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From Sports to Solidarity

January/February 2003 IBEW Journal

OK, so hockey is Canadian and baseball is American. And thats the way it worked out when 13 Ontario IBEW construction locals invited some Yanks to participate in their program featuring solidarity through sports.

The program included a hockey tournament in May and a slo-pitch softball tournament on Labour Day 2002. The sports program is run by the Construction Council of Ontario, which comprises Locals 105 (Hamilton), 115 (Kingston), 120 (London), 303 (St. Catharines), 353 (Toronto), 530 (Sarnia), 402 (Thunder Bay), 586 (Ottawa), 773 (Windsor), 804 (Kitchener), 894 (Oshawa), 1687 (Sudbury) and 1739 (Barrie).

Local 586 hockey team, winner of the top division of the
Construction Council of Ontarios 2002 tournament.

The hockey tournament in May 2002 was held in London, Ontario, with invitations to U.S. Locals 3 of New York City and 58 of Detroit filling out the 16-team format. Business Manager John J. OBrien and Local 120 staff and members staged an event that was "second to none," according to Press Secretary Doug Parsons of Ottawa Local 586, whose team won the top prize, the Class A trophy.Local 3 also participated in the slo-pitch softball tournament and won the title with a close finals victory over Local 1687 of Sudbury. Local 586 of Ottawa was host for the softball tournament.

Todd Carriere of Local 586 accepts the most valuable player award from Local 120 Business Manager John J. OBrien.

Host Business Manager John J. OBrien of Local 120 presents the top scorers trophy to Tom Wardle of Local 586.

In the 2002 hockey tournament, Local 120 won the B division title and Local 105 won the C division. The Americans werent shut out completely as Local 3 won the D division and Charles Pekesak won the Alex Dunkin Cup as the most valuable coach. In other individual honors, Claude Tunison of Local 58 was named the tournaments "most mature player" and Joe Richter, also of Local 58, was best defenseman.

In softball, 14 teams competed in Ottawa, with Local 586 Business Manager James Barry and his staff organizing the Labour Day event. Local 773 of Windsor won the B flight with a last-inning victory over Local 804 of Kitchener.