World Financial Group

The World Financial Group-sponsored Nanaimo Clippers of the British Columbia Hockey League ended its regular season on Saturday against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.  The Clippers have been on a hot streak, winning six of their last seven games.  Would they enter the playoffs on a win?

The Clippers got off to a strong start in the first period thanks to a goal by Andrew Gladiuk off an assist from Kyle Weber and Second Star of the Game Mike Domsodi.  The Bulldogs, however, would bite back for two more goals going into the third period.  Then, on a power play, Teal Burns tied the game with a goal thanks to assists from Luc Olivier Blain and Andrew Gladiuk.  Unfortunately for Clippers’ fans, the Bulldogs would score the game winner in overtime to take the final regular season game 3-2.

After sixty games, the WFG-sponsored Clippers finished the season 24-25-1-10, earning 59 points in the standings.  This has earned the WFG-sponsored “Junior A” hockey team the sixth seed in the BCHL Coastal Conference playoffs.  Postseason play begins on Friday in Victoria against the Grizzlies.  Keep reading WFGSports.com for the latest postseason action from Nanaimo.  GO CLIPPERS!

The luge competition came to end yesterday at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. It was an exciting day of sliding for USA Luge, proudly sponsored by World Financial Group.  For USA Luge, there were two doubles teams competing for Olympic Gold. 

In their second trip to the Olympics, the team of Christian Niccum and Dan Joye finished sixth overall with races of 41.602 and 41.689 (1:23.291 combined).  This was only 0.586 seconds away from the Gold medal winners Andreas and Wolfgang Linger from Austria. 

WFG-adopted athletes Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin finished 13^th with runs of 41.821 and 42.184 (1:24.005 combined).  These 2002 Bronze medal winners at Salt Lake City Winter Olympics were 1.3 seconds off the leaders.

It’s been a real thrill for WFG luge fans to follow these amazing athletes as they compete on the world stage.  Keep reading WFGSports.com for the latest on “the fastest sport on ice”! 

The women took to the luge track at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics on Feb. 15 and 16.  Although the track was a bit shorter than usual, it didn’t change the competition for the Olympic Gold, which was long and fierce.

Three women from the World Financial Group-sponsored USA Luge team competed.  Finishing the highest of the three was 2009 World Champion Erin Hamlin, who had a spirited group of fans at the end of the course.  Her run times of 41.835, 42.219, 42.792 and 42.262 (2:49.108) combined earned her 16^th place, only 2.584 seconds off Gold Medal winner Tatjana Huefner of Germany.

Very close behind Erin was her teammate Julia Clukey.  With run times of 42.059, 42.075, 42.472 and 42.754 (2:49.360 combined), Julia slid into 17^th place.  This is Julia’s first Olympic games and we look forward to seeing more from this exciting athlete in the years to come.

Rounding out the WFG-sponsored USA Luge team was Megan Sweeney.  Her times of 42.450, 42.690, 42.625 and 42.450 (2:50.215 combined) gave her a 22^nd place finish on the day before her 23^rd birthday.  Megan also appeared in a taped piece on NBC before her final slide with her insights on how to take the very fast course at the Whistler Sliding Centre.

Visit WFGSports.com tomorrow for the doubles results.  GO USA LUGE!

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics Luge competition may have had a shorter track than usual, but it didn’t seem to slow down the competition.  Over the two days of men’s competition on February 13 and 14, speeds on the track were seen in excess of 90 mph. 

Among the World Financial Group-sponsored USA Luge men, Tony Benshoof finished highest in the rankings.  His times of 48.657, 48.747, 49.010 and 48.714 (3:15.128 combined) earned him 8^th place, at only 2.043 seconds off the time of Gold Medalist Felix Loch of Germany.   

Also sliding was Chris Mazdzer.  In his Olympic debut, Chris, whose fans chose to show their support by painting his name painted across their stomachs, had the “#1 bib” out of all the competitors.  He opened his Olympic competition with a first run of 48.811 seconds.  Later runs of 48.963, 49.223 and 48.816 earned him 13^th place with a combined time of 3:15.813.  Although 2.728 seconds off gold, this was Chris’s best international result. 

WFG-adopted athlete Bengt Walden slid in his third Olympics, but his first as an American.  He had times of 49.002, 48.865, 49.323 and 48.794 (3:15.984 combined) for 15^th place, 2.899 seconds from first.  Amazingly, out of the 38 competitors, only 15.220 second separate first from last.

Read WFGSports.com tomorrow for the women’s luge results!

The World Financial Group-sponsored Nanaimo Clippers have been on the road a lot lately.  Their last four games were away, and they won three of them.  This past week saw the “Junior A” hockey team play two on their home ice of Frank Crane Arena and one more road trip.

The first home game was Wed., Feb. 10, against the Williams Lake Timberwolves.  Although the game wasn’t “all Nanaimo”, it was close.  The scoring started early in the first period thanks to a power play goal by Second Star of the Game Luc Olivier Blain.  Then First Star of the Game Mike Domsodi scored two goals, one on a power play, before the first intermission.  In the second period, Tristan Lowenberger and Teal Burns scored to take a 5-0 lead.  Although the Timberwolves scored in the third, Nanaimo took this game 5-1.  Goalie Loic Boivin blocked 15 out of 16 shots.  For his hard playing, Kyle Weber was named the Third Star of the Game.

Friday night saw the Quesnel Millionaires visit Frank Crane Arena.  The Millionaires lost in their last game against our hockey club, and they were looking for payback.  And, although the Millionaires did force the game into double overtime, it was the Clippers’ night thanks to goals by Colton Cyr, Second Star of the Game Brayden Jaw and First Star of the Game Luc Olivier Blain on the power play.  Nanaimo won 3-2.

Saturday saw the WFG-sponsored Clippers board their bus again for their last regular season road game against the Cowichan Valley Capitals.  The Clippers were playing to win, shooting 38 shots on goal.  Four points were scored in the first period by Brayden Jaw, Colton Cyr, Joe Perry (on the power play) and Luc Olivier Blain, but the scoring wasn’t done.  Andrew Gladiuk scored in the second.  Brayden Jaw scored again in the third and Cody Bremner scored to take this game 7-4.  Stars of the Game honors were all Clippers: Carson Schell, Luc Olivier Blain and Brayden Jaw.  With this win, the Clippers will be in the BCHL playoff that begins Fri.,Feb. 26.

The Clippers next take the ice this Friday, Feb. 19, against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in their last regular season game on home ice.  The puck drops at 7:30 local time at Frank Crane Arena.  GO CLIPPERS!

The World Financial Group-sponsored Ferbey 4, the “Kings of Canadian Curling”, traveled to Olds, AB to participate in the 2010 Alberta Boston Pizza Cup.  The winner would determine who would represent Alberta in the 2010 Tim Horton’s Brier.  And Randy, David, Scott and Marcel were all raring to go to represent for this great honor.

The Ferbey 4’s first match was Wednesday, February 2, opposite Rob Armitage’s rink out of Red Deer.  Our rink had the hammer and used it to win 9-2 in six ends.  The next morning, the men in the WFG curling shirts faced off against the rink of James Pahl out of Sherwood Park.  This match was so evenly played, it went to eleven ends.  However, David’s final rock was good enough to earn the Ferbey 4 an 8-7 win. 

Later that day, our rink faced their cross town competitors Kevin Koe to determine the first finalist for the cup.  Again, eleven ends were needed to determine the outcome.  However, Kevin would take this one by a score of 10-8.

With one qualifier determined, Randy and the guys took the house again Friday afternoon opposite Rob Armitage’s rink.  This match also went to eleven ends.  Thanks to the hammer, the Ferbey 4 won 8-7.  Later that day, our WFG curling rink became the second finalist by winning opposite Lloydminster’s Warren Hassall by a score of 9-5.  Warren’s rink had the hammer, but the Ferbey 4 only needed nine ends to win this one.

In the first match of the semifinals held on Saturday night, Randy and the team faced Kevin Koe again to determine who would go to the final game.  The loser would play an additional game opposite the winner of the semifinal “play-in” game.  Although giving a great effort, Randy lost to Kevin by a score of 10-6 in nine ends.  But in the second semifinal game, the Ferbey 4 faced the fellow Edmonton rink of Ted Appleman.  And, thanks to the hammer, our WFG curling team took this contest 6-4 in ten ends.

After the round robin and the elimination rounds, the Ferbey 4 faced Kevin Koe for the third time this tournament.  And the winner would represent Alberta in the 2010 Brier in Halifax.  However, Koe’s rink proved too strong for our WFG curling team and won the 2010 Alberta Boston Pizza Cup by a score of 7-5 in nine ends.

Randy, David, Scott and Marcel will return to competition March 25 to in the Bear Mountain Classic.  Keep reading here for the latest on World Financial Group’s own “Kings of Canadian Curling”. 

January finally ended for the World Financial Group-sponsored Nanaimo Clippers of the BCHL.  And February looked to be tough with a four game road trip to start the shortest month of the year.  But after ending January with a win, it looked as if our team was starting to turn around and make it into the BCHL playoffs.

The first game of the trip saw the Clippers take on the Merritt Centennials last Tuesday.  Clippers forward Cody Bremner scored the first goal of the game after a no scoring first period.  Merritt answered back, but Carson Schell, Nicholas McIntyre and Colton Cyr (unassisted into an empty net) all scored in the third period to win 4-2.  Bremner was named the First Star of the Game and goalie Loic Boivin, who blocked 32 out of 34 shots, was named the Third Star.

The next night saw our WFG-sponsored “Junior A” hockey team visit Quesnel to take on the Millionaires.  Andrew Gladiuk got the offense fired up with the first goal of the game.  He also scored a goal in the second and a goal in the third (on the power play), earning Gladiuk a hat trick!  And, for good measure, Colton Cyr added a goal of his own in the third period as Nanaimo took this one 4-3.  Gladiuk was named the First Star of the Game, and Brayden Jaw earned the title of Second Star, thanks to his hard playing and two assists.

After an off night, the Prince George Spruce Kings wanted to avenge their loss to the Clippers last week.  And revenge they did get by taking this game 5-2. Scoring the goals for Nanaimo were Kyle Kramer and Brayden Jaw.  Both were on the power play.

But Saturday would see no rest for the Clippers.  Our team visited the Williams Lake Timberwolves and took an early lead.  Carson Schell scored the lone goal of the first period (unassisted) and Cody Bremner scored the lone goal of the second.  The Timberwolves then scored three unanswered goals to take the lead.  But the Clippers came back, thanks to goals from Teal Burns, Brayden Jaw (on the power play) and Victor Newell (unassisted).  Nanaimo won this one 5-3.  For his goal and second period assist, Burns was named the Second Star of the Game.

After a long road trip, the WFG Nanaimo Clippers return to the confines of Frank Crane Arena opposite the Williams Lake Timberwolves this coming Wednesday and the Quesnel Millionaires on Friday.  Then another road game beckons for our team in Cowichan Valley on Saturday.  Go Clippers!

It’s a tremendous honor to be selected to compete for your country in any Olympics, but to be selected to bear your country’s flag in the opening ceremonies is considered even a greater honor.  For the United States in the Winter Olympics, two Luge athletes have previously carried the U.S. flag: Frank Masely in 1984 and Cameron Myler in 1994.

And now Mark Grimmette is added to that list.  Mark, a five time Olympian and a WFG-adopted athlete, was chosen by the USOC to lead the USA in the parade of nations this Friday in Vancouver.  Mark told the US Olympic Committee that “to be the person leading the US Team into the Opening Ceremony is just such a great honor.” 

For the first time, the Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies will be held indoors with the athletes taking reserved seats after they march in.  The country’s appointed flag bearer will remain on the field for the duration of the ceremony.

The 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Opening Ceremonies begin at 7:30 p.m. (Eastern Time) and will be carried on NBC in the US and CTV in Canada.  Congratulations Mark, we can’t wait to see you carrying the U.S. flag!

The month of January has not been kind to the Nanaimo Clippers thus far as the “Junior A” hockey club, sponsored by World Financial Group, has lost more games than they have won.  So would the last week of January be better for the team?

Last Tuesday, the Clippers hit the road playing opposite the Cowichan Valley Capitals.  The Clippers went on the power play seven times in the contest and scored on three of them, with two goals from Teal Burns and one from Luc Olivier Blain.  Unfortunately, the Caps took this contest 4-3, even though Clippers’ goalie Loic Boivin was able to save 30 shots on goal.

The next night, the WFG-sponsored hockey team came home to Frank Crane Arena to host the Prince George Spruce Kings.  This game had to go to two overtimes to decide a victor, but this time, the Clippers won 4-3!  Scoring goals in the victory were Teal Burns, Kyle Kramer, Luc Olivier Blain and Cody Bremner in double OT. Kramer and Bremner were named the Second and Third Stars of the Game, respectively.

With their first win of January, the Clippers returned to the road to take on the Alberni Valley Bulldogs.  And, like the previous game, this one was close all the way to the third period.  One goal per period was scored by Clippers teammates Brayden Jaw (first), Kyle Kramer (second, unassisted) and Cody Bremner (third).  However, the Bulldogs matched all those goals, and earned two more, to win the game 5-3.

But the Clippers had one more road game this past week with another visit to Victoria to take on the Grizzlies.  Lately, the Grizzlies have had the Clippers number.  But in this game, the Clippers gained the lead early and never trailed in a 4-3 win.  First Star of the Game Colton Cyr scored the first two goals and Third Star Teal Burns added the other two, including a power play goal in the second.

The WFG-sponsored Nanaimo Clippers return to the road for four more games.  On Tuesday, the team visits the Merritt Centennials and Wednesday sees the Clippers take on the Quesnel Millionaires.  Friday is a rematch against the Prince George Spruce Kings, and on Saturday the road trip ends opposite the Williams Lake Timberwolves.  Go Clippers!

Cesana, Italy is a picturesque commune in the Turin province of Italy.  The 2006 Olympic luge competition was held there, and more recently Luge action returned to the town for the final meet for the Luge World Cup.  The World Financial Group-sponsored USA Luge team was among the competitors and all told the team did rather well.  

Nations Cup sliding had two men’s team members in the top 10.  Finishing best was WFG-adopted athlete Bengt Walden with a time of 52.114 seconds, only 0.269 seconds off the leader, and good enough to place him fourth place overall.  Chris Mazdzer came in eighth with a time of 52.287 seconds.  The women’s team fielded one member, Megan Sweeney, who finished fourth with a time of 47.238, only 0.135 seconds off first.  Way to go, team!

In World Cup racing, USA Luge had three men’s team members competing.  Finishing was ahead of the rest was Tony Benshoof, whose combined time of 1:43.861 - only 0.746 seconds from first place - earned him fifth place..  Also sliding were Chris Mazdzer, whose 1:44.177 was good for 14^th place and WFG-adopted athlete Bengt Walden came in 17^th with a time of 1:44.345.

The women of USA Luge also had three competitors.  2009 World Cup Champion Erin Hamlin won the bronze at this event with a combined time of 1:33.925 – a time that was only 0.114 seconds away from the gold.  Not far behind Erin was Megan Sweeney who finished 8^th with a combined time of 1:34.820.  Julia Clukey finished 17^th in this event with a time of 1:36.425.

World Cup doubles featured two teams from USA Luge.  Christian Niccum and Dan Joye came in fifth with a time of 1:33.236, only 0.254 seconds off the leader.  The WFG-adopted teammates Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin finished 11^th with a time of 1:34.567.

Also held in Cesana was a Challenge Cup race.  Among the men, Tony Benshoof came in 5^th with a time of 51.725.  Erin Hamlin finished second with a time of 47.115 (a mere sixth hundredth of a second away from first) among the women.  Doubles teams Christian Niccum and Dan Joye finished 7^th and the WFG-adopted team of Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin came in 10^th.

While the Luge World Cup season is over, luge competition is nowhere near finished.  Up next is the 2010 Winter Olympics.  Look for the men to start competing on Feb. 13 and finishing on Valentine’s Day.  The women will begin on Feb. 15 (President’s Day in the US) and finish the next day.  And doubles competition takes place on the Feb. 17.  Here’s hoping for gold medals for our fine USA Luge team!