No Bull: Michael Roberts’ Story of Redemption

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This story originally appeared in the April issue of Downhome.

-By Omar Mosleh

Michael "Bull" Roberts, 36.

Michael Roberts’ face is a canvas of pain.

Almost his entire body is draped in ink, from faces and flames to skulls and swastikas. Individually, he says, his tattoos are meaningless. Collectively, they once offered a mask to his misery — a means of therapy for a life of crime, abuse and violence.

Roberts takes a slow measured drag of a du Maurier cigarette, standing at his doorstep in the bitter winter cold. They’re one of his only guilty pleasures left after more than two decades of drug and alcohol abuse. Known as “Bull” in his younger days, the Trepassey, N.L. native is tired from walking up the stairs — his 6’4″, nearly 500-pound frame makes it challenging. As he smokes, he offhandedly describes how the nose and scalp are the most painful spots to get inked.

He is frequently asked what various tattoos mean to him.

“Nothing,” he states bluntly. “It was all pure pain therapy, man…just another way to cope.”

Vaughan Business Student Aims High

Anna Kuznetsov, 18, has a goal to raise $100,000 by end of summer as manager of her own painting business. Photo by Francis Crescia.

This story originally appeared in Vaughan Today.

-By Omar Mosleh

For Anna Kuznetsov, the ceiling is the limit.

The assertive Vaughan student, who attends York University’s Schulich School of Business, manages her own interior/exterior painting business. If that isn’t enough, she’s also a contestant in the inaugural Miss University Canada beauty pageant.

Not bad for an 18 year old.

Event Urges Discussion On Concussions In Minor Leagues

-By Omar Mosleh

CJ Ficek, product manager for Helmets and Facial at Bauer Hockey, shows off features of Bauer's 9900 helmet designed to minimize the risk of concussions. Photo by Omar Mosleh.

You can replace a missing tooth, but discussion is mounting on a piece of equipment designed to protect one of an athlete’s most valuable assets – their brain.

As concussions in both professional and minor league hockey grow increasingly common, there has been plenty of discourse among hockey coaches and parents on how to address the issue. A concussion is a temporary brain injury that results from an impact to the head or body that causes the brain to move inside the skull.

Concerned parents as well as hockey and health professionals gathered on March 2 at a Bauer-sponsored event to discuss head safety, concussions, and proper helmet fitting.

Some parents, such as Marianne Eaves, decried what she perceived as the lack of emphasis on helmets.

“Why in the GTHL have we been so mouth guard driven?” she asked. “We’re spending $200 on a mouth guard, and $60 on a helmet, and that’s wrong,” she said. “No one has even looked at my son’s helmet.”

Equipment Bank Aims To Save Hockey In Scarborough

-By Omar Mosleh

One of the biggest barriers for Canadians who want to get involved in minor league hockey is cost. When one takes into consideration registration and equipment fees, the expenses can range in the hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

But now the city of Toronto in conjunction with the GTHL and Good Will is creating a rental equipment bank to make the sport more accessible to New Canadians and families that fall within the low-income bracket.

The aim of the rental bank is to not only create opportunities for youth who would like to get involved in hockey but have faced financial challenges, but also to expand the sport within the community. The idea was suggested as one measure in a series of recommendations on how to save hockey in Scarborough in light of declining enrolment numbers.

Scott Oakman, executive director of the GTHL, said he was looking forward to the project finally getting off the ground.

“This is going to be huge in many ways, because it provides a centralized distributor of quality equipment,” he said. “I don’t think this project alone is going to be the solution (to decreasing enrolment), but it’s one of many things that has to happen.”

Light At The End Of The Hockey Rink

-By Omar Mosleh

Hockey parents write down recommendations during a forum on the future of hockey in Scarborough. Photo by John Packman.

In the aftermath of a turbulent two years that saw house leagues closing, a court dispute and shrinking enrolment numbers, there is finally some good news for hockey in Scarborough.

The state of minor league hockey in Scarborough appears to be improving, with better house league numbers and increased enrolment. But some are still wary of growing overly optimistic.

West Hill Minor Hockey Association has bolstered its numbers by 20 per cent, from 650 players to 890, while the SHA has reported an enrolment increase of approximately 10 per cent. The SHA has also restructured its main hockey program to make game times and locations more consistent.

“The numbers for our house league are unbelievable,” said Howard Ryan, president of West Hill.

Montreal Canadien recognizes Toronto for building good team Hab-its

Montreal Canadien Mike Cammalleri says competing in the Toronto market as a youth played a major role in shaping the athlete he is today. Photo by Dave Sandford.

-By Omar Mosleh

Before he played in the NHL, Mike Cammalleri remembers nights competing as a Toronto Red Wing at Chesswood Arena as the closest thing to it.

“I remember that being our own little NHL,” said the 28-year-old Richmond Hill native. “I remember it being as competitive as could be. Going into Chesswood for home games on Friday nights, and the gossip and the buzz in the rink, the energy, it felt like we were playing in our own Toronto NHL.”

Now one of the most well-known faces on the Montreal Canadiens, Cammalleri played on the Red Wings back when the Greater Toronto Hockey League was known as the Metro Toronto Hockey League.

He’s come a long way since those days. Cammalleri displayed an impressive performance in the past season’s playoffs, having led the Habs to the Eastern Conference final with 13 goals, where they lost to Stanley Cup finalists, the Philadelphia Flyers.

This made him the first Hab since Vincent Damphouse to score 11 or more goals (in the playoffs). Damphouse achieved it in 1993, which was also the last year the Canadiens won the Stanley Cup. But before becoming a star as a result of his 2010 playoff performance, the 5-foot-9, 182-pound forward recalls the GTHL as one of the places his National Hockey League dreams first took flight.

“It was quite an experience,” Cammalleri said. “I honestly remember thinking about those games like I was in the National Hockey League.

Scarborough’s Road To Nowhere

This abandoned transit loop at Kennedy station has never served its original purpose. Built as part of a proposed Scarborough LRT route, it was cancelled in favour of the current RT system. Photo by Mathieu Yuill.

-By Omar Mosleh

At Kennedy Road and Eglinton Avenue, nestled in a hub of buses, trains and transfer points, there’s a 28-year-old abandoned transit loop that has never had a chance to realize its potential – much like the TTC’s service in Scarborough.

In many ways, the unfinished project perfectly exemplifies the TTC and the Ontario government’s failed dream to provide a cohesive, all-encompassing public transit system in the east end of the city.

TTC consultant Richard Soberman says the hastily built loop at Kennedy station, now a dead-end tail track, was constructed in the early ’80s to serve as part of a proposed GO Light Rail Transit (LRT) system. However, the government of Ontario scrapped the idea in favour of today’s current technology, the Rapid Transit (RT) system.

The primary difference between RT and LRT is that the latter does not require a dedicated right-of-way. LRT receives power from overhead, and is more akin to a streetcar, whereas the current RT receives power from the rails and requires a more dedicated (and expensive) infrastructure.

Fast-forward almost 30 years later, and the TTC is planning a complete overhaul of the Scarborough RT to replace it with its originally intended LRT system as part of the larger Transit City plan announced in 2007.

The Scarborough RT, loathed by some and loved by, well, no one, is synonymous with the image of a loud, screeching, overcrowded and overall uncomfortable transit experience.

Just ask any Scarborough rider their thoughts on the RT, and you’re likely to hear a predictable range of responses.

Task Force Assembled To Revitalize State Of Hockey In Scarborough

-By Omar Mosleh

Members of the Scarborough Young Leafs prepare for a game at Montgomery arena on Feb. 8, 2008. Recently declining numbers have threatened the state of minor league hockey in Scarborough. Photo by Ron Bull.

It was just over a year ago when major Toronto media outlets proclaimed with much certainty that hockey was dying in Scarborough.

On paper, the optics are grim.

The Task Force on the State of Hockey in Scarborough reported that in the past four years, the total number of Scarborough youth enrolled in hockey programs has dropped 12 per cent, and the total membership of the Scarborough Hockey Association has plummeted from its peak of 10,000 to less than 3,000.

But now the city of Toronto is working with various fixtures in the hockey community to try and kick off a series of recommendations aimed at saving hockey in Scarborough.

“A lot of work is being done by our city of Toronto staff, in terms of piecing together some of the recommendations,” said Scarborough-Centre Councillor Michael Thompson, co-chair of the task force.

Vaughan Business Program Promotes Step Up From $10 Job Idea

-By Omar Mosleh

EPIC team members Renu Rani, Cindy He, Noor Din and Kanwal Habib will oversee the launch of a new business incubator program aimed at helping disadvantaged workers become successful entrepreneurs. Photo by Nick Iwanyshyn.

A Vaughan team is set to help launch entrepreneurial careers for disadvantaged and marginalized people across the GTA.

EPIC, the Enterprise Promotion and Investment Centre, is a newly formed business incubator focused on assisting low-income families, immigrants, seniors and single mothers.

A business incubator promotes and helps develop entrepreneurial businesses so they are successful once established.

The project, led by Noor Din, executive director of humanitarian organization Human Endeavour, received funding from Employment Ontario last March. EPIC hopes to officially begin working with community members in August.

The group’s primary goal is to promote self-sufficiency among disadvantaged groups by arming them with the training and knowledge needed to run a successful business. It aims to break the cycle of skilled but disadvantaged people working low-pay, menial labour jobs with little prospect for promotion.

“What we’re promoting is a step up from the $10 job idea – that’s just the starting point,” Mr. Din said. “If you stick with just finding a job, you will never break the barriers. So you have to think differently.”

Woodbridge Guitarist’s Fate Sealed With A Kiss

-By Omar Mosleh

Steve Mastroianni, 25, better known as VØID, is lead guitarist of the band "The Envy".

From as early as he can remember, Steve Mastroianni recalls getting in trouble for doing what he loves most. It’s not sex. It’s not drugs.

It’s rock and roll.

Mr. Mastroianni, 25, better known to his fans as VØID, is lead guitarist of The Envy. The band formed in 2009 and was recently signed by legendary rocker Gene Simmons, best known as the tongue-wagging, fire-breathing frontman of 70s band KISS.

The former Vaughan resident and longtime musician inspired his first critic at the ripe age of 11.

“I taught myself to play the drums on pillows,” he said. “It still made too much noise because I was stomping on the floor. I remember my sister getting mad at me for playing a pillow drum set too loud.”

From drummer to guitarist to songwriter, Mr. Mastroianni’s popularity has slowly skyrocketed.