Sports
Hockey Canada members elect new board of directors
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Hockey Canada has a new board of directors.
Now the real work begins.
The national sport organization’s members elected a slate of candidates to fill nine vacant board seats with a vote Saturday at its annual winter meeting.
Retired judge Hugh L. Fraser is Hockey Canada’s new chair, while former women’s national team captain Cassie Campbell-Pascall is also now on the board.
The federation’s 13 provincial and territorial bodies had the choice to accept or reject the nine names, which included five women and four men, put forward earlier this week by an independent nominating committee.
Nine individuals have been elected to the Hockey Canada Board of Directors, following a selection process led by an independent Nominating Committee and a vote by Hockey Canada’s Members.
—@HockeyCanada
Hockey Canada’s previous board quit in October — the same day embattled president and CEO Scott Smith stepped aside — amid blistering criticism related to the scandal-plagued federation’s handling of sexual assault allegations and hushed payouts to victims.
Grant Borbridge, Julie Duranceau, Dave Evans, Marni Fullerton, Jonathan F. Goldbloom, Marian Jacko and Andrea Poole were also voted in as board members Saturday.
“We are determined to enact the changes Canadians expect,” Fraser said in a statement. “Hockey means so much to our country and we will be committed to making sure that Hockey Canada is an organization that is transparent and accountable to all Canadians, and is worthy of their trust.”
The fallout was swift.
Hockey Canada had its federal and corporate funding either cut off or redirected as more ugly stories surfaced before a string of disastrous heritage committee meetings on Parliament Hill that saw officials past and present grilled by MPs, ultimately leading to the board’s resignation and Smith’s departure.
With nearly three decades experience at the Ontario court of justice, Fraser has been on the Court of Arbitration for Sport since 1995 and served on the first ad hoc court at the 1996 Olympics.
Born in Jamaica and raised in Kingston, Ont., he also competed in the men’s 200-metre track and field event at the 1976 Olympics and is the father of former NHL defenceman Mark Fraser.
Liberal MP and heritage committee member Anthony Housefather said in a statement the new board represents “a diverse group of very qualified people.”
“They also have a tremendous challenge,” he added. “They need to define an appropriate governance model for themselves and future boards, clearly demonstrate a commitment to safe and inclusive hockey and communicate that to Canadians so that players, parents, sponsors and government feel confident in the organization.
“This requires transparency in explaining past actions and accountability for bad behaviour.”
Campbell-Pascall, meanwhile, brings the most Hockey Canada experience to the table.
The three-time Olympian, who helped the women’s national team win gold at both the 2002 and 2006 Games, currently sits on the board of its foundation and was the first female hockey player inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.
An Order of Canada recipient, Campbell-Pascall was also the first woman to provide colour commentary on “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcasts and is a regular on Sportsnet’s NHL telecasts.
Her husband, Brad Pascall, is an assistant general manager with the Calgary Flames and worked in senior management roles at Hockey Canada from 1995 through 2014, according to his LinkedIn page.
Borbridge, Jacko and Poole, meanwhile, have significant hockey administration experience.
Jacko, who is an Anishinaabe from Wiikwemkoong First Nation, is the assistant deputy attorney general for the Indigenous Justice Division of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. She is also president of the Little Native Hockey League.
Poole, who runs accounting firm Numeris CPA Professional Corporation, has sat as director of the Ottawa East Minor Hockey Association.
The other nominees come from outside the sport.
Duranceau is a lawyer and an accredited mediator in civil, commercial and family matters, Goldbloom is a communications specialist, Fullerton is an executive with experience as a senior adviser and CEO, and Evans has worked over two decades within the consulting, advisory and real estate industries.
Former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell headed an independent review into Hockey Canada’s governance.
The 221-page document concluded the federation was at a “crossroads” and called for more oversight and accountability.
Cromwell’s report provided a number of recommendations, including that moving forward no more than 60 per cent of Hockey Canada’s board members be of the same gender.
He also recommended the new board serve a special one-year term focused improving the organization’s governance as well as safety across the sport on and off the ice.
“To say that Hockey Canada has been through a tumultuous time is an understatement,” Conservative MP and heritage committee member Rachael Thomas said in a statement. “Players, parents, and fans deserve stability. It is my sincere hope this newly elected board will take seriously Justice Cromwell’s report and work hard to implement his recommendations.
“Hockey is extremely important to our nation’s culture and the newly minted members of the board have the responsibility to players, parents, and the Canadian people to guide the organization into a positive future.”
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Sports
Here’s what we know about the allegations against Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter, Ippei Mizuhara
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LOS ANGELES –
Only a week has passed since the Los Angeles Dodgers abruptly fired Ippei Mizuhara, the interpreter and constant companion of their new $700 million slugger, Shohei Ohtani.
But the biggest story of baseball’s spring is still murky — and shocking — as the regular season begins in earnest Thursday.
The scandal encompasses gambling, alleged theft, extensive deceit and the breakup of an enduring partnership between the majors’ biggest star and his right-hand man. Investigations are underway by the IRS and Major League Baseball, and Ohtani publicly laid out a version of events Monday that placed the responsibility entirely on Mizuhara.
Here are the basics as Ohtani and the Dodgers prepare for their home opener against St. Louis on Thursday:
Why was Ippei Mizuhara fired by the Dodgers?
Ohtani claims his close friend repeatedly took money from his accounts to fund his illegal sports gambling habit. Ohtani also says he was completely unaware of the “massive theft,” as his lawyers termed it, until Mizuhara confessed to him and the Dodgers last week in South Korea, where the team opened its regular season against the San Diego Padres.
Mizuhara has given more than one version of his path to this trouble, which was catalyzed by the IRS’ investigation of Mathew Bowyer, an alleged illegal bookmaker. Mizuhara has consistently said he has a gambling addiction, and he abused his close friendship with the Dodgers superstar to feed it.
Did Shohei Ohtani ever bet on sports?
That’s the biggest question to be answered in Major League Baseball’s investigation, and the two-time AL MVP emphatically says he has never gambled on sports or asked anybody to bet on sports for him.
Further, Ohtani said Monday he has never knowingly paid a bookie to cover somebody else’s bets. Mizuhara also said Ohtani does not bet, and Bowyer’s attorney said the same.
Mizuhara told ESPN on March 19 that Ohtani paid his gambling debts at the interpreter’s request, saying the bets were on international soccer, the NBA, the NFL and college football. If that were true, Ohtani could face trouble even if he didn’t make the bets himself — but ESPN said Mizuhara dramatically changed his story the following day, claiming Ohtani had no knowledge of the gambling debts and had not transferred any money to bookmakers.
MLB rules prohibit players and team employees from wagering — even legally — on baseball. They also ban betting on other sports with illegal or offshore bookmakers.
What’s next for Ohtani?
Ohtani has played in every Dodgers game since the story broke, and he is expected to be their designated hitter in most regular-season games this season while baseball’s investigation continues.
Ohtani says his legal team has alerted authorities to the theft by Mizuhara, although his team has repeatedly declined to say which authorities have been told, according to ESPN.
Ohtani’s new interpreter is Will Ireton, a longtime Dodgers employee and fluent Japanese speaker who has filled several jobs with the team in everything from game preparation and analytics to recruiting free-agent pitches. But Ireton won’t be Ohtani’s constant companion, and manager Dave Roberts said Tuesday he’s optimistic that Ohtani will become closer to his teammates without the “buffer” provided for years by Mizuhara.
What don’t we know?
MLB’s investigation of Ohtani’s role in the events could last weeks or months, and it’s unlikely to be publicized until it’s complete. No one outside of Ohtani’s inner circle knows what it will find or how serious any repercussions could be, and nobody outside the circle is making informed speculation about the process.
One major question looms: How did Mizuhara have enough access to Ohtani’s bank accounts to get the alleged millions without Ohtani knowing? Is the slugger overly trusting, or is he wildly negligent in managing his vast fortune, which includes years of lavish endorsement deals in addition to his baseball salaries? Why didn’t the team around him, including his agent, do more to prevent the possibility of the theft he claims?
Finally, where is Mizuhara? Anybody who knows isn’t saying. He was fired in South Korea and apparently didn’t travel home with the Dodgers. Japanese media have visited his home in Southern California to look for him. Although he was born in Japan, Mizuhara’s life is in the U.S. — but his life will never be the same.
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