Wet blanket dampens vacation fun

Around the NSL: Record broken; standings rocked; Calgary a wild watch

Records were broken, the standings were rocked, and the Calgary Wild haven’t lost a match since Week 15.

The last two weeks of the Northern Super League have been electric.

With six weeks left in the regular season, here’s a rapid-fire breakdown of where each club stands.

Montreal Roses (11-4-5, 38 points)Before we dive into the impressive resurrection, let’s bask in the record-breaking 17,077 in attendance at Stade Saputo on Aug. 29.

Artist’s inspired work brings Red River Métis story back to Portage and Main

Jennine Krauchi calls them the “grandmothers.” “They speak to you very silently. You never hear a word, but they speak,” Krauchi says, referring to the antique pieces of Métis needlework she’s carefully studied for years. But there are few precedents for her latest art project: a 85-foot-wide by 32-foot-high chain curtain of Métis needlework that drapes over the historic Bank of Montreal’s neoclassical facade.

What it means to be green… in a city beholden to the blue and gold

It’s not easy being green… if you’re a Winnipeg Blue Bombers season-ticket holder.

Dave Dech ordinarily arrives at his designated seat in Princess Auto Stadium fully decked out in blue and gold. That won’t be the situation this weekend, however, when the Bombers clash with their principal Canadian Football League rival, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, in the annual, sold-out Banjo Bowl game.

“No, I’ll be in green pretty much from head to toe. People sitting around us kid me, but by now they know if it’s the Banjo Bowl, Dave’s showing up in green,” says Dech, 63, possibly the biggest Saskatchewan supporter this side of Moosomin.

Not only does the married father of two grown sons have 25 Roughriders jerseys hanging in his closet — at press time, he was still mulling over which one to throw on for Saturday’s tilt — there is a main-floor lair in his and his wife Patti’s Westwood abode you’ll probably want to avoid if you suffer from prasinophobia — a fear of the colour green.

Winnipeg-produced podcast Careers Under Construction keeps rolling for Pederson Group

It could have been the CEO’s corner office or a boardroom, but instead it’s a media production studio.

Eight storeys above the corner of Portage Avenue and Main Street, the 300-square-foot room in the Pederson Group’s headquarters at 201 Portage Ave. is outfitted with comfortable chairs, a plant and black drapes that block out natural light and control the acoustics.

There are three video cameras, two computers, a few microphones and a variety of portable video lights. All told, the equipment is worth more than $70,000.

It’s here where two of the Winnipeg recruitment firm’s five staff members — Justis Pederson, president and CEO, and Cassie Bezan, director of creative communications — produce Careers Under Construction, a weekly, hour-long podcast featuring interviews Pederson conducts with Manitoba business people.

Mechanic Susie helps turn jockey standings around at Assiniboia Downs

Two champions got back up off the mat this week at Assiniboia Downs. One of them was a human.

Antonio Whitehall won four races on Wednesday evening to wrest back the lead in the jockey standings from surging former Hastings Park rider Kerron Khelawan, and he crossed the finish line first in the last five races on the card. Whitehall was disqualified from winning the seventh race aboard Tap the Parlay when that filly caused some unavoidable interference early in the race.

The winners that stood for Whitehall included Neighneigh ($5.50) in the fourth race for trainer Demetris Topouzis; Mechanic Susie ($3.90) in the fifth for trainer Elton Dickey; Betterlucknexttime ($3.80) in the sixth race for trainer Mike Nault; and a nail biter in the seventh aboard Weekendindelmar ($5.00) for trainer Robert Maybin.

No earth-shattering prices in the bunch, but the fact that the three-time ASD riding champion came back with a huge night after being outscored 2-0 by Khelawan and being knocked out of top spot in the standings the night before spoke volumes.

U of M students call for ban on far-right group

Some University of Manitoba students are calling on their school to ban a far-right group from campus after posters promoting mass deportations were found during the summer break.

More than 50 people rallied on Wednesday, the first day of classes, to make known their concerns about a group called the Dominion Society of Canada.

The protest was organized after a supporter of the self-described nationalist group posted a video over the Labour Day weekend that shows him putting up flyers in Fort Garry.

“Canada is a really beautiful country and I have been welcomed here by a lot of beautiful people and it’s been amazing, but when I see harmful rhetoric online and now, on campus, it gives me a lot of anxiety,” said Ela Ancheta, an arts major at U of M.