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Port Moody’s first homegrown wrestling show is ready to go ‘over-the-top’

A year-long absence from the ring because of injury has helped birth Port Moody’s first homegrown wrestling show.

Oktober Slugfest takes place Saturday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m. at Site B Community Space (3012 Murray St.).

The event heralds the return to the squared-circle of former Canadian Apex Wrestling champion Dance Daddy DeNero, who hurt his knee the last time he fought at Site B, in Oct., 2024.

But DeNero, who favours a wardrobe of garish neon-coloured spandex and outsized goggles, was far from idle during his downtime.

DeNero and his alter-ego, workshare executive Mike Arboit, decided to go their own way and form Port Moody’s first hometown wrestling promotion company, Tapped Wrestling Federation.

The TWF aims to put on four shows a year at Site B, in partnership with The Fountainhead Network as well as Brave and Twin Sails breweries.

Take control

DeNero said the time was right to take full control of his own career as well as provide opportunities for other local pro wrestlers to develop their personas.

He said like his 1980s fashion sensibilities, TWF is a throwback to the colourful characters from that era like Hulk Hogan, Randy “Macho Man” Savage and Rowdy Roddy Piper, who helped propel the sport from dingy arenas and beer halls to 60,000-seat domed stadiums.

“It’s okay to have these over-the-top characters again,” DeNero said. “It’s part of the show.”

Not that Arboit has any illusions about taking his show from the 2-300 seats at Site B to BC Place anytime soon.

SUBMITTED PHOTO Port Moody wrestler Dance Daddy DeNero, in action at a recent card at Site B Community Space.

Arboit, whose Fountainhead Network workshare space recently merged with the company that runs Site B, along with Brave and Twin Sails, said the decision to bring together the various enterprises that already share a working relationship made logistical sense.

More than a ‘side project’

“It’s a lot of work to put on these shows,” Arboit said. “It’s time to look at it more as a business than a side project.”

Of course, working out the finer details like scheduling wrestlers, crafting storylines, finding sponsors and securing insurance, didn’t leave much time for training.

To ease his way back into the ring, DeNero will form half of a tag-team duo with the White Tiger, another veteran Port Moody wrestler who’s decided to cast aside the mask that used to hide his true identity and now flaunts his distinctive long handlebar moustache in all its flowing glory.

“We’re on the same page with a lot things,” DeNero said of their partnership. “We understand each other.”

DeNero said the key to the duo finding success in the ring will be putting aside individual egos for the sake of the team

Working together

“It’s not about who does the flashiest moves,” he said. “You have to work together, know when to tag your partner in at the right moment.”

Also on the card will be “Heartless” Sharif Morrow, who’s known for his aerial manouevres off the turnbuckles and top rope, going against up-and-comer Cyrus Maddox.

As well, there will be a “hard-core match” in which combatants BJ Laredo and “Bad Man” McCann are allowed to use pretty much anything they can get their hands on and haul into the ring, like tables, chairs to trash cans, to defeat their opponent.

And, of course, given the current state of cross-border tensions, there will be opportunities for fans to boo some bad guy wrestlers from Washington state deigning to assert their authority on Canadian good guys.

“You’ve got to go heavy with what works,” said DeNero.

“It’s something the community craves,” added Arboit about wrestling’s future in Port Moody.

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Workboat parade makes waves along New Westminster’s waterfront

More than a dozen craft of different sizes and tasks sailed along New Westminster’s waterfront on Saturday, Sept. 27.

The annual Lucille Johnstone workboat parade is part of the RiverFest celebration of BC River’s Day.

The event is named in honour of the late Lucille Johnstone who helped build Rivtow into one of the largest tugboat operators in the world. She was also a driving force behind Expo 86. She’s also a recipient of the Order of British Columbia and Order of Canada.

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Local high school football teams looking to make gains

St. Thomas More’s homecoming football game on Sept. 6 was just that for Knights’ head coach Jared Power.

The sports field behind the Burnaby school that hosted Notre Dame is named after his grandfather, Patrick Power, the patriarch of a family that’s been connected to STM for generations.

“It’s pretty cool and special for me to be able to head coach a program that meant so much to me as a kid,” said Jared Power, an alumnus of the school himself. “It is extra special to have the privilege to lead a team that defends its home field with my family name.”

This year’s Knights is laden with seniors hungry to improve on last season’s record of two wins and four losses followed by a quick exit in the first round of the playoffs.

But their experience will be tempered by the loss of several players to injuries even before practices started in late August.

“It feels like we have been ‘battle-hardened’ because of the setbacks the kids have already gone through,” Power said. “It should make for a team this is high in skill and motivation even if we lack depth.”

Power said he’ll be leaning on leadership from seniors like center Alex Jaspar, guard Aiken Chavez as well as running backs Milano Peloso, Tason Tran, Cristian Coletta and Steven Nicklin to ease the path into the varsity lineup for a pair of promising sophomore quarterbacks, Isaiah Smith and Ken Marasigan.

“They are very different athletes that offer very different strengths for our offense,” Power said. “It will be fun to watch them step up as young difference makers on our team.”

Tran, especially, could be a catalyst for success. He joined the football program last year after winning the provincial 100m track and field championship when he was in Grade 10.

“He will stand out an as absolute burner on the field,” Power said. “We are looking to him to be an explosive player for us on both sides of the ball.”

New Westminster Hyacks

After going 4-2 last season and reaching the third round the playoffs, New Westminster Hyacks co-coach Darnell Sikorski said his charges are ready and eager to take the next step.

“There’s a level of focus and hunger with this team that we might have lacked a bit the last few seasons,” he said. “They’re attentive and really want to improve.”

Sikorsky said the Hyacks’ strength will be its speed and versatility.

“We feel we have a group that can hurt teams in different ways.”

Leadership will come from senior quarterback Gavin Rai, who played the position part-time last season.

Sikorsky said his confidence and poise progressed during the spring season last May.

“He’s an intellectual guy who makes good decisions,” said Sikorsky of Rai.

“You can see him playing much more freely and he is letting the ball rip.”

Grade 12 linebacker Mateo McDonell is also one of the Hyacks’ biggest offensive threats running the ball out of the backfield.

Sikorsky said he’s a “fast, aggressive and versatile athlete.”

Newcomers to watch include linebacker Adriano Maranhao and wide receiver Nigel DeRasp.

Terry Fox Ravens

Staying healthy will be key to the fortunes of Port Coquitlam’s Terry Fox Ravens.

After a winless season in 2023, Fox improved to 3-3 in 2024 but fell short in its lone playoff game.

Ravens’ head coach Tom Kudaba said a rash of injuries late in the season sealed Fox’s fate.

“We will need to be healthy this year,” he said, adding more consistency and greater depth across the team’s lineup should help smooth the inevitable bumps and bruises.

Requiring fewer players to do double-duty on both offence and defence will also help.

“We think we will be able to stay fresher throughout the season,” Kudaba said.

Leadership will come from Grade 12 quarterback Bobby Tilley and his junior battery-mate, Ben Firth, with Grade 11 running back Cameron Seed carrying the ball and senior wide receiver Cole Samson ready to catch it.

Grade 11 linebacker Lukas Graham and senior outside linebacker Ethan Lafortune will be looked to for defensive leadership, Kudaba said.

Centennial Centaurs

Centennial Centaurs head coach Dino Geremia said his team has “growing and maturing to do” if it’s to improve on its .500 season last year.

“Building confidence and playing with confidence will be the factors that will help us make those improvements,” Geremia said.

Leading the way will be a trio of seniors; running back and safety Jasper Baron, quarterback Jacob Cusker as well as offensive and defensive lineman, Amir Ghambari.

Geremia said Ghambari has worked to improve each season.

“Amir is one of those players that has consistently gotten better and continues to just work and dedicate himself to being a great football player.”

Cusker is coming off a strong showing at the National Prospects game last spring in Hamilton, Ont.

“His leadership consistently shines through,” Geremia said.

Baron also played in Hamilton, where he finally had form after playing with a broken hand most of last season, though that didn’t stop him from making the conference All-Star team.

“He is always the hardest worker,” Geremia said.

Regular season begins Sept. 26

St. Thomas More opens its regular season schedule Sept. 26. The Knights host Carson Graham at the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West at 1:30 p.m.

Centennial plays Belmont at Gaudy Field in Victoria at 4 p.m. while the Terry Fox Ravens travel to Chilliwack to play G.W. Graham at 7 p.m.

The New Westminster Hyacks host Robert Bateman at 7:30 p.m. at Mercer Stadium.

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New faces fuel optimism for Coquitlam Express anniversary season

A few more fans might have been inclined to pick up lineup sheets for the Coquitlam Express prior to the team’s BC Hockey League home opener on Saturday, Sept. 20.

Only a handful of players from the squad that finished fifth in the Coastal West division last season and then lost its first round playoff series in six games to the fourth-place Victoria Grizzlies remain.

But Express head coach Jeff Wagner said the addition of several veterans who feel they still have something to prove makes for an enthusiastic, motivated group.

“The guys that we’ve added, they kind of have a fire in their belly,” said Wagner, who’s entering his second full season as bench boss of the Express. “There’s a lot of guys in that room that really want to win.”

The lineup revamp also meant a busy training camp for captain Cooper Wilson, who’s been charged with integrating the newcomers into the Express’ systems on the ice and culture off it.

“We play a style that some of these guys have never played before,” Wagner said. “So we just talk about the details and habits they need to do in order to be successful.”

The results through the preseason were encouraging, as Coquitlam won three of its four games.

Wagner said second-year defenseman Liam Loughery appears ready to elevate his game after his promising rookie season with the Express was cut short by an injury.

“He’s mature beyond his years,” Wagner said of Loughery, who’s from Pitt Meadows. “He’ll be a guy that we’re leaning on heavily.”

Newcomers bolster defense

Bolstering the blue line corps will be BCHL newcomers Tyler Russell, who played 27 games with the Wenatchee Wild in the Western Hockey League last season, and 18-year-old James Odyniec, the younger brother of former Express forward Joseph Odyniec.

As well, Wagner said he expects Will Distad, who scored 23 points in 27 games in his final season at White Bear Lake High School in Minnesota, to have an immediate impact in his first season of junior hockey.

“Despite our veteran presence, we really like our young guys as well,” Wagner said. “It’s a really nice blend.”

Veterans lead offense

Up front, familiar names include Nate Crema, who’s back for his third season with the Express after scoring 28 points in 45 games last year, and Carson McGinley, who contributed 17 points in 25 games after starting the season with the Vernon Vipers and then the Sherwood Park Crusaders.

They’ll be supported by veteran acquisitions like Cole Bishop, who joins the Express after two seasons with the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, and Port Moody’s Luke Pfoh, who’s played for the Langley Rivermen, Cranbrook Buck and Merritt Centennials.

Christian Maro spent the previous two season with the Powell River Kings, where he scored 54 points in 80 games, while Justin Ivanusic spent time with the WHL’s Vancouver Giants and Calgary Hitmen before playing last season with Camrose and Drayton Valley in the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

One rookie forward who’s likely to attract a lot of attention is Cole Bieksa.

The 18-year-old son of beloved Vancouver Canucks’ defenseman and current Hockey Night in Canada broadcaster, Kevin Bieksa, signed with the Express last February but spent much of training camp with the WHL’s Giants. He helped lead his Fairmont Prep program in Southern California to the national final last season, scoring 73 points in 55 games.

Goalie position wide open

The departure of starting goaltender Andrew Ness for Wilfred Laurier University has left that position wide open.

Ness blossomed in the Express net after he was acquired last November from the Penticton Vees, where he’d been playing a secondary role.

Wagner said he’s hoping former Trail Smoke Eaters’ backup Ryan Parker will follow a similar developmental trajectory.

Parker won 12 of the 20 games he played last season, including one shutout, and posted a .910 save percentage.

“He was part of probably one of the best goalie tandems in the league,” said Wagner of Parker. “He’s calm and he plays the puck really well so that helps our transition game.”

Also seeking time in the crease are returnees Logan Kennedy and Mitch Pearce.

Kennedy played in three games for Coquitlam last season, losing twice and allowing 11 goals, while Pearce allowed seven goals in his two appearances.

Wagner said he’s confident both will continue to progress under Parker’s mentorship.

Wagner said despite the high turnover of players, he’s setting high expectations for this milestone season.

“We’ve created a non-negotiable standard for our players to abide by,” he said. “The guys who are willing to compete and do what it takes to win are the guys you’ll see here at the end of the year.”

Express tame Grizzlies

Three goals in the third period powered the Express past the Victoria Grizzlies, 4-3, in Saturday’s season opener for both teams.

Trailing 3-1 midway through the final frame, a power play goal by Christian Maro at 12:42 sparked the late comeback.

Nolan Dupont tied it 3:09 later, then Nolan Flynn scored the game-winner with 2:45 remaining in regulation time.

Maro added an assist to lead all Coquitlam scorers.

Justin Ivanusec scored the other goal for the Express, 4:21 into the first period.

Ryan Parker stopped 27 of the 30 shots he faced in the Express net, one of them a penalty shot by Victoria’s Max Silver.

Coquitlam fired 42 shots at Grizzlies’ goalie Carter Capton.

The Express host the Chilliwack Chiefs on Friday, Sept. 26. Game time is 7 p.m. at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex.

Express honours quarter-century team

As part of Coquitlam’s 25th anniversary season, the team unveiled its Quarter Century Team of distinguished alumni as voted by fans.

Forward:

  • Kyle Turris
  • Mark Soares
  • Tyler McNeely
  • Alex Kerfoot
  • Corey Mackin
  • David Jones
  • Tyler Kopf
  • Brett Hemingway
  • Massimo Rizzo
  • Brandon Yip
  • Andrew Ladd
  • Ryan Tattle

Defense:

  • Brad Hunt
  • Keith Seabrook
  • Matthew Campbell
  • Marc Biega
  • Noah De la Durantaye
  • Alan Mazur

Goal:

  • Clay Stevenson
  • Mark Dekanich
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For this Port Moody teen, basketball is the quiet game

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on June 13, 2021

Playing a game in front of a gym full of raucous, cheering fans is a highlight for most high school basketball players.

For Olivia Pero, it’s kryptonite.

The Heritage Woods secondary school senior is deaf, and though she has cochlear implants that allow her to have normal, verbal conversations, a loud gymnasium with sounds and vibrations reverberating off the walls, hardwood floor and ceiling can be overwhelming.

That hasn’t held Pero back, though. In fact, she said, it’s made her more resilient, competitive and prepared to advocate for her disability.

Pero’s deafness was diagnosed when she was just six months old. She received her first cochlear implant — a small electronic device that delivers sound signals directly into a person’s auditory nerve — shortly thereafter.

As the only deaf person in her family, Pero said it was important everyone have the ability to communicate normally, although she also knows American Sign Language (ASL).

But, she explained, the implants don’t deliver a perfect experience. Ambient noise fuzzes up the system so she has to be in close proximity and she also supplements the electronic signals that create a sense of sound by reading lips.

Achieving both of those in the frantic action up and down the basketball court, with teammates all around calling for the ball and the coach shouting plays and positioning from the bench can be a challenge, she said.

“I really can’t hear on the basketball court.”

So Pero’s adopted various coping mechanisms and worked to educate her teammates and coaches on how they can adjust to her unique needs. Some of those include getting them to enunciate very clearly and look directly her way when speaking to her. Her coach at Heritage Woods, Ross Tomlinson, uses cue cards and colour-codes plays on his iPad so she can process them visually rather than aurally.

“Yelling out plays was not an option,” said Tomlinson, who’s coached Pero since she was in Grade Five — a year after she picked up the sport at a Steve Nash camp.

“Your visual response and body language when communicating with a player is just as important as what you are saying verbally.”

Pero said her hearing disability has been both a blessing and a curse, on and off the court. The focus she’s had to learn to be able to follow conversations or absorb lessons in the classroom can serve her well in the chaos of moving bodies and waving arms during a basketball game.

But all that concentration can be wearying. By the end of a busy day at school, she’s ready to remove her implants and just settle in silence to read a book.

Pero said not being able to finish out her high school basketball career because of the COVID-19 pandemic that put the brakes on all school sports since March, 2020, has been difficult. The team continued to practice through the winter, but, she admitted, motivation sometimes flagged.

Instead, Pero said she channelled her competitive energy into her studies and she started a support group for other deaf and hard of hearing students called CoCo.

Invisible disability

She said because deafness is an invisible disability, it can be hard to get the hearing world to understand and empathize with the challenges deaf people face daily.

Connecting with other students in the school district and providing a sounding board for them to share their experiences has been an important outlet.

Pero said one challenge that’s been unique to the past year is the face-masks everyone is required to wear in school and out and about in the community because of the pandemic. They may help keep everyone safe by limiting airborne spread of the virus, but they also hide lips and facial expressions that are vital components of communication for the deaf.

Another was online learning where teachers giving lessons to a mix of live students and those watching from home still wore masks and sounds echoed around the classrooms so Pero sometimes couldn’t tell who was talking.

Starting anew

In the fall, Pero heads to Trinity Western University in Langley to study biology, play basketball and begin anew the process of educating her classmates, teachers, teammates and coaches about how best they can communicate with her.

She said the school’s reputation for small classes and inclusivity should smooth the process.

“My motto is ‘nothing is going to stop me, I’ll just find a way to make it work,’” Pero said.

“It’s my way of living in the world.”

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‘It’s like winning the lottery;’ What a Mann Cup championship would mean for New Westminster, WLA

Paul Dal Monte was on the green wooden floor at New Westminster’s Queen’s Park Arena as a player the last time the Salmonbellies won the Mann Cup.

That was 34 years ago.

Now, as the commissioner of the Western Lacrosse Association, Dal Monte knows the importance of bringing the Canadian senior lacrosse national championship back to the old structure.

“From a league perspective, to have it played in Queen’s Park, where you’ve got 3,500 fans every night in a building with such tradition and history — you just have to look around at all the banners and retired jerseys to understand that this is something special,” said Dal Monte, who won three Mann Cups as a player but has yet to witness a WLA team win it during his tenure at the league’s helm that began in 2017.

Dal Monte said the success of the Salmonbellies is often the measuring stick against which the other WLA teams assess their own achievements.

After all, New West has won the Mann Cup 24 times.

And now, with the Bellies’ two appearances in the past three years, others are starting to pull up their bootstraps.

Dal Monte pointed to the Coquitlam Adanacs, which pushed the Salmonbellies to five games in the WLA final after years as the league’s doormat.

He said the Maple Ridge Burrards is another team on the rise again.

“It’s good for the league. There’s great awareness and passion,” Dal Monte said.

MARIO BARTEL PHOTO An honour guard from New Westminster Police Department stands watch with the Mann Cup.

It’s also good for the City of New Westminster, said Mayor Patrick Johnstone.

“Lacrosse is in its blood,” he said, equating the Salmonbellies and the team’s iconic logo of a salmon leaping through a giant W to hockey’s Montreal Canadiens and its distinctive CH symbol.

Johnstone said Queen’s Park Arena holds a special place in residents’ hearts, especially when it’s the centre of the lacrosse world.

“It’s the dusty old barn that rocks.”

Dal Monte said players feel that energy, especially if they’re part of a victorious home team.

“There’s that expectation and history that goes along with it because you are following in the footsteps of others,” he said. “It’s like winning the lottery.”

Mann Cup facts

  • The Mann Cup has been contested since 1910, after it was donated by Sir Donald Mann, an Ontario railroad baron and entrepreneur
  • There was no winner in 1916 and 1917 because of WWI, and the COVID-19 pandemic scuttled the 2020 and 2021 championships
  • For the first 22 years, the national senior lacrosse championship was played under traditional field rules
  • The first indoor championship was awarded in 1932 at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens
  • The Mann Cup trophy to be awarded to the winner of the series between the New Westminster Salmonbellies and Six Nations Chiefs is actually its third incarnation: the original was retired in 1985; the replica that replaced it was destroyed when it was accidently dropped into a bonfire as the Peterborough Lakers were celebrating their championship in 2004
  • The last WLA team to win the Mann Cup was the Victoria Shamrocks, in 2015
  • This year’s best-of-seven series begins Friday, Sept. 5, with game two scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 6. Games three and four are scheduled for Monday, Sept. 8 and Tuesday, Sept. 9. If subsequent games are needed, game five will be played Wednesday, Sept. 10, game six on Friday, Sept. 12 and game seven set for Saturday, Sept. 13. All games begin at 7:30 p.m. except the seventh game, which would begin at 7 p.m.
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From Iran to Anmore: A wrestling champion chases his dream of Olympic gold

A version of this story was first published in the Tri-City News on April 8, 2024

An Anmore wrestler is a step closer to realizing his Olympic dream.

On Sept. 3, Peiman Biabani was named to Canada’s national wrestling team that will compete at the senior world championships in Zagred, Croatia, Sept. 13-21.

Biabani will wrestle in the 65 kg weight class. He’d previously won silver and bronze medals for Canada at the Pan-American championships and in 2016 he was the junior world champion in the 60 kg weight class when he was still living and training in Tehran, Iran.

There, Biabani was a superstar in that country’s national sport.

Prior to becoming world junior champion, Bianbani won the junior Asian championships in 2015, just three years after taking up wrestling.

SUBMITTED PHOTO
Anmore wrestler Pieman Biabani was a champion in Iran before coming to Canada to pursue better opportunties to realize his Olympic dream.

To continue his development, Biabani attended a special sports academy that allowed him to train full-time 15 days out of 20 while also getting an education. All his expenses were paid for, as was his travel to competitions in countries like Bulgaria, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia.

But when decisions within Iran’s wrestling federation got in the way of Biabani’s further advancement, he knew it was time to forge another path to glory.

A chance discussion at a meet in Siberia with Dave McKay, of the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club, pointed Biabani to Canada. He talked to his family, who gave their blessing. Wrestling’s governing body in Iran also agreed to the move.

Then the COVID pandemic hit.

Biabani was forced to stay put for another year, training, staying optimistic but rarely competing at important meets like the 2021 world championships.

“It was real hard for me,” Biabani said of his delayed dream.

Meanwhile, in Canada, McKay worked diligently to secure the paperwork that would allow the young Iranian to live, train and compete in his chosen destination. He reached out to the close-knit community of wrestlers across the country to help fund Biabani’s move, find him a place to live and get him settled when he arrived.

“There was a lot of things to set up,” McKay said, including the hiring of lawyers to help Biabani navigate the tricky and lengthy process of attaining the proper visas as well as an international transfer from Iran to Canada in his sport.

When Biabani arrived in Canada on a visitor’s visa in late 2021, he didn’t know any English, and without status to compete for his new country, he had no funding to support himself.

But, said McKay, he knew the common language of the wrestling community.

An old contact of the coach found Biabani a family in Anmore where he could live. He volunteered to help out with coaching between his training sessions at Burnaby Mountain, as well as at other wrestling clubs at Coquitlam’s Pinetree Community Centre and in the Fraser Valley. To support himself and pay his expenses to get to competitions he took on labour jobs like flooring and construction.

“I don’t have any choice but to push myself,” said Biabani of the juggling required to stay on course with his training while managing the day-to-day challenges of life in a new country.

Results started to happen, at meets like the SFU Open.

In October 2023, Biabani achieved permanent residency and in January, 2024, he finally secured the international transfer that allows him to compete for Canada.

Biabani promptly won a silver medal at the 2024 Pan Am championships but he was injured just prior to the final so couldn’t compete for gold.

But Biabani was denied his dream of competing at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris because he hadn’t yet attained Canadian citizenship.

Biabani said it was a tough pill to swallow, but it’s only reinforced his resolve to keep working hard so he can represent his new country at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.

“Four more years is nothing,” Biabani said, adding the challenges of the past few years have given him the mental fortitude and patience to stick with his program.

“I moved here for my dream.”

McKay has every confidence his protégé will be successful.

“He didn’t have the chance, but now he has the chance,” he said, adding wrestlers usually reach the peak of their form when they’re in their early 30s; Biabani will be 31 in 2028.

“His time is now,” McKay said. “Every day counts to make it better for his wrestling.”

• Biabani is one of five athletes from the Burnaby Mountain Wrestling Club who will be competing for Canada in Zagreb. The other four are:

  • Karla Godinez, in the women’s 55 kg class
  • Ana Godinez, in the women’s 62 kg class
  • Patrik Leder, in the men’s 79 kg class
  • Nishan Randhawa, in the men’s 97 kg class

McKay will also be one of the team’s coaches.

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On frozen pond

In the midst of a late-summer heat wave, it’s time for some cooling images.

I shot these photos in January, 2024. We’d had several days of very cold days and nights, and I’d been monitoring the ice forming on a local lake in anticipation someone would eventually skate on it.

On a clear, crisp Sunday afternoon, my patience was rewarded.

We don’t get the opportunity to skate on frozen lakes and ponds very often in this part of the world, so it’s very special when it does happen.

My only regret: I didn’t bring my own skates.

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This Coquitlam Express player is having a career season. You’d never know he has a chronic disease

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on March 16, 2023

If you happen to spy Coquitlam Express forward Mateo Dixon checking his phone on the players bench during a game, he’s not calling his family back in Toronto about his latest goal, or texting his buddies.

He’s checking the level of his blood sugars.

Dixon has Type 1 diabetes.

Diagnosed when he was 13 years old, Dixon says he hasn’t let the autoimmune disease hold him back from attaining his athletic goals.

In fact, having Type 1 may have even accelerated his development as a hockey player.

Now 20 and in his final season of junior hockey, Dixon is having a career year, scoring 45 points in 49 games.

Not that his journey through the sport has been easy.

When your pancreas is working as it should, you don’t think about it.

Constant calculations

The elongated gland that sits in your upper abdomen tucked behind your stomach magically produces the enzymes that help you digest food and the hormones that keep the amount of sugars in your blood on an even keel.

But when your pancreas suddenly stops functioning, you can’t not think about it.

While the days of restrictive diets for people living with diabetes are long gone, every time Dixon eats or reaches for a bottle of energy drink after a shift on the ice, he has to make a mental calculation about the amount of carbohydrates he’s ingesting.

He also has to check his blood sugar levels with an app on his phone that’s connected to a sensor plugged into his body, then determine the dose of insulin a small pump he wears 24/7 injects into his body to offset that sugar boost.

It’s not always an exact science.

Exercise, stress, anxiety and excitement can throw even the most precise calculation out of whack.

Overshoot your insulin dose and your blood sugars can drop, sapping you of energy, depleting your ability to focus or make quick decisions.

Underestimate, and your soaring blood sugars can make you nauseous and tired, and bring on a pounding headache.

Neither outcome is ideal for a high-performance athlete who has to be at the top of their game and ready at any moment to jump on the ice.

Dixon said his disease has brought on no shortage of aggravations.

“It can be so random” he said. “So many micro things can affect it.”

‘A sense of responsibility’

But, Dixon added, living with Type 1 has also put him more in tune with his body.

He said he’s hyper-aware of everything he eats and drinks and the importance of maintaining a healthy lifestyle to better manage his blood sugars.

Dixon’s off-ice training regimen doesn’t just get him ready for the rigours of the hockey season, it also helps smooth out the effects of the highs and lows he’ll inevitably endure.

Express coach Patrick Sexton said Dixon’s maturity is beyond his years.

“He has a sense of responsibility,” he said. “He knows exactly how he’s feeling and how to address the situation.”

Sexton said he’d played with teammates who have Type 1, like Luke Kunin, now a defenceman for the NHL’s San Jose Sharks.

But this is his first experience coaching a young athlete with the disease.

He said it’s important to maintain open lines of communication so he can understand why Dixon might not be able to immediately take a shift because he’s dealing with a low, or why he’s looking at his phone and wolfing down a candy bar on the bench instead of manning the power play on the ice.

“My job is to support him,” Sexton said.

Invisible disease

Dixon said one of biggest challenges of diabetes is its invisibility.

The advent of technology, like the small insulin pump that plugs directly into his abdomen or thigh and the digital glucose monitor that connects by Bluetooth to his smartphone, has eliminated the very public displays of pricking his finger to draw a drop of blood to dab on a test strip plugged into a handheld meter or injecting a dose of insulin with a hypodermic needle.

That can make it hard for his teammates and coaches to immediately recognize why he might be a little off his game, or why he has to cut short a workout.

So, he takes care to bring them into his world as best he can to build an understanding of his disease and the challenges it can present.

“I look at it as a growth opportunity,” Dixon said of living and competing with Type 1. “It’s not limiting at all. It can literally be the opposite.”

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New Coquitlam complex honours staunch advocate for affordable housing

This story first appeared in the Tri-City News on March 8, 2024

Lelainia Lloyd says she finally feels a sense of belonging.

Scooting around the rain-drenched courtyard at Robert Nicklin Place in her motorized wheelchair, Lloyd said living in one of 35 fully-accessible apartments in a new 164-unit rental complex in Coquitlam has given her the time and energy to help build a community around her.

“You don’t realize the energy it takes to live in inaccessible buildings,” Lloyd said. “It’s a game-changer.”

The six-storey wood-frame building, located at 3100 Ozada Ave., was officially opened Friday, March 8. It’s named for the longtime CEO of the Affordable Housing Society (AHS) who died in 2016.

Fittingly then, 74 of the units are affordable, of which 16 are deeply subsidized for households with very low incomes, and 36 have their rent geared to income.

Kevin Nicklin officially opens a new 164-unit rental complex in Coquitlam that features 74 affordable apartments. The building is named for Kevin’s father, Robert Nicklin, who was CEO of the Affordable Housing Society for 27 years until he died in 2016. MARIO BARTEL/TRI-CITY NEWS

Nicklin’s oldest son, Kevin, said seeing his father’s name above the building’s entrance and on a special plaque in its lobby makes his family “extremely proud” of the 27 years he worked to help build and secure affordable housing throughout the Lower Mainland.

“This is an important step in the right direction,” he said of the complex that welcomed its first residents in January, adding his father’s effort to increase affordable housing options will be felt “for years to come.”

It’s also a testimony to what can be achieved when several levels of government work together, said Stephen Bennett, the current CEO of AHS.

Six years in the making, Robert Nicklin Place was built with an $8.1-million contribution from BC Housing’s Community Housing Fund which will also provide $110,000 in annual operation funds, as well as a forgivable loan of $1.9 million along with a $44.2-million low-interest, repayable loan, from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, $3.3 million from the City of Coquitlam and the waiver of $869,000 in development cost charges from Metro Vancouver, TransLink and School District 43.

Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s Minister of Housing, said the new homes are “designed to be the kind of sustainable homes that give people stable, affordable housing in a housing crisis.”

The new Robert Nicklin Place apartment complex in Coquitlam is named after Robert Nicklin, who was the CEO of the Affordable Housing Society for 27 years until he died in 2016. MARIO BARTEL/TRI-CITY NEWS

Representing the federal government, Ken Hardie, the MP for Fleetwood–Port Kells, said the “new living environment will allow residents to remain in their community, close to their loved ones.”

Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart said one of Nicklin’s driving forces was his dedication and love for family and the importance stable, affordable housing can play in keeping families together.

“It’s vital to the success of communities and families,” he said.

And more affordable housing is in the pipeline.

On Feb. 9, Stewart announced $25 million from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund will fast-track the construction of 650 new housing units over the next three years.

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