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Mario Bartel storyteller photographer road hockey

Doo gets it done in Stanley Stick finale

Sunday Morning Road Hockey finished its 24th year with a climactic battle for the championship

Doo capped a season he’d rather forget with a memorable performance to lead his team to a 20-13 victory Sunday and a two-game sweep of the Stanley Stick championship series.

The speedy centreman scored a handful of goals, many of them spectacular individual efforts of footwork and persistence, to earn the Conn Stick award as the series most valuable player. He was the unanimous choice by the underdogs who were repeatedly victimized by Doo’s slippery moves and stickwork just as they seemed poised to get back into the series.

It was a stunning return to form for the lanky scorer who struggled to find the net at times during the regular season as he dealt with injury and personal issues.

“I had to make a commitment to play,” said Doo. “I’m proud I was able to do that.”

After romping to a relatively easy 20-6 win in last week’s series’ opener, Doo and his mates knew they’d be in for a tougher battle from their opponents in Sunday’s decider, as they were bolstered by the addition of two players, Ohio and Nouvelle Guy.

“There were definitely times we were under siege,” said Doo. “But I think we were pretty consistent all game.”

In fact the game seemed poised to get away from them entirely after the underdogs got to within one, 6-5; but a three-goal outburst reestablished their advantage and seemed to clip the underdogs’ growing confidence.

“That was a key point where we elevated our game,” said Doo. “Once you pull away like that you’ve got to keep your foot on the pedal.”

Joker said the trio of successive goals reversed the game’s tide back into their favour.

“We were losing momentum at that point and that was the catalyst we needed to hold the lead for the rest of the game.”

“That was kind of a backbreaker,” said Wink. “It gave us momentum and a cushion so we could give up a goal and not be too worried.”

The winners never trailed in the series, but that doesn’t mean their victory was easy. It took the solid execution of a defensive game plan to stifle the dangerous tandem of Cleveland and Ohio.

“Everybody knew the job they had to do; shut down their big shooters,” said Joker.

“I thought we had a really solid game plan and we stuck to it,” said Doo.

“There was a lot more battle,” said Wink, whose side added Holt and Coach to its lineup.
That gave them two full lines of players. And a challenge to establish chemistry quickly.

“The camaraderie we built on this team over two games was second to none,” said Joker.

“I think we found some chemistry and that will take you a long way,” said Doo, who settled into an effective combination with wily veterans Lak Attack and Wink after some initial line rolling.

“You don’t panic, you know you’re going to be able to complete passes,” he said of working with his senior wingers. “It really was a team win.”

Doo hoists the coveted Stanley Stick following his team’s sweep of the two-game finale.
Coach heads up court away from the pursuit of Bam Bam.
The 2015-16 Stanley Stick champions: Colonel, Joker, Wink, Lak Attack, Coach, Doo, Holt.
Colonel is confident his team will prevail. They never trailed in the championship series.
Nouvelle Guy gets a shot away.
Colonel and Bam Bam battle in the corner late in the game.
Nouvelle Guy knows he’s in a battle.
Cleveland’s speed and shifty footwork wasn’t enough to get his team back into the series.
Colonel is thwarted on a scoring opportunity by Twizzler.
Lak Attack and Cleveland battle for position.
Twizzler takes a break.
Twizzler eyes the evil orange plastic ball after it jammed in the outside of his net.
Cleveland streaks past Doo.
Cleveland tries to recover as his team attempts to extend the Stanley Stick finale to a decisive mini-game.
Doo eludes the check of Ohio. The speedy centreman was voted the series’ most valuable player.
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Brew day

This photo story originally appeared on Tenth to the Fraser

Brewing beer at Steel & Oak is part science, part art and a whole lot of toil.

Since opening in the summer of 2014, the craft brewery next to the Third Avenue overpass has already expanded its beer making capacity to 270,000 litres and added a bottling line. The tasting room has become a community gathering place; even baby momma groups meet there on some afternoons, their strollers parked akimbo amidst the tall industrial steel stools and wooden tables.

 

Wong weighs Perle hop pellets that will be added to one of the 1,700 litre brewhouse tanks.
Wong retrieves a storage vessel that will be filled with used mash.
Some of the beer ages in steel casks, while others are finished in oak barrels, hence the brewery’s name.
Brew day is a frenetic dance of multitasking as beer is brewed, empty tanks are cleaned and kegs are filled for shipment. Wong refuels with a banana.
The used mash is gathered in big 369 kilogram bins and shipped to a farm in Aldergrove where it’s used for feed.
Wong checks the progress of the beer brewing in one of two 1,700 litre brewhouse tanks.
A bucket of hops is ready to be poured into a brewhouse tank. Steel & Oak uses about 5,000 pounds of hops, in 50 different varieties, in a year.
Jordan “Chardonnay” Wong fills a cask amidst the towering 3,000 litre stainless steel tanks.
Brewmaster Peter Schulz ponders the day’s batch of red pilsner.
Wong checks the sugar content of the day’s brew, to ensure it’s ready for the next stage.
Steel & Oak has seven beer tanks that can hold a total of 270,000 litres of beer.
About 250-300 kilograms of malt is used for every 1,700 litres of beer brewed at Steel & Oak.

But it’s in the back where the magic happens.

In 18 months, brewmaster Peter Schulz has concocted 23 different beers, including new pilot beers every four-six weeks. The explosion of craft brewers in Metro Vancouver has made it a very competitive business said Schulz. The pressure is on for brewmasters to offer unique recipes.

Brew day at Steel & Oak is controlled chaos. Hoses are detached and reattached. Temperatures, sugar content and clarity are checked and checked again. Hops are weighed and added to the giant 1,700 litre brewhouse tanks. Water spills and sprays, running down the gently-sloped concrete floor to a trough amidst the forest of seven tall stainless steel vessels.

Schulz said making beer is very water-intensive; about seven litres is used for every one litre of beer that is produced.

It takes Schulz and his crew four weeks to brew ales, six weeks to produce a lager. That’s longer than most breweries, said Schulz. But the wait is worth it. His beers have won numerous awards, including best amber/dark ale at the 2015 BC Beer Awards last November.

Steel & Oak is located at 1319 Third Ave.

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Panama Papers a moral crisis that could spark change says UBC ethics expert

piles-of-money

Story by Mario Bartel

April 19, 2016, Vancouver

An expert on business ethics says the release of the Panama Papers could be the spark that ignites social movements to close the wealth gap between rich and poor.

David Silver, the  chair in Business and Professional Ethics at the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business, says the millions of documents that detail some of the ways corporations and individuals shelter wealth in off-shore tax havens represent a moral crisis that is “corrosive of democratic society.”

“Just because something is legal, doesn’t mean that it is moral,” says Silver, who’s also the director of the W. Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics that is comprised of social scientists and philosophers studying the ethics of business and professional procedures, new technology, healthcare and environmental practices.

The Panama Papers consist of more than 11 million files leaked from the database of Mossack Fonseca. The world’s fourth-largest offshore law firm specializes in creating shell companies where the elite can hide their wealth from tax collectors or other legal obligations like lawsuits or divorce settlements.

The documents were obtained by a German newspaper last year. Since then a consortium of investigative journalists from around the world have been sifting through them to uncover a shadowy world of some 200,000 companies that exist largely in name only to anonymously hold bank accounts and property in tropical tax havens like the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Panama.

So far 12 world leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates who have been implicated in using the tax havens. They include Russian president Vladimir Putin, the prime ministers of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, and Iceland, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson.

The latter resigned when the documents revealed he and his wife hid substantial assets in an offshore shell company even as Iceland faced a financial crisis that forced the country to seek bailout loans and impose currency controls.

Silver says while hiding wealth offshore isn’t illegal, it’s gotten worse in recent decades. He says that’s contributed to the growing gap between the rich and everyone else.

“There is less available to pay for essential public services like health, education and retirement security,” says Silver, a former philosophy professor whose research into issues like corporate taxes and offshore shelters precipitated his transition into business ethics. “Every citizen has an obligation to honestly declare all wealth and income, and to pay the taxes that their fellow citizens have democratically decided upon.”

Silver says seeing that activity documented in black and white confirms “the suspicion that the game is rigged; there are wealthy people and politicians in ‘corrupt’ countries that squirrel away money in ‘clean’ countries that are all too happy to accept it.”

While only one Canadian bank, RBC, has been linked to the Panama Papers, Silver says that’s enough to question whether the banks have been as forthcoming about offshore activities as leading corporate citizens should. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recently called for more transparency in global financial transactions.

While the full scope of the documents has yet to be revealed, and the implications of the leak are just beginning to play out, Silver says “at the very least, “it provides fuel for anger at the unjustness of it all.”

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Five years into our affair, Lapierre still moves me

This anniversary ode to my bike was originally published on my cycling blog, The Big Ring

Mario Bartel storyteller writer multimedia communicator blog cycling cyclist bike
Five years after my first ride on my Lapierre road bike, we are still in love!

Five years ago, Lapierre and I consummated our affair.

Ours had been a whirlwind courtship conducted from afar, loving glances at images of her in action.

Her supple curves and quiet confidence set her apart from the others, like the wispy, colourful Italians, the brash Americans, the functional yet unattainable Germans, the socially conscious Spanish. She had surprises, unexpected touches of endearing and exciting flare; the thumbprint of her creator, the racing rooster tattooed on one of her lithe limbs.

When finally we were in each other’s company, we knew ours was a relationship of destiny. Our first forays into the world as a couple were greeted with sideways glances, probing questions: Who is this Lapierre? How did you meet? What are your plans?

It’s funny to think back on the innocence of those early days when being together was all that mattered. Five years, and more than 20,000 kms on, we are still inseparable, still bonded.

Lapierre moves me when I’m mired in inertia. She challenges me when the road ahead rises up, protects me and wraps me in comforting confidence when it pitches down.

When we are together I want to travel as quickly as she will allow me, yet slow to enjoy our every moment.

I glow with pride when others give an approving nod, make a passing compliment.

While others succumb to fashion’s fickle trends, Lapierre’s beauty is timeless; there is no fluo in her wardrobe.

Some have questioned the future of our passion; will we stay together? They point to other seductive temptresses with their electronic baubles and more advanced bangles. They say just as Lapierre usurped my ardour for Orbea, a new love will catch my eye, tickle my desire, grip my heart.

Perhaps that will happen. You know what they say at the bike shop; once a wanderer, always a wanderer.

But in the warm spring sunshine, as Lapierre and I move as one, it’s hard to imagine…

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