OMEGATHE

THOMPSON RIVERS UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

VOLUME 25

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NEGOTIATION, MEDIATION, FRUSTRATION

IN WHICH OUR SPORTS EDITOR YELLS AT HIS TVJOIN OR PAY (EVEN MORE)

The faculty union says it “remains open to resolution,” but on Monday morning issued a 72-hour notice to strike, as required under

provincial law before taking job action. Late Monday, the university said TRUFA had agreed to its mediation offer and is making arrangements for that to happen as soon as possible, but the threat of job action remains.

The notice follows the latest meeting between the TRU Faculty Association (TRUFA) and TRU administrators on Jan. 7, the latest meeting in 11 months of negotiation. The two began meeting again this fall, and more often in recent months, following the faculty union’s 80-per-cent-in-favour strike vote in favour of job action.

In the two parties’ last meeting on Jan. 7, TRU offered to bring in mediators to resolve the disagreement, but TRUFA did not agree until after it had issued its strike notice, and maintains that it may still take job action.

“Unfortunately, the employer remains unwilling to acknowledge or address the issues that faculty have maintained are critical,” said TRUFA president Tom Friedman in a Monday morning Facebook post. “Before Christmas, the union submitted a bargaining package that included significant concessions from our original positions, but we have not seen any real movement from the employer.”

“Our bargaining is an attempt to ensure that faculty voices are heard,” Friedman said at a Monday morning press conference.

A media blackout has meant that only bits and pieces of negotiations have leaked out, but today’s strike notice means that the two remain far apart. Lately, TRUFA has been going after the number of administrators at the university.

“In fact, administrative costs have risen dramatically since 2005, while expenditures on front-line education have remained static,” Friedman said.

The university said it was still “optimistic” there wouldn’t be a labour disruption.

“TRU is disappointed that TRUFA is issuing 72-hour strike notice saying they are open to mediation as despite not responding to TRU’s January 7. 2016 offer of mediation to assist the parties in finding resolution at that bargaining table,” the statement reads.

As of Thursday morning, the faculty union will be able to walk off the job, but it’s not yet known how TRUFA job action will come and the impact of students remains unknown.

“We’re not going to say that the impact on students will be minimal. We’re not sure at this point. A lot will depend on the way the employer responds,” Friedman said. “We know that students might very well be affected by this. We hope that the impact on students will not be major.”

Faculty union issues strike notice, agrees to mediation

by Sean Brady, Editor-in-Chiefwith files from Jim Elliot

CAN’T THEY JUST TWEET THEIR LOCATION?

TRAILBLAZERS

A breakdown of why Canada failed to make the World Jr semifinals • Page 7

Why Canada lost the World JuniorsReferendum will be held on adding international students to the health and dental plan • Page 4

Health and dental plan voteNew feeders on campus allow for future research on bird movement • Page 2

Tracking campus birds for science

Kamloops Blazers battle it out for playoff spot

SHOWING YOUR WORK TARANTINO’S LATEST

Quentin Tarantino’s eigth film is both similar and different to his usual style • Page 5

Film review: The Hateful EightNinth annual PHP Conference comes to TRU

TRU students get a chance to show off their work in philosophy, history and politics • Page 4

Collin Shirley drives the puck wide around Parker Wotherspoon during Friday night’s game. (Tristan Davies/Ω) • Page 7

JANUARY 13, 2016

ISSUE NO. 16

NEWS JANUARY 13, 20162

Since the start of the new semester, you may have seen what appear to be pieces of irrigation pipe hanging from trees around campus. The pipes are actually special bird feeders, designed to help study the movement of birds here on university grounds.

The group that designed and placed the feeders is led by Matt Reudink, an associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences.

According to Reudink, birds are tracked around campus by fitting them with plastic leg bands which each contain a small passive transponder.

“These are the same things that are used in studying salmon and tracking salmon migration. Essen-tially what it is, is a small unique identifier chip. If you have an antenna and reader you can pulse it and the passive transponder will then shoot back the number of that transponder,” Reudink said.

The antennae in the feeders around campus log a timestamped record each time one of them is visited by a bird that Reudnik and his assistants captured and fitted with a leg band.

According to Reudnik’s research assistant Jackson Kusack, the birds that have been captured for the study are mainly mountain chickadees and house finches, but some house sparrows, dark-eyed

juncos and song sparrows were also used. Kusack said that these birds were chosen because they live at TRU year-round and feed mostly on seeds.

Kusack is one of more than 10 undergraduates who are involved in the project, Reudnik said.

There are six feeders around campus sending data in real time and an additional two internally logging data for later collection. Feeders were placed near the Culinary Arts building, the Clock Tower, the Ken Lepin Sciences building and parking lot S, accord-ing to Kusack.

Reudink said that the plans for the feeders were open source and available online, but he had to enlist the help of TRU physicist Mark Paetkau and some of his stu-dents to actually create a working tracking system.

According to Kusack, the final feeder design is composed of 3D-printed parts and contains a radio frequency identification (RFID) reader, an antenna with a three-inch range to read the leg bands on the birds and a small

Wi-Fi-connected computer. Reudink said that another two

sets of feeders built at TRU are in use at UNBC and by researchers in Umea, Sweden.

Since the feeders on campus were placed, they have logged more than 100,000 pieces of data, each indicating a two-second period where a tagged bird was at a feeder, according to Kusack.

Reudnik said that he has enlisted the help of computer science lec-turer Kevin O’Neill and geography professor David Hill, who, alongside some of their students, have created a dynamic visualization program to display the data online.

“I think that the thing I really want to emphasize is just how collaborative and multidisciplinary this project is,” Reudnik said.

“The power in this is that we’re making this all publicly available. We’re putting it all just openly on the web. It can be used by researchers, by students and by the public. It’s a teaching resource,” Reudnik said.

The teaching applications of the program would be most relevant to students in developing

countries or large urban centres who might be unable to view the movement of birds firsthand, according to Reudink.

Reudink plans to use the data gathered by the feeders to assess whether the small birds being studied are willing to cross phys-ical barriers or open ground such as roads or parking lots in search of food.

“This is a very passive, easy thing that we can set up to look at gap crossings. Say if you’re going to put in a pipeline or roads for forestry, does that affect the movement of birds across it?”

“That helps with public relations, because if you’re working on con-servation and trying to minimize habitat fragmentation, everybody likes that, but being able to show a visual representation of that really helps,” Kusack said.

Reudnik said that he would eventually like to see feeders like the ones deployed around campus placed in Kamloops residents’ backyards and using their power sources and Internet connections to share data with researchers.

For his service to his community and profession, Kamloops lawyer and TRU professor John O’Fee received the Queen’s Counsel desig-nation last month. O’Fee was one of 32 to receive the designation across the province.

The title most often goes to lawyers who have contributed to the betterment of their profession in their community, and O’Fee has done just that. His service to his profession and to his community earned him a nomination earlier this year in September.

Winning the designation is definitely an achievement, as by law, only seven per cent of practicing B.C. lawyers can receive it, O’Fee said his extensive work in Kamloops courtrooms and community halls wasn’t at all for the Queen’s Counsel designation.

“I did all these things, not because I wanted a Queen’s Counsel desig-nation, but because I wanted to be a part of my community,” O’Fee said.

Despite the designation being more about service to the profession

than service to the community, O’Fee’s role in the Kamloops community no doubt helped him along his path to making it on the “Queen’s List.”

Even when he was younger, the Kamloops-born O’Fee had taken an active role in serving his community.

“When I was a young lawyer start-ing out, I had a friend who told me I should run for the school board,” O’Fee said. “It was something I did half seriously, half not seriously. They had six school trustees in Kamloops at the time. I got elected sixth, out of 11 candidates. So I just barely made it onto the board.”

O’Fee would end up serving three terms on the school board, his last as its chair. Then in 1999, he would run for city council, coming first out of 27 candidates. During his four terms on city council, O’Fee and his fellow councillors accomplished much for the City of Kamloops.

“We did some really cool things during my stay on council – from the Tournament Capital Centre to the water treatment plant, and the expansion of the airport,” O’Fee said. “We felt like we were really accom-plishing some great things.”

After his fourth term with city

council, O’Fee left to become CEO of the Kamloops Indian Band. There, he would build his skills in land management while also offering consultation to first nations.

O’Fee’s time at the Kamloops Indian Band would do much to inform his current teaching methods.

“We talk quite a bit about human rights in employment law. I have a few Aboriginals in my classes and issues around First Nations frequently come up,” he said. “Of course, you can’t discriminate when

hiring, so we talk about the idea of accommodating particular groups when we hire them.”

Though O’Fee may teach law, his courses in commercial and employ-ment law are under the School of Business and Economics.

“I don’t teach these courses like you are a lawyer, I teach em-ployment law like you are an HR manager. I tell my students, ‘Here is the day-to-day stuff that you are going to see, and here is what you can and cannot say in an interview,’” O’Fee said.

Though he is certainly happy to call himself a member of the TRU faculty, O’Fee admits working at the university is definitely not where he would have seen himself when he started out as a young lawyer.

“I wanted to see where things would take me, and ultimately they took me here,” O’Fee said. “One piece of advice I give my students: ‘You have to be alive to the possibil-ities, your career path will be what it is. It will work out in the end, just don’t carve your future in stone.’”

Jim ElliotNEWS EDITOR Ω

Wade TomkoNEWS EDITOR Ω

Tracking campus birds for science

TRU law professor receives prestigious awardExcellence in his field and outstanding community service contributed to Queen’s Counsel designation

Notice of Accreditation Visit and Invitation to Comment

Thompson Rivers University is in the process of applying for institutional accreditation with the U.S. based Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) and will host its first on-site evaluation visit in April 2016.

Institutional accreditation provides a framework for ongoing evaluation and self-analysis ensuring that TRU’s policies, procedures and practices are consistent with accepted standards of quality. It serves as an important means of assuring the quality of higher education through rigorous peer-review and evaluation. Institutional accreditation will enhance the value of a TRU degree for all students and will provide a distinct advantage for attracting new students both within and outside Canada.

The NWCCU will perform a comprehensive accreditation evaluation visit to TRU on April 25-27, 2016. The NWCCU evaluation team, led by a number of university faculty and staff from peer institutions, will meet with campus students, faculty and staff to evaluate TRU’s application for candidacy, in conjunction with the TRU’s recently finalized Self-Evaluation Report. To learn more about the process and to read the report, please visit the TRU accreditation website: www.tru.ca/vpacademic/accreditation

In preparation for the April visit, TRU invites members of the TRU community and the general public to provide comments regarding TRU’s application for institutional accreditation. Comments are accepted only when they are signed with an original signature, submitted in writing to the President of the Commission, and received no later than March 25, 2016. Comments will be forwarded as received to the institution, the evaluation committee and the Commission.

Comments should be sent directly to: Dr. Sandra Elman, President Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities 8060 165th Avenue N.E., Suite 100 Redmond, WA 98052

For more information, and to review the NWCCU’s Policy A-5, Public Notification and Third Party Comments Regarding Full-Scale Evaluations, visit www.nwccu.org or contact the Commission office at (425)-558-4224.

A mountain chickadee with identifying leg bands being extracted from a mist net. (Kile McKenna/Submitted)

WWW.TRUOMEGA.CA 3OPINION & EDITORIAL

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WRITE FOR US!

I’m not someone who grew up listening to David Bowie. By the time I really started discovering new music, I was so caught up in recent music that I didn’t have time to look back. Sure, Bowie released a few albums during my “formative” music-listening years, but I definitely missed him at his most popular and influential, in the 60s and 70s. So how did I find

Bowie? Well, I slowly realized that his influence was even more prolific than his music – sure, I wasn’t listening to Bowie growing up, but most artists I listened to certainly had, and when I first went through Bowie’s hits, it became clear why he had such an impact.

Below is my list of essential David Bowie listening. If you’re completely new to Bowie, this should be a good primer. If you’re an old fan, go play your favourites.

Rest in peace, David Bowie.

artwork by vectorportal

YOUR CIRCUIT’S DEAD, THERE’S SOMETHING WRONGESSENTIAL DAVID BOWIE LISTENING FOLLOWING THE SUDDEN DEATH OF A GREAT MUSIC LEGEND

Sean BradyEDITOR-IN-CHIEF Ω

The Man Who Sold the WorldThe Man Who Sold the World (1973)

Sound and VisionLow (1977)

Life on Mars?Hunky Dory (1971)

Ziggy StardustZiggy Stardust (1972)

Rebel RebelDiamond Dogs (1974)

StarmanZiggy Stardust (1972)

I’m Afraid of AmericansEarthling (1997) with Brian Eno and Trent Reznor

Under Pressure1981 single with Queen

Space Oddity1969 single (original version)

Heroes“Heroes” (1977)

JANUARY 13, 20164 NEWS

The ninth annual Philosophy, History and Politics (PHP) Confer-ence is giving undergraduates from TRU and elsewhere the opportunity to present their work to their peers.

The conference, which runs Jan. 15 to 16, is one of the few opportuni-ties for Canadian undergraduates to present their work to other students in their field.

This year’s PHP Conference has attracted presenters from univer-sities across Canada, including the University of Toronto, Vancouver Island University and the Universi-ty of Regina.

“It’s a very rare opportunity for any undergraduates to get a chance

to share their work. I would say that most students in philosophy, history and politics are interested in going into a graduate program of some sort and it’s definitely good practice because these are the kind of things that they will come across in a graduate program. There are tons of conferences and it’s good experience to get you prepared for that,” said Sara Hilliard, a confer-ence organizer.

Hilliard also said that presenting at the conference is both a good addition to a student’s CV and good practice for public speaking.

Hilliard is speaking from experi-ence. She presented a paper entitled “Motherhood in the Concentration Camp” at last year’s conference.

Topics being covered by student presentations at this year’s

conference cover a wide range of topics in the fields of philosophy, history and politics. The philosophy presentations on the conference’s program include a presentation on the ethics of Syrian refugees, historical examinations of tourism in Egypt during the Victorian era and masculinity in 1930s Holly-wood films. Political science papers with topics ranging from Canada’s policy regarding Israel to the Northern Gateway Pipeline will also be presented.

Along with the student presenta-tions, there is an external keynote address which will be delivered by Cressida Heyes of the University of Alberta. Heyes’ address, which is titled “Sleep is the New Sex,” takes place on Friday night at 7 p.m. in the Irving K. Barber Centre and is

free for TRU students.The conference will conclude on

Saturday evening with a banquet and the internal keynote address on Saturday night at Hotel 540. The internal keynote will be presented

by TRU political science professor Robert Hanlon.

The conference is free to all TRU students and registration will remain open until the conference begins on Friday, Jan. 15.

TRUSU will hold a referendum in early February to decide whether or not to add international students to the union’s extended health and dental plan.

The referendum resolution seeks to add international students to the plan at a cost of $248 per student per year: a cost that will be wholly covered by the newly registered students themselves. As with any introduction of new fees, however, a referendum must be held in order for the new fees to be introduced. A minimum membership turnout of 20 per cent is required for the referendum resolution to be con-sidered valid, according to TRUSU bylaws.

Currently, international students are left to find their own health and dental coverage, which either comes from the province through the Medical Services Plan or through services from their home country. Previously, the university had experienced little demand for adding international students to the extended health and dental

plan, though it is something that has been “gradually growing,” said Ryan Makar, TRUSU’s Vice Presi-dent Finance.

“We were seeing more and more international students coming to the member services desk,” Makar said. “After getting glasses for the first time, they’d come to opt in to the plan and unfortunately we would have to turn them away.”

Makar says that with increasing numbers of international students coming to TRU each year, the students’ union sees the extension of coverage to them as essential.

“When internationals come here and need a prescription, they’ll have a huge bill. There are no reasons why domestic students are covered and internationals are not,” Makar said.

This sentiment is one echoed by those in TRU’s international student community.

“We don’t get anything through the university. Prescriptions and dental can be really expensive. I’d support the vote,” said Saif Nadim, a third-year business student.

“I’d vote obviously. I don’t have dental issues, but I have friends that do. They pay a lot, and I know

this would really help them,” said Emmanuel, who asked to only be referred to by his first name.

Another student, Diana Igum-nova, said she had yet to see the dentist because of the costs.

“I haven’t even bothered with the dentist yet, and I’m already paying $800-$900 in insurance,” she said. “As I don’t have my own coverage, it’s fundamental I support this.”

Yet not all international students have been swayed on this issue, with some attributing their lack of interest in the referendum to the fact that they already have full coverage through other services.

“Many of my friends have insur-ance from back home. They usually opt out of TRU’s coverage and for some of them, they find it cheaper,” said Lukas Koschyk. “It’s a good deal for some, but I don’t need it.”

Few international students seem to know about the referendum right now, though that may change as TRUSU campaigns about the referendum over the course of the next month.

The referendum will be held between Feb. 9 and Feb. 11 in the Lecture Hall of the Students’ Union Building.

Jim ElliotNEWS EDITOR Ω

Wade TomkoNEWS EDITOR Ω

Plenty to look forward to at annual PHP conference

Referendum will be held on adding international students to planHealth and dental plan extension goes to a vote

PHP Conference organizers Erin-Adel Hrycan, Sara Hilliard and Courtney McLaughlin. (Jim Elliot/The Omega)

The PHP Conference takes place Jan. 15 and 16. (Jim Elliot/The Omega)

Ryan Makar, TRUSU’s Vice President Finance. (Wade Tomko/The Omega)

WWW.TRUOMEGA.CA 5ARTS

This week the Kamloops Sym-phony Orchestra’s latest production, Magic of Vienna, debuts at the Sagebrush Theatre. The produc-tion features non-traditional light classical music with an emphasis on the development of melodies throughout. TRU Modern Languag-es professor Annette Dominik, who is the principal second violin in the production, spearheaded a unique twist for the production.

“A couple of years ago I ap-proached the conductor to see if we could wear pageant gowns for this production,” she said.

Expect to see the women of the orchestra in beautiful pageant dresses and the stage to be deco-rated to create a 1900s Viennese atmosphere.

While the décor may be a surprise for some concert goers, the music

in Magic of Vienna is a traditional waltz style and some of the music may be recognizable to the un-trained ear.

“There is a lot of melody and rhythmical things that are very appealing for the first time you hear it,” Dominik said.

The production focuses on the evolution of the Viennese waltz throughout history. Listeners should focus on the traditional four-count timing throughout the show.

The Kamloops Symphony Orches-tra puts this production on at the beginning of each new year as a way to celebrate. This year’s show marks the third time the production has had narration. Rod Michell leads the audience as guest host and narrator.

Michell said that, as the narrator, he gives a brief anecdote about where the music was written, some-thing about the occasion in which it was written and something about the composer.

It is uncommon for classical

productions to give the audience any information or background about the pieces.

“This year we decided that we would shape the narration so that it tells in particular about the origin of the waltz,” Michell said.

The production is excellent for students, as the music is very light classical, with sweeping melodies. It doesn’t have traditional heavy emotional demands.

“The music itself is very approach-able. It’s not your stereotype of classical music: very serious, heavy and difficult to understand. Instead, what you’re getting is sophisticated dance music; you’d call it light clas-sical music. You’re getting sweeping melodies and lively dance tunes,” Michell said.

Listen for Michell’s favourite piece of the show, an overture that turns into an operetta during the last piece of the concert. In the last minute or so the audience will be treated to the can-can.

The Kamloops Symphony Orches-tra’s Magic of Vienna takes the audience through a light classical music production of the Viennese waltz. With the added surprises of

non-traditional dress and narration, this concert is perfect for any first-time symphony attendees.

The production debuts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 15.

As always, Quentin Tarantino delivers his signature blend of sharp dialogue, gratuitous violence and complex characters with foul mouths in The Hateful Eight. Told in six chapters, his eighth directed film is a tale full of revenge, justice, deception and horror that will make the audience laugh out loud and cringe in their seats.

Set in the backwoods of the late 19th century American fron-tier, bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) is transporting the criminal Daisy Domergue (Jen-nifer Jason Leigh) to the town of Red Rock to be hanged, when he picks up two travelers caught in

the cold: Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins). With a blizzard nearing, the party of four is forced to take refuge in a cabin with four more strangers, each one more mysterious than the last.

Unlike Tarantino’s previous western Django Unchained, this film has very few gunfights and no large action sequences, though it does have just as much blood-splattering gore and violence.

The best part of the film is the writing. Each of the main characters is well-rounded and well-developed. The dialogue is chock-full of black humour and quotable lines, though some of the one-liners and wisecracks come off as cheesy at times. Most of all, it deals with the theme of racism following the American Civil War. Throughout the film, Warren is the target of racist remarks by the rest of the main characters. In spite of his achievements as both a soldier and a bounty hunter, the only respect he receives from any of them is due to the fact that he possesses a letter which he claims is personally written to him by Abraham Lincoln.

In this ensemble cast of sea-soned actors, the performances of Samuel L. Jackson and Jenni-fer Jason Leigh are most deserv-ing of praise. Jackson brings his usual bravado to a nonchalant gunslinger with multiple sides to him. At times, Warren can be a hero, anti-hero and even a villain, all of which Jackson pulls off with ease. No matter how despicable his character

is made out to be, Jackson’s excellent acting manages to keep him charming and likeable. Jason Leigh, on the other hand, plays the role of a laid-back psychopath with a twisted sense of humour. She builds upon her role by focusing on the body language of the character and giving her little quirks, adding more layers to Daisy Domergue and making her performance more convincing. Seeing these two actors commit so much to their respective roles is one of the highlights of this film.

This film sees Tarantino make a huge creative departure in terms of music. For the first time, the soundtrack not only contains a complete original score, it is also composed by Ennio Morricone, who is best known for his work in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns, with very little sampling from other films. The musical score both perfectly sets the atmosphere and mood for every scene, and enhances the effect of the action and dialogue throughout the film.

It is hard to believe this film almost did not get made. In 2014, the first draft of the script accidentally surfaced online, prompting Tarantino to cancel the film. It was only after discov-ering how positively fans reacted to the leaked material that he finally reconsidered.

The Hateful Eight is one crazy ride from start to finish. Though it may not be as memorable as Tarantino’s other films, there are moments that will definitely be hard to forget. I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next.

Cherry Docs, adapted from Montreal native David Gow’s original play, raises some important questions about our society and the underlying hatred and discrimina-tion within it.

This production was directed by Glen Cairns, artistic director at The Other Theatre Company. It keeps true to the multicultural theme, and the idea that perhaps being tolerant is not the only resolution to prejudice, but finding love in our hearts for others is. The use of music portrays a large portion of this theme, showcasing the change in seasons, the passing of time and the growth the characters must face to become better people. Unfortu-nately, this message was sometimes lost in between lines of dialogue that were poorly executed by the actors.

Daniel Dunkelman, a Jewish lawyer played by Todd Sullivan, is assigned to defend neo-Nazi Micheal Downy who is on trial for murder. He decides to take on this case as a personal challenge and because he needs the money. Sullivan takes an interesting and sometimes underwhelming approach to this character who learns he may not be as tolerant as he thought he was. Overall, Sullivan’s performance was

consistently ordinary and relatable. He makes many trying attempts to bring a sense of humanity to the character.

Micheal Downy, played by Nigel Beardwood, is the stereotypical racist who commits a hate crime against a Hindu man. His character arc comes across as shallow, as his emotions go from angry to sad to regretful. Beardwood gives a con-vincing performance and gives the audience an honest reason to dislike his character. However, his revela-tion in the final scenes comes across as preachy and unconvincing. Nev-ertheless, Beardwood did manage to create some nice moments of mortality, but overall he was unable to make me care about his character or the “psychological torture” he was enduring.

The set design and costumes on this production were basic and to the point. The direction was minimal, and forced the audience to mostly use their imaginations. The lighting was at first very interesting, with harsh shadows to create a dramatic effect, but it became boring and tired by the end of the final act.

Cherry Docs opened Thursday, Jan. 7 at the Pavilion Theatre and will run until Jan. 24. Regular admission is $24 and the student and senior price is $18.50. On Sundays the matinee shows will be pay-what-you-can.

Nikki FredriksonCONTRIBUTOR Ω

Alexander WongCONTRIBUTOR Ω

Jennifer WillCONTRIBUTOR Ω

Evolution of the Viennese Waltz takes centre stage at the Kamloops Symphony

Not Tarantino’s best, but still worth watching

Explore the Magic of Vienna with KSO

Film review: The Hateful Eight

Theatre review: Cherry Docs

Annette Dominik and Boris Ulanowicz practise in their formalwear. (Kamloops Symphony)

The Weinstein Company

JANUARY 13, 20166 COMICS & PUZZLES

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Puzzle of the Week #11—2016Happy New Year 2016.

Using the digits 2, 0, 1, and 6 exactly once and in that order, come up with expressions that evaluate to the integers from 0 to 10. You may use addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, unary negative (as in –3), factorial (0! = 1; for n > 0, n! equals the product of the integers from 1 to n. e.g. 3! = 1 x 2 x 3 = 6), and brackets.

For example, 12 = 2 x (0 + 1) x 6 and 120 = (–2 + 0 + 1 + 6)!.

This contest is sponsored by the Mathematics and Statistics department. The full-time student with the best score at the end of the year will win a prize. Please submit your solution (not just the answer but also why) by noon next Wednesday to Gene Wirchenko (<genew@telus.net>). Submissions by others are also welcome. The solution will be posted the Wednesday after that in my blog (http://genew.ca/). Come visit the Math Centre (HL304): we are friendly.

WWW.TRUOMEGA.CA 7SPORTS

The Kamloops Blazers are on pace to do something that they haven’t done in two long years: deliver the Blazer-crazy people of Kamloops some Western Hockey League playoff action.

These last two years without the playoffs must have come as a bit of a culture shock to long-time Blazer fans as the team had only missed the playoffs two times in the previous 31 seasons. Those winning seasons included a streak of three Memorial Cups in four years, a period of time where Kamloops was considered the mecca of junior hockey in all of Canada, producing multiple future NHLers such as Scott Niedermayer and Jarome Iginla on the ice as well as Tom Renney and Ken Hitchcock behind the bench.

At the time of writing the Blazers are just over halfway through their regular season schedule and have 44 points in 39 games played: good enough for seventh in the Western Conference, six points clear of missing the playoffs.

The braintrust behind the Blazers has taken the patient route in rebuilding what they hope will be a playoff team, relying on draft picks, the maturation of players that stuck with them through the rough years and the return of a key component of the glory days behind the bench in the form of Don Hay.

The game against the Tri-City Americans, a team that is battling

with the Blazers for one of the last remaining playoff spots, that took place Friday, Jan. 8 can be looked at as a microcosm for this Blazers team in general.

Only two players stood out for the Blazers in the first period: goalie Connor Ingram and defenceman Ryan Rehill.

Tri-City started the game as the much more motivated team and the Blazers struggled to touch the puck in the first 10 minutes, let alone mount any offence. The pressure grew on the Blazers’ net but Ingram stood tall, stopping multiple odd man rushes and only allowing one goal during the period despite spending most of it under siege.

The other major factor in the Blazers escaping the first period down just the one goal was Rehill. The 6’ 3” 220-pound defenceman was everywhere: blocking shots, throwing hits and doing everything he could to keep his team in it.

If the story of the first period was the play of Ingram and Rehill then it was the top forward line of Matt Needham, Deven Sideroff and Collin Shirley for the Blazers that gave the 4,000 plus fans in atten-dance something to cheer about in period number two.

Needham put the Blazers on the scoreboard just twenty seconds into the second period, but he wasn’t done there. He went on to pounce on a loose puck and bury it in the net to give him and the Blazers two goals in under three minutes to start the second.

The rest of the game was a back and forth affair that truly

came alive when Kamloops native Maxwell James made a nice play to find Dylan Coghlan alone in the slot. Coghlan would make no mistake, tying the game up for the Americans with just over 11 minutes left.

It was the top line of the Blazers that again answered the call when they were needed most. Shirley went for a skate in the American’s zone with eight minutes left in the

game, circling around the Tri-City defenders multiple times before throwing the puck on net, allow-ing Needham to bang home the rebound, completing his hat-trick of the night.

That 3–2 lead would stand up the rest of the game, with some help from Ingram who was able to shut the door on multiple scoring chances late in the game.

As the Blazers stand right now,

they are in the first positive year of the multiple-year process that a roster rebuild entails. They have a nice mixture of young and veteran players along with the leadership of a coach that has seen everything that the WHL has to offer.

Best of all for the fans of the Blazers, all of these components seem to be combining to bring a playoff hockey team back to a town that expects nothing less.

For the first time since 1998, Canada has failed to reach the semifinals at the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) under-20 World Championships.

The final blow to Canada’s chances of claiming a 17th gold medal came in a 6–5 loss to Finland in the quarterfinals of the tournament played in Helsinki. Canada’s struggles in the tourna-ment began much earlier than that, however. Losses to both the U.S.A. and Sweden combined with only a shootout win over Switzer-land saw Canada finish just third in the five-team Pool A, a seeding that set them up for the tough quarterfinal match up against the host Finns.

There are a number of reasons as to why Canada struggled in a tournament they usually excel at. This article will delve into those reasons and hopefully alleviate

any concerns that hockey-crazed Canadians may have about the future of our national pastime.

The first and most glaring hole with this iteration of the Canadian World Junior team was the lack of a bona fide star. There was no Wayne Gretzky, Eric Lindros or Sidney Crosby leading this team offensively. That’s not to say that this team was without talent, though. With Dylan Strome and Mitchell Marner on the roster, Team Canada had the number 3 and 4 picks in last year’s draft playing for them. This was a team that had, as every Canadian team does, legitimate scoring threats throughout the entire lineup.

However, the lack of a player able to take control of the game when it mattered the most was felt during the entire tourna-ment. Close games that were just begging for a hero to step up and take the reins went the other team’s way every single time.

Anybody that is anxious to point out this lack of an offensive

talisman as a fault of the Canadian hockey system must remember just who this team was missing. Hockey Canada has become a victim of its own success in the fact that Connor McDavid, Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad and Robby Fabbri are just a few of the players that were kept out of the tourna-ment because they were having so much success in the NHL that their respective teams refused to let them go to Helsinki.

The other area that Canada struggled with all tournament long was making simple mis-takes at the worst possible times. Whether it was Kamloops native Joe Hicketts tipping the puck into his own net with minutes left to go against the Americans or Jake Vir-tanen and Marner taking silly re-taliation penalties against Finland, it seemed like every time the game was on the line the Canadian team would make a crucial error.

I am not going to pretend that this didn’t drive me crazy, especial-ly the lack of discipline that the

Canadians exhibited throughout the tournament. My roommates may have even played a game where everyone had to take a drink every time I yelled “What are you doing Virtanen?”

The important thing to remem-ber however, is that even though these are teenagers wearing the Canadian maple leaf jersey, they are still just teenagers. In fact, the unpredictability involved in putting these young, emotional players in such high-pressure situations is something that I enjoy the most about my favourite hockey tournament of the year.

This craziness is something that sets the junior game apart from the NHL, and the fact that it seems like the players don’t even know what they will do on any given shift leads to a situation where any team can win on any given day.

Another thing that people must realize is just how much this tour-nament has grown in the last six years. Since the 2010 tournament, five different countries have taken

home the gold, with only Finland winning more than once during that span.

Gone are the days of Canada going on streaks of five gold medals in a row. This tourna-ment is no longer exclusively the domain of Canada vs. Russia.

This is to no fault of Hockey Canada. Other countries have started taking the tournament more seriously, putting more money into their junior programs and making sure that the players they have selected for the team are of the highest calibre possible.

This is not a case of Canada falling behind where it used to be, but rather one of the rest of the world catching up.

None of these reasons stated for the Canadians losing point to a larger trend that portends the doom of Canadian hockey.

Canada will continue to go into every tournament with the mindset that anything less than gold is failure, now it’s just a lot harder to achieve.

Cameron DohertySPORTS EDITOR Ω

Cameron DohertySPORTS EDITOR Ω

Kamloops defeats Tri-City Americans in battle of playoff hopefuls

How Canada got knocked out and why it’s not a big deal

Blazers battle for playoff spot

Why we lost at the World Juniors

The Blazers salute the crowd after defeating the Tri-City Americans on Jan. 8. (Tristan Davies/Ω)

JANUARY 13, 20168 THE OMEGA

Membership Advisory

@TRUSU15trusu.ca /TRUStudentsUnion @TRUSU15

TRUSU Annual General Meeting

Thursday Jan 28 at 6PMStudents’ Union Building

Meeting agenda at trusu.ca

REFERENDUM NOTICE

For more information visit trusu.ca/news/services

Be it resolved that International Students be added to the TRUSU Extended Health and Dental Plan at a cost of $248.00 per plan year

THE REFERENDUM RESOLUTION WILL READ AS FOLLOWS:

Voting in the TRUSU Lecture Hall on: Feb 9th 8AM-4PM Feb 10th 8AM-8PMFeb 11th 8AM-4PM