SPORTS
Briefcases to hockey
sticks
MBA’s battle for the Ivey Cup
Kyle Hampson
Gazette Writer
This weekend, master’s business administration students
will be putting down their cell phones and laptops, loosening
their ties and reverting back to the true Canadian pastime of hockey.
Instead of watching the Western Mustangs’ men’s hockey
team take on the Lakehead Thunderwolves at Thompson Arena this
Friday and Saturday, you can witness the most talked about championship
of the year — the MBA Battle for the Ivey Cup — for
free at the Western Fairgrounds.
These ladies and gentlemen promise to exhibit some of the most
entertaining “stick-puck” you will see this year. All
the stress the participants have pent up from case competitions,
feasibility studies and tasks that resemble scenes from The Apprentice
will be bled off at the tourney.
“The Ivey Cup is great because it gives business students
from all across North America a chance to come to London to meet
new people, explore the city and of course play hockey — and
reaffirms the importance of taking a break to enjoy yourself,” says
Ivey Cup organizer and MBA student Aaron McCracken in a press release. “This
year the Cup has grown so large that some teams had to be turned
away.”
The Ivey Cup hockey tournament is being run for the third time
and has progressed to the largest graduate hockey tournament in
Canada, attracting notable Canadian teams from business schools
such as Schulich and Rotman Colleges, McGill, McMaster and Queen’s
Universities, as well as American business schools such as Kellogg,
Cornell and Michigan. This year’s tournament will also feature
a women’s division.
Main sponsors of the Ivey Cup are Mercedes-Benz, Labatts, the
Ivey MBA Student Association and the Richard Ivey School of Business.
Joanne Shoveller, director of the MBA program office at Ivey,
explains that the business school fully supports the student-run
event. “The tournament is an exceptionally well-organized
event that involves a wide range of students,” Shoveller
claims. “[The tournament] furthers the Ivey community through
the involvement of alumni, current students, faculty and staff.”
Shoveller also notes the opportunity to build positive relations
between MBA students. “The tournament showcases our school
exceptionally well to students and alumni from other well-known
business schools both in Canada and the [United States],” she
says.
This year’s championship game will be held tomorrow at the
Western Fairgrounds. The puck drops at 6 p.m..
So bring your briefcases, Armani suits and high priced beers — like
Tuborg, the beer of Danish Kings — and cheer on the future
CEO’s of the world as they clutch and grab their way to the
other most prized possession in hockey — the Ivey Cup.
— with files from David Lee
