PRO-AM HOCKEY TOURNAMENT HELPS IN ALZHEIMER’S FIGHT
Albertan who helped establish curling in Japan receives thanks from nation
In a call to defence lawyer Brian Beresh Sunday morning to ask how his hockey game went, he said: “It was a bloodbath.”
This was a surprise because the 21 teams playing in the Pro-Am Alzheimer’s Face Off hockey tournament have (mainly) polite gentlemen in their ranks. And they had raised more than $1 million to fight the disease that today affects more than 40,000 Albertans.
“I’m not talking about the Alzheimer’s tournament,” said Beresh, selected by his peers as one of the busiest and best defence lawyers in Canada.
“I am talking about the Crown versus Defence Hockey game. The prosecutors won 4-2. But there will be a shortage of Crown prosecutors in Edmonton next week, even if injuries allow some to be released from hospital.”
Beresh is 65 and I was amazed he had played a tough game for his Saskatchewan buddy Mark Asbell’s Mickey’s team Saturday morning and then, as a top Alzheimer tournament fundraiser, he played in the all-star game in the afternoon.
“I try to stay fit,” he said. “I spin all winter indoors on my bike and I practise Bikram yoga. That’s where in temperatures of about 36 degrees you work out for 90 minutes. Your muscles are more relaxed in the heat and you gain a greater benefit from stretching.”
It must help. Six years ago, Beresh climbed Argentina’s Mt. Aconcagua, at 6,961 metres the highest mountain in the western and southern hemispheres. His climb raised more than $60,000 for the YMCA and the Edmonton Strong Kids campaign.
“Our lawyers’ game raised nearly $30,000 to support the Right to Play and at an auction after the game, an early Connor McDavid jersey sold for $3,500,” said Beresh.
Right to Play is an international organization dedicated through the power of sport to empower more than one million impoverished children around the world.
Mickey’s team, with $57,044 raised, was given sixth choice at the draft pick Friday night and selected Craig MacTavish.
“But he was still down in Anaheim with the Oilers and we were offered Mark Napier and Jason Strudwick as replacements until MacT returned on Sunday,” said Asbell.
The Select Few, with Dan Hamilton leading the way, was the biggest fundraisers with $108,667 raised. With more than 21 former NHL stars in the draft, they picked seven-NHL team veteran Mike Commodore. In six years, the Select Few has raised more than $700,000 for Alzheimer’s.
Tournament founder Greg Christenson and his CDL Karaoke Kings team, the second highest team fundraiser at $95,652, chose Mike Krushelnyski.
“Players say it’s a privilege to take part in the Alzheimer’s Society largest fundraiser in Alberta,” said Christensen, the highest individual fundraiser at $53,943.
“Our net funds are matched by the Alberta Prion Research Institute, part of Alberta Innovates, and stay here to support research in Alberta.”
JAPAN REWARDS CURLER
The Japanese government has honoured an Edmonton man with laying the foundation for its curling team to qualify for the Winter Olympics for the first time.
In Japan’s 2017 Spring Imperial Decorations list, Wally Ursuliak, 89, has been awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays.
“In the late 1960s, I began
There will be a shortage of Crown prosecutors in Edmonton next week, even if injuries allow some to be released from hospital.
coaching and enjoyed analyzing curling so much I lost my competitive edge,” says Ursuliak, now living in Morinville. “I never thought my love of the sport would lead to such recognition.”
Ursuliak began curling at the age of 23 at the Alberta Avenue Curling Club and was the lead on the Hec Gervais rink that won the World Curling Championships in 1961.
“Along with Ray Turnbull and Don Duguid, I began coaching classes,” says the curler. “There was such a demand in the 1960s and 1970s that we went to Europe to coach.”
In 1980, there was a world’s Northern Region’s conference in Edmonton and he was invited to take Hokkaido representatives to a curling tournament.
“We went to a ladies’ event in St. Albert and they loved it,” he said.
That was the year Alberta was formally twinned with the Japanese island of Hokkaido and Ursuliak was invited by the Alberta government to coach curling there.
He was in Hokkaido 10 times for various periods and in Nagano twice.
“It was a joy to watch the enthusiasm of young people introduced to the sport,” says the curler. “Some came later here to learn and I taught many who became instructors themselves.”
Japan hosted the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics and, as host country, a Japanese curling rink was invited to compete.
“Now a Japanese rink has qualified on points for the 2018 Pyeong-Chang Olympics in South Korea,” says Ursuliak. “A strong performance at the recent World Championships in Edmonton booked the spot.
“The team is young and I’d rank it about fifth in the world. Curlers don’t usually mature until they are in their 30s, so Japanese teams have a bright future.”
Mai Tomori of the Japanese Consul-General’s office in Calgary says Ursuliak taught more than 2,000 students in 12 towns how to curl.
“Wally’s instruction influenced the annual Hokkaido curling championship,” said Tomori.
“The championship is in its 37th year and features the Alberta Cup, a special trophy presented by the Alberta government.
“Wally might not have taught today’s team, but he introduced curling to Hokkaido and laid the basis of Japanese curling at the earliest stage. Many of his students are now board members of the Japanese Curling Association.”