World Financial Group

In an article by Jonathan Abrams, USA Luge team members Ashley and Bengt Walden are profiled on their marriage and their hopes of making the US Olympic team.  The picture with the article features the couple wearing their sponsor jackets, which features the World Financial Group logo on the upper left side. 

It’s a great article about Bengt and Ashley, but keep reading here for all the latest on the WFG-sponsored UAS Luge team!

The Ferbey 4, proudly sponsored by World Financial Group, entered the 2009 World Cup of Curling this past weekend at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, ON.  This event serves as one of many warm up tournaments for the “Roar of the Rings” scheduled in December that will help determine who represents Canada in the 2010 Olympic games.

Their first match in the World Cup was Wednesday opposite Fengchun Wang’s rink from Harbin, China.  With the hammer, Randy and his rink slid to a 4-2 victory in six ends.

First up on Thursday for WFG’s curling team was a match against Niklas Edin and his rink from Karlstad, Sweden.  The Swedes provided a challenge for our guys from Edmonton.  The game was close until the final end – when Edin scored for rocks – but, despite having the hammer, the Ferbey 4 fell to Edin’s rank 8-3 in seven ends.

The WFG-sponsored Nanaimo Clippers played two games at their home ice of Frank Crane arena this past weekend.  When this “Junior A” hockey team last played they scored a victory - would this winning streak continue? 

Friday’s game saw a visit from the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, the last team the Clippers played against and beat.  The action started early in the first period as Clippers forward Cody Bremner scored at 7:27 to take a 1-0 lead.  However, Alberni Valley would score in the middle of the third to force overtime.  And OT would not be kind to the WFG Clippers, as the Bulldogs scored in the second OT period to win 2-1.  For his first period goal, Bremner was named the Second Star of the Game and Nanaimo earned a point in the standings for taking the game to overtime. 

Twenty-four hours later, the Penticton Vees came to Frank Crane arena.  The game saw lots of scoring but, unfortunately, most of the scoring came from the Vees.  Despite the WFG Clippers forward Kyle Kramer’s shorthanded goal and Teal Burns’ power play score in the second, Penticton took this contest 5-2.  Kramer was named the Second Star of the Game. 

Halloween weekend will see WFG’s “Junior A” hockey team take on the Powell River Kings at home Friday night and travel to Victoria to take on the Grizzlies on Halloween.  Visit www.nanaimoclippers.com for more info and pictures.

This BCHL season is getting interesting.  Among the teams in the BCHL are the World Financial Group-sponsored Nanaimo Clippers, who played three games last week.  How did our “Junior A” hockey club do? 

Last Wednesday, the Salmon Arm Silverbacks of the Interior Conference visited the Frank Crane Arena and took an early three goal lead in the second period.  But the Clippers made it close with a goal by Kyle Kramer in the second period and a power play goal by Joe Perry in the third.  Alas, the Silverbacks took this contest 3-2.  For blocking 25 out of 28 shots, Clippers goalie Loic Boivin was named the Second Star of the Game. 

On Friday, another Interior Conference team, the Trail Smoke Eaters, visited Nanaimo.  And our WFG-sponsored hockey team kept things interesting.  Five of the six total goals scored in the game were on the power play.  Unfortunately, four of those goals were scored by the Trail team.  In the 4-2 loss, Nicholas McIntyre and Luc Olivier Blain scored for the Clippers.  For his hard playing, Clippers defenseman Victor Newell was named the Third Star of the Game. 

So, with two losses at Frank Crane arena, the Clippers were ready to hit the road against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs of the Coastal Conference.  This game had a total of 44 minutes in penalties.  In fact, only the goals scored in the third period (by the Bulldogs) had both teams at equal strength.  However, the Clippers had goals by Kyle Kramer (shorthanded), Luc Olivier Blain (power play), Colton Cyr (power play) and Andy Smith (unassisted on the power play in OT) to win 4-3.  For a timely assist and his second period goal, Colton Cyr was named the Second Star of the Game. 

With this past week’s action, the Clippers seek to start a winning streak.  And with games at home against Alberni Valley on Friday and Penticton on Saturday, you can bet Frank Crane Arena will be hopping with Clippers fans.  We at World Financial Group are excited to sponsor this up and coming hockey team.

The World Financial Group-sponsored Ferbey 4 spent their Canadian Thanksgiving weekend participating in the triple-elimination Westcoast Curling Classic (W.C.C.) in New Westminster, BC.  Also taking part in the competition were the men’s teams that are eligible for the “Roar of the Rings” and several teams hoping to qualify later this year.  

The curling action for Randy, David, Scott and Marcel started early Friday morning opposite the BC rink of Andrew Bilesky.  Randy and the guys had the hammer and used it to take this contest to a final score of 7-2.  Later Friday afternoon, WFG’s own “Kings of Canadian Curling” faced Sean Geall’s rink, also based in BC.  The Ferbeys used the hammer and a four rock score in the sixth end to take this game to a 7-3 victory. 

Saturday saw another early start for the WFG-sponsored curling team against McEwen’s rink out of Manitoba.  The 8 am start was very agreeable for the Ferbey 4, as a four rock score in the second end slid the way to a 7-2 victory.  Unfortunately, the Ferbeys’ second match of the day would see them lose to Kevin Koe, a fellow Albertan rink, by a score of 7-3. 

On Sunday, the men in the dapper WFG curling shirts started their day in the early afternoon opposite Ted Appleman’s rink.  The fellow Albertans made things very close for the Ferbey 4, but in the end, Appleman brought a win to their house by a score of 7-5.   

A few hours later, Randy and the guys took brooms in hand to face Jeff Richard’s rink out of BC.  And, thanks to the hammer, the Ferbeys won 6-4 in eight ends.  But in their final match of the W.C.C., the WFG Ferbey 4 drew the fellow Edmonton rink of Kevin Martin who swept the Ferbeys out of the tournament with an 8-3 win. 

Keep reading here for more coverage of the World Financial Group-sponsored Ferbey 4.

Canadian Thanksgiving was this past Monday, Oct. 12. For the Thanksgiving weekend, the Junior A Nanaimo Clippers, sponsored by World Financial Group, took to their home ice opposite the Burnaby Express and Victoria Grizzlies.  Would the Clippers be thankful for wins this weekend?

On Friday, October 9, the Burnaby Express visited the Clippers at the friendly confines of Frank Crane Arena, which turned out to be very friendly to the Clippers.  Luc Olivier Blain scored on a power play in the first period.  Joe Perry scored twice: once in the first and once in the second.  These three goals allowed Nanaimo to win 3-1 over Burnaby.  Goalie Loic Boivin blocked 26 out of 27 shots.  For his hard playing, Clipper Victor Newell was named the Third Star of the Game.  For two timely assists, Carson Schell was named the Second Star and the two-goal scoring Perry was named the First Star.

The BCHL’s Nanaimo Clippers, proudly sponsored by World Financial Group, started the second month of their 2009-10 season with two games at home and one on the road.  Was the month of October going to start with wins or losses for the team? 

Friday’s game was played on the Clippers’s home ice at Frank Crane Arena opposite the Langley Chiefs.  The first period featured two power play goals by John Stimson and Victor Newell to Langley’s one goal.  And the second period saw three goals scored by Newell, Andrew Gladiuk and Carson Schell (shorthanded).  Unfortunately, the Langley Chiefs took the game to double overtime and scored the game winner 17 seconds in to win 6-5.  Newell and Schell were the Second Star and Third Star, respectively, of the Game. 

Saturday, October 3, the WFG Nanaimo Clippers traveled to Alberni Valley to take on the Bulldogs.  And despite going on the power play eight times during the contest and having 27 shots on goal versus Alberni’s 26, the Bulldogs scored three goals in the second period to win 3-0.   

Sunday’s game saw the Clippers return home to take on the Powell River Kings, a team the Clippers beat last week.  But it would not be the same outcome this time around, as the Clippers lost to a Powell River goal in the first period, making the final  score 1-0.  Goalie Loic Boivin blocked 42 out of 43 shots to earn the Third Star of the Game. 

The season is still young, with the Clippers playing their next two games against Burnaby and Victoria at home.  Here’s hoping for more successes on the ice from Clippers fans at World Financial Group!