saw an unprecedented exodus of Syrians, not just out of their home country, but out of the countries nearby where an estimated four million Syrians have sought refuge in the last four years.

In early September, the Kurdi family was among them, seeking to get out of Turkey and to Greece via boat. But the vessel capsized and three-year-old Alan

Dildar Qasu, 10, centre, from Sinjar, Iraq, and other refugee children from Syria and Afghanistan play on Dec. 6 while waiting with their families to be transported by a bus to a train. [AP PHOTO]

Kurdi died, a photograph of his lifeless body on a Turkish beach ricocheting around the world.

It landed on front pages in the midst of the federal election, and when it became known the Kurdis had family in British Columbia who were trying to bring some of them to Canada, Alan’s death became unexpected campaign issue, spurring debate on whether the country was doing enough to help address the major humanitarian crisis.

“The fragile image of Alan Kurdi not only put the fouryear-old Syrian war on front pages in newspapers around the world, it forced action,” said David Trifunov, managing editor of the Daily Courier in Kelowna.

“The war had been dragging on and Kurdi’s short life made Canadians aware of the carnage that was unfolding half a world away.”

Accusations that members of the Kurdi family were rejected

by Canada — although the government later said the proper paperwork had not been filed — prompted an outcry. That, coupled with statistics showing that current resettlement of Syrian refugees was happening at a glacial pace, forced the then-Conservative government to overhaul their existing program in the midst of the election.

It also saw the Liberals reiterate a pledge they’d made back

in March — under a Liberal government, 25,000 Syrians refugees would be brought to Canada. During the campaign they stuck a deadline on the promise too — they would do it by year’s end.

The program is currently underway, albeit revised — the Liberals are aiming to resettle 10,000 people by the end of this month and a further 15,000 by end of February.

“The effects (of the refugee crisis) will continue in 2016 to have a major impact on the political agenda in Europe and the world,” said Gilles Carignan, vice-president of information and assistant editor of Le Soleil.

That the Liberals found themselves in a position to make good on that promise was thanks to an election victory no one was expecting, several news editors said in choosing that victory as the news story of the year.

The orange tide that swept Alberta politics in the form of an NDP victory was another contender for the year’s most compelling story but was overshadowed by the economic realities in that province thanks to turmoil in the energy industry.

Thirteen people cast their vote for that as the story of the year.

“Between pipeline debates, massive layoffs, environmental protests, greenhouse gas emissions and the plummeting price of oil, Canada’s energy sector has been front and centre throughout 2015,” said Margo Goodhand, editor of the Edmonton Journal.

COURTS

Quebec assisted-dying law gets court OK GIUSEPPE VALIANTE THE CANADIAN PRESS

Por olio Manager

MONTREAL — The doctor at the heart of the fight against Quebec’s assisted-dying law promised Tuesday he will not back down despite the province’s top court ruling that the legislation is constitutional and can remain in effect.

The Quebec Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision aimed at suspending implementation of the law.

Criminal Code provisions banning assisted suicide are invalid because they were struck down by the Supreme Court, the appeals court ruled Tuesday.

That means Quebec’s law doesn’t conflict with the federal statutes, which take precedence in the country’s legal system.

A Quebec Superior Court justice ruled last month the law contravened Sec. 14 of the

Criminal Code, which states people cannot consent to having death inflicted on them.

Quebec appealed that decision.

The Supreme Court ruled the federal law banning assisted suicide unconstitutional last February, but suspended its decision for one year to give the government time to create a new law.

“There is no doubt” the articles of the Criminal Code regarding assisted suicide “are constitutionally invalid,” the appeals court said in its ruling.

That makes exemptions to those Criminal Code provisions possible under certain circumstances and means the Quebec law is constitutional, the court added.

The Superior Court justice ruled in favour of Dr. Paul Saba and a handicapped woman, who were hoping to postpone implementation of the law until at least February.

Saba said he was disappointed by Tuesday’s ruling but promised to take Quebec to court once again.

The appeals court said Saba and his Coalition of Physicians for Social Justice are free to contest Quebec’s law on the other arguments in their initial lawsuit.

Saba intends to challenge it on the basis he believes doctor-assisted suicide is not a medical service and, therefore, does not fall under provincial jurisdiction.

He will also argue that terminally ill patients in Quebec have neither proper access to palliative care nor a real choice when offered medical assistance in dying.

The law outlines how terminally ill patients can end their lives with medical help and was adopted by members of the national assembly in June 2014. It officially became law Dec. 10.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

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‘Worst’ jobs still rewarding Risk versus reward factors in as workers refute the annual Career Cast list

N

orth American news outlets routinely publish a list of the top 10 worst jobs of the year.

These jobs are ranked based on income, growth outlook, stress, work load, and safety.

The lists can provide some food for thought, but it’s always worthwhile to take them with a pinch of salt.

The most circulated list of worst jobs, which is compiled by Career Cast, is regularly picked up by media across North America. Firefighter, corrections officer and journalist Aaron cracked the top 10 worst Hinks jobs of 2015. The list can Reporting be subjective, people working in those industries say they’re doing the job for reasons greater than pay.

Greg Norman has been a firefighter for more than 20 years. He’s worked his way up through the ranks and is now an assistant chief with Nanaimo Fire Rescue. Firefighting is in his family, his father was a firefighter for 33 years.

“When you show up you can help people in their worst times, times of emergency. You can assist and help in any way big or small and make things better for them. It’s very rewarding,” Norman said.

Norman started a career in construction but the thought of being a firefighter always lingered. The potential rewards of the job eventually got him to enlist and he’s never looked back.

Fire is in the name, but it’s only a fraction of the work they do. Firefighters stay busy with assisting the B.C. Ambulance Service, responding to hazards on trails, testing for carbon monoxide and an array of fire prevention activities and educational programs.

The job has its drawbacks, such as the dangers of entering a flaming building, working along a busy highway, inhaling countless fumes, and post traumatic stress disorder.

“The awareness around (PTSD) today is much more than it ever was. Even in the last five years its become at the forefront of our industry as much as military, RCMP, BCAS,” Norman said.

“Sometimes it doesn’t even take a traumatic event because it’s the build-up, it’s the accumu-

Firefighter made the list of ‘worst jobs’ for 2015 according to Career Cast, but those in the industry see say they do it for more than the pay. [AARON HINKS/DAILY NEWS]

lation. The awareness transcends down to the Great onand thethey’re wrong list? guys out onjobs the field becoming Career Cast list of top 10 worst jobs for 2015: 1. Reporter 2. Lumberjack 3. Military personnel

4. Cook 5. Broadcaster 6. Photojournalist 7. Corrections officer 8. Taxi driver 9. Firefighter 10. Mail carrier

more aware and it’s becoming more acceptable to talk about these kinds of things.”

Another job you almost certainly need thick skin for is a corrections officer.

Leanne Kristofferson has been a correctional officer for the past 18 years. She has worked her way to deputy warden of programs at the Nanaimo Correctional Centre.

Kristofferson said she always wanted to work with people. At first she thought the only viable option was to become a police officer. She was in school when a friend suggested she apply to become a correctional officer. She got the job, thinking it was going to be a short-term gig but ended up falling in love with the work.

Integrity, compassion, attention to detail, assertiveness, courage and the ability to think clearly and apply training under pressure are the most important attributes to have, she said.

“Really no two work days are ever exactly the same. One of the most rewarding things is to be engaged with inmates and helping them to look and move forward in a positive way,” Kristofferson said. “Knowing some of the struggles and chaos that people have faced that may have contributed to what resulted in them being in custody can be difficult for an officer to learn.

It also gives us a chance to help inmates with education, vocational opportunities, structure and some support when they’re released. That’s hugely rewarding, but it also means you have to keep in mind that some do not respond positively to your intentions to help.”

She said correctional officers want inmates to be released and hopefully never return.

“There can be risks in this environment given that you’re dealing with some people who are struggling with a number of issues. It can be volatile at times or they are simply not happy about having lost their freedom. However, there is also great reward when you see them succeed or they simply say thank you. It makes it all worthwhile and so many people who choose this profession dedicate their entire careers to it.”

When it comes to journalists the inherent risks of the job depends on where you’re working. In the Nanaimo market, the most dangerous part of a journalists job would be the time spent driving to an assignment.

There are journalists out there who put their life on the line to tell a story.

There is huge risk, but there’s also a huge reward.

Odai Sirri, director of operations of the Waterfront Suites and Marina, spent close to a decade covering everything from oil to conflict in the middle east for some of the world’s biggest media companies.

He started out as a general news reporter in the early 2000s. It was shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks and the United States was making its presence known in Iraq and Afghanistan. During the times of conflict, Sirri worked in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, then London and Switzerland.

“I did a little bit of conflict zone stuff but you don’t want to do it very long. It’s not a very good thing for you mentally or physically,” he said.

“Conflict zones pervert and distort reality, you know. If you stay there long enough you’ll find your breaking point and it’s terrible if you do because there is no one there to help you.”

The reward, he said, is to be able to tell a story or engage people who have no understanding of what’s going on and being able to explain to them in context.

“Then the story gets out and people learn something, people understand a little bit better, that’s the main reward. You’re telling a story that people should be hearing,” Sirri said.

When picking a career for the first time, or even second or third time, registered clinical counsellor Marlowe Lindberg says it’s best to talk to people who work in the desired industry.

Lindberg says she didn’t start post-secondary school until she was 38-years-old. She’s a high school drop-out but ended up getting her master’s in psychology and master’s in arts of clinical counselling psychology “Since being in counselling, I love my job. It’s the first time that I love my job. I don’t care if I get paid or not I just love it. The old saying is if you’re doing what you love then you’re not working. This is the first time I experienced that.”

Aaron.Hinks @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4242

Holiday Greetings 2015 Merry Christmas to everyone who has supported Youth that NYSA, Board and Staff serves this year. Looking forward to our continued partnership in the New Year.

Special Holiday Wishes to all the Staff and Board Members of the It’s All About Haylie’s Care Society.

Love from Haylie

Merry Christmas Angela Pitts “What a Great”: women, wife, mom and friend. You are my “world”.

Love forever and always, Ron xoxo

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4 NEWS

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

EDUCATION

Vandalism costs decline in school district ROBERT BARRON DAILY NEWS

The costs of vandalism in the Nanaimo-Ladysmith school district continue to decline.

A staff report has indicated the district spent just $2,900 on repairing damage due to vandalism in November, significantly lower than costs in the past.

The majority of the damage for

November was reported at Rock City Elementary School, where painting over graffiti on the building cost $560.

But the costs of vandalism in the district has dropped 49 per cent since 2011, to $76,000 from $148,000 annually, thanks to a range of new initiatives that have been introduced.

Trustee Jamie Brennan, a member

of the district’s anti-vandalism committee, said a maintenance policy, which has been in effect since 2011, that sees property damage due to vandalism repaired immediately has had results.

Brennan said the night use of the “mosquito” deterrent device, which emits a high-frequency noise inaudible to adults but annoying to young people, at a number of high-risk

schools has also paid dividends.

“We also have a School Watch program at four participating schools that we intend to expand to other schools, and into the neighbourhoods, if required” he said.

“The back area of John Barsby Secondary School has also seen a lot of vandalism over the years that has been costly, but it has not always been students who are doing it.”

Brennan said the anti-vandalism committee has just been revived after sitting idle for a couple of years, and is looking forward to continue to develop new and innovative ways to deal with vandalism at local schools.

Robert.Barron @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4234

HEALTH

People who struggle with holiday sadness are not alone SPENCER ANDERSON DAILY NEWS

The holiday season is an exercise in dichotomy – an abundance of lights, cheer and food, but also a time when a sense of sadness can set in.

For many, the sense of malaise is a predictable part of the holidays, something that has to be struggled through.

The good news for those people is that they are not alone, said Dr. Raymond Lam, a UBC professor and psychiatrist at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health.

Lam studies the stuff that makes up mood disorders and, along with other researchers, has found that light therapy can be an effective treatment for depression.

Lam said that seasonal depression is a prevalent problem, and can be divided into two categories.

“A lot of people have winter ‘blahs,’ particularly some of the symptoms like lower energy, increased sleep and increased appetite during the wintertime,” he said.

“And then there’s people at the extreme end who have what we call seasonal affective disorder” – literally

“A lot of people have winter ‘blahs.’”

Raymond Lam, UBC professor

‘SAD,’ for short – “which is really a sub-type of clinical depression, where people have a lot of depressed mood as well, and it really interferes with their functioning,” Lam said.

It is estimated that approximately one to two per cent of the Canadian public suffers from SAD, which Lam said is “significant.”

An estimated 15 per cent of the public suffers from the ‘winter blahs,’ Lam said.

Why so many seem to fall prey to winter sluggishness is a question science is still tackling.

“There’s different theories, but one major theory is that there are differences in the biological clock in the brain that’s really synchronized to light,” Lam said.

“Particularly the light/dark cycle, the day/night cycle.

“And so people who have trouble in the winter aren’t able to adjust their clock to the changing levels of

daylight in the winter when the days are shorter.”

Lam said light therapy — which involves sitting in front of a high-intensity light box for about 30 minutes in the early morning — has been shown to have positive results in relieving symptoms of both SAD and everyday winter blues.

Lam said people experiencing extreme symptoms should check in with a health professional.

“And you know, obviously the holidays affect a lot of people for psychological and social reasons,” he said.

“People with SAD tend to be worse in January, because they tend to try and hold it together for Christmastime, and it’s really after that when all the necessary things are over that they kind of collapse and feel worse.”

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For most people, the holiday season is one of happiness, but for others it can be a struggle. [AARON HINKS/DAILY NEWS]

NEW YEARS EVE 2015 | 4 course dinner | $59 per person

Minnoz Restauraunt and Lounge opens December 28 11 BASTION STREET | NANAIMO BC | IN COAST BASTION HOTEL

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

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NEWS 5

BUSINESS NOTES News from the Nanaimo and region business community

Workers install custom wheelchair ramp for boy Longtime bakers Hailey Mannynvali and Paul Aboud are combining their talents to open their first bakery in the city.

Mannynvali said the business will be a “fully scratch” bakery, with all its baked goods made in house from local and organic ingredients, as much as possible.

“We’re pretty excited to open during the Christmas season,” she said.

“It’s a great location with a lot of foot traffic, so we think we should do well here.”

Robert Barron Reporting

W

orkers from Nanaimo Precast were busy Tuesday morning installing a new custom-made concrete wheelchair ramp for a local family who has a member with a disability.

It’s the third year in a row the concrete company has stepped in to assist the Nanaimo Child Development Centre help one of its patients with mobility issues at Christmas time. This year, the CDC recommended that three year-old Noah Thompson, who has cerebral palsy, and his family benefit from the company’s generosity.

A.J. Hustins, president of Nanaimo Precast, said his staff decided two years ago that they would rather use the money the company puts aside each year for their annual Christmas party to help someone in the community in need, rather than have it spent on food and alcohol.

Keith Thompson, Noah’s father, said he was only recently told that a new ramp would be built at his north-end home.

“We’re really pleased,” he said as he watched the ramp being installed.

Up for awards

Nanaimo Precast installed a new ramp Tuesday at the home of three year-old Noah Thompson, who suffers from cerebral palsy. Pictured, from left, is Nanaimo Precast president A.J. Hustins, Noah, and Noah’s parents Keith and Sierra.

[ROBERT BARRON/DAILY NEWS]

Minnoz reopens Dec. 28 Minnoz Restaurant & Lounge at the Coast Bastion Hotel will be reopening in time for breakfast on Dec. 28 at 6:30 a.m.

The restaurant and lounge has been closed since Sept. 2 when a broken water pipe at the hotel caused signifi-

WILDLIFE

cant damage to its main floor.

Spokeswoman Marcia Little said Minnoz has been completely renovated, with a new paint job and new tables and chairs.

“We intend to have a grand opening sometime in the new year,” Little said.

“We want to get Minnoz up and

running as soon as possible so we can start accommodating our hotel guests and the general public again.”

New bakery Hearthstone Artisan Bakery will open at 50 Tenth Street on Monday at 8 a.m.

Pye Design, Hey Beautiful Salon, Coco Cafe and Roar Representation from Nanaimo have been named as finalists in their categories for the annual Small Business BC Awards.

More than 530 small businesses have been nominated from across B.C. for 10 awards at the ceremony, which will be held at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver on Feb. 25.

Of the 100 listed as finalists this year, 13 are from Vancouver Island.

Since its inception in 2003, the annual Small Business BC Awards have become one of the largest and most widely-recognized contests in the province.

Last year, 470 local small businesses were nominated from 55 communities across the province.

CENTRAL ISLAND

Newest killer whale Habitat for Humanity on track sighted off Victoria to meet ‘20 homes by 2020’ goal ROBERT BARRON DAILY NEWS

The birth of another baby killer whale this year in the southern Strait of Georgia has local marine biologists excited.

The newest orca was spotted on Dec. 16 in the J Pod group, one of three fish-eating family groups that live in the waters off of Victoria, and is the latest of eight that have been born this year in those populations.

The number of killer whales in these struggling pods is now 84.

That’s a big jump in the individuals in the southern-resident population, which decreased significantly in the late 1990s down to approximately 70 individuals before slowly starting to recover in recent years.

But Robin Abernethy, a research technician with the cetacean research program at Nanaimo’s Pacific Biological Station, said scientists want to see if the newborns will survive before they can make any positive predictions about the future of the southern pods.

“The real story will be how many of these young killer whales will be around next summer,” Abernethy said. “Killer whales have a mortality rate of about 40 per cent in their first year.

“The real story will be how many of these young killer whales will be around next summer.”

Robin Abernethy, research technician

“We’ll be monitoring these populations closely over the next few months.”

The southern pods live in the densely populated and highly polluted areas off of Victoria, and their environment may be playing a factor in the killer whale’s struggle for survival.

The chinook salmon they mainly eat inhabit waters polluted by agriculture, pulp mills and other industries, military bases and urban runoff.

During lean years, when killer whale’s food is scarce, the whales begin to metabolize their blubber where contaminants, like PCBs, are stored, and this may hasten an animal’s mortality.

Robert.Barron @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4234

SPENCER ANDERSON DAILY NEWS

The Mid-Vancouver Island chapter of Habitat for Humanity has wrapped up its year with a total of 14 new homes under its belt, with plans to complete a new six-home subdivision for needy families.

Preparations for the Extension Road ‘Meadow Hill’ development began in the summer and spring, and construction on two homes is already well underway.

The work over the past year puts the organization on track to meet its ‘20 more homes by 2020’ goal, said realtor Dave Hitchcock, interim chairman for the Mid-Island Habitat for Humanity.

Hitchcock said the organization is “excited” about progress on the site, which has seen more long-term planning due to the multi-family nature of the development. He said the aim is to have two more homes completed on site by the end of the year, and two more the year after that.

“It’s the first stratified development we’ve done, so it’s a little bit of trial and error,” he said.

Work on the first two homes was slower due to delays in the early development process, said Jessie

Students in Vancouver Island University’s heavy equipment operator program worked on a Habitat for Humanity site for several weeks.

Magee-Chalmers, vice-chairman of the Habitat board and associate dean of the trades and applied technology program at Vancouver Island University.

However, the organization is on track to meet its 2020 deadline, and the planning process benefited from a longer range, said Magee-Chalmers.

“The advantage to us was knowing we had the land available to plan for six families,” he said.

Magee-Chalmers said the project has benefited from the work of VIU students in the heavy equipment operator program, which excavated the land, as well students from the horticulture, carpentry, aboriginal construction and electrical programs.

Spencer.Anderson @nanaimodailynews.com 250-729-4255

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

EDITORIAL

Politicians can use social media as a powerful tool

P

rime Minister Justin Trudeau was relaxed and in his element as he answered questions on everything from the Canadian Pension Plan to the new Star Wars movie during a town hall meeting Wednesday hosted by Maclean’s magazine in Ottawa.

Dressed in shirt sleeves, he took questions from a studio audience, Twitter and journalists, thus straddling the old world of communication and the new age of digital engagement. You could watch it live on your computer or smartphone.

Trudeau promised to make such appearances on a regular basis and to take the show on the road to escape “the Ottawa bubble.” Was it just a different spin on the familiar refrain of

incoming prime ministers promising to be more open and accountable?

Former prime minister Stephen Harper, remember, promised to be more transparent and accessible than the previous Liberal government when he was elected in 2006. Nine years later, he was leading the most secretive, paranoid and anti-media government in modern Canadian memory.

It’s too early to say if Trudeau will lose interest in talking to real Canadians on a regular basis if his government’s fortunes take a swing for the worse.

His commitment to social media, however, is not calculated or cynical.

The prime minister, who turns 44 on Christmas Day, was raised and

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educated at the beginning of the computer era.

The previous Conservative government used social media, too, but largely for old-fashioned partisan purposes. The Conservatives were the first to use Twitter for news releases, but the messages were not about engagement so much as distributing their version of the news directly to followers and sidestepping the press corps.

It was a one-way process, with nothing in the way of real engagement.

Judging by his initial performance, however, Trudeau seems ready to embrace the new world order. Sure, it’s politics, but in his case it also seems like a genuine desire to engage

in two-way, unscripted conversations with ordinary people.

He may be a new-generation Canadian politician, but he is certainly not the first.

U.S. President Barack Obama, for example, opened a new chapter in American politics when he ran for the presidency in 2008, which was later dubbed the Facebook election because of the innovative and ubiquitous use of social media. Obama’s success with young voters was attributed to social media, but obviously his youth and progressive politics were factors, too.

Trudeau isn’t bypassing mainstream media — although that could still happen four or eight years down the road — but he recognizes the

world has undergone a communications revolution.

Just as radio let politicians put down their megaphones in the 1920s, social media and other forms of direct engagement are allowing politicians to engage voters much more directly and personally.

And if citizenship is the act of engagement, then the new media, with all its pitfalls and superficialities, can be a powerful tool for awakening the slumbering multitudes.

— THE CANADIAN PRESS (WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

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The other side of a 0% tax hike has problems

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Paul Walton Column

Editorial comment The editorials that appear as ‘Our View’ represent the stance of the Nanaimo Daily News. They are unsigned because they do not necessarily represent the personal views of the writers. If you have comment regarding our position, we invite you to submit a letter to the editor. To discuss the editorial policies of the newspaper, please contact Managing Editor Philip Wolf.

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C

ongratulations are being offered from certain quarters to interim city manager Tracy Samra for cuts intended to lead to a zero-per cent tax increase in next year’s city budget.

While greatly pleasing to a small number of zealots who would probably support a Prop 13-style system of taxation here, there is another side to this important issue requiring equal consideration.

While those praising Samra’s decision have not explicitly advocated an anti-taxation scheme similar to Prop 13, continued zero-per cent tax increases would lead down the same road to the same result.

Proposition 13 was a 1978 initiative in California which limited property taxes to one per cent of the actual value of any property.

It was a disaster. The resulting degradation in services hit schools, restaurants and libraries hard. The state also acquired more say over local government affairs after municipalities had to seek state funds to maintain essential services. Real estate values also became skewed.

I have no doubt that Samra wants the best for the city.

And I suggest that should she be hired as full-time city manager, that she must think through very carefully the implications of this move as potential city policy.

Already badly needed in Nanaimo are more arenas and ball fields. Don’t count on private money to step in to fund more facilities for youth sports.

To be sure, I don’t want high taxes either but we get what we pay for. If the Prop 13 experience has taught local governments anything, it’s that keeping taxes low must be balanced with maintaining adequate services and infrastructure.

If the population in Hammond Bay continues to increase without a planned new fire station in that area, residents may be unhappy to see their property insurance rates go up.

The city has already been put on notice that fire department response times in some parts of that neighbourhood are below the accepted standard.

Never mind insurance rates, a fatal fire in that area will put the failure to build the new fire station into sharper focus.

And then there is the issue of policing. Through the 1980s and early 1990s, Nanaimo was significantly under policed and the results showed. One former senior officer told me that by 1993 he would arrive at the detachment in the morning to face yet another rash of break-andenters in a single night, sometimes as many as a dozen.

It was only when a ratio of one officer per 700 residents was agreed to by council in 1994 that detachment staffing was brought up to a level where a dedicated unit could tackle that break and enter problem, and they did.

The RCMP’s request for 16 officers sounds like a lot, but that figure arises from the continued denial to hire more officers over a number of years, and can now only go higher.

I can’t speak for Supt. Mark Fisher, but I’m pretty sure he does not want to go back to the days when there were a dozen break-and-enters around the city in a single night.

But there are bigger issues.

One of the reasons the Hells Angels settled in Nanaimo in the 1980s was because of its lack of policing. When not increasing police resources equates to cutting police services, which we are bound to hit soon, we are giving notice to gangs to come to town.

While every local government has to be very cautious about how it uses taxpayer cash, this city is not showing signs of fiscal problems such that a zero-tax increase is demanded.

The results of such a decision may be OK for this year. But as public policy it will only do more harm than good. » Paul Walton is the night editor at the ‘Daily News.’

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

www.nanaimodailynews.com

@NanaimoDaily

NEWS 7

TOFINO

NANAIMO

High-end home sets record for top selling price in town

Shoes needed as donations

WESTERLY NEWS

A residence in Tofino has sold for $3.162 million.

The 9,600-sq. ft. luxury home marked the highest reported residential sale in Tofino’s history, besting the town’s former record of $2.3 million set by another Lynn Road residence earlier this year.

The buyers are from Alberta.

The home was listed by Engel & Volkers Nanaimo and the company’s vice-president Brian Danyliw is optimistic that more big sales are en route to Vancouver Island. “It is not uncommon for higher-end homes to take more time to sell, but we seem to be having a good influx of international buyers that are shopping in the

high end,� Danyliw said through a recent media release.

Currently on the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board there are 142 properties listed at or above $1 million. Of that there are 16 properties listed for $2 million or more, and 10 over $3 million.

The priciest property is 875 Brabant Place in Tofino at $7.9 million. The Brabant property which sits on 1.5 acres of prime west coast ocean front, has been on the market since 2009. “With the strength of the U.S. dollar, we expect to start seeing an influx of American buyers simply because of the incredible value of property here.

Vancouver Island is safe, beautiful and has so much to offer.�

Frontrunners donation bins for lightly used shoes are emptying as quick as they’re filling.

Norm Thibault, of Frontrunners, says more and more community social groups are coming forward requesting shoes. “We’re kind of the middleman. Anyone that has shoes with life still in them we have quite a bit of different groups that come for them and they redistribute them to people they work with,� Thibault said. “There’s a few different community groups including the crisis centre and Surfside Recovery Centre.�

Frontrunners (101-1825 Bowen Rd.) has been running its shoe donation program since 1999. It’s operated throughout the year. “It’s ongoing, it’s just that at this time of the year there’s higher need and we seem to have more groups that are approaching us for shoes. We seem to be going through them quite a bit quicker,� Thibault said.

This home in Tofino recently sold for $3.162 million, a record residential sale for the town.

CAMPBELL RIVER

Drive-ins were a big part of auto culture

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B

efore the proliferation of modern fast food restaurants with their “drivethrough� came the more social and certainly less rushed version, the “drive-in� restaurant. An automobile culture was emerging across North America.

At drive-ins, carhops would clip trays on to the car windows and patrons would enjoy their meal in the comfort of their own vehicles. The drive-in was the place to be.

The first drive-in restaurant opened in 1921 in Dallas, Texas, although it would take time before the idea became wide spread. In 1951 the concept arrived in Campbell River with the opening of Del’s Drive-In. Del’s offered the complete drive-in experience, including carhops in go-go boots and green and white uniforms. It quickly became a meeting place where teens would come every night with their music blaring. Del and Betty Pelletier began the restaurant, and then after leasing it to others sold it to Del’s brother and sister-in-law Ernie and Joyce Pelletier in 1960. “Every weekend in the summer it would be busy busy. All the kids would come, and they would even have little dances out in the parking lot. They would get all of their radios going and it was a fun place to be,� recalls Joyce.

When Ernie and Joyce bought the restaurant they were only 28 and 25 years old respectively, and had two young girls. Over the next few years their family grew to four kids with the arrival of two boys.

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“When we first got started if someone had come in with a $50 bill we couldn’t have changed it. It was scary, I would go home at night and wonder if we were going to make it through another day, and we did.

We hit it off really good with the kids that patronized us. It was a very demanding job, but it was fun, we had a lot of really good help.�

Ernie and Joyce’s daughter Yvonne remembers her and her sister helping out with the family business. The kids helped with all sorts of jobs, such as prep work and sweeping the lot in the morning. “When we got older we would waitress at the shop and help out that way.�

Joyce remembers clearly one Canada Day early on in her career as a restauranteur. “The July 1st parade used to come

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right past our place. We were there at 7:30 or 8 in the morning chipping chips and blanching and getting ready. Then everybody came at one time. They were all saying “Where’s my order! Where’s my order!� My husband at the time was the cook and I was the waitress. I kept saying “It’s coming! It’s coming!� Finally I was so frustrated I took off my apron and said “I quit� and I went and sat on the curb out the back door.

Next thing I know my husband came and joined me. So we were sitting out there thinking what do we do now? We finally got it all under control and everyone got their orders, but there were so many people at one time. In later years we coordinated it a little better.�

Campbell River local Dave Tabish reminisces about his

times cruising Del’s: “Getting a driver’s license and your first car was a big deal, you had a license 12 hours after you turned 16 and cars were a big part of our lives at that time. Driving around town was a big event, you would cruise through the plaza and go see who was there to talk to, and then drive by Del’s to see who was there. You always cruised past Del’s.�

Although not currently on display, the Museum has in it’s collection the orange and blue neon sign, featuring an ice cream cone and the words “Del’s Burgers.�

Recently a photograph of the Del’s Drive-In sign was enlarged so that graduates of Carihi High’s class of 1975 could have their photo taken with it.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

BUSINESS

Mill fined $56,000 over explosion Incident at wood pellet plant in 2014 injured three workers who were standing outside dryer door THE CANADIAN PRESS

BURNS LAKE — WorkSafe BC has fined a Burns Lake company $56,000 in the wake of a 2014 explosion at a wood pellet plant that injured three workers.

It imposed the penalty against Pinnacle Renewable Energy Inc. after an investigation report concluded the company failed to maintain safe working conditions and to exercise due diligence.

Pinnacle fell short on providing

NEWS IN BRIEF The Canadian Press ◆ VANCOUVER

Expo86 McBarge to get a refit and repurpose A floating fast food restaurant that hasn’t served a customer since it starred at Expo 86 in Vancouver nearly 30 years ago, is about to get a multimillion dollar facelift.

The derelict vessel, dubbed McBarge, is being towed from its current location on Burrard Inlet in Burnaby.

Port Metro Vancouver says the move began early Tuesday and could take up to 24 hours to relocate McBarge to an industrial facility on the Fraser River in Maple Ridge, about 45 kilometres east of Vancouver.

The 57-metre, two-storey glass and metal barge was used as a floating MacDonald’s restaurant during the world’s fair held on the shores of Vancouver’s False Creek in 1986.

After the failure of a previous plan to use McBarge as a pub in Mission, owner Howard Meakin isn’t releasing specifics about the vessel’s future, but predicts the refit will make it a popular attraction at its next location.

◆ SURREY

Man sought for being in wrong home, wrong bed RCMP in Surrey are looking for a man who entered the wrong home and crawled into bed with the female resident.

The man believed to be in his early 20s entered the home early Sunday and fell asleep sometime between 4:20 a.m. and 7:20 a.m.

Police say when the resident woke up, the man was asleep beside her.

RCMP says sexual assault is being considered as a “potential motivator in this incident.”

The man is described as aboriginal, about six-feet tall with a slim build, wearing a black sweater and a black and grey baseball cap.

adequate safety information, training and supervision, the report found.

“These failures contributed to an explosion which carried a high risk of causing serious injury or death,” read the document.

The investigation concluded that workers failed to follow procedures before opening up a dryer door during a routine burner cleaning, including shutting off a combustion fan before the equipment had cooled sufficiently.

It also found that the facility’s production superintendent had directed a worker to abandon the control room to help with the clean out, leaving no one to monitor as temperatures rose to dangerously high levels.

The temperature in the dryer chamber climbed to 358 degrees Celsius, far higher than the 80 C stipulated in the manufacturer’s instructions before the door can be safely opened. The report concluded the explosion was caused by a build

up of gases in the burner, sparked by a combination of residual heat and a sudden inflow of oxygen.

“There is no evidence that the atmosphere was monitored for oxygen, flammable gases, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide . . . before workers entered into the burner combustion chamber,” read the report.

The three workers standing outside the dryer door were knocked off their feet and suffered burns as a result of the blast.

The report also found that in the aftermath of the explosion that the employer had submitted a document outlining safe work procedures that was labelled as a draft and dated 11 days after the incident.

Burns Lake was the scene of another mill explosion in 2012, which saw two workers killed and 19 others injured at a plant owned by Babine Forest Products.

The Lakeland explosion killed two people and injured dozens more.

JUSTICE

Canadians with pot convictions call on prime minister to offer pardons THE CANADIAN PRESS

VANCOUVER — Marcus Richardson is, in the eyes of the law, a criminal.

Never mind that a judge ruled the six kilograms of cannabis police found in his car was for severely ill patients at a medical marijuana dispensary.

Or that the same judge imposed only a minimum sentence because anything more would fail to maintain “a just, peaceful and safe society.”

He’s a criminal — and so are scores of other Canadians who face barriers to travel and work because they were caught with a drug that the government now intends to legalize.

“My charge wasn’t like, ‘He was practising civil disobedience at a place that was helping sick and dying people improve the quality of their last days on earth,”’ Richardson said.

“If the charge read like that, I’d have no problem with it. It reads like, ’I’m a marijuana trafficker.”’

Canadians with criminal records for marijuana crimes are eagerly waiting to see if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will offer pardons when pot is legalized.

Tens of thousands are charged with possession every year, and if convicted face consequences that can be devastating.

Richardson was driving across Vancouver’s Lions Gate Bridge in 1998 when police stopped him at a roadblock and found several kilograms of marijuana and $6,000 in his trunk.

A judge found the drugs were intended only for B.C. Compassion Club Society members and the money was a “float” Richardson carried to pay growers. He was convicted of possession for the purpose of trafficking and received a suspended sentence and six months’ probation.

Marcus Richardson at his home in Lions Bay. [DARRYL DYCK/THE CANADIAN PRESS]

Today, the 42-year-old father of three holds a federal licence to grow and possess marijuana and runs a business selling equipment for medical cannabis users.

Richardson is often asked to share his expertise with companies in the U.S., but he’s barred from crossing the border. He’d also like to volunteer on his kids’ field trips, but administrators conduct criminal record checks.

“I wouldn’t want to embarrass my children,” he said.

The previous Conservative government overhauled the pardon system in 2012, making it more expensive and rigorous.

Pardons, now called record suspensions, seal a criminal record to allow offenders who have lived crime-free to reintegrate, get better jobs and travel abroad.

The Parole Board of Canada has

grappled with a backlog of pardon applications dating to the government’s changes, though it said last May it only had 5,000 left.

Richardson became eligible for a pardon in 2008 and applied three years later, but he’s still waiting. In frustration, he recently applied for a US$585 waiver that would allow him to cross the border.

Asked whether her government would offer general pardons to people with minor marijuana convictions, Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould said she’s working with the ministers of Health and Public Safety to hammer out the details of legalization.

“We will certainly look to have more to say about how we’re going to move forward,” she said. “But that includes actually having conversations . . . with different levels of government and ensuring we speak to

Canadians who have been impacted.”

Simon Fraser University criminologist Neil Boyd said criminal convictions have significant effects on people’s abilities to travel and work.

Though pot possession doesn’t carry the same stigma as other crimes, it’s still a conviction that may be weighed against a job seeker, he said.

He said Trudeau’s government should use its legislative powers to pardon Canadians with simple possession convictions.

Boyd noted that U.S. authorities can still refuse to allow people who have been pardoned to cross the border.

Retired corporal Clayton Goodwin, who represents a group called Veterans for the Use of Medical Marijuana, said he began growing medical pot to treat severe insomnia and stress triggered by serving in the Arctic during constant sunlight.

In 2008, police raided his Sarnia, Ont., home and found 22 immature plants, 95 grams of processed marijuana, morphine tablets and a shotgun in a closet without a trigger lock.

“This was my medicine. I’m Metis, I consider it a cultural aspect,” he said recently, adding he didn’t have any ammunition. “My shotgun had been gathering dust for years.”

Goodwin pleaded guilty to possession of marijuana and morphine as well as careless storage of a shotgun.

He was fined $1,500 and sentenced to one year of probation and drug counselling.

Goodwin said a pardon would give him his life back.

“I wore a uniform for everyone, everyone’s freedom. That’s also the freedom to choose marijuana over pharmaceuticals.”

— WITH A FILE FROM BRUCE CHEADLE

www.nanaimodailynews.com

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

@NanaimoDaily

B.C. 9

COURTS

Publicity forces change in murder trial venue PAUL J. HENDERSON CHILLIWACK TIMES

Family and friends of the victims of accused double murderer Aaron Douglas now have a long way to go to see justice and they may have to wait until 2017.

Douglas is charged with the Aug. 7, 2014 murders of Richard Blackmon and Tyler Belcourt in a downtown Chilliwack apartment.

He is also charged in the attempted murder of a woman who survived the alleged attack.

Douglas appeared in B.C. Supreme Court in Chilliwack last week via

video for what was supposed to be a pre-trial conference.

At the hearing his lawyer, Ken Beatch, said the jury trial should not be held in Chilliwack because the “high profile, notorious” case has been on the front page of the local paper.

“It makes much more sense if we agree to go to another venue,” Beatch said.

Crown Counsel Allan Mandell said he didn’t object to moving the trial to New Westminster, in part because of better security availability in that courthouse.

“My concern is delay,” Mandell added.

The trial is expected to last six to 10 weeks, there are outstanding pre-trial and voir dire matters to resolve, a witness list to complete and Beatch said his “calendar is booked up.”

Beatch also told the court he hasn’t even met with his client yet.

He told the court his co-counsel on the matter has no availability for a trial of this length until 2017.

Mandell said he wanted to make it clear on the record that the delay in getting the case to trial is purely as a

result of Douglas’s own lawyers.

He said the Crown will be ready to proceed in the spring or fall.

“It’s up to Mr. Beatch,” Mandell said.

“Spring or fall of what?” Douglas asked over the video link.

“Next year,” Mandell said.

Further complicating the case is the fact that Crown tried to get Beatch kicked off the case last month because he represented one of the Crown’s witnesses on another matter.

The application to have Beatch removed was dismissed, but the judge ordered that he not be allowed

to cross-examine this particular witness.

For this reason, Beatch got co-counsel to defend Douglas.

“It’s [co-counsel’s] calendar that would push this into April (2017),” Beatch said.

The case is due back in court in New Westminster on Jan. 25 to fix a date for trial. » We want to hear from you.

Send comments on this story to yourletters@nanaimodailynews.com.

Letters must include daytime phone number and hometown.

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◆ SQUAMISH

details as they try to determine if a cargo ship actually ran aground at the deep-water bulk terminal in Squamish.

TSB spokesman Mohan Raman says investigators have spoken to the mas-

Ship’s master interviewed Transportation Safety Board investigators are sifting through the

ter and other senior officers aboard the Kai Xuan, and have also taken the voice data recorder from the 200 metre-long bulk carrier.

Raman says divers have found no damage on the

hull of the vessel, that remains docked at the head of Howe Sound, 50 kilometres north of Vancouver.

He says an update could come in a day or two, but it’s too early to say exact-

@NanaimoDaily

ly what happened.

The Kai Xuan, which is registered in Marshall Islands, is free to leave port when scheduled, and officials have already said there is no danger to the environment.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

The ship travelled to B.C. from Korea earlier this month and stopped briefly in Nanaimo before reaching Squamish on Dec. 18.

— THE CANADIAN PRESS

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An asylum seeker from El Salvador who spent two years in sanctuary inside a British Columbia church has been handed freedom by the federal government.

Jose Figueroa has been granted an exemption to remain in Canada by Immigration Minister John McCallum as a permanent resident on humanitarian and compassionate grounds.

The 48-year-old sought refuge at a church in Langley in October 2013 after a warrant was issued for his arrest despite protests from supporters across the country.

Figueroa, who has lived in B.C. for 18 years, says he and his wife and three children are overjoyed — and he believes his change in status can be largely credited to the new Liberal government.

In 2010, Immigration and Refugee Board officials declared Figueroa inadmissible as a refugee claimant pointing to his admitted membership in a revolutionary group called FMLN during a civil war in the 1980s.

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A man wanted in connection with a shooting at a Surrey elementary school in the fall has been captured in Chilliwack.

Shakiel Basra, wanted for attempted murder and intentionally discharging a firearm, was arrested by the Surrey RCMP’s High Risk Target Team without incident on Thursday afternoon.

Basra, believed to be connected with two groups responsible for a spate of shootings in Surrey this year, is in custody awaiting his first court appearance.

Basra is believed to have been involved in a shooting on Sept. 15 in the 7600-block of 124 Street that put one man in hospital and resulted in bullets striking Strawberry Hill Elementary School and a nearby home.

Charges were laid against Basra, 21, from Delta, and Amapreet Samra, 21, from Richmond in September.

Samra was subsequently caught, but Basra remained at large for another three months.

— THE CANADIAN PRESS

11

@NanaimoDaily

nanaimodailynews.com

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

TERRORISM

Islamic State app aims to radicalize Defence, security groups warn the extremist organization is developing its own smartphone application MURRAY BREWSTER THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — Move over Angry Birds, angry extremists are looking to capture more than just market share and give new meaning to the phrase killer app.

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant’s online reach seemed to know no bounds in 2015, with brutal YouTube video executions, Twitter messaging and even good old-fashioned chat rooms, but defence contractors and security groups are now warning about the extremist organization developing its own smartphone application.

It can be used on Android devices and gives access to the online portal Amaq News Agency, which western intelligence officers, who spoke on background, claim is associated with the Islamic State’s propaganda arm.

The app also contains written accounts of life under the self-declared caliphate, battlefield reports, statements on executions and perhaps most importantly videos.

Canada’s top military commander says the app doesn’t represent some great technical achievement because the group strives to put “a veneer of sophistication� on whatever they do online. “Let’s face it. It’s not a hugely sophisticated step to produce an app,� said Gen. Jon Vance, the chief of defence staff, in a recent interview with The Canadian Press.

What is concerning for western intelligence and military is how it will be used to distribute propaganda, recruit new fighters and potentially

Iraqi soldiers advance their position in northern Ramadi, 15 kilometres west of Baghdad, Iraq, on Monday in the battle against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, also known a Daesh. [AP PHOTO]

aid in the self-radicalization phenomenon that is proving a challenge for those same agencies to counter.

Much was made in the beginning of the conflict about the production values associated with online Islamic State videos. Smartphone technology makes that sort of brainwashing more easily accessible at time when western governments still haven’t fully wrapped their heads around the first wave.

Vance says the extremists “wallpaper their true nature with sophisticated strategic communications,

mostly design to incite terror and fear� and the app is attempt to gain some “legitimacy,� something that he predicts will eventually fail.

Throughout the fall there have been sporadic reports of those who’ve flocked to the Islamic State’s call — or worked for them in occupied territories — fleeing because of brutal conditions and oppression.

The development of the app underscores for Vance, a veteran battlefield commander who fought in Afghanistan, the need for a comprehensive strategy.

“You can’t just deal with them on a military basis, strictly by attacking their tactical power,� he said. “They have to be dealt with across a broad range, including their messaging.

Their ability to reach people. Their ability to try and radicalize — or support the radicalization of people. And it is a concern. I think it’s been stated by many that their message, freely accessed, can appeal to some.�

The Liberal government is in the process of reshaping Canada’s military mission in the Iraq and Syria, where Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan

has been on fact-finding mission this week.

In a conference call with the reporters, the former Vancouver police officer and reserve force colonel, who also fought the counter-insurgency war in Kandahar, says politicians and decision-makers need to appreciate they’re not dealing with a conventional enemy. “It’s like a big organized crime group with tentacles all over,�

Sajjan said. “They don’t recognize jurisdictions.�

Aside from a more sophisticated approach to dealing with online propaganda, Sajjan is advocating for governments and the public to take a wider, more long-term view of the fight than just bombs and bullets.

He says it’s necessary to look beyond the existing battlefields in the Middle East and consider potential trouble spots down the road where there are underdeveloped economies and large groups of unemployed youth. “The conversation of development comes (down) to — sometimes — ’Oh, you’re taking a soft approach,â€?’ he said. “Sometimes that approach — keeping people’s lives better — and those young kids working, especially in Africa where the current (unemployment) stats are around 50 per cent. Keeping people working is actually preventing radicalization.â€? Âť We want to hear from you.

Send comments on this story to yourletters@nanaimodailynews.com.

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CRIME

Five suspects in armoured car heists dating to 1999 arrested

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MONTREAL — Five men belonging to a ring that was allegedly involved in several armoured-car heists were arrested Tuesday, Montreal police said.

Vincent Rozon, commander of the department’s major crimes unit, believes the arrests will put an end to the recent spate of violent armoured-car robberies in the Montreal area.

The five suspects aged between 47 and 64 allegedly robbed five vehicles between 2011 and 2015 and unsuccessfully tried to take a sixth in an aborted attempted in 2014.

Police say they believe the men were also responsible for robbing an armoured car in 1999 outside a

“The men ambushed the guard as soon as (he or she) exited the bank with sacks of money.�

Vincent Rozon, Montreal police

Montreal-area shopping centre. “This group of five individuals was very organized,� Rozon said.

Police say Walter Butt, 54, Paul Thomas Bryntwick, 64, David Stachula, 47, Serge Fournier, 64, and Gary Marsden, 63, are to be arraigned Wednesday on various charges, including armed robbery, conspiracy, kidnapping, possession of stolen goods and break and enter.

The men had been the subject of Canada-wide arrest warrants.

Three arrests occurred in Montreal, with one man captured in Ottawa and another in the Toronto area. Two or three of the suspects took part in each heist, police said.

The men allegedly hid near banks and waited for the armoured cars to appear. “The men ambushed the guard as soon as (he or she) exited the bank with sacks of money,� Rozon said, adding each heist was allegedly committed with guns and sometimes pepper spray.

Montreal police headed the investigation, which lasted about a year, and were helped by colleagues in nearby Longueuil and Ottawa as well as by Quebec provincial police and Peel regional police.

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CRIME

NEWS IN BRIEF The Canadian Press

Parole board warned of accused man in holdups

◆ WINNIPEG

CHRIS PURDY THE CANADIAN PRESS

Homicide detectives investigate at a Mac’s convenience store in Edmonton on Friday. [THE CANADIAN PRESS]

All three appeared in court for the first time on the charges early this week. Delorme and Steinhauer had yet to retain lawyers.

Police said two clerks working alone in two different Mac’s stores were shot dead minutes apart by masked robbers who made off with small amounts of cash. Video footage showed the clerks had been co-operating before they were gunned down.

Court records show the teen, who

can’t be named, is also facing charges from earlier this year that include robbery and weapons offences. On Nov. 20, he was released from custody with conditions that included he live with his grandmother.

At the time of the Mac’s killings, Steinhauer was wanted on warrants for failing to comply with a probation order. He was sentenced in June to three months in jail for uttering threats.

Flawed Oland murder investigation to be probed THE CANADIAN PRESS

FREDERICTON — An investigator is being appointed to examine how the Saint John, N.B., police force handled the Richard Oland murder.

The announcement was made Tuesday on the website of the New Brunswick Police Commission, which says it’s acting at the request of the Saint John board of police commissioners.

The way police conducted their investigation was a central issue during the second-degree murder trial, which began in September.

A jury found Dennis Oland guilty Saturday of killing his father.

Justice John Walsh reminded jurors during his charge there was evidence that police failed to prevent too many people from entering Richard Oland’s office after his body was found and officers allowed a second-floor washroom to be used before it could be forensically tested.

The court also heard police didn’t ensure the back door — a possible exit from the crime scene — remain untouched before it could be examined.

Dec. 18-24 THE PEANUTS MOVIE (G) FRI-SAT 11:45, 2:05, 3:45, 6:30; SUN-THURS 11:35, 1:55, 3:35, 6:20 SPECTRE (PG) (VIOLENCE) FRI-SAT 12:05, 3:20, 6:40, 10:10; SUN-WED 11:55, 3:10, 6:30, 10:00; THURS 11:50, 3:10, 6:30 STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS (PG) NO PASSES FRI-SAT 12:20, 3:35, 6:50; SUN-THURS 12:10, 3:25, 6:40 STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS 3D (PG) NO PASSES FRI-SAT 11:50, 12:50, 3:05, 4:05, 6:20, 7:20, 9:30, 10:00, 10:30; SUN-WED 11:40, 12:40, 2:55, 3:55, 6:10, 7:10, 9:20, 9:50, 10:20; THURS 11:40, 12:40, 2:55, 3:55, 6:10, 7:10 KRAMPUS (14A) FRI-SAT 1:15, 4:30, 7:30, 10:20; SUN-TUE 1:05, 4:20, 7:25, 10:10; WED 1:20, 4:20, 10:10; THURS 4:20, 7:25 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (PG) FRI-SAT 1:00, 7:00; SUN-THURS 12:50, 6:50 IN THE HEART OF THE SEA 3D (PG) FRI-SAT 3:55, 9:50; SUN-WED 3:45, 9:40; THURS 3:45 CREED (PG) FRI 12:35, 3:45, 7:10; SAT 12:35, 4:15, 7:10; SUN 4:05, 7:00; MON-TUE 12:25, 4:05, 7:00; WED 9:05 LEGEND (14A) FRI-SAT 10:15; SUN-TUE 10:05 IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (G) WED 7:00; THURS 12:30 SPOTLIGHT (14A) FRI-SAT 9:15; SUN-TUE 9:05 THE ROYAL BALLET: THE NUTCRACKER SUN 12:55 THE BIG SHORT (14A) NO PASSES WED 12:25, 4:05, 7:00, 10:05; THURS 12:25, 4:05, 7:00

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Steve Roberge, the executive director of the Fredericton-based commission, said in a telephone interview that his investigators have been asked to look into the concerns raised by Walsh in his address to the jury.

He also said the inquiry can go beyond the issues of the crime scene and look at any issues relevant to police performance in the high-profile investigation, including the use of search warrants. Roberge said many of the issues have already been dealt with by the force.

AVALON CINEMA Woodgrove Centre, Nanaimo

A man has been charged with impaired driving after a vehicle was found with a traffic light standard on its hood and windshield west of Winnipeg.

Manitoba RCMP spokesman Robert Cyrenne says the vehicle hit the light standard in Headingley, then dragged it for almost a kilometre before it broke down.

Cyrenne says it happened around 6 a.m. on Saturday.

He says the man had double the amount of the legal limit of alcohol in his system.

Cyrenne says no one was injured and the minivan’s transmission conked out and stopped the vehicle.

A report blames the derailment of CN freight cars in Alberta on track problems caused by heavy rail traffic, including increased shipments of dangerous goods such as crude oil.

The Transportation Safety Board says 20 cars, including 17 carrying diesel fuel residue, derailed on June 11, 2014, near the hamlet of Faust on the shores of Lesser Slave Lake.

The report says nothing spilled and there were no injuries, but it notes the train was also hauling 20 cars of crude oil that did not derail.

Last year, the safety board said that transportation of flammable liquid by rail poses the greatest risk to Canada’s transportation system.

◆ NORTH BATTLEFORD, SASK.

◆ TROIS-RIVIERES, QUE.

Man, woman who beat, kidnapped teen jailed

Search for clues where girl’s body found ends

A 19-year-old Saskatchewan man and a 37-year-old woman have been sentenced for kidnapping and assaulting a teenage boy over a drug debt.

Garth Iron received a six-year prison sentence while Stephanie Sample got four years in North Battleford provincial court last week.

Both were given credit for time spent in remand.

The two were arrested along with three youths after the teenage victim was found by police with injuries.

Sample drove the group, with victim in the trunk of a vehicle, into a rural area where the boy was left tied up in a shallow hole.

Quebec provincial police say they are calling off the search for clues in the area where remains of nine-yearold Cedrika Provencher were found.

She disappeared from her hometown of Trois-Rivieres in July 2007.

Passersby happened on her skull in a nearby wooded area on Dec. 11.

Police said last Thursday they had received about 200 tips since they began searching for new clues.

She was last seen being approached by an adult to help search for a missing black and white dog.

Her disappearance spawned massive manhunts, a huge police investigation and the distribution of hundreds of posters showing her photo.

◆ ST. ALBERT, ALTA.

◆ OTTAWA

Couple’s lottery luck $941M federal deficit for due to misbehaving pets October; $3.21B year ago A southern Alberta couple are $14.5 million richer thanks to two mischievous dogs.

Christian and Monique Etienne of Airdrie purchased the winning ticket for the Lotto 6-49 draw on Dec. 12 while getting supplies to clean up after their rescue animals.

Chancey the golden lab and Kira, a German shepherd, had made a mess with a package of scone mix and the Etiennes needed to rent a carpet cleaner at a gas station.

Christian discovered the win on the self-checker when he took the ticket back to a retailer a few days after the draw. His wife thought he was pulling her leg when he told her they’d hit the jackpot.

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◆ EDMONTON

Impaired driver had pole Derailment caused draped on car, say cops by track problems: TSB

Laylin Delorme identified in prison as violent and with gang ties EDMONTON — Parole board documents say one of three people charged with killing two convenience store clerks in Edmonton was a drug dealer with gang ties who was prone to violence.

The board noted that Laylin Delorme made attempts to improve himself behind bars, but his continued allegiance to gang life left the panel doubting his commitment to change.

Delorme, 24, was sentenced in January 2011 to two years in prison for several offences that included selling crack cocaine and a car jacking in which he hit a driver in the head with a gun.

The board said that while behind bars, Delorme was an active gang member.

“Your institutional behaviour has been poor with involvement in the gang subculture, violence, substance abuse and threats to other inmates,” the board wrote later that year when it denied him day parole. “Your release at this time would present undue risk to the public’s safety.”

Delorme completed the sentence in 2013 and served several short stints in jail for offences including mischief and assault with a weapon, before his arrest last Friday.

He, along with 27-year-old Colton Steinhauer and a 13-year-old boy, are charged with first-degree murder, robbery and other offences stemming from the deadly holdups.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

A woman who was at the back of a Toronto streetcar when a teen pulled out a knife says she thought the youth was going to kill her.

Bridgette McGregor sobbed as she testified at the trial of Const. James Forcillo, who killed the teen on the streetcar a few minutes after panicked passengers rushed off the vehicle.

The Canadian government ran a $941-million deficit for October compared with a $3.21-billion deficit in the same month last year.

Ottawa’s fiscal monitor says the improvement came as revenue increased 11.1 per cent, boosted by higher personal income tax and Goods and Services Tax revenues.

The results of a year ago included a one-time adjustment downward due to the introduction of the Conservative government’s income-splitting plan for families and a doubling of the children’s fitness tax credit.

Program spending for October 2015 increased by 0.4 per cent, while public debt charges fell 6.4 per cent.

McGregor says she was with her two sisters and her 12-year-old niece on a summer night in 2013 when they took seats near Sammy Yatim.

McGregor says she noticed the teen had shifted one of his legs out in front of her but wasn’t concerned until one of her sisters shifted her eyes over to Yatim’s lap.

That’s when McGregor says she noticed Yatim had exposed himself and was holding a knife.

— THE CANADIAN PRESS

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

www.nanaimodailynews.com

TERRORISM

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NATION&WORLD 13

LAC-MEGANTIC

Victims will be compensated THE CANADIAN PRESS

MONTREAL — Officials responsible for bankruptcy proceedings in the Lac-Megantic rail disaster say a $460-million settlement is fully funded and that cheques for the families of victims should start flowing in the new year.

About $114 million will be transferred this week to a trust for the holders of wrongful death claims.

Families will soon receive notice regarding upcoming distributions

Afghan security forces patrol in Nad Ali district of Helmand province, Afghanistan, on Tuesday. [AP PHOTO]

U.K. troops assist Afghan army after Taliban attack LYNNE O’DONNELL THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

KABUL — When Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani took office, it ushered in a period of hope for the country’s traumatized people that decades of violence would soon end. But just one year later, a mood of crisis prevails: British troops are being sent to help the army maintain control of a strategically important district and many Afghans believe the Taliban are winning.

The announcement that British soldiers are being dispatched to Helmand Province came hours after a Taliban suicide bomber killed six U.S. troops near a major military base in the deadliest single attack on American troops in the country since 2013.

A British Ministry of Defence statement late Monday said “a small number of U.K. personnel” were being sent to Helmand in “an advisory role.” The U.K. has 450 troops in Afghanistan as part of NATO’s training mission.

Security has worsened across the country as the Taliban test the mettle of Afghan security forces following the end of the international combat mission last year. While they don’t typically hold any territory they win for more than a few hours or days, the Taliban have dealt a massive blow to the confidence of the over-stretched Afghan forces, who are fighting the insurgency almost alone for the first time. Officials have said casualties, as well as attrition and desertion, have taken a toll on numbers of government forces, while the Taliban strength seems never to diminish.

Fighting has raged between Taliban and Afghan forces in Helmand’s Sangin district, where an official said the district’s army base was the only area that had not fallen to the Taliban. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The spokesman for the Helmand governor, Omar Zwaq, said government troops were able to deliver supplies to those holed up inside mid-afternoon Tuesday. But, he added, there was no let-up in the fight for Sangin.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousaf said

the siege continued “and the government will soon announce their defeat.”

Helmand is important to the Taliban.

The lush southern province is home to endless poppy fields and the source of almost all the world’s opium, which helps fund the insurgency. The head of Helmand’s provincial council, Muhammad Kareem Atal, said about 65 per cent of Helmand is now under Taliban control.

There are currently about 13,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan, including 9,800 Americans, with a mandate to “train, assist and advise” their Afghan counterparts. That’s compared to 140,000 foreign troops at the peak of combat operations in 2011.

Officials see no traditional winter slowdown in the insurgents’ quest to overthrow the Kabul government, especially in the warmer southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar. They expect tough fighting in 2016 as what the Pentagon last week called an “invigorated Taliban” steps up its fight.

At the same time, Ghani’s government appears paralyzed by indecision and a lack of political intelligence that sees him use public appearances to deliver lectures but remains incapable of permanently filling vital security posts such as defence and intelligence, both of which are run by acting ministers.

This week, a senior official said he was unable to reach Ghani and resorted to Facebook to warn of the Taliban’s encroachment on Sangin.

Hundreds of Afghan security forces have been killed fighting the Taliban across the province in the past six months, Helmand’s deputy governor Mohammad Jan Rasulyar said.

It wasn’t the first time an official used social media to send a message to the president — former intelligence agency chief Rahmatullah Nabil used his Facebook page earlier this month to resign.

Political analyst Haroun Mir said such incidents were an indication of “how remote the political elite have become from the reality on the ground,” obsessed with infighting and intrigue rather than fixing the country’s problems.

to be made to lawyers for the benefit of the families.

“We are very pleased that we will be able to fund the trust before the holidays and that distributions will reach the families as soon as possible next year,” Robert Keach, the bankruptcy trustee for Montreal Maine & Atlantic Railway, Ltd., said in a statement Tuesday.

The MMA-owned train, which was carrying crude oil from the United States, derailed and exploded in Lac-Megantic in July 2013, killing

47 people and destroying a large part of the town’s core.

MMA did not have enough insurance to cover the hundreds of millions of dollars in claims against it and filed for bankruptcy in the United States and Canada.

Distribution of approximately $317 million to the holders of personal injury, moral damage, and economic and property claims, as well as to the federal, provincial and local governments, will also proceed in the new year.

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NATION&WORLD 15

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Protesters holding European Union flags shout slogans during an anti-government demonstration in Warsaw, Poland, on Saturday. [AP PHOTO]

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WARSAW, Poland — Poland’s parliament passed contested new legislation on Tuesday that regulates the constitutional Tribunal, something critics say will paralyze the court and make it unable to act as a check on the power of the country’s new right-wing government.

The vote, which took place late in the evening after a heated debate, came as Poland comes under increasing criticism internationally and at home for its attempts to neutralize the court.

Large street protests supporting both sides have taken place in past weeks, with opponents saying the move to take control of the nation’s top legislative court is an attack on the country’s democratic foundations.

After the conservative Law and Justice took power last month it found itself in control of both houses of parliament in addition to the president. That left the constitutional Tribunal as one of the only state organs that could check its power. The party tried to quickly stack the court with party loyalties before it moved onto the disputed legislation, which opponents see an attack on an independent judiciary.

The ruling party says it wants to reform a court that is filled with appointees made past government and it claims its victory in October elections is a mandate by voters to make deep changes to the country.

After eight years of rule by a pro-market and pro-European Union party, those changes involve greater state spending on the economically disadvantaged and pushing for other deep change consistent with Law and Justice’s Catholic, nationalistic and anti-migrant agenda.

Stanislaw Piotrowicz, a lawmaker for Law and Justice and a key backer of the new laws, denounced those opponents who say they are fighting for democracy.

“The defence of democracy is just a smoke screen. You are defending dark interests,” he told opposition lawmakers.

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That elicited an uproar in the assembly and chants of “down with communism!” The communist accusation was an apparent allusion both to the alleged anti-democratic nature of the laws and to Piotrowicz’s own past as a communist-era prosecutor.

The laws then passed easily, 235 to 181, thanks to the Law and Justice’s majority control of the lower house.

The package of bills goes next to the Senate, where it is expected to get a quick OK. It can also expect the support of President Andrzej Duda, a party loyalist.

Andrzej Zoll, a former head of the tribunal, denounced the legislation ahead of the vote, saying it “will lead to the end of the functioning” of “one of the most important organs of the state.”

One provision requires that cases be adjudicated by a panel of at least 13 of the court’s 15 judges. That is a change from the current practice, which allows a much smaller number of judges to rule on each case.

Civil rights groups say that will allow the court — which already faces a backlog of some 200 cases — to take up far fewer cases, slowing down its work considerably.

Another provision will require a twothirds majority for rulings to be valid, rather than the current simple majority.

Critics say that it will be almost impossible to reach a two-thirds majority on most issues, which will make it extremely difficult for the court to reach valid rulings on controversial issues.

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Leak stalls next Mars mission; spacecraft was to launch in March

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NASA is calling off its next mission to Mars because there isn’t enough time to fix a leaky seal on a key science instrument.

The InSight spacecraft was set for launch in March.

The problem is in a seal around the lander’s seismometer, which was designed to measure ground movement on the red planet.

NASA managers and French designers of the instrument said Tuesday they must now decide whether the leak in the vacuum-sealed connector needs to be repaired, redesigned or the mission scrapped.

The next opportunity to launch the InSight lander is in May 2018 since the best chances of launching missions between Earth and Mars occur for just a few weeks every 26 months.

“We’re close enough to launch but unfortunately we don’t have enough time to try to identify the leak, fix it and recover and still make it to the launch pad in March,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate.

The goal of the mission was to explore the interior core, mantle and crust of Mars in a way that no other planet has been studied outside of Earth. So far, $525 million has spent on the $675-million mission.

◆ BURUNDI

Amnesty International says that rights abuses must be investigated A human rights group says independent experts should investigate Burundi’s forces for alleged human rights violations, including extra-judicial executions, rape and looting in the unrest over President Pierre Nkurunziza’s extended tenure.

Amnesty International called Tuesday for investigations as Burundi’s top security body rejected the African Union’s plan to deploy peacekeepers to the central African nation to prevent the violence from escalating.

The security forces’ violent tactics on Dec. 11, in response to an armed attack upon three military facilities, represented a dramatic escalation in the scale of previous operations, Amnesty International Regional Director Muthoni Wanyeki said.

Men were dragged from their homes and shot at close range, while others were shot the instant they opened their doors, she said.

On Dec. 11, an unidentified group attacked three military installations. Burundi’s security forces responded by going on a rampage in parts of the capital Bujumbura regarded as centres of the opposition.

In all, 87 people died.

◆ LOUISVILLE, KY.

‘Fireball’ lawsuit cools off as Sazerac drops claim against Jack Daniel’s Heated competition between producers of cinnamon whiskeys has cooled off in the courtroom, with Sazerac dropping its lawsuit against Jack Daniel’s.

Sazerac — whose brands include the long-established Fireball Cinnamon Whisky — had accused its rival of trademark infringement by using the term “Fireball” in online advertising for cinnamon-flavoured Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire.

The legal fight ended quietly Monday when Sazerac filed a motion in federal court in Kentucky to voluntarily drop its claims. Sazerac’s decision came just before Jack Daniel’s — the flagship brand of Brown-Forman Corp. — was required to respond to the lawsuit.

Sazerac’s motion did not say why it was dropping the case. Company spokeswoman Amy Preske said both parties reached an agreement, but she declined further comment.

Specifically, the lawsuit said Jack Daniel’s violated the Sazerac trademark by using the “Fireball” term in Google advertisements.

The result was that “consumers searching for Sazerac’s Fireball product would instead encounter advertisements for Tennessee Fire as the first search result,” the suit said.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

@NanaimoDaily

CHILD WELFARE

◆ ANCHORAGE, ALASKA

Problems in spanking law repeal, say experts

Massive landslide dumped 200 million tons of rocks

Parents, teachers protected by law for corporal punishment JORDAN PRESS THE CANADIAN PRESS

OTTAWA — Repealing a provision of the Criminal Code that shields parents from facing assault charges for hitting their children would affect more than just First Nations communities, legal experts say.

It would also affect many immigrant and minority parents when it comes to child-rearing.

Section 43 of the Criminal Code gives parents and teachers a legal defence when they physically discipline children, most often seen as legalizing spanking. Removing the section was one of the 94 recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that examined the legacy of Canada’s residential schools, including rampant abuse.

The Liberal government has committed to implementing all of the recommendations.

Defining what crosses the line between spanking and abuse is not always easy and has raised critiques for years that Parliament should review the provision and either rewrite it, or do away with it.

“Should Parliament address this issue? Absolutely. Should it have

“Even that one time, in today’s day and age, I would be able to call the police and have them arrested.”

Roots Gadhia, criminal lawyer

a simple blanket repeal that could expose parents in many situations to criminal prosecutions for very minor touching, or conduct that is not clearly proven to be harmful? I would say no, but that’s not to say that we don’t need action in this area,” said Nick Bala, a law professor from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont. Spanking is accepted parenting in some cultural and immigrant groups, many of whom are already disproportionately targeted in criminal proceedings. Bala said parents from those groups, as well as aboriginal parents, may find their actions criminalized.

Toronto-based criminal lawyer Roots Gadhia said she had a case where the father in a Chinese immigrant family had hit his daughter below the neck and left

a bruise. He was charged with assault after his daughter complained to police even though culturally he believed he had done nothing wrong in disciplining a rebellious child.

Gadhia said her Indian parents would hit her on the rare occasion she stepped out of line as a child because it was culturally accepted.

“Even that one time, in today’s day and age, I would be able to call the police and have them arrested.”

Does that mean repealing the law would see parents face criminal charges for restraining or even spanking their children? It’s unlikely, said Mona Pare, an associate professor of law at the University of Ottawa, pointing to common law defences that allow parents to defend spanking and a legal principle that leads Crown attorneys not to prosecute what they see as a trivial offence.

The Supreme Court of Canada in a 2004 ruling said spanking was reasonable, but set limits: the child had to be between the ages of two and 12, parents couldn’t hit a child in the head, and parents can’t use a weapon like a shoe, slipper, ruler or paddle.

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ST. JOHN’S, N.L. — Newfoundland and Labrador’s fiscal forecast took a dramatic turn for the worse Tuesday amid slumping oil prices and declining offshore production.

Premier Dwight Ball told a decidedly downbeat news conference his resource-dependent province will be taking immediate steps to deal with a ballooning deficit, which is expected to grow to $1.96 billion in 2015-16 — an increase of 79 per cent from the original budget prediction.

“We are not providing this outlook to cause upset and fear,” he said. “We are laying it out publicly because we want to be honest with you, and we believe that Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have a right to know.”

Finance Minister Cathy Bennett said the province’s previous government had predicted in the spring that it would receive about $1.2 billion in oil and gas royalties in 2015-16, but the latest forecast budgets for less than half that figure. As well, total offshore oil production was expected to decrease by 15 million barrels, she said.

“We will get this under control,” Bennett said. “The situation is difficult, but not impossible.”

Revenue from corporate income tax is expected to drop, as is sales tax revenue and mining taxes and royalties, she said.

Bennett said the province’s net debt was expected to grow to $12.4 billion as of March 31, 2016.

Scientists say they’ve discovered a massive landslide in an uninhabited area of eastern Alaska that’s the largest detected in North America since the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.

The Oct. 17 slider unleashed 200 million tons of rock down the Taan Fiord valley onto Tyndall Glacier in Icy Bay, according to Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. No one witnessed it, but scientists picked

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◆ RIO DE JANEIRO

Antitrust body investigates 21 companies in alleged cartel Brazil’s antitrust body has opened investigations into 21 companies and 59 executives for an alleged contract-fixing cartel operating at state-run oil giant Petrobras. The agency says contracts totalling about $9 billion are under suspicion.

AND

The investigations follow a criminal probe into bribes and kickbacks at Petrobras that has led to the arrest of key politicians and business executives. Companies that are found liable by the antitrust body might be blocked from public biddings.

Investigators say the scheme began in 1998 but gained momentum in 2003, when President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office.

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New York shoppers flee in fear as gunfire erupts in robbery Pandemonium erupted Tuesday at a Long Island mall filled with holiday shoppers when an attempted robbery led to gunfire, sending crowds of people running and screaming and leaving a mall employee in serious condition with a gunshot wound, authorities said.

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18 NATION&WORLD WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

A suspect was in custody. Police said the suspect entered the Rolex section of a store in the mall at about 1 p.m. A struggle with store security ensued, and a gun went off.

The shooting occurred on a busy afternoon just three days before Christmas, with the nation still jittery about mass shootings following massacres in San Bernardino, California, and Paris, France.

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

NHL

Canucks wrap up road trip with 2-1 win Daniel Sedin scores winner on a night Vancouver penalty-killers come up big, holding off Tampa Bay SPORTS INSIDE Today’s issue

BRAD ZIEMER VANCOUVER SUN

T

he low fuel warning light was on, the battery needed a jump-start and a couple of the tires were low on air.

It didn’t matter. Somehow the Vancouver Canucks managed to get a grip on the wheel and finish their six-game road trip in style Tuesday night.

A trip that through three games looked like it was headed straight for the ditch instead ended with an improbable 2-1 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena.

After opening the trip with three losses, the Canucks managed to collect five of a possible six points in the final three games.

They head into the Christmas break still clinging to a playoff spot, despite a less than lofty record of 13-14-9.

“It’s huge,” said captain Henrik Sedin, who returned from injury and set up brother Daniel’s game-winner midway through the third period.

“Our game isn’t perfect, but at least now we understand what it takes to win.

“We are not going to win every night, but at least we are in games and we have different guys contributing, which is good.”

The Canuck penalty-killers were the unsung heroes of this game. The Lightning seemed to be on the power play all night. They had 10 powerplay opportunities to just one for the Canucks.

“I have never seen it that lopsided and the game wasn’t that lopsided,” said Vancouver winger Jannik Hansen. “For some reason every time we were in a battle with them we’d get called for a penalty.”

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Vancouver Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom makes a save as defenceman Ben Hutton keeps Tampa Bay Lightning left wing Mike Angelidis from a rebound on Tuesday in Tampa, Fla. [AP PHOTO]

The Canucks killed nine of those 10 penalties. It seemed fitting that the game ended with Vancouver killing its final penalty, a too-many-men minor at 18:18 of the third period.

While some of the players were grumbling about the officiating, Henrik and Daniel Sedin were not.

“I think we deserved them,” Daniel said. “Our bench needs to be more quiet. We didn’t have the refs on our side tonight and it’s understandable.”

The Canucks were whistled for three hooking calls, three tripping minors, one holding call, another for holding the stick, one for slashing, a too-many-men penalty . . . and a partridge in a pear tree. We’re kidding

about that last one.

“Every single one of them was a good call,” said Henrik Sedin.

Coach Willie Desjardins wouldn’t go quite that far.

“We took some bad penalties tonight we didn’t need to take,” he said. “There was a couple I thought that maybe could have gone the other way.”

With Ryan Miller sidelined by injury, Jacob Markstrom got the start for Vancouver and came up large. He stopped 26 of 27 shots, five of them off the stick of Steven Stamkos. The Tampa sniper took 10 other shots that were either blocked or missed the net.

20 21 22 23 24 27 28

“He got a couple of them through, but most of them got blocked,” Markstrom said.

“Tanny (defenceman Chris Tanev) got two in the last 10 seconds there.

That is just unbelievable and just shows the importance of this game.

That is kind of where we’re at with this group. We need everybody to step up and make huge plays.

“This win means a lot, especially now that we have a little break for a couple of days. It’s obviously nice to go home to our families and celebrate Christmas with a win. It’s huge for us, really good for the standings to get a win and for our group and in our locker-room. It hasn’t been bad, but people like to win, they don’t like to lose very much. The guys were getting a little grumpy, so it’s nice to get a win.”

Vancouver’s other goal was scored by winger Sven Baertschi, who is beginning to show the offensive flair he did as a junior star in Portland. Baertschi has now scored in

three straight games. Daniel Sedin’s game-winner was his 16th of the season and came on a beautiful shot from the top of the right circle that beat Tampa goalie Ben Bishop high glove side.

“It was a good pass by Henrik, he brought two guys to him,” Daniel said. “I don’t know if I would have taken that shot last year, but when you are feeling good about your shot and your game, I think you try those shots.”

The Canucks now head home after a grueling stretch of road travel.

They begin a six-game homestand Saturday night after a Christmas break that will feel even better following Tuesday night’s result.

“Our road schedule has been unheard of,” Daniel Sedin said. “I have never been a part of anything like this — 17 of the past 23 games on the road and the injuries. It hasn’t been pretty, but I think we have been fighting and trying to get points.

“We are going into the break in a playoff spot, which is unbelievable, I think. But that’s the way it is. Our schedule is going to get better, we are going to get some guys back and hopefully we can turn this thing around.”

They hope Tuesday night in Tampa might have been the start of just that.

WHO’S NEXT The Canucks chartered home after the game and likely didn’t land until 2 or 3 a.m this morning. They are off until Saturday, when the Edmonton Oilers visit Rogers Arena for a Boxing Day game.

BZiemer@vancouversun.com Twitter.com/bradziemer

Kids have been all right, but it’s been quite the grind

S

ven Baertschi just scored a goal while wearing a Florida Panther on his back.

Bo Horvat has two assists in two games and is creating plays at long last, rather than trying to bull rush the net every other trip into the offensive zone.

Jared McCann not only scored a goal, he retrieved his own chipin Sunday and set up a goal from behind the net more because of a pretty fierce forecheck than a pretty play.

Yes, the kids have been OK for a couple of games.

But now comes the challenging part. That is trying to get something going that lasts a couple of weeks, instead of a couple of games.

It hasn’t been easy. Not this year.

Not with all the travel the Canucks have had in the past two months.

And this is the time of year that young players more often find a wall than another gear.

Jason Botchford The Province “The young guys are going through a difficult time right now where you’re 25, 30 games into the season and on top of that, you have to travel as much as we have had to,” Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said.

“It just feels like it’s too much to ask from them.”

The Canucks, though, have been asking too much of their young players all season.

When Henrik was lost for a couple of games to injury on the weekend, it was McCann who was asked to fill in on a line flanked by Daniel Sedin on one side and Jannik Hansen on the other.

Sheltered for most of year with

limited ice time and opportunity, McCann made the most of things. If those weren’t his best two games of the season, they sure featured some of his best moments.

Interesting that the more rope the coach afforded him, the more McCann did with it. He did well enough, at the very least, to be the first centre on the ice for the Canucks’ overtime against the Panthers on Sunday. He was the only Vancouver player to get a shot on net during the 3-on-3.

“That meant something to me, to be the first guy out there,” McCann said. “It gives you confidence.

“This is the toughest league in the world. I don’t think it ever gets any easier. But your confidence can grow and, when it does, I get better. I make more plays.”

Only a week ago, most believed McCann should have been loaned to Hockey Canada for a chance to win gold at the world junior tournament.

The argument put forth was that he’d get more benefit by stepping down in competition because, well, I guess because he’d be on a winning team.

“I know he’s been struggling at points but he’s never stopped playing the game the right way,” Daniel said.

“He’s not cheating and when you go a long period without scoring, that’s a good sign. I think he’s mature enough to be here. I think he’s mature enough to learn the little things about this game. He has a ways to go, but playing here is good for him.”

McCann was told after the game last Thursday in Philadelphia that he wouldn’t be loaned to the World Juniors.

Not everyone is going to understand this, but he was relieved.

It’s the same feeling Bo Horvat had a year ago when the Canucks decided to keep him in the NHL. “This is your team, it becomes your

family. You don’t want to leave your family,” Horvat explained.

“And here’s the thing: we need him.

We need centremen. We need guys up the middle. We need the type of player (McCann) is. “He feels comfortable here, and he’s at the highest level he can be right now. If he goes, it’s an entirely different system. It’s entirely different system. It would have been tough for him.”

Horvat said one of the reasons he didn’t want to go last year is because he didn’t want to lose his job.

That may happen to Jake Virtanen, who the Canucks did decide to loan to Hockey Canada. They will consider sending him back to the CHL when the World Junior tournament is over.

Did the Canucks make the right call with McCann? If he has a few more games like his past two, the answer will be a resounding yes.

JBotchford@theprovince.com Twitter.com/botchford

20 SPORTS

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

JUNIOR B HOCKEY

Bucs coach says his team will be ‘scary’ to play SCOTT MCKENZIE DAILY NEWS

A

t 29 years old, Dan Lemmon is a young man in the realm of junior hockey coaches.

Although, maybe not quite as young as he thought he was.

“I’m 10 years out of the game from playing junior hockey, and I thought I was going to be a younger coach that could relate to the kids and stuff like that,” said Lemmon, a former Cowichan Valley Capitals grinder who’s in his first year as head coach of the Junior B Nanaimo Buccaneers.

“But the game kind of changes and the kids are kind of changing, too.

“It’s been an eye-opener for me, and I’ve really enjoyed it.”

After previous coaching stints with the major midget North Island Silvertips and, briefly, with the Oceanside Generals, Lemmon has seen as much as any other coach in hockey this season.

There’s been an eight-game losing streak where the Bucs failed to win a game in November. There’s been near-perfectly played games against the defending champion Campbell

Nanaimo Buccaneers right wing Will McNamara breaks in on a Kerry Park Islanders goaltender during a Junior B game in November. [SCOTT MCKENZIE/DAILY NEWS]

River Storm. And there’s even been quick stays on top of the standings.

The Bucs have won four of five games in December, and Lemmon thinks his veteran team has learned enough that they’re ready to take a giant leap in the new year.

“I think we’re in a really good spot, said Lemmon as the Bucs sit second

in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League’s North Division.

“If you look at our whole season, we’ve had some highs and we’ve had some lows. We’re back on a high right now.

“Going winless in November hurt our projection in the standings but for us, it’s made us a stronger team.

“Being able to get out of an eightgame slump like that, I think it just brought the team a little bit closer.”

The Bucs had high expectations on them from the start of the season.

They got former top scorer Will McNamara back, slapped the captain’s ‘C’ on the all-time franchise scoring leader Jordan Levesque, and also recruited other players away from major junior and Junior A to come home to Nanaimo for a run at a championship.

But with both Campbell River and the Victoria Cougars currently running away with the lead in their respective divisions, the Bucs know they’re going to be in tough.

Luckily, with 16 games before playoffs, the match-ups in the North are virtually set.

The Bucs will again be taking on the Comox Valley Glacier Kings in the first round, more than likely having to go through the Storm to get to the league finals.

“We’re going to be the underdog against Campbell River,” Lemmon said.

“We get that, but that’s who we

expect to be playing in the North final. So we’re set up exactly like I’d like it to be.

“We’ve shown what we can do.

We’re an offensive team that can put a lot of pucks in the net and if we get some defence and some good goaltending, we’re going to go real far this year.”

Now, it’s all about using their final slate of games leading up to playoffs to improve where they can, strengthen what they can, and get ready to go out on a roll.

“I think our powerplay and penalty kill are both top three in the league right now, and that’s where we want to be,” Lemmon said.

“Our goaltending has been streaky, but we’re finding a way to win.

“Going into the new year, I just want us to see is getting better every day. If we do that, we’re going to be a pretty scary team come playoffs.”

The Bucs are back home Jan. 3 at 6:15 p.m. against the Cougars.

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COLLEGE HOCKEY

Becoming a newspaper carrier is an excellent opportunity to teach children the life skills for success.

Currrently we are hiring in the Ladysmith area. We are looking for young people to help us deliver the NDN Fridays before 6 pm.

If anyone in your family is interested in being a paper carrier, contact us.

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Anthony Rinaldi lines up for a faceoff for the Nanaimo Clippers during the 2014-15 season. [SCOTT MCKENZIE/DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO]

Former Clipper will re-join old teammates at Union in NCAA DAILY NEWS

Anthony Rinaldi has been lighting up the Ontario Junior Hockey League this season with the Kingston Voyageurs.

Next year, he will try to replicate that success with a couple of his old teammates from Nanaimo.

Rinaldi announced his commitment Tuesday to the Union College Dutchmen of the NCAA, where former Nanaimo Clippers stars Brendan Taylor and Cole Maier are currently playing their freshman seasons.

Rinaldi, who joined the Clippers in the summer of 2014, played one season in Nanaimo scoring 22 goals with 16 assists in 53 games.

He was traded in the offseason along with Jacob Hanlon to Kingston for current Nanaimo centre Matt Hoover

to offset the Clippers’ abundance of 20-year-olds heading into this season.

It was a good trade for both sides, as Hoover has become the fourth-leading scorer in the B.C. Hockey League, while Rinaldi has been dominant in the OJHL with a league-best 29 goals in 34 games.

He is also tied for the OJHL’s points lead with 54.

Taylor, a 20-year-old Nanaimo native, led the Clippers in scoring for the last two seasons of his four-year career with the team, including the final year as captain.

He’s got a goal and three assists in 11 games this season with Union.

Maier played one season with the Clippers after joining the team in 2014-15 out of the U.S. high school system and has one goal this season at Union.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

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SPORTS 21

YEAR IN REVIEW

NHL

A look back at 2015’s 10 biggest sports stories

McDavid has made a lasting impression in Edmonton

From the Jays’ run to Nash’s retirement, it was an eventful year for Canadians in sports

DEAN BENNETT THE CANADIAN PRESS

GREGORY STRONG THE CANADIAN PRESS

The year in Canadian sports was loaded with the usual surprises, heartbreak and stellar performances.

Here’s a look at 10 big stories from the last year.

DROUGHT OVER Baseball fever finally returned to Toronto in 2015 as the Blue Jays made the playoffs for the first time in 22 years.

General manager Alex Anthopoulos helped build a powerful lineup and then landed several big names at the trade deadline to help Toronto win the East Division title.

Led by American League most valuable player Josh Donaldson and a strong supporting cast, the Blue Jays came within two victories of the World Series.

Anthopoulos dropped a stunner a few days after his team was eliminated, announcing that he would not be signing a new contract with the Jays.

PRICE IS RIGHT It seems like the only trophy Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price didn’t win this year was the Stanley Cup. The veteran netminder won the Vezina Trophy as top netminder and the Hart Trophy as league MVP. Price also took the Ted Lindsay Award as most outstanding player as voted by the players and shared the William Jennings Trophy for the lowest team goals-against total.

Price led the NHL in wins (44), goals-against average (1.96) and save percentage (.933) in the 2014-15 season. The native of Anahim Lake, B.C., became the first goalie to top all three categories since Ed Belfour in 1990-91.

His success didn’t carry over into the playoffs as Montreal fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

GOLDEN BOY Connor McDavid started the year with a bang. He finished it on the shelf.

McDavid led Canada to gold at the world junior hockey championship in Toronto before completing a remarkable 120-point season with the Erie Otters of the Ontario Hockey League.

The 18-year-old forward from Newmarket, Ont., was selected first overall by the Edmonton Oilers at the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and was averaging nearly a point a game until he broke his collarbone on Nov. 3.

There is no firm timeline for his return, but McDavid is expected to miss most of the season.

TEENAGE DREAM At the start of the season, Brooke Henderson wanted to show she belonged on the LPGA Tour despite

Two-time NBA most valuable player Steve Nash is introduced into the Suns Ring of Fire at halftime of a game between the Phoenix Suns and the Portland Trail Blazers in Phoenix on Oct. 30. [AP PHOTO]

needing sponsor’s exemptions or qualification results to enter most tournaments.

A statement win at the Cambia Portland Classic in August left no doubt she was ready for the top level.

The former top-ranked amateur — still a month away from her 18th birthday at the time — won the tournament by eight shots and was granted immediate LPGA membership after the victory.

Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., also became the first Canadian winner on the LPGA Tour since Lorie Kane in 2001.

ANDRE THE GIANT Sprinter Andre De Grasse offered a teaser at the Pan Am Games. He really showed what he could do at the world championships.

De Grasse, from Markham, Ont., won double gold in Toronto and raced to bronze a few weeks later in Beijing against one of the strongest 100-metre fields ever assembled.

Making those accomplishments even more impressive is that De Grasse just turned 21 and is in his third year of running track.

He also swept the 100 and 200-metre finals at the NCAA championships earlier in the season.

SEASON TO FORGET Eugenie Bouchard couldn’t seem to shake a season-long slump. When she started to show signs of progress, a concussion derailed her campaign.

Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., broke through in 2014 and appeared to be on her way to tennis stardom.

However, first-round exits quickly became the norm in 2015 and Bou-

chard’s frustration grew while her confidence waned.

The 21-year-old looked like she was turning the corner at the U.S. Open but she fell and hit her head on a locker-room floor, essentially ending her season.

The former world No. 5 plummeted to No. 48 in the world rankings and her once-promising future now rests on shaky ground.

LEGEND RETIRES It’s hard to overstate the impact star guard Steve Nash has had on the game of basketball in his home country.

Not only did he win two NBA most valuable player awards over his 19-year career, he served as a mentor and role model for the many young Canadian stars now in the league.

The eight-time all-star led a dominant up-tempo offence in his prime years with the Phoenix Suns. Injuries slowed him down late in his career and he formally retired last March.

Nash, who grew up in Victoria, will remain involved in the sport as general manager of the senior men’s Canadian team.

GAMES, SET, MATCH It was tough to predict whether the Pan Am Games would catch on in Toronto, a city that has longed for the more glamorous Summer Olympics in the past.

A strong domestic lineup helped give the event a boost. The city quickly got on board and the rest of the country also paid attention.

Sprinter Andre De Grasse, gymnast Ellie Black and basketball player Kia Nurse emerged as stars as Canada

finished second overall with 217 medals.

The Parapan Am Games were also a success as Canada was second with 168 medals.

DIGGIN’ WIGGINS The hype surrounding Andrew Wiggins was off the charts when he entered the NBA last year as an 18-year-old forward. He quickly showed that he was the real deal.

Wiggins was one of the few bright lights on a weak Minnesota Timberwolves team, starting all 82 games last season while averaging 16.9 points and 4.6 rebounds.

He was rewarded for his strong campaign by winning the league’s rookie of the year award.

Wiggins became the first Canadian player to win the honour.

SOCCER It was a strong year for soccer in Canada despite some early eliminations.

Canada’s three Major League Soccer franchises all made strides as Vancouver secured the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, Montreal took the No. 3 spot in the East while Toronto FC held the No. 6 position.

The Whitecaps skipped the knockout round of the playoffs but fell to Portland in the conference semifinals. The Impact, meanwhile, dumped Toronto in the knockout round before falling to Columbus.

The Women’s World Cup was played in Canada for the first time with six cities handling hosting duties. Canada lost to England in the quarter-finals and the United States defeated Japan 5-2 in the final.

EDMONTON — It can be found on the odd wind-worn lamppost on downtown streets of Edmonton — a loonie-sized sticker that is equal parts idolatrous and sacrilegious.

It’s the Oilers logo with the oozing O-I-L-E-R letters replaced with others: McJesus. Edmonton Oilers rookie phenom forward Connor McDavid is expected to return from a cracked clavicle in either late January or early February, but he has already made a transformative impression on a hockey-loopy city that hasn’t beheld a playoff team for a decade. Walk into Jack Jensen’s sports memorabilia store in West Edmonton Mall and there’s a full Connor McDavid photo display underneath the cash register.

On the walls are framed pictures of McDavid, and McDavid’s first NHL goal. There are packs of Connor McDavid cards and autographed Connor McDavid jerseys. (The signed jersey is yours for $649.95). McDavid, said Jensen, has reinvigorated sales for all things Oiler at his West Edmonton Coin and Stamp shop.

“Connor has been the lead seller at this point,” said Jensen. There’s lots of Connor merchandise selling, whether it’s stickers or autographed stuff. Everything’s selling for Connor.”

The Connor biz has been booming ever since the Oilers won the right eight months ago to select him first overall in the NHL draft.

The 18-year-old from Newmarket, Ont., has not disappointed. The centre hailed as the next Sidney-Crosby-Wayne-Gretzky needed just four NHL games to figure things out.

After just one goal in those first four games, he totalled 12 points in the next nine to take over as the team’s top scoring threat.

His impact is everywhere in city where hockey is not just a sport, it’s geography where north-end commuters take Mark Messier Trail and get to the rink via Wayne Gretzky Drive. Fans flew in from remote places like Vancouver Island and Yellowknife to attend McDavid’s first home game. Oilers ticket prices on the secondary market soared 131 per cent on news of his arrival, according to StubHub.com. The ripple effect goes beyond the city. Fans chanted McDavid in the closing notes of the national anthem at an Oilers pre-season game in Saskatoon.

NHL broadcaster Rogers built up an ad campaign around McDavid getting the lowdown from Messier on Alberta’s rolling plains and soaring mountains. The local sports radio station delivers regular tongue-incheek Connor McUpdates, such as the one after the Oct. 18 Vancouver game: “Connor dipped his feet in the Pacific Ocean for the first time, and then explained the difference between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to (Oilers forward) Luke Gazdic.”

22 SPORTS

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

NFL POWER RANKINGS

NFL POWER RANKINGS

Panthers dodge a bullet, stay at the top

No quarterback means no hope for the St. Louis Rams

Last week’s rank in parentheses.

1. Panthers 14-0 (1): The Falcons and Bucs are the only obstacles to a perfect regular season.

17. Rams 6-8 (23): Maybe Case Keenum isn’t all that, but the Texans forked him over for a seventh-round draft pick and we know how they evaluate QBs.

2. Cardinals 12-2 (2): Don’t underestimate the loss of versatile DB Tyrann Mathieu to a torn ACL, but they are humming on offense right now.

18. Eagles 6-8 (13): DeMarco Murray might have more fun sitting on the 76ers bench to watch games.

3. Patriots 12-2 (3): They’re in position to deal a real blow to the Jets’ playoff hopes and you know Bill Belichick would love that.

19. Bills 6-8 (16): Unless El Nino delivers on the shores of Lake Erie, it’s going to be a cold winter after all the hot air Rex Ryan blew.

4. Seahawks 9-5 (4): They’ve won five straight and ripped off 30 or more points in four in a row. The playoffs can’t come too soon.

20. Buccaneers 6-8 (17): Todd Gurley and Amari Cooper have been excellent, but Jameis Winston looks like a lock for offensive rookie of the year.

5. Steelers 9-5 (6): Closing out the regular season with the Ravens and Browns should set them up for a playoff berth.

6. Bengals 11-3 (7): Andy Dalton jokes are told by fans of teams that have not made the playoffs in five consecutive seasons like the Bengals have.

7. Broncos 10-4 (5): Does it really matter if Peyton Manning accepts a backup role? The story is whether he is healthy enough to start.

8. Packers 10-4 (8): With the NFC focus on the Panthers, Cardinals and Seahawks, the Packers will be able to embrace the underdog role soon.

9. Chiefs 9-5 (9): In their eightgame winning streak, they have played six games without a turnover.

That’s a recipe for winning.

10. Jets 9-5 (10): Stumbling through a victory against the Matt Cassel- and Kellen Moore-led Cowboys in Week 15? I’ve seen enough of the Fitzmagic.

11. Vikings 9-5 (11): Watching this team, one thing it really could use next season is a bona fide possession wide receiver.

12. Texans 7-7 (14): J.J. Watt joked the Texans have been through 45 quarterbacks in the last two years. In a previous career, he played for the 2004 Bears.

13. Redskins 7-7 (18): Seen on Twitter: RG3 jerseys for $3 at a D.C. area store. Three jerseys for the price of a beer at FedEx Field.

14. Raiders 6-8 (12): Christmas Eve against the Chargers in the Black Hole. There might not be any playoff possibilities, but crazy Santa costumes could be off the charts.

15. Giants 6-8 (15): Not only can Odell Beckham Jr. make ridiculous circus catches, he can go crazy too.

16. Falcons 7-7 (21): Two weeks after Panthers shut them out and mugged for cameras before the game was over, how will Dan Quinn’s bunch respond?

21. Colts 6-8 (19): Andrew Luck will make this maybe the most attractive job in the offseason if/when Chuck Pagano is fired. Owner Jim Irsay will make it one of least attractive jobs.

22. Lions 5-9 (27): They’re 4-3 since firing offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and close with the 49ers and Bears.

23. Bears 5-9 (20): After losing a series of close games, they weren’t close in Minnesota. How will they close out?

24. Jaguars 5-9 (25): Former Auburn QB Nick Marshall settling in at cornerback is a pretty cool story.

25. Dolphins 5-9 (22): Danny Woodhead scored four touchdowns to beat them on Sunday. Yeah, that guy.

26. Saints 5-9 (24): They put a virtual halt to talk of the playoffs in Tampa. So that’s something.

27. Cowboys 4-10 (26): Three teams could be in a battle royale for Los Angeles in the offseason, but you can still count on Jerry Jones to make major offseason headlines.

28. Ravens 4-10 (28): This has been one of the biggest surprises in the entire league. They’re simply not competitive.

29. Chargers 4-10 (31): Nice to see veterans like Philip Rivers, Eric Weddle and Malcom Floyd hang with fans after what may have been the final game at Qualcomm Stadium.

BENJAMIN HOCHMAN ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

O

n Jan. 15, 2005, a spry ballplayer, fresh off his rookie season, turned 25 years old.

His name was Matt Holliday.

On that same date, Topher Grace hosted Saturday Night Live and The Da Vinci Code topped the New York Times bestseller list. And the St. Louis Rams played a playoff game.

Their most recent playoff game.

Eleven consecutive seasons now, the Rams haven’t made it to the postseason, confirmed Sunday with Seattle’s win. The Rams are officially eliminated from playoff contention, so I suppose this is the obituary of the Rams’ playoff hopes.

Now, the Rams could very well win at Seattle and San Francisco, finishing 8-8, and then you’ll hear about momentum for St. Louis heading into next season (assuming the Rams play in St. Louis next season). “They won their four final games! Case Keenum could be the answer!”

No. No. Stop it. No. Whether the Rams finish with six, seven or eight wins, this season was a failure.

We can talk about Jeff Fisher, and how it’s historically inexplicable that he’ll probably keep his job after four seasons without playoff football.

But the Rams’ problem is the man he and the front office picked to be the franchise’s quarterback – a man who hasn’t played like a franchise quarterback.

Nick Foles — a nice fellow and all that — isn’t the future. Keenum — fun story and all that — is not the transcendent signal-caller who can lead a team to relevance over a full season.

The Rams’ starting quarterback for 2016 should be someone who isn’t on the team in 2015.

As for Foles, the Rams can’t do much about the extension and guaranteed money they gave him before his first St. Louis game. It happened.

And yes, give the Rams some credit for taking a chance on Foles. But they cannot waste time trying to see this particular investment through.

They haven’t played a playoff game since Jan. 15, 2005. And next season, they’ll either be trying to win over a

St. Louis Rams quarterback Case Keenum celebrates following a game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Thursday in St. Louis. [AP PHOTO]

Nick Foles — a nice fellow and all that — isn’t the future. new fan base, or trying, somehow, to convince their current fan base that something will actually be different in 2016.

The Rams must be creative in the trade market or bold in the draft room and find a quarterback.

I know this sounds simple, for football is such a complex and strategic puzzle, but if you don’t have a quarterback who is really good at football, you probably won’t make the playoffs. The amount of impact a quarterback has on a team is disproportionately high compared to the other positions. Ernie Accorsi, the longtime NFL executive, was often quoted of saying that, in a way, maybe the second-most important position on a team is the backup quarterback. Defense is important but a quarterback is imperative. A rushing game can change the game — we’ve seen it at times with Todd Gurley — but a complementary passing game isn’t a luxury in the 2015 NFL; it’s a necessity.

Accorsi actually mentored John Elway, now the Broncos’ general manager. Elway has occasionally quoted Accorsi’s advice: “If you want to build a winning team, you need two things. You had better get a

quarterback, and then you had better get a guy who can knock down the quarterback.”

The Rams have Aaron Donald (and Robert Quinn should be back next season), but they don’t have a quarterback and, really, they don’t have an offensive line to protect him.

The result, when Foles played, was gross. And, man, what a tease, too, after that opening win against Seattle.

So, ESPN has a stat called Total Quarterback Rating (Total QBR). Yes, some of you are wary of a stat that wasn’t on the back of trading cards in your childhood. But smart people cook up these numbers — I actually personally know Dean Oliver, the mathematician who helped popularize this stat. As Oliver explains to readers on ESPN’s site: “The Total Quarterback Rating is a statistical measure that incorporates the contexts and details of a quarterback’s throws and what they mean for wins. … We understand first what each play means to the team, then we give credit to the quarterback for what happened on that play, based on what he contributed.”

OK, so here we go. Entering Sunday, Carson Palmer led the NFL with an 83.6 Total QBR. Ranked 32nd?

Nicholas Edward Foles, 30.0.

It doesn’t matter what city the Rams call home next season: If they don’t get good quarterback play, they’ll still be the same old Rams.

30. 49ers 4-10 (29): They honored past greats at halftime of their loss to the Bengals and the stadium was a little more than half full.

Top team has most Pro Bowl players selected

31. Browns 3-11 (30): Johnny Manziel hopes Mike Pettine returns as coach next season. Seriously.

NEW YORK — The undefeated Carolina Panthers led the NFL with 10 players selected for the Pro Bowl on Tuesday.

The Panthers are two wins away from a perfect regular season.

Quarterback Cam Newton was picked for the third time, and five of his teammates were first-time selections, including cornerback Josh Norman

32. Titans 3-11 (32): With a knee injury shutting down Marcus Mariota for the remainder of the season, the focus turns to the 2016 draft.

— THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE

SIMMI BUTTAR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

and linebacker Thomas Davis.

“It’s truly an honour to be selected to the Pro Bowl,” Davis said.

“All the hard work and dedication I’ve put into the game has paid off.

I’m extremely excited and I couldn’t be more thankful to the fans who took their time to vote me in, as well as my fellow players and coaches.

“To have 10 guys selected says a lot about our team. It says a lot about our fans and how highly they

thought of us this season, and I think it says a lot about the way our season has gone.

“I’m excited and thankful to be part of the 10.”

Joining them will be centre Ryan Kalil, who was picked for the fifth time, and linebacker Luke Kuechly, who earned his third selection.

Seattle, Arizona and New England each had seven players selected, and Cincinnati had five players picked.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

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SPORTS 23

NHL

MLB

For the Islanders, Brooklyn is beginning to feel like home

Anthopoulos expects to be working again

Out of Long Island and into the Barclays Center, Isles are getting comfortable Helene Elliott Los Angeles Times

S

ix decades after Walter O’Malley proposed building a stadium for his Brooklyn Dodgers at Flatbush and Atlantic avenues, a sports arena sits nearly in the same spot. Denied a replacement for Ebbets Field, O’Malley followed population shifts and moved to Los Angeles, which worked out pretty well.

The NHL’s New York Islanders and NBA’s Brooklyn Nets have followed a new shift back to Brooklyn, to Barclays Center.

The Islanders, forced out of Nassau Coliseum when politics and money got in the way of renovating or replacing the rundown arena, are still settling in during the first season of a 25-year lease. The arena, with its dark interior, hundreds of partially or very obstructed views, off-center scoreboard and white SUV parked behind one net, is just starting to feel like home.

“More and more it does, for sure,” center John Tavares said after the team prepared for Monday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. “You’re in a place for so long and you’re in here only the first couple months, so it’s going to take time.”

Practices are held on Long Island, where players live. On game days they commute to Brooklyn on the Long Island Rail Road and take their pregame naps at a hotel. “We’d rather be home, but it’s part of the transition and something we’ve got to get used to,” defenseman Calvin de Haan said. “I think it’s been all right so far.”

In some ways the transition has gone well. The Islanders’ improved business arrangement guarantees them perhaps as

New York Islanders Matt Martin (17) and Casey Cizikas (53) celebrate a goal on Monday in New York. [AP PHOTO]

much as $50 million annually from Barclays Center, which keeps revenues from tickets, sponsorship and other areas.

Also, the Islanders were 11-5-2 at home before they faced the Ducks.

But their attendance average of 12,727 ranked 29th in the NHL and 25th in percentage of capacity, at 80.5. Last season they averaged 15,334 fans, 94.8 per cent of capacity. “It’s tough for some people to get here after work,” de Haan said.

“But we’re trying to open up a new area and hopefully get people to start cheering for the Islanders here.”

LAMORIELLO RELISHING NEW CHALLENGE Lou Lamoriello’s question as he approached his 73rd birthday wasn’t why he should become general manager of the Maple Leafs after being squeezed out in New Jersey, where he built three Stanley Cup champions in 28

years. After looking at a group that included Brendan Shanahan as Toronto’s president, Mike Babcock as the coach, wunderkind Kyle Dubas as assistant general manager and Mark Hunter as director of player personnel, Lamoriello didn’t think twice. “You look at that and you say, ‘Why not?’ ” he said.

Lamoriello, elected to the Hall of Fame as a builder in 2009, last July became the newest person to tackle an old problem: leading the Maple Leafs to the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1967.

He’s intrigued by the possibilities outlined by Shanahan — whom Lamoriello drafted for the Devils in 1987 — but aware of the changes needed to end years of failure.

“To me, this is the New York Yankees environment of the National Hockey League and should be, and yet there hasn’t been success,” he said Saturday.

“And yet the players are still movie stars after the game is

over, win, lose or draw, because of the popularity, and that creates, sometimes, an entitlement. That’s what you have to get rid of and that’s where the culture comes in, that you as a player and everybody else involved, including ourselves, have an obligation and have to be accountable to what our job is, not what people think after the fact.

“Yes, the building has been sold out despite a lack of success, so that’s where you have to create the culture, getting away from entitlement into accountability for what your responsibilities are, and that’s when success follows.”

Progress has been slow. Goaltending remains a problem because of injuries to James Reimer and Garret Sparks, and Jonathan Bernier was sent to the minors before returning Saturday to shut out the Los Angeles Kings. The Maple Leafs rank near the bottom of the East in scoring.

None of this is a shock. “I knew what the potential plan was, knew what the sort of ups and downs that were going to happen, but I also knew what the potential is,” Lamoriello said. “We’re working together with the same goal, knowing there’s going to be some highs and lows, but I would think the experience all of us have had will get us through the lows and keep us pushing for the highs.”

Above all, he has been invigorated by the city’s passion. “You walk down the street, go in a restaurant, no matter where you go, it’s hockey. And it’s genuine.

You just feel it,” Lamoriello said.

“They energize you. Mike energizes you. And that’s what life is about. You have to have energy in what you do, and you have to feel good about it. If you don’t have energy or enjoy it, what are we doing?”

Good question, in any situation.

GREGORY STRONG THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO — A two-month break from the grind of the baseball off-season has been good for former Toronto Blue Jays general manager Alex Anthopoulos.

It has given him a chance to introduce some balance in his life and spend more time with friends and family. He’s also mulling over potential work options and expects to return to the sport he loves next month.

Anthopoulos, looking relaxed and content during an interview with The Canadian Press at a mid-town cafe, has enjoyed his time at home since turning down a contract offer to stay with the Blue Jays.

“I get to give my wife a break,” he said. “I’d say I’m learning what it’s like to live a normal life again, which is kind of nice. You kind of forget what you miss — and I’m not complaining by any stretch. But you know, going into a Halloween party and not having to have my phone glued to my hand. I can leave it there.

“I went out to a Halloween party on a Saturday afternoon. Normally I’d be going to the office. You feel like, ‘Hey if you’re not working, you’re getting beat.’ So just little things like that.”

Anthopoulos stunned fans and baseball observers by turning down a long-term deal a few days after his team was eliminated by the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship Series. He was eventually replaced by Ross Atkins, a former Cleveland Indians executive who had worked with new Blue Jays president Mark Shapiro.

The decision ended Anthopoulos’s 12-year run with the team. He first joined the club as a scouting co-ordinator in 2003 and had served as GM since 2009.

The Blue Jays were consistently mediocre during his tenure until last season, when a series of trade-deadline moves helped send the team on a second-half surge. Toronto won the East Division title and returned to the post-season for the first time in 22 years.

Anthopoulos went out with his stock at a high.

He was named Major League Baseball executive of the year by the Sporting News on the same day he announced that he wouldn’t be returning.

December 20 - 29, 2015 Schedules are subject to change without notice.

VANCOUVER ISLAND - LOWER MAINLAND NANAIMO (DEPARTURE BAY) - HORSESHOE BAY Leave Departure Bay 3:10 pm 4:20 pm 5:20 pm D6:30 pm 7:30 pm 9:30 pm

6:20 am 8:30 am D9:50 am 10:40 am -12:00 pm 12:50 pm D2:10 pm D Dec 26-27 only.

- Dec 20-23, 28 only.

Underdog Canadians must be ready JOSHUA CLIPPERTON THE CANADIAN PRESS

Canada doesn’t enter many international hockey tournaments as an underdog, but Guy Boucher says that’s just the reality for Canadian teams competing at the Spengler Cup. The six-team event is a yearly showcase in Davos, Switzerland,

that sees a group of Canadian professional players from outside the NHL come together in a short time frame for games against established clubs from Europe and Russia.

“Odds are against us,” said Boucher, who will coach Canada for a second consecutive year.

“That’s where this tournament is different. We aren’t favourites.”

The Canadians will have a practice, a morning skate and a few meetings before hitting the ice at the Vaillant Arena against Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg of the KHL on Saturday.

“Their fine-tuning is done by this time of the year and ours hasn’t begun,” said Boucher.

“That’s where our fight-level, our commitment, our discipline

has to be impeccable.

“You always look at the roles players are going to play, but experience tells me whatever I put on paper now will change 10 minutes into the first game.”

Canada, which hasn’t lifted the Spengler Cup since 2012 but has won the event 12 times, finished 1-1-0 with Boucher in charge last year.

6:20 am 8:30 am 10:40 am D12:00 pm 12:50 pm -2:10 pm 3:10 pm

D4:20 pm

5:20 pm 6:30 pm 7:30 pm D8:35 pm 9:30 pm

Dec 23, 28 only.

NANAIMO (DUKE POINT) - TSAWWASSEN Leave Duke Point

SPENGLER CUP

Leave Horseshoe Bay

5:15 am 7:45 am 10:15 am 12:45 pm

Leave Tsawwassen 3:15 pm 5:45 pm 7 8:15 pm 7 10:45 pm

7 Except Dec 25.

5:15 am 7:45 am 10:15 am 12:45 pm

3:15 pm 5:45 pm 7 8:15 pm 7 10:45 pm

Except Sun & Dec 25.

SWARTZ BAY - TSAWWASSEN

Leave Swartz Bay 7:00 am 98:00 am 9:00 am 610:00 am 11:00 am 712:00 pm 1:00 pm

a2:00 pm 3:00 pm z4:00 pm 5:00 pm 6:00 pm 7:00 pm 9:00 pm

z Dec 20, 22-23 & 26-28 only.

7 Except Dec 25.

6 Dec 23-24 & 26-28 only.

Leave Tsawwassen 7:00 am 72:00 pm 68:00 am 3:00 pm 9:00 am 4:00 pm 910:00 am 5:00 pm 11:00 am z6:00 pm a12:00 pm 7:00 pm 1:00 pm 9:00 pm 9 Dec 21, 23-24 & 26-29 only.

Dec 23, & 26-29 only. a Dec 22-24 & 26-29 only.

For schedule and fare information or reservations: 1 888 223 3779 • bcferries.com

www.nanaimodailynews.com

24 SPORTS

@NanaimoDaily

NHL

HOCKEY

EASTERN CONFERENCE

&2<27(6 0$3/( /($)6 &$18&.6 /,*+71,1*

ATLANTIC DIVISION

)LUVW 3HULRG 1. Toronto, van Riemsdyk 12 (Phaneuf, Parenteau) 15:09 (pp).

2. Arizona, Doan 7 (Elliott, Richardson) 15:16.

3. Arizona, Doan 8 (Chipchura) 15:30.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Lupul Tor (high-sticking) 9:24, Stone Ariz (illegal check to head minor) 14:56; Parenteau Tor (interference) 18:17.

6HFRQG 3HULRG 4. Toronto, Kadri 6 (Bozak, Rielly) 14:00.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Holland Tor, Domi Ariz Ă&#x20AC;JKWLQJ .DGUL 7RU FORVLQJ KDQG on puck) 15:01; Dahlbeck Ariz (crosschecking) 19:10.

7KLUG 3HULRG 5. Arizona, Murphy 3 (Richardson, Doan) 6:06.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Marincin Tor (delay of game) 7:29.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Toronto 12 15 12 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 39 Arizona 9 10 7 â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 26 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Toronto: Bernier (L, 2-9-3); Arizona: Dominigue (W, 2-1-0).

3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Toronto: 1-2; Arizona: 0-4.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 12,234 at Arizona.

)LUVW 3HULRG 1. Van, Baertschi 5 (Vrbata, Biega) 15:57.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Prust Vcr, Angelidis TB Ă&#x20AC;JKWLQJ :HEHU 9FU VWLFN KROGLQJ

2:49; Callahan TB (slashing) 7:50; Hutton Vcr (holding) 10:18; Bartkowski Vcr (slashing) 18:31.

6HFRQG 3HULRG 2. Tampa Bay, Marchessault 5 (Kucherov, Stralman) 19:38 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; D. Sedin Vcr (hooking) 7:59; Cracknell Vcr (hooking) 11:26; Kenins Vcr (tripping) 19:10.

7KLUG 3HULRG 3. Van, D. Sedin 16 (H. Sedin) 11:09.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Weber Vcr (tripping) 3:11; H.Sedin Vcr (tripping) 6:08; Dorsett Vcr (cross-checking), Kucherov TB (roughing) 7:48; Vrbata Vcr (hook) 8:49; Nesterov TB (interference), Hansen Vcr (embellishment) 10:15; Vcr Bench (too many men) 18:18.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Vancouver 7 9 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;19 Tampa Bay 4 13 11 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;28 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Vancouver: Markstrom (W, 2-33); TB: Bishop (L, 14-11-2). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Van: 0-1; TB: 1-10.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 19,092 at Tampa Bay.

67$56 %/$&.+$:.6

)/$0(6 -(76

Montreal Boston Florida

GP 36 33 35

W L OL SL GF 20 13 2 1 105 19 10 3 1 104 19 12 3 1 95

GA 89 85 81

Pts Home 43 11-6-2-0 42 8-8-2-0 42 9-6-2-0

Away 9-7-0-1 11-2-1-1 10-6-1-1

Last 10 Strk 1-9-0-0 L-5 6-2-2-0 L-1 7-3-0-0 W-5

GA 71 93 82

Pts Home 52 13-3-1-0 44 14-5-1-0 43 12-5-2-0

Away 12-3-1-0 6-7-1-2 7-6-1-2

Last 10 Strk 8-1-1-0 W-6 3-6-1-0 W-1 6-3-1-0 W-1

METROPOLITAN DIVISION Washington NY Rangers NY Islanders

GP 33 36 35

W L OL SL GF 25 6 2 0 105 20 12 2 2 104 19 11 3 2 96

WILD CARD Detroit Ottawa New Jersey Philadelphia Tampa Bay Pittsburgh Buffalo Toronto Carolina Columbus

GP 34 35 35 34 35 33 34 33 34 36

W 17 17 17 15 17 16 14 12 13 13

L OL SL GF GA 10 5 2 89 89 12 2 4 105 104 13 1 4 83 87 12 4 3 74 92 15 1 2 87 82 14 1 2 76 84 16 1 3 79 89 14 3 4 86 93 16 4 1 80 101 20 2 1 88 112

Pts 41 40 39 37 37 35 32 31 31 29

Home 11-7-3-1 9-4-1-3 7-8-1-2 8-5-2-2 8-7-0-1 9-7-0-2 8-9-1-1 6-5-3-2 6-8-2-1 5-8-2-1

Away 6-3-2-1 8-8-1-1 10-5-0-2 7-7-2-1 9-8-1-1 7-7-1-0 6-7-0-2 6-9-0-2 7-8-2-0 8-12-0-0

Last 10 Strk 5-2-1-2 L-1 4-5-0-1 L-2 4-3-1-2 W-1 6-2-0-2 W-1 6-4-0-0 L-1 3-6-0-1 W-1 4-4-0-2 L-1 5-3-2-0 L-1 5-4-1-0 L-1 3-4-2-1 L-1

WESTERN CONFERENCE CENTRAL DIVISION Dallas St. Louis Chicago

GP 35 36 36

W L OL SL GF 26 7 1 1 124 21 11 3 1 92 20 12 4 0 96

GA 88 85 87

Pts Home 54 14-4-0-0 46 11-6-2-0 44 14-4-1-0

Away 12-3-1-1 10-5-1-1 6-8-3-0

Last 10 Strk 7-2-1-0 W-3 6-4-0-0 W-1 7-3-0-0 L-1

PACIFIC DIVISION Los Angeles Vancouver Arizona

GP 32 36 33

W L OL SL 20 10 1 1 13 14 7 2 16 15 2 0

GF GA 81 71 91 103 90 104

Pts Home 42 11-5-0-0 35 5-6-3-0 34 9-5-1-0

Away 9-5-1-1 8-8-4-2 7-10-1-0

Last 10 Strk 7-2-1-0 L-1 4-5-0-1 W-1 3-6-1-0 W-2

GP 33 34 35 33 34 34 35 33

W 18 17 17 16 16 15 15 12

GF GA 91 80 90 86 99 97 88 91 91 113 92 104 91 106 62 85

Pts 42 40 35 34 34 32 32 30

Away 5-5-5-0 6-7-3-0 11-9-0-0 12-6-2-0 5-11-1-1 6-12-0-1 5-13-1-0 4-10-2-0

Last 10 Strk 6-2-2-0 W-1 4-4-2-0 W-2 7-3-0-0 L-1 2-6-2-0 L-2 8-2-0-0 W-1 4-6-0-0 L-2 7-3-0-0 W-1 4-4-2-0 L-2

WILD CARD Minnesota Nashville Colorado San Jose Calgary Winnipeg Edmonton Anaheim

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

L OL SL 9 6 0 11 5 1 17 1 0 15 2 0 16 1 1 17 1 1 18 2 0 15 5 1

Home 13-4-1-0 11-4-2-1 6-8-1-0 4-9-0-0 11-5-0-0 9-5-1-0 10-5-1-0 8-5-3-1

Note: winning team is credited with 2 points and a victory in the W column; a team losing in overtime or shootout receives 1 point in the respective OTL or SOL column.

7XHVGD\¡V UHVXOWV Arizona 3 Toronto 2 Minnesota 2 Montreal 1 New Jersey 4 Detroit 3 St. Louis 2 Boston 0 Dallas 4 Chicago 0 Florida 2 Ottawa 1 (SO) Calgary 4 Winnipeg 1 Vancouver 2 Tampa Bay 1 NY Rangers 3 Anaheim 2 (OT) San Jose at Los Angeles 0RQGD\¡V UHVXOWV Toronto 7 Colorado 4 Nashville 5 Montreal 1 Edmonton 3 Winnipeg 1 Dallas 6 Minnesota 3 Pittsburgh 5 Columbus 2 NY Islanders 5 Anaheim 2 Washington 2 Carolina 1 Philadelphia 4 St. Louis 3 Saturday's games Montreal at Washington, 7 p.m.

Columbus at Tampa Bay, 7 p.m.

Buffalo at Boston, 7 p.m.

New Jersey at Carolina, 7 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Minnesota, 8 p.m.

Detroit at Nashville, 8 p.m.

Dallas at St. Louis, 8 p.m.

Los Angeles at Arizona, 9 p.m.

Edmonton at Vancouver, 10 p.m.

Sunday's games Boston at Ottawa, 5 p.m.

Toronto at NY Islanders, 6 p.m.

Columbus at Florida, 6 p.m.

St. Louis at Dallas, 6 p.m.

Carolina at Chicago, 7 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.

Philadelphia at Anaheim, 8 p.m.

Arizona at Colorado, 8 p.m.

Edmonton at Calgary, 9 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 28 Washington at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

Montreal at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m.

Detroit at Minnesota, 8 p.m.

NY Rangers at Nashville, 8 p.m.

Los Angeles at Vancouver, 10 p.m.

Colorado at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.

'(9,/6 5(' :,1*6

WILD 2, CANADIENS 1

)LUVW 3HULRG 1. New Jersey, Palmieri 14 (Merrill) 12:05 (pp).

2. New Jersey, Tootoo 3 (Greene) 12:47.

3. New Jersey, Schlemko 3 (Palmieri) 14:17.

4. Detroit, Larkin 13 (Zetterberg, Kronwall) 18:32 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Greene NJ (delay of game) 10:00; Zetterberg Det (holding) 10:37; Severson NJ (tripping) 18:02.

6HFRQG 3HULRG 5. Detroit, Green 2 (Richards, Datsyuk) 12:31 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Abdelkader Det (slashing), Henrique NJ (roughing) 0:49; Det Bench (too many men) 3:12; Greene NJ (stick holding) 6:03; DeKeyser Det, Cammalleri NJ (roughing) 8:35; Gionta NJ (tripping) 12:02; Abdelkader Det, Severson NJ (roughing) 17:14.

7KLUG 3HULRG 6. New Jersey, Kalinin 5 (Josefson) 2:24.

7. Detroit, Sheahan 4 (Jurco) 14:23.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Merrill NJ (tripping) 7:46; Abdelkader Det (cross-checking) 10:23; Kronwall Det (interference) 19:02.

6KRWV RQ JRDO New Jersey 7 6 4â&#x20AC;&#x201D;17 Detroit 13 5 10â&#x20AC;&#x201D;28 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; New Jersey: Schneider (W, 159-5); Detroit: Mrazek (L, 10-6-3). Power SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; New Jersey: 1-5; Detroit: 2-5.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 20,027 at Detroit.

)LUVW 3HULRG 1. Minn, Pominville 5 (Granlund) 12:38.

3HQDOW\â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Fleischmann Mtl (slash) 17:07.

6HFRQG 3HULRG Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOW\ â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Dumba Minn (hooking) 10:43.

7KLUG 3HULRG 2. Minn, Coyle 8 (Niederreiter) 4:55.

3. Mtl, Carr 3 (Eller, Galchenyuk) 12:46.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; None.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Montreal 7 8 8â&#x20AC;&#x201D;23 Minnesota 8 7 8â&#x20AC;&#x201D;23 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mtl: Condon (L, 9-8-3); Minnesota: Kuemper (W, 4-0-4). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mtl: 0-1; Minn: 0-1.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 19,105 at Minnesota.

BLUES 2, BRUINS 0 )LUVW 3HULRG Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; None.

6HFRQG 3HULRG Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOW\ â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Connolly Bos (tripping) 14:26.

7KLUG 3HULRG 1. StL, Tarasenko 22 (Paajarvi, Backes) 7:35.

2. St. Louis, Fabbri 7 (Pietrangelo, Bouwmeester) 12:50.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Randell Bos, Reaves StL Ă&#x20AC;JKWLQJ

6KRWV RQ JRDO St. Louis 10 11 8â&#x20AC;&#x201D;29 Boston 14 12 6â&#x20AC;&#x201D;32 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; St. Louis: Allen (W, 16-8-2); Boston: Rask (L, 13-8-3). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; StL: 0-1; Boston: 0-0.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 17,565 at Boston.

)LUVW 3HULRG Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Fiddler Dal (delay of game) 8:39; Demers Dal (high-sticking) 13:13.

6HFRQG 3HULRG 1. Dallas, Spezza 13 (Sharp, Klingberg) 9:12 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Panarin Chi (holding) 7:27; Kane Chi (hooking) 9:54; Roussel Dal, Hjalmarsson Chi (roughing) 12:36.

7KLUG 3HULRG 2. Dal, Sharp 12 (Ja. Benn, Demers) :11.

3. Dallas, Sceviour 2 (Jo.Benn, Roussel) 2:57.

4. Dallas, Janmark 8 (Demers, Oduya) 14:36.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Rozsival Chi (roughing) 3:28; Keith Chi (slashing) 10:13.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Chicago 3 14 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;20 Dallas 7 8 16 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;31 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Chicago: Crawford (L, 18-9-2); Dallas: Niemi (W, 15-5-2).

3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Chicago: 0-2; Dallas: 1-4.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 18,532 at Dallas.

PANTHERS 2, SENS 1 (SO) )LUVW 3HULRG Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Borowiecki Ott (interference) 8:59; Methot Ott (holding) 14:29.

6HFRQG 3HULRG 1. Florida, Knight 1 (Howden, Jagr) 9:14.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Mitchell Fla (high-sticking) 13:06; Dzingel Ott (slashing) 15:51; Cowen Ott (hooking) 18:55.

7KLUG 3HULRG 2. Ottawa, Stone 8 (Karlsson, Zibanejad) 1:31 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Fla Bench (too many men) 0:43, Turris Ott (hooking) 2:57.

2YHUWLPH Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; None.

Shootout â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Florida wins 2-0 Ott: Zibanejad miss, Turris miss. )ORULGD Pirri goal, Huberdeau miss, Barkov goal.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Ottawa 8 4 2 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;16 Florida 13 18 6 3 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;40 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Ott: Anderson (LO, 15-9-4); Florida: Luongo (W, 14-11-3). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Ott: 1-2; Fla: 0-5.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 14,538 at Florida.

5$1*(56 '8&.6 27

)LUVW 3HULRG 1. Anaheim, Perry 11 (Rakell) 11:16.

2. NYR, Brassard 12 (unassisted) 17:50.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Maroon Ana, Glass NYR Ă&#x20AC;JKWLQJ %R\OH 1<5 KROGLQJ

Santorelli Ana (high-sticking) 12:43.

6HFRQG 3HULRG Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Kesler Ana (interference) .HVOHU $QD 0LOOHU 1<5 Ă&#x20AC;JKWLQJ

6:48; Bieksa Ana (cross-checking) 7:22; McIlrath NYR (hooking) 12:49.

7KLUG 3HULRG 3. NYR, Brassard 13 (Zuccarello) 2:44.

4. Ana, Rakell 7 (Getzlaf, Fowler) 17:06.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Hayes NYR (hooking) 0:33; Summers NYR (stick holding) 5:05; Kesler Ana (interference) 14:20.

2YHUWLPH 5. NYR, Zuccarello 15 (Boyle, Brassard) 2:37 (pp).

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Fowler Ana (holding) 1:07.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Anaheim 8 5 6 0 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;19 NY Rangers 5 5 10 2 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;22 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Ana: Gibson (L, 4-4-2); NYR: Lundqvist (W, 16-9-3). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Ana: 0-4; NYR: 1-5.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 18,006 at NY Rangers.

)LUVW 3HULRG 1. Calgary, Gaudreau 13 (Monahan, Brodie) 4:28 (pp).

2. Calgary, Colborne 5 (Giordano, Ferland) 10:23.

3. Wpg, Myers 4 (Wheeler, Ladd) 19:55.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Trouba Wpg (tripping) 3:17; Stafford Wpg (hooking) 10:36.

6HFRQG 3HULRG Âł No Scoring.

3HQDOWLHV â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Colborne Cgy (tripping) 12:00; Stuart Wpg (tripping) 17:31; Trouba Wpg (cross-checking) 18:23.

7KLUG 3HULRG 4. Cal, Gaudreau 14 (Brodie, Hudler) 15:41.

5. Calgary, Gaudreau 15 (Backlund, Giordano) 18:11 (en).

3HQDOW\â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Perreault Wpg (cross-check) 3:30.

6KRWV RQ JRDO Winnipeg 6 7 7 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;20 Calgary 14 9 10 â&#x20AC;&#x201D;33 *RDO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Winnipeg: Hutchinson (L, 5-8-1); Cal: Ramo (W, 12-10-1). 3RZHU SOD\V (goal-chances) â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Wpg: 0-1; Calgary: 1-5.

Attendance â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 19,289 at Calgary.

SCORING LEADERS Kane, Chi Seguin, Dal Benn, Dal Hall, Edm Tarasenko, StL Karlsson, Ott D. Sedin, Vcr Gaudreau, Cal Wheeler, Win Pavelski, SJ Hoffman, Ott Cammalleri, NJ Ryan, Ott Steen, StL Bergeron, Bos Backstrom, Wash Panarin, Chi H. Sedin, Vcr Krejci, Bos Klingberg, Dal Ovechkin, Wash Malkin, Pgh Kuznetsov, Wash Draisaitl, Edm 5\DQ 2¡5HLOO\ %XI MacKinnon, Col Koivu, Minn Duchene, Col Zuccarello, NYR Eriksson, Bos Little, Win Burns, SJ Giroux, Phi Stone, Ott Pacioretty, Mon Faulk, Car Carter, LA Plekanec, Mon Carlson, Wash Hartnell, Clb Turris, Ott Josi, Nash Landeskog, Col Okposo, NYI Stempniak, NJ Zetterberg, Det Stamkos, TBL Marleau, SJ Tavares, NYI Palmieri, NJ Monahan, Cal Sharp, Dal Brassard, NYR Domi, Ariz Weber, Nash Perreault, Win Komarov, Tor Marchand, Bos Henrique, NJ

G 21 19 22 15 21 9 15 12 10 16 17 12 11 11 11 10 10 9 9 5 17 17 10 9

10 8 16 14 13 13 12 11 7 14 12 11 7 6 13 13 9 8 8 8 6 14 13 13 13 12 11 11 10 10 4 15 15 13

7XHVGD\ V JDPHV QRW LQFOXGHG

A 29 27 23 24 16 28 20 22 24 17 15 20 21 21 21 21 21 22 22 26 13 13 20 21

19 21 12 14 15 15 16 17 21 13 15 16 20 21 13 13 17 18 18 18 20 11 12 12 12 13 14 14 15 15 21 9 9 11

Pt 50 46 45 39 37 37 35 34 34 33 32 32 32 32 32 31 31 31 31 31 30 30 30 30

29 29 28 28 28 28 28 28 28 27 27 27 27 27 26 26 26 26 26 26 26 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 25 24 24 24

FOOTBALL

NBA

WHL

NFL

EASTERN CONFERENCE

EASTERN CONFERENCE

AMERICAN CONFERENCE EAST

EAST DIVISION GP W L Brandon 35 21 11 Prince Albert 34 20 11 Moose Jaw 34 17 12 Regina 35 15 15 Saskatoon 33 13 17 Swift Current 34 10 20

OL 1 2 4 3 3 3

SL 2 1 1 2 0 1

GF GA 131 99 108 102 117 107 107 121 102 138 78 109

Pt 45 43 39 35 29 24

CENTRAL DIVISION Lethbridge Red Deer Calgary Edmonton Medicine Hat Kootenay

GP W L 35 24 11 35 23 12 37 22 13 36 14 19 34 12 19 36 6 28

OL 0 0 1 3 2 2

SL 0 0 1 0 1 0

GF GA 148 105 127 104 123 115 99 118 108 134 70 154

Pt 48 46 46 31 27 14

WESTERN CONFERENCE B.C. DIVISION GP W L Kelowna 35 25 9 Prince George 34 21 11 Victoria 35 21 12 Kamloops 32 17 11 Vancouver 36 12 19

Seattle Everett Spokane Portland Tri-City

SL 0 1 1 1 2

GF GA 133 101 118 95 117 85 117 101 102 127

Pt 51 44 44 38 29

OL 3 0 3 1 1

SL 0 2 1 0 0

GF GA 113 99 89 70 114 117 113 108 105 130

Pt 41 40 38 33 29

Note: Division leaders ranked in top 2 positions per conference regardless of points; a team winning in overtime or shootout gets 2 pts. & a victory in W column; team losing in overtime or shootout gets 1 pt. in OTL or SOL columns Sunday's games $OO WLPHV /RFDO Everett at Vancouver, 3 p.m.

Regina at Brandon, 3 p.m.

Moose Jaw at Swift Current, 3 p.m.

Calgary at Kootenay, 4 p.m.

Edmonton at Red Deer, 5 p.m.

Lethbridge at Medicine Hat, 6 p.m.

Saskatoon at Prince Albert, 6 p.m.

Tri-City at Portland, 6 p.m.

Seattle at Spokane, 6:05 p.m.

Kelowna at Kamloops, 7 p.m.

Prince George at Victoria, 8:05 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 28 Kootenay at Calgary, 7 p.m.

Red Deer at Edmonton, 7 p.m.

Kamloops at Kelowna, 8:05 p.m.

Prince George at Victoria, 8:05 p.m.

SCORING LEADERS Tyson Baillie, Kel Brayden Burke, Let Adam Brooks, Reg Devante Stephens, Spo Reid Gardiner, P.A. Parker Bowles, TC Dryden Hunt, MJ Egor Babenko, Let Ivan Nikolishin, RD Brayden Point, MJ Alex Forsberg, Vic Mathew Barzal, Sea Radel Fazleev, CAL Collin Shirley, Kam Justin Gutierrez, Let Nolan Patrick, Bra Jonathon Martin, SC Tyler Wong, Let Keegan Kolesar, Sea Giorgio Estephan, Let

G 23 9 17 14 20 19 20 19 19 18 12 9 14 21 17 10 23 22 16 14

A Pts 35 58 41 50 31 48 34 48 26 46 27 46 25 45 25 44 24 43 25 43 31 43 34 43 28 42 19 40 23 40 30 40 16 39 17 39 23 39 25 39

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .857 .643 .429 .357

PF 435 344 341 278

PA 269 272 336 361

W 7 6 5 3

L 7 8 9 11

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .500 .429 .357 .214

PF 275 285 343 269

PA 301 372 380 359

W L 11 3 9 5 4 10 3 11

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .786 .643 .286 .214

PF 378 378 292 253

PA 243 287 360 387

W L 10 4 9 5 6 8 4 10

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .714 .643 .429 .286

PF 308 365 319 280

PA 259 257 356 348

SOUTH Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Tennessee

x-Cincinnati Pittsburgh Baltimore Cleveland

Denver Kansas City Oakland San Diego

NATIONAL CONFERENCE EAST Washington Philadelphia N.Y. Giants Dallas

W L 7 7 6 8 6 8 4 10

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .500 .429 .429 .286

PF 316 318 373 246

PA 332 362 358 324

W 14 7 6 5

L 0 7 8 9

T 0 0 0 0

Pct 1.000 .500 .429 .357

PF 449 302 311 350

PA 278 312 353 432

W 10 9 5 5

L 4 5 9 9

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .714 .643 .357 .357

PF 347 296 289 302

PA 265 272 352 363

W L 12 2 9 5 6 8 4 10

T 0 0 0 0

Pct .857 .643 .429 .286

PF 445 370 241 202

PA 269 248 294 339

SOUTH y-Carolina Atlanta Tampa Bay New Orleans

NORTH x-Green Bay Minnesota Chicago Detroit

WEST y-Arizona x-Seattle St. Louis San Francisco

GP W L Penticton 36 31 4 Salmon Arm 34 21 9 West Kelowna 36 20 14 Vernon 39 16 20 Trail 36 17 19 Merritt 37 12 23

T OL GF GA Pt 1 0 150 76 63 2 2 142 97 46 0 2 137 128 42 0 3 161 131 35 0 0 111 143 34 0 2 126 161 26

ISLAND DIVISION GP W L

36 18 13 34 18 14 38 14 20 35 13 19

T OL GF GA Pt

2 3 126 154 41 0 2 119 98 38 0 4 102 112 32 2 1 98 136 29

MAINLAND DIVISION GP W L 34 23 7 36 21 10 35 21 13 36 15 16 37 9 26 34 5 28

x â&#x20AC;&#x201D; clinched playoff spot y â&#x20AC;&#x201D; clinched division 0RQGD\¡V UHVXOW Detroit 35 New Orleans 27 Thursday's game San Diego at Oakland, 8:25 p.m.

Saturday's game Washington at Philadelphia, 8:25 p.m.

Sunday's games Houston at Tennessee, 1 p.m.

Cleveland at Kansas City, 1 p.m.

New England at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m.

Indianapolis at Miami, 1 p.m.

San Francisco at Detroit, 1 p.m.

Dallas at Buffalo, 1 p.m.

Chicago at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m.

Carolina at Atlanta, 1 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore, 1 p.m.

Jacksonville at New Orleans, 4:05 p.m.

St. Louis at Seattle, 4:25 p.m.

Green Bay at Arizona, 4:25 p.m.

N.Y. Giants at Minnesota, 8:30 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 28 Cincinnati at Denver, 8:30 p.m.

NCAA BOWLS $W %RLVH Akron 23 Utah State 21

L

Pct

GB

7 12 12 11 11 12 11 12 12 13 15 14 18 20 29

.720 .600 .600 .593 .593 .586 .577 .571 .556 .536 .483 .462 .379 .286 .033

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 21/2 21/2 3 3 3 1 3 /2 31/2 4 41/2 6 61/2 9 111/2 1 19 /2

Golden State San Antonio Oklahoma City L.A. Clippers Dallas Memphis Houston Utah Phoenix Denver Minnesota Sacramento Portland New Orleans L.A. Lakers 7XHVGD\¡V UHVXOWV

W

L

Pct

GB

26 24 19 16 15 16 15 12 12 11 11 11 11 8 5

1 5 9 13 13 14 14 14 18 17 17 17 19 19 23

.963 .828 .679 .552 .536 .533 .517 .462 .400 .393 .393 .393 .367 .296 .179

â&#x20AC;&#x201D; 3 71/2 11 111/2 111/2 12 131/2 151/2 151/2 151/2 151/2 161/2 18 211/2

Memphis 104 Philadelphia 90 Detroit 93 Miami 92 Toronto 103 Dallas 99 L.A. Lakers 111 Denver 107 0RQGD\¡V UHVXOWV Washington 113 Sacramento 99 Boston 113 Minnesota 99 Orlando 107 New York 99 Brooklyn 105 Chicago 102 Houston 102 Charlotte 95 Atlanta 106 Portland 97 San Antonio 106 Indiana 92 Utah 110 Phoenix 89 Oklahoma City 100 L.A. Clippers 99 :HGQHVGD\¡V JDPHV New York at Cleveland, 7 p.m.

Sacramento at Indiana, 7 p.m.

Houston at Orlando, 7 p.m.

Memphis at Washington, 7 p.m.

Boston at Charlotte, 7 p.m.

Dallas at Brooklyn, 7:30 p.m.

San Antonio at Minnesota, 8 p.m.

Portland at New Orleans, 8 p.m.

Philadelphia at Milwaukee, 8 p.m.

Detroit at Atlanta, 8 p.m.

Denver at Phoenix, 9 p.m.

Utah at Golden State, 10:30 p.m.

Oklahoma City at L.A. Lakers, 10:30 p.m.

SKIING WORLD CUP 0(1¡6 6/$/20 $W 0DGRQQD GL &DPSLJOLR ,WDO\ (Individual run times in parentheses) 1. Henrik Kristoffersen, Norway, 1 minute, 37.80 seconds (47.34-50.46) 2. Marcel Hirscher, Austria, 1:39.05 (48.37-50.68) 3. Marco Schwarz, Austria, 1:39.39 (49.45-49.94) 4. Guiliano Razzoli, Italy, 1:39.47 (48.67-50.80) 5. Luca Aerni, Switzerland, 1:39.64 (50.13-49.51) 6. Fritz Dopfer, Germany, 1:39.76 (48.87-50.89) 7. Jean-Baptiste Grange, France, 1:39.97 (48.94-51.03) 'LG 1RW 4XDOLI\ )RU QG 5XQ 7UHYRU 3KLOS &DOJDU\ 'LG 1RW )LQLVK VW 5XQ (ULN 5HDG &DOJDU\

SLALOM STANDINGS

BOCA RATON BOWL Toledo 32 Temple 17 0RQGD\ V UHVXOW

MIAMI BEACH BOWL Western Kentucky 45 South Florida 35 Wednesday's games

POINSETTIA BOWL $W 6DQ 'LHJR Northern Illinois (8-5) vs. Boise State (8-4), 4:30 p.m. (ESPN)

GODADDY BOWL $W 0RELOH $OD Bowling Green (10-3) vs. Georgia Southern (8-3), 8 p.m. (ESPN) Thursday's games

BAHAMAS BOWL T OL GF GA Pt 1 3 138 80 50 3 2 122 83 47 1 0 137 108 43 1 4 117 142 35 0 2 84 164 20 1 0 84 175 11

W 18 18 18 16 16 17 15 16 15 15 14 12 11 8 1

WESTERN CONFERENCE

NORTH

FAMOUS IDAHO POTATO BOWL

INTERIOR DIVISION

Chilliwack Wenatchee Langley Coquitlam Prince George Surrey

L 2 5 8 9

(Subject to Change) 7XHVGD\ V UHVXOWV

BCHL

1DQDLPR Cowichan Vally Powell River Victoria Alberni Valley

W 12 9 6 5

WEST OL 1 1 1 3 3

U.S. DIVISION GP W L 33 19 11 32 19 11 34 17 13 33 16 16 34 14 19

y-New England N.Y. Jets Buffalo Miami

Cleveland Toronto Atlanta Indiana Miami Detroit Chicago Orlando Charlotte Boston New York Washington Milwaukee Brooklyn Philadelphia

At Nassau Middle Tennessee (7-5) vs. Western Michigan (7-5), noon (ESPN)

HAWAII BOWL $W +RQROXOX Cincinnati (7-5) vs. San Diego State (103), 8 p.m. (ESPN)

(After 10 races) 1. Henrik Kristoffersen, Norway, 200 pts.

2. Marcel Hirscher, Austria, 160 3. David Chodounsky, U.S., 79 4. Marco Schwarz, Austria, 73 5. Manfred Moelgg, Italy, 68 6. Julien Lizeroux, France, 60 6. Felix Neureuther, Germany, 60 6. Patrick Thaler, Italy, 60 9. Alexander Khoroshilov, Russia, 54 10. Daniel Yule, Switzerland, 53

OVERALL STANDINGS (After 13 races) 1. Marcel Hirscher, Austria, 623 points 2. Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway, 600 3. Kjetil Jansrud, Norway, 407 4. Henrik Kristoffersen, Norway, 389 5. Victor Muffat-Jeandet, France, 294 6. Felix Neureuther, Germany, 269 7. Ted Ligety, U.S., 248 8. Peter Fill, Italy, 235 9. Guillermo Fayed, France, 206 10. Travis Ganong, U.S., 204

NBA

DeRozan pours in 28 points in Raptorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 103-99 win LORI EWING THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO â&#x20AC;&#x201D; DeMar DeRozan scored 28 points, and Bismack Biyombo grabbed a career-high 20 rebounds to lift the injury-riddled Toronto Raptors over the Dallas Mavericks 103-99 on Tuesday.

Kyle Lowry had a double double with 17 points and 10 boards and added seven assists for the Raptors (18-12), who were down to nine players by the second half. Terrence Ross

scored 16 points, while Luis Scola chipped in with 15 and Cory Joseph had 12.

Dirk Nowitzki led the Mavs (15-13) with 20 points, while Wesley Matthews added 15.

Already missing starters Jonas Valanciunas (broken hand) and DeMarre Carroll (knee injury), the Raptors lost another forward when James Johnson sprained his ankle in the pre-game warmup. Patrick Patterson, who was suffering what

the team called â&#x20AC;&#x153;flu-like symptomsâ&#x20AC;? didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t return after halftime.

Two nights after their worst first quarter of the season â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a 104-94 loss â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a fired-up Raptors squad rebounded with its best. They ended the first up 32-16, both their largest first-quarter lead this season, and fewest points theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve allowed.

The Mavericks had the Raptors in trouble in the third when they pulled to within three points, and the Raptors led just 72-67 going into

the fourth quarter. But back-to-back threes by Joseph sparked a Raptorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; 10-0 run that gave them a 16-point advantage with just under six minutes to play.

The Mavs would make a game of it down the stretch, pulling to four points with 1:20 to play on consecutive baskets by former Raptor Charlie Villanueva.

Villanueva and J.J. Barea drained back-to-back threes, the second with 26 seconds left pulling the Mavs

within two points. DeRozan scored on a tough layup, before Jeremy Evans responded at the other end for Dallas.

Ross scored on a pair of free throws in the dying seconds, sending the Raptors into the Christmas break with a victory. The Raptors dominated the boards 53-34 and shot 47 per cent on the night.

DeRozan led the way with 10 points in the first quarter as the Raptors raced out to an 18-point.

www.nanaimodailynews.com

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015 GARFIELD

@NanaimoDaily

DIVERSIONS 25

CROSSWORD

WHAT’S YOUR ANGLE? ACROSS 1 Sitcom set in Korea 5 Stars and Stripes, for one 9 Subside 14 Actress Hathaway 15 Brief part of a poem 16 Computer repair experts 17 Top-billed performer 18 Memo-routing abbr.

19 Gawks at 20 Where almost-remembered things are 23 Bullfight cheer 24 Split-__ soup 25 Blood vessel 29 Egyptian boy king 31 Too hasty 35 Deep ravine 36 Mid-afternoon 38 In addition 39 Battle imaginary enemies 42 Early afternoon 43 Waters down 44 Have a longing for 45 Remainder 47 Print-shop purchase 48 Poked fun at 49 Harry Potter’s pal Weasley 51 “That’s awesome!”

52 Low-fat burger meat 60 Brass section 61 Enthusiastic 62 Subtle glow 63 Wonderland visitor 64 Constructed 65 Wide smile 66 Frozen rain 67 Said “not guilty,” perhaps 68 Ballad or carol

FOR BETTER OR WORSE

ANDY CAPP

ZITS

DOWN 1 Sailboat’s pole 2 Prefix for freeze 3 Break sharply 4 Role model

PREVIOUS PUZZLE SOLVED

5 In no uncertain terms 6 Limber 7 Initial poker cost 8 Fellow 9 Show remorse 10 Non-chooser, it’s said 11 Rights org.

12 “With this ring, I __ wed” 13 Twisty letter 21 Printed page’s appearance 22 Chose, with “for”

25 Role player 26 Major German river 27 Stories from Chaucer 28 Superlative ending 29 Use your brain 30 Coffee dispensers 32 Almanac section 33 Puzzle out 34 Sprayed from a hydrant 36 Two-screen cinema 37 Hosted a banquet 40 Inanimate object 41 Nest-egg letters 46 Hypnotic state 48 Kept an eye on 50 Beginning stage 51 Tour conductor 52 Just hang around 53 Lake near Niagara Falls 54 Turnpike turnoff 55 Cameo shape 56 Lots of luggage 57 Money in Spain 58 Emerald Isle 59 Cobra’s tooth 60 Owns

HI AND LOIS

HAGAR

» EVENTS // EMAIL: EVENTS@NANAIMODAILYNEWS.COM WEDNESDAY, DEC. 23

SATURDAY, DEC. 26

TUESDAY, DEC. 29

7 p.m. Open Mic Acoustic night with Dave Marco, every Wednesday at Smoke‘n’ Water Restaurant, Pacific Shores Resort, 1-1600 Stroulger Rd., Parksville

6-8 p.m. Saturday Music at New York Style Pizza dishes up their award-winning pizza and their legendary Manhattan salad, along with Marty Steele playing swinging jazz, blues, and classic rock favourites on his keyboards.

7:30 p.m.‘Amahl and the Night Visitors,‘ opera at Ecumenical Centre, 6234 Spartan Rd. Tickets: Port Theatre, 250-754-8550 or www.porttheatre.com..

THURSDAY, DEC. 24

7 p.m. Dave Marco, at Smoke‘n’Water Restaurant, Pacific Shores Resort, 1-1600 Stroulger Rd., Parksville.

THURSDAY, DEC. 31

FRIDAY, JAN. 1

5-8 p.m. Parksville free New Years Eve celebration. Oceanside Place, 830 West Island Highway, Parksville

Noon Parksville polar bear splash. A way to start the year, as a participant, spectator or volunteer. Register onsite at 11:30 am. Free

WEDNESDAY, DEC. 30

FRIDAY, DEC. 25.

Merry Christmas!

1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Christmas pantomime: The Emperor’s New Clothes Bailey Studio.

Tickets at www.nanaimotheatregroup.ca.

MONDAY, DEC. 28 4 p.m. Halbe Hall Monday Market, 8369 North Island Highway, Black Creek.

event. Phone RDN, Recreation and Parks 250752-5014. Parksville Community Park, 141 East Island Highway.

SATURDAY, JAN. 2

8 p.m.-midnight New Years Eve Party, includies a five-course dinner and champagne toast East Bound Train is an energetic new band on Nanaimo’s music scene with a unique smoky country/rockabilly sound.

Tickets $89, Smoke ’n’Water Restaurant, 1-1600 Stroulger Rd., Parksville.

SUNDAY, DEC. 27 8 p.m. Live at Longwood, free live music series every Thursday at the Longwood brew pub.

5775 Turner Rd., Nanaimo.

5-10 p.m. Finale 2015: Nanaimo’s biggest family New Year’s Eve event $32 family, $10 or free two and under. Beban Park, 2300 Bowen Rd., Nanaimo

7 p.m. Ladysmith Comedy Night with Sophie Buddle & Amber Harper Young with special guests at Music Hall Food Co., 18 Roberts St., Ladysmith. Tickets $15 at the door.

SUNDAY, JAN. 3 Noon-4 p.m. Nanaimo Search and Rescue Christmas tree chipping. Country Club Centre Dairy Queen Parking Lot ,190 Island Hwy. North, Nanaimo.

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26 DIVERSIONS BLONDIE

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HOROSCOPE

by Jacqueline Bigar ARIES (March 21-April 19) Confusion is likely to surround communication. Confirm meetings, places and times. If you hit a snafu, don’t stand on ceremony, as you will succeed only in distancing the other party further away from you. Be as explicit as you possibly can be.

Tonight: The life of the party.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You could be a bit uncomfortable with someone at a distance or news that heads your way. You might be in an even more difficult situation than you realize. Say little, and just go with the flow. Be as flexible as you can be right now. Tonight: Meet a friend to share some holiday cheer.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) You could be overly tired and trying to deal with a situation that seems to be common in your experience yet one that you are not comfortable with. People seem to want more from you than you are able to give. A power play is a likely result.

Tonight: Enjoy the person you are with.

CANCER (June 21-July 22) Defer to others, as you have much more to gain by listening than by acting.

As a result, you will understand someone better. This person can be difficult and controlling. You might want to take a stand with this person. Be careful! Tonight: Accept an offer that might be too good to be true.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Your sense of those around you could be far more accurate than you might real-

BABY BLUES

BC

WORD FIND

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

ize. Solutions can be easily found if you just relax. Be willing to revise your schedule if need be. Do not hang on to issues rigidly. Tonight: Stop by at a friend’s who is having a get-together.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) You could feel pressured by a family member who has clout, an older friend or perhaps a boss. You probably will opt not to take this person on. A family member might not go along with your plans, as he or she has something else up his or her sleeve. Tonight: Let spontaneity rule.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Be whimsical as well as adventurous.

You can expect quite a reaction from others, as you pioneer a path that surprises them. A partner finds your actions to be exciting, but he or she also could become somewhat intimidated. Tonight: Read between the lines, and you can’t go wrong.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) One-on-one relating evokes a strong response, no matter who the other party might be. You have an unusual intensity about you right now. Others are likely to experience very strong reactions to this side of you. Tonight: Have an awkward conversation. Get it over with.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) You could be taken aback by a loved one’s sudden versatility. Don’t feel threatened; instead, enjoy this odd moment. Don’t try to control this person, either. Just go along with the moment, and the results will be a lot better. Tonight: Agree to a friendor loved one’s plans.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Pace yourself, and get past a problem. Make an important call and be willing share your feelings. You could be a little insecure, but so is the other party. A natural gawkiness surrounds this interaction. A family member is full of surprises.

Tonight: Join friends or family.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Your playfulness emerges when dealing with others. Recognize that they are not in the same headspace as you are. You might be surprised by how others respond to your mood. It is nothing personal, but you might not be able to let it go.

Tonight: Enjoy some eggnog.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Pressure builds around the homefront.

Someone you live with will let you know what his or her expectations are from you. Clearly, you did not have a clue. How you want to handle this situation could radically change because a conversation.

Tonight: Happiest at home.

YOUR BIRTHDAY (Dec. 23) This year you demonstrate a preference for relating to others on an individual basis rather than in a group.

You prefer getting to know those around you better, and you’ll maintain fewer but tighter relationships.

No matter what your status might be, excitement surrounds you. If you are single, you could meet a very dynamic individual who introduces you to a very different culture. Learn and accept different ways. If you are attached, the two of you get involved in a new interest together. This common thread adds to the dynamic of your bond.

SUDOKU CRYPTOQUOTE

www.harbourviewvw.com

Barrel of oil

Dow Jones

➜

Harbourview Volkswagen

➜

PREVIOUS SUDOKO SOLVED

$36.14 +$0.33

17,417.27 +165.65

Canadian Dollar

5,001.11 +32.19

S&P/TSX

➜

➜

The Canadian dollar traded Tuesday afternoon at 71.75 cents US, up 0.14 of a cent from Monday’s close. The Pound Sterling was worth $2.0647, down 1.36 cents while the Euro was worth $1.5262, up 0.12 of a cent.

➜

NASDAQ

13,082.86 +48.48

SOLUTION: CAMPED BY A BILLABONG

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

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PLUMBING

MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION! In-demand career! Employers have work-at-home positions available. Get online training you need from an employertrusted program. Visit: CareerStep.ca/MT or 1-855-7683362 to start training for your work-at-home career today!

FULL SERVICE plumbing from Parker Dean. Fast, reliable, 24/7 service. Take $50 off your next job if you present this ad. Vancouver area. 1800-573-2928.

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SOCCER CORRUPTION

UEFA President Michel Platini arrives at a press conference in 2014. [AP PHOTO]

World Cup votes sparked investigation ROB HARRIS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

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It with heavy hearts we say good bye to It's

Marlene Tulak

October 4, 1945 - December 17, 2015

Our loving wife, mother and Nana.

Survived by her husband Brian, son Al (Kim), daughter TC (Robbin), grandchildren Jen (Trevor), Melissa (Nick) Tony (Courtney) Angie (Kyle) Hollie, Ben and Annie great grandchildren Makayla, Aaliyah.

Mother Lily Edmonds, sister Jean (Dennis), aunts, cousins and countless friends.

A celebration of life will be held at a later date.

In lieu of ďŹ&#x201A;owers a donation to the Palliative Care unit at NRGH H on Marlene's behalf would be greatly appreciated.

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Silver wings shining in the sunlightâ&#x20AC;? htâ&#x20AC;?â&#x20AC;?

Your Community, Your ClassiďŹ eds.

Call 1-855-310-3535

LONDON â&#x20AC;&#x201D; After five years of tumult, the far-reaching fallout from FIFAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s decision to send the World Cup to Russia and Qatar has brought down another two voters â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini â&#x20AC;&#x201D; but not the hosts themselves.

No FIFA executive has been directly punished over how and why they voted in December 2010. And investigators have failed to unearth anything that warrants stripping Russia and Qatar of soccerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s showpiece tournaments in 2018 and 2022 respectively.

But the vote had a big part to play in the eight-year bans handed out Monday to FIFA president Blatter and Platini, a FIFA vice-president and head of European soccerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ruling body, UEFA.The punishments given

by FIFAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ethics committee stemmed from financial inquiries that were sparked by suspicions about the 2010 vote, when two host countries were selected concurrently for the first time.

For Blatter, Mondayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s verdicts also contained a bitter irony.

Blatter himself had initiated the phase in the investigation that ultimately led to him being exiled by FIFAâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ethics judge from the organization he had run for 17 years. Facing a fresh wave of pressure and suspicion around FIFA in November 2014, Blatter lodged a criminal complaint with Swiss authorities, authorizing them to receive the full secret World Cup bidding investigation he claims to have never seen. â&#x20AC;&#x153;If we had anything to hide, we would hardly be taking this matter to the Office of the Attorney General . . . (it) shows that FIFA is not opposed to transparency,â&#x20AC;? Blatter said at the time with typical bravado.

Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a decision Blatter will be regretting, even if he had little control over a move requested by FIFA judge Hans-Joachim Eckert.

As federal prosecutors started to trawl through some 900 pages of FIFA evidence amassed by American attorney Michael Garcia they switched their focus to bank accounts linked to the 2010 voters.

www.nanaimodailynews.com

28 SPORTS

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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

GOLF

SOCCER

Signature shots from each major, and one that was extra special

TFC star is U.S. player of the year THE CANADIAN PRESS

Jordan Spieth’s wins at the Masters, U.S. Open featured some tough, big-time shots Doug Ferguson On The Fringe

J

ason Day’s drive. Jordan Spieth’s flop shot. Zach Johnson’s putt.

Major championships produce shots that can be more memorable than the winner holding the trophy. Zach Johnson with a claret jug? The more lasting image from the British Open was Johnson holding his crouch and slowly clenching his fist on the 18th green at St. Andrews. And then there are shots that stand out only to the player. The three major champions were asked what they thought was the signature shot from their victory, along with a shot that was particularly pleasing to them because of the circumstances or the quality of the shot.

THE MASTERS In a wire-to-wire win, the biggest moment for Spieth was on the 18th hole in the third round. A seven-shot lead only 20 minutes earlier was down to four shots, and it looked certain to shrink even more when he missed the 18th green well to the right behind the bunker. In a risky move, Spieth hit a flop shot that helped him save par and set the tone for the final round.

“That was the key shot,” he said.

“You could pitch it 15 feet in front and hit it hard enough to at least be on the green. But given the severity of that slope, it’s going to roll out. A good shot would be 15 feet. I decided to hit a higher one and spin it. That shot is certainly one I don’t want over again. It was one-in-five getting it up and down.”

Not so obvious was the 5-iron on the par-5 13th. He had about 190 yards to the front from the left side of the fairway, but the ball was nearly knee-high because of the slope. He was coming off a three-putt bogey on No. 12. The danger comes from ball above his feet because the swing is flatter with less speed, and the ball won’t go as far.

Spieth provided his own commentary: “Go hard! GO HARD! GO HARD! GO!” It narrowly cleared the creek and set up a two-putt birdie. Asked how many times he barked instructions to his golf ball, Spieth said, “Less out loud than what was in my head. But still enough.”

U.S. OPEN The winning shot for Spieth turned out to be a 3-wood on the par-5 18th at Chambers Bay, and he felt he couldn’t miss.

“I had 281 (yards), but I only had 238 to cover the front,” he said. “The only other option was this 3-iron I

Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley was named U.S. Soccer’s male player of the year on Tuesday. It’s first time Bradley has won the award.

Bradley earned 18 caps for the U.S. national team and scored three goals with six assists. He was named captain of the U.S. team ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Bradley captained the U.S. in 16 of his 18 matches in 2015. He has earned 109 caps with 15 goals for the U.S. throughout his career.

Bradley helped lead Toronto FC to its first playoff appearance in club history this past season. He made 26 appearances (MLS league play and playoffs), scoring five goals and adding six assists for the Reds.

“We are very happy for Michael, his contributions for both club and country certainly speak for themselves,” said Toronto FC general manager Tim Bezbatchenko. “On behalf of everyone at Toronto FC, we congratulate Michael on this great achievement.”

Voters included national team coaches and staff, men’s national team players who appeared in 2015, men’s national team and youth national team coaches, Major League Soccer and North American Soccer League head coaches, and select former players, administrators and media.

RUGBY Jordan Spieth chips from the gallery on the 18th hole during the third round of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga., on April 11. [AP PHOTO]

“That shot is certainly one I don’t want over again. It was one-infive getting it up and down.“ Jordan Spieth

was carrying, but it was off an up slope. I hit 3-wood and cut it. As long as I hit a fade, nothing could go wrong, so ultimately I ended up in a perfect yardage. I could miss it really bad and carry the front.”

It bounded to the back of the green and rolled back to about 10 feet for a two-putt birdie. Lost in a wild final hour was a simple par that really wasn’t that simple. Spieth’s tee shot on the par-3 15th rolled back off the front, and the slope was much like the elevation at Augusta National — you have to see it to believe it.

“That slope was taller than me,” he said. “You had to judge the speed the right way. I had to cast it out to the right, but if I hit it too hard it goes 12 feet by. I can’t be short or I’m re-hitting.

“It was perfect speed and went to four or five feet for a manageable second putt.”

Only after he made that putt did Spieth look at a leaderboard on the back nine and see that he was tied for the lead.

BRITISH OPEN Johnson figured he had to make birdie on the 18th at St. Andrews to reach 15 under and have a chance.

Known for his wedge game, this wasn’t his best — some 30 feet behind the hole — “but I at least gave myself a look at it.”

Give an assist to Danny Willett.

“Fortunately, I had a good read,” Johnson said. “He was three to five feet from me, so I had a good look at it.

“I know the putt is left to right, and I know the putt at the end flattens out and potentially goes left, especially after seeing Danny.”

Two thoughts crept into his mind.

Johnson lipped out on the final hole a week earlier at the John Deere Classic that kept him out of a playoff.

“It’s not a good thought, but it went through my head.” And he considered the speed. That was a good thought.

“That green is not that fast,” he said. “I hit a solid putt, and I hit it perfect. It straightened out at the end, the last three feet it went left, and the rest is history.”

Not quite.

It got him into a playoff with Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen.

Just as meaningful to Johnson was the 10-foot birdie putt he made on No. 1 in the four-hole playoff. Oosthuizen made birdie from about 15 feet.

Johnson felt it was critical not to fall behind.

“The biggest of the week was the first putt in a playoff,” Johnson said.

“It was huge.”

PGA CHAMPIONSHIP It’s hard to find that one signature moment for Day, which speaks to the clinic he put on at Whistling Straits in winning at a record 20-under par.

It was after his worst shot that Day was at his best.

He had a two-shot lead going to No. 9, drilled a drive down the middle and Spieth was in trouble in the rough. A model of perfection all week, Day inexplicably chunked his wedge. With momentum at stake, he followed with another wedge to 8 feet and saved his par. Spieth made bogey and Day was on his way.

“To hit such a terrible shot and then come back and get up and down, it was a good momentum change,” Day said.

“To be able to hit a good pitch . . . that’s probably the biggest shot I’ve had to hit.”

It was a full, powerful swing that brought him just as much satisfaction, particularly the 382-yard shot on the par-5 11th that left him no more than a wedge to the green.

“Under those circumstances, it was the best drive I hit all year,” Day said.

“If I had an off week with my driver, no way I would have won.”

National team coach gets his new contract THE CANADIAN PRESS

TORONTO — Rugby Canada has agreed to a contract extension with men’s national team coach Kieran Crowley.

The new deal extends Crowley’s contract through August 2017, the anticipated month of Canada’s qualifying match for the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The former All Blacks fullback’s contract was set to expire in January.

The 54-year-old New Zealander took over the Canadian team in 2008.

Canada qualified for the Rugby World Cup in 2011 and 2015 under Crowley’s watch, but was eliminated in the pool stage at both tournaments.

Canada finished last in its pool at this year’s World Cup, losing all four matches to Ireland, France, Italy and Romania.

The Canadian men gave Italy a scare in a 23-18 loss and were edged

by Romania 17-15 but were thumped

by Ireland (50-7) and France (41-18).

Canada, a Tier 2 rugby nation that does not have a domestic pro league, is currently ranked 19th in the world.

29 nanaimodailynews.com

@NanaimoDaily

FINE VINES

Eileen Bennewith Nutrition Notes

Keep your wits around holiday food challenge

D

Wine making all over the world depends on many factors. Just a 90-minute drive from Nanaimo is 40 Knots Vineyard and Estate Winery. This 24-acre vineyard just south of Comox has been planted on a large deposit of glacier rock and on land which was considered unsuitable for traditional crops.

Vineyard cultivates a rare niche in the Comox Valley 40 Knots Winery located in a micro-climate that provides for an exceptional Pinot Noir Lynett Burns The Lucky Gourmet

V

ancouver Island boasts yet another winery however, this one is not in our “wine region of the south island.”

Interestingly, this winery has found the niche of a little micro-climate in the Comox Valley.

Just a 90-minute drive from Nanaimo, this gem is more commonly known as 40 Knots Vineyard and Estate Winery.

This 24-acre vineyard just south of Comox has been planted on a large deposit of glacier rock and on land which was considered unsuitable for traditional crops.

But wine grapes are different. They like rock. Wine made from grapes grown in areas with large deposits

This wine mirrors many characteristics of the Pinot Noirs from New Zealand.

Bold aromas of raspberry, strawberry and cherry make your mouth water. of native rock will display more complexity, mineral qualities, and intriguing flavours.

The glacial sediment soil of 40 Knots Vineyard soaks up and retains the heat from the sun and radiating it back as the evening cools. A micro-climate created by the sea-sloping land benefits the vineyard with cooling night-time breezes.

And in the same way that challenges makes us stronger, these daily temperature variations on the vines build greater acidity, character, and intricacy in the wine.

Grapes make the wine for sure, but wine-making talent is still required.

Wine maker Matt Dumayne brings passion and experience to the 40 Knots team. An experienced wine maker with many vintner awards under his belt, Matt has been overseeing production of some 25 vintages and you can appreciate his experience when you taste 40 Knots wines.

Their Pinot Noir is exceptional.

A very lush Pinot Noir, this wine mirrors many characteristics of the Pinot Noirs from New Zealand. Bold aromas of raspberry, strawberry and cherry make your mouth water.

The texture has more weight in the mouth than most cool climate Pinot Noir. Subtle bouquets of earth, coffee bean and smoke compliment the fruit-forward style of this wine.

This is a perfect wine with which to pair sockeye salmon or grilled pork chops, an elegant expression of a noble grape, easily worth its $21.99 price.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

Next on the must-try list is the 40 Knots Whitecaps. A unique blend of Pinot Gris and Schoenberger, this zingy patio sipper is redolent of ripe stone fruit.

Clean aromas of pear and tangerine contribute to a fruit–salad-in-yourmouth experience.

All the grapes are harvested by hand and then slowly fermented to develop a flavour fusion that tantalizes the taste buds.

Off-dry, loaded with flavour, you can’t go wrong at only $17.99 a bottle.

Join us for a cheer when Lucky’s Liquor Store in Country Club Centre will be hosting the folks from 40 Knots Vineyard at our monthly wine club event on Jan. 7. » Lynette Burns is the manager for Lucky’s Liquor store in Nanaimo.

For information on all events, call 250-585-2275 or visit www.luckysliquor.ca.

ecember is here and the seasonal guilt it upon us. Already I’ve been asked several questions about how to survive “The Holidays.” Weight is the main issue but running a close second is the question of how to pull off this incredible extravaganza that will be the talk of the town for years to come.

Let’s begin with the weight issue.

Healthy people who generally eat a variety of foods in moderation and are active can usually survive a couple of weeks of festive foods. If they gain a little weight it resolves itself with the New Year and a return to their normal routine.

When confronted with a whole season of buffet dinners, do some pre planning. Try to eat something before you leave so you do not go to parties starving. On party days try to include some physical activity.

I like to do a couple of laps of the local mall and park my car at the end of the parking lot where the only available parking space can be found anyway. When you visit the home of a good cook just wear clothes that stretch. Finally, please remember that it is only polite to share your box of chocolates with others.

My advice around the second issue is similar — keep your wits about you, think about what is important.

Just how many types of cookies are really necessary? Must you repay all your social obligations at this time, maybe a barbeque next summer would be better.

The thing I really like about Christmas is that I don’t have to reinvent it every year. I know that the tree goes by the window; the nativity scene is on the mantle; and children of all ages like to decorate sugar cookies.

My grandmother taught me that it isn’t Christmas without lebkuchen and marzipan. These traditions link me to family and friends wherever they are. That keeps me grounded.

So, if friends drop in, put on the kettle and make a hot drink. Fill a plate with homemade cookies, (sharing the cookies is another way to deal with the weight thing). I also like to fill a bowl with Christmas oranges and another with unshelled nuts. If it’s a larger gathering share the work — potlucks are great, or have the group over to make and eat dinner together. Plan get-togethers around fun activities like choosing your tree, carol singing or going for a walk to check out the neighbourhood light displays.

Get rid of the seasonal guilt, keep it simple and traditional and enjoy the Christmas season!

» Eileen Bennewith is a registered dietitian for Island Health. She can be reached at eileen.bennewith@viha.ca.

30 DIVERSIONS/ENTERTAINMENT

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@NanaimoDaily

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

If you think your brother is abusing Nicolas Cage returns Mom, contact protective services looted dinosaur skull CELEBRITY

Kathy Mitchell & Marcy Sugar Annie’s Mailbox Dear Annie: After my dad died, my mom went to live out of state with my brother and his wife. My brother took control of everything. He convinced her that she was incapable of making her own decisions and had her open joint bank accounts that he has full access to.

Recently, Mom confided that she has no idea why she can never get over a certain amount of savings in her account. She knows she should have more money put away, but fully trusts my brother and will not confront him about it. My brother has also pushed me out of my mom’s life.

He will not let me visit her or allow her to come to my home. I am lucky if I get to speak with her once a day on the phone.

My children miss their grandmother and can’t understand why there is such a drastic change in her behaviour. Family is just not family anymore and the holidays seem sad.

A division of

I don’t know what to do. My brother and his wife want nothing to do with their niece and nephew. Please help.

— Missing Mom Dear Missing: While it’s possible that your mother simply doesn’t remember what money is being put into her account, it is more likely that your brother is taking advantage of her — especially if he will not permit you to visit. This is very worrisome. If you believe your brother is being abusive toward Mom, either by stealing her money or preventing others from checking on her, please contact adult protective services in the city where she lives. In British Columbia, there is the Seniors Abuse and Information Line (SAIL), toll-free, at 1-866-437-1940.

Dear Annie: I read the letter from “Lonely Not Lusting,” the 80-yearold woman who went on a date with a man who seemed nice, but who grabbed her breast when saying goodnight. It reminded me of the comments that my doctors always make after my exams.

I am in my 80s and single. Both doctors always ask if I’m sexually active. Then they warn me to make sure that my partner has been to his doctor and been tested for STDs. This is the age of Viagra and a large percentage of their practice is devoted

to men with STDs, especially those living in assisted living and senior residences where the women greatly outnumber the men. The men I have been with lately think we women are all just waiting for them to ravish us. How stupid can they be? Please consider educating people on this subject.

— N. Dear N.: According to the CDC, the incidence of syphilis among seniors is up by 52 per cent, and the number of chlamydia cases has risen 32 per cent since 2007, many of these cases in retirement communities.

The increase is attributed to living longer, healthier lives, along with the accessibility of erectile dysfunction drugs. Many seniors seem to believe that if pregnancy is not an issue, condom use is unimportant. But as we get older, our immune systems weaken, making seniors much more susceptible to being infected.

We commend your doctors for discussing STDs with you. Medicare offers free STD screenings for seniors, and low-cost treatment for those who need it.

Please email your questions to anniesmailbox@creators.com, or write to: Annie’s Mailbox, c/o Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.

TOM HAYS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK — Nicolas Cage has agreed to give back a national treasure from Mongolia.

A publicist for the star of the National Treasure adventure films confirmed Tuesday that Cage was the unwitting buyer of a dinosaur skull that federal prosecutors in New York say was stolen. Prosecutors announced last week that they were seeking court approval to take custody of the 80-centimetre fossil so it could be returned to the Asian nation, but did not name the buyer.

Cage purchased the skull at auction from Los Angeles-based I.M. Chait gallery and auction house and received a certificate of authenticity, publicist Alex Schack said in an email. After being notified last year that authorities suspected the item was stolen, the actor “fully co-operated with the investigation, including arranging an inspection of the fossil by agents,” and later agreed to forfeit it, Schack said.

According to court papers, investigators believe the skull was looted from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia and shipped through Japan to Gainesville, Florida, in June 2006 bearing a false customs label.

#UsedHelps

The piece was auctioned in Manhattan in 2007, selling for $230,000 plus a commission that raised the total paid by the then-anonymous buyer to $276,000, the papers said. It had been marketed as an “extremely rare” Tyrannosaurus skull from the late Cretaceous period, which ended about 65 million years ago.

“The battery of huge, knife-like, serrated teeth are quite impressive and are in excellent condition,” court papers quoted the auction catalogue as saying of a skull that was 65 per cent complete. “Overall, this remarkable specimen is scientifically accurate and important.”

It was unclear whether the skull has ties to Eric Prokopi, a former fossils dealer who pleaded guilty to charges he smuggled multiple shipments of dinosaur bones between 2010 and 2012 that had been stolen from the Gobi Desert. Court papers say Prokopi had sold stolen fossils to I.M. Chait, which has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

Since 2012, prosecutors have used civil and criminal actions to return to Mongolia of several dinosaur fossils that include multiple Tyrannosaurus and other skeletons, dinosaur eggs and small prehistoric lizards and turtles.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

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LOS ANGELES — It’s not just a junkyard — or even a really big junkyard — but a living, breathing monument to Los Angeles pop culture. And now it’s headed for the dustbin of history itself.

For 54 years, Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking, in a moonscaped, god-forsaken-looking section of the San Fernando Valley, has collected far more than thousands of burned-out, smashed-up, rusted automobiles on its sprawling dirt and asphalt lot.

It’s also taken in just about every type of movie and TV prop imaginable while serving as the site of more than 200 Hollywood film shoots.

The last surviving “Bruce” the shark, made from the mould for the 1975 Steven Spielberg film Jaws, resides there, swimming ominously near an entrance. With its huge mouth agape, it appears ready to devour anyone foolish enough to try to sneak off the lot with, say, a pilfered power train from a ’32 Ford.

Now everything must go, says Nathan Adlen, owner of this hybrid junkyard-Hollywood backlot that’s been in his family since 1961 when this part of the valley was mainly a warren of sandand-gravel quarries and garbage dumps.

By New Year’s Eve, he promises, it will be 26 acres of bare land surrounded largely by warehouses and car-repair places as he contemplates what to do next with the property.

Adlen, who is selling most pieces and offering some to museums, isn’t sure what he’ll do with the shark, with its famous pedigree.

Adlen still remembers the day it arrived. His late father was buying old cars from Universal Studios to strip for parts when he was asked: “By the way, you interested in this?”

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OFFER ENDS JANUARY TH

Offer(s) available on select new 2015/2016 models through participating dealers to qualified retail customers who take delivery from December 14, 2015 to January 4, 2016. Dealers may sell or lease for less. Some conditions apply. See dealer for complete details. Vehicles shown may include optional accessories and upgrades available at extra cost. All offers are subject to change without notice. All pricing includes delivery and destination fees up to $1,715, $22 AMVIC, $100 A/C charge (where applicable). Excludes taxes, licensing, PPSA, registration, insurance, variable dealer administration fees, fuel-fill charges up to $100, and down payment (if applicable and unless otherwise specified). Other lease and financing options also available. ĭ0% financing for up to 84 months or up to $7,000 discount available on other select 2015 models. Discount is deducted from the negotiated purchase/lease price before taxes. Maximum $7,000 discount ($6,000 cash discount and $1,000 ECO-Credit) is offered on 2015 Optima Hybrid LX (OP74AF) only. Certain conditions apply. See your dealer for complete details. Representative Financing Example: Financing offer available on approved credit (OAC), on a new 2016 Sportage LX MT FWD (SP551G) with a selling price of $24,832 is based on monthly payments of $284 for 84 months at 0% with a $0 down payment and first monthly payment due at finance inception. Offer also includes $1,000 cash discount. Other taxes, registration, insurance and licensing fees are excluded. Cash Purchase Price for the new 2015 Optima Hybrid LX (OP74AF) is $24,752 and includes a cash discount of $7,000 including $6,000 cash discount and $1,000 ECO-Credit. Dealer may sell for less. Other taxes, registration, insurance and licensing fees are excluded. Cash discounts vary by model and trim and are deducted from the negotiated selling price before taxes. †“Don’t Pay For 90 Days” on all models (90-day payment deferral) applies to purchase financing offers on all new 2015/2016 models on approved credit. No interest will accrue during the first 60 days of the finance contract. After this period, interest starts to accrue and the purchaser will repay the principal interest monthly over the term of the contract. Offer ends January 4, 2016. & Representative Leasing Example: Lease offer available on approved credit (OAC), on 2016 Forte Sedan LX MT (FO541G)/2015 Optima LX AT (OP742F) with a selling price of $17,552/$26,452 is based on bi-weekly payments of $69/$119 for 60/36 months at 0% with $0 security deposit, $1,300/$2,000 discount (lease credit), $600/$1,950 down payment and first monthly payment due at lease inception. Total lease obligation $8,991/$9,287 with the option to purchase at the end of the term for $6,661/$13,215. Lease has 16,000 km/yr allowance (other packages available and $0.12/km for excess kilometres). °No charge AWD applicable on cash purchase of 2016 Sportage LX AT AWD (SP753G)/2016 Sportage EX AT AWD (SP755G)/2016 Sorento LX 2.4L AWD (SR75BG)/2016 Sorento LX + Turbo AWD (SR75DG) with an approx. value of $2,300/$2,400/$3,000 ($2,000 AWD credit and $1,000 in discounts)/$2,000 respectively. Some conditions apply. See dealer for details. §Open to Canadian residents who have reached the age of majority in their province or territory of residence who take a test drive at a Canadian Kia dealership between November 3, 2015 and January 4, 2016. 10 weekly prizes of a $3,000 itravel2000 voucher available.

Plus one $100 travel voucher per eligible test drive. Limit of one entry/test drive voucher per person. No purchase necessary. Skill testing question required. Some conditions apply. Go to kia.ca for complete details. **$500/$750 Holiday Bonus amounts are offered on 2016 Forte (Sedan, Koup and 5-door), 2015 Soul, 2016 Soul/2015 Optima, 2016 Sportage models and are deducted from the negotiated cash purchase, finance or lease price before taxes. Offer available from December 14, 2015 to January 4, 2016 only while supplies last. Certain conditions apply. ‡Model shown Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price for Optima SX AT Turbo (OP748F)/2016 Forte SX AT (FO748G)/2016 Sportage SX Luxury (SP759F) is $34,895/$26,695/$38,495. The 2015 Optima was awarded the 2015 Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for model year 2015. U.S. models tested. Visit www.iihs.org for full details. Government 5-Star Safety Ratings are part of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA's) New Car Assessment Program (www.SaferCar.gov). Information in this advertisement is believed to be accurate at the time of printing. For more information on our 5-year warranty coverage, visit kia.ca or call us at 1-877-542-2886. Kia is a trademark of Kia Motors Corporation.

500 OFF

$

Roy Berentsen General Sales Manager

Cannot be combined with any other offers.

Al Foster

Financial Services Manager

Krista Jakubowsky Financial Services Manager

ANY NEW OR USED VEHICLE PURCHASED WITH THIS AD BEFORE JAN 4/16

Christine Wright Sales Consultant

Grant Brown Sales Consultant

Rachel Roy Sales Consultant

Nick Symons Sales Consultant

1.888.389.1091

Cameron Ådams Sales Consultant

Dave Bare General Manager

32

www.nanaimodailynews.com

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2015

@NanaimoDaily

Sale

December 26th - January 2nd Boxing Day Hours: 9am -4 pm 2015

2015

VWPASSAT1.8

VWJETTA

Stk. PF136

was $ 29,724

2015

DEMO

was 22,480

VWTIGUAN Stk. SF114

Stk. JF100

was 45,170

$

NOW$23,970

$

NOW$18,970

NOW N OW$3 34, 34970 3497 497 970 0

FREE WINTER TIRES on n all new in stock vehicles 2006

VWJETTA Stk. SF142B

was $9,995

2012

VWJETTA SStk. B4959

was 11,995 $

2009

VWTIGUAN

was 17,995 $

Stk. SF150A

NOW 14,970

$

2012

AUDIA4

was $26,995

Stk. B4971

NOW 23,970

$

TOYOTAMATRIX Stk. B4952

FROM $ 9,970

NOW 9,970

$

was 44,995

NOW 39,970

$

Stk. B4866A

FROM 26,970

$

2015

AUDIA4ALLROAD was 53,995 $

Stk. B4896

NOW 46,970

$

was $14,995

NOW 12,970

$

2011

VWTOUAREG

Stk. B494 B4949 49 & B4951

NOW 23,970 Stk. B4926

VWGOLFWAGONTDI

RAM15 500 00

$

$

2010

2012 & 2013

Stk. B4886B

AUDIA4S-LINE

NOW 9,970

NOW 11,970

FOR RDF DF150

2015

was 13,995 $

was $12,995

$

$

2012

was $25,995

Stk. B4799B

$

2010

ON SELECT MODELS

ACURACSX

was $11,995

NOW 8,970

$

2006

Stk. SF133C

was 10,995

NOW 8,970

NOW 7,970

$

BMWX5

Stk. B4914A

$

MONTHS

2007

VWJETTATDI

VWGOLFCITY Stk. JE323B

UP TO

2009

2008

0% 84

FINANCING

was $38,995

Stk. TG103A

NOW 34,970

$

2015

AUDIQ5S-LINE was $54,995

Stk. B4905

NOW 47,970

$

Above “Now” prices do not include dealer fees or taxes. Prices based on cash deals or standard bank rate financing. No subvented VW finance rates available. Bi‐weekly payments include all fees & taxes with $0 down.

Harbourview Volkswagen 4921 Wellington Rd., Nanaimo

250-751-1221

www.harbourviewvw.com