Latest news with #Fabbro
Ottawa Citizen
4 days ago
- Sport
- Ottawa Citizen
Greater Sudbury Cubs welcome new group of prospects to camp
Article content A taste of NOJHL action with the Greater Sudbury Cubs last season only whetted Jameson Fabbro's appetite for a steady serving. Article content The 17-year-old forward from Sudbury made his latest case for a roster spot on the weekend, as one of 40 players from across Northern Ontario and points to the south who participated in the Cubs' spring prospect camp. Article content Six goalies, 13 defencemen and 21 forwards converged on Gerry McCrory Countryside Sports Complex for practices and a pair of games on Saturday, followed by one more game on Sunday. Article content Article content 'Hopefully, I can play here next year,' said Fabbro, an Erie Otters draft choice who helped to lead the Sudbury Wolves U18 AAA squad to a Great North Under-18 League championship this season. Article content Article content 'This is a great junior team and I would love to stay at home and just play junior and get better.' Article content A relative of several high-level hockey players through the Savage and Hillman families, Fabbro also dressed for eight games with the Greater Sudbury juniors, recording his first NOJHL point back in September before witnessing their run to a second straight league title. 'It was definitely an eye-opener, playing up with the big boys,' said Fabbro, a sturdy six-foot, 175-pounder who collected 20 goals and 27 assists in 32 games with the Sudbury U18s. 'But it's a lot easier, playing with the bigger guys and being on a line with them, moving pucks quicker and the pace is definitely faster.' Article content Article content Indeed, he believes head coach Darryl Moxam and his staff would be an ideal fit for his playing style and help him to round out his game as he moves up the ranks. Article content 'They have a great style of coaching and a really fast team,' Fabbro said. 'I feel like I fit in pretty good with that.' Article content And he could be all the more prepared to take that step following a thrilling run with the U18 Wolves, who followed up their fourth-place finish in the 2024-25 regular season by upending higher seeds from Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay and finally host Timmins in the league's championship tournament. Article content 'I got to stay at home and I was more comfortable,' Fabbro suggested. 'Mindset is a pretty big part of the game and that was a good choice I made. My teammates were phenomenal, I knew all of them and we were building chemistry throughout the season. I had a good time.' Article content He's well aware, of course, that the Cubs will have no shortage of potential prospects after making back-to-back appearances at the Centennial Cup national championship and with several standout players set to graduate, and he doesn't plan to leave anything to chance. He expects a busy summer of training, both on and off the ice.
The Guardian
13-04-2025
- Automotive
- The Guardian
Michigan autoworkers wary of Trump's tariffs: ‘Playing poker with people's lives'
The General Motors Flint Assembly plant is a hulking symbol of American auto industry might, a 5m-sq-ft factory stretching as far as the eye can see down Van Slyke Road, and it hums: three shifts almost daily crank out the Silverado truck, the automaker's most popular product. The plant weathered decades of industrial disinvestment in Flint, a blue-collar city of about 80,000 in mid-Michigan, the nation's auto capital. Flint Assembly remains an economic cornerstone of a Rust belt region filled with working-class swing voters who helped propel Donald Trump to his second term. The president did well here in part because he promised an industrial revival that will regenerate towns like Flint. On the campaign trail he promised tariffs would achieve this goal. This week the tariff war kicked into a higher gear. The reviews are mixed. Autoworkers, small business owners and residents here say tariffs could help Flint, but many aren't comforted by what they characterized as Trump's haphazard approach, higher prices on everyday goods and the prospect of middle-income folks becoming 'collateral damage'. 'Trump is playing poker, but he's playing poker with people's lives at this point,' said Chad Fabbro, financial secretary of United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 538 in Flint. Even the union is a house divided. The UAW president, Shawn Fain, supports tariffs, but Fabbro said many of the 5,000-strong rank and file at Flint Assembly see them as 'bullshit'. Onshoring industry is a good idea, if well planned, Fabbro added, but an abrupt, full-scale tariff war is 'not good for anyone because middle America is going to suffer'. Before Trump partly pulled back on Wednesday, his unprecedented trade war enacted at least 10% tariffs on nearly every country in the world last week, while hitting China, Taiwan and Vietnam with much higher rates. The war with China has escalated. There's little disagreement about whether the tariffs would cause prices to increase for everyday goods like clothing, electronics and groceries – some estimate it could cost the average US household $3,800. In Flint, the debate seems to be: 'Is the president's political and economic gamble worth it?' The president's supporters say 'yes', and have pushed variations of a message: any economic pain will be worth the benefits of a restructured world economy. Among them is Brian Pannebecker, a retired Ford employee who started Auto Workers for Trump. 'It's going to cause a little short-term pain, but we're going to have to endure it for six months or a year, however long it takes,' he said last week. 'The workers of this country have been enduring pain for decades as they closed plants down.' But among small business owners in downtown Flint, there's some doubt about the idea of more pain in one of the nation's poorest big cities – about 35% live in poverty. 'The person who said that must be coming from a place of privilege because it is obvious that they're going to be OK for the next year or so, but I think a lot of people are not in the same boat, so we have to be mindful of that,' Rebekah Hills, co-owner of Hills' Cheese, said on Tuesday. Her shop imports about half of its product from countries such as the Netherlands, France and England – the cost of those products would go up 10% under Trump's latest plan, or more if he changes his mind. 'It really sucks because it's small businesses that suffer the most,' Hills added. Frustration with stubbornly elevated prices – especially among foods – was largely behind a relatively strong Trump showing in 2024 in Genesee county, where Flint is located. He had lost to Biden and Hillary Clinton here by about 10% in the two previous elections, but closed the gap to 4% last year. Just north, in Saginaw county, also part of Michigan's auto industry heartland, the president edged out Kamala Harris. Democrats in Michigan, some of whom are fiercely critical of free trade agreements, are calibrating their messaging with these things in mind. Among those who support tariffs is US representative Debbie Dingell, whose district near Detroit is home to many rank-and-file autoworkers. 'I think tariffs are a tool in the toolbox so that we are competing on a level playing field with China, who subsidizes production, owns the companies and doesn't pay a decent wage,' Dingell recently told WDET. 'But it can't be done chaotically.' Trump's approach was damaging the economy, she said, but she also noted that 90% of the nation's pharmaceuticals are imported, and onshoring that kind of production was a good idea. But, Dingell added, 'you can't do it overnight'. On Wednesday, just after Trump pulled back on most tariffs, the conservative-leaning Michigan political analyst Bill Ballenger said he wasn't surprised by the abrupt announcement. The tariff rollout wasn't going well for Republicans in Michigan or nationally, he said. It was more 'too much, too soon' from the administration. 'The public understands the tariffs and they get his overall goal and mission, but the way he's implementing them seems incoherent,' Ballenger said. However, what that may mean in 19 months when the next elections happen is anyone's guess, he added. Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Alan Jackson, a retiree from an auto supplier, echoed the president's line. 'Why does China and everyone else get to take advantage of us? Why do they get to screw us? I'm glad someone is standing up to that.' Jackson dismissed the fears of higher prices and economic damage. 'People will be fine – it's worth it,' he added. But polls showed a major drop in Trump's approval rating, and in downtown Flint people are worried. The Flint farmers' market, in a repurposed newspaper printing press building, is a local economic hub where a half-million people annually shop for everything from locally grown produce to local jerky. But many here partly rely on imports. Tony Vu, a restaurateur and leader in the local food system, is about to reopen his Vietnamese restaurant, MaMang. The uncertainty is generating fear of supply chain shortages, Vu said: 'It seems like deja vu, but with no end in sight.' The tariffs especially take a toll on south-east Asian, Latino and other chefs of color importing goods that can't be produced here – avocados don't grow in Flint, Vu noted, and Michigan's growing season is only five months long. Imports are essential. A case of fish sauce, a staple of Vietnamese cuisine, went from about $82 to $100 just on the speculation that tariffs were increasing, highlighting another problem – some companies use disruptions to the economy as an excuse to raise prices, even if they don't need to. 'It's going to take an industry that already operates on thin margins and is really hard, and it's going to create more pressure,' Vu said. 'If businesses are not quick enough to adapt, then it's going to be a death blow.' At d'Vine Wines, with shelves full of bottles from France and Italy, manager Aaron Larson said on Tuesday he was not totally sure what to make of the tariffs yet, but he doesn't trust Trump. Fabbro, of the UAW, pointed to massive increases in Canadian aluminum prices that were a threat to Michigan's robust craft brewery industry. Meanwhile, his neighbors where he lives in rural Vassar, a few miles north of Flint, grow soybeans they sell to China. About 40% of US soybean exports go to China, which just hit them with an 84% tariff on all US goods (later raised to 125%). They're scared, Fabbro said. Auto Workers for Trump's Pannebecker said that corporations should 'absorb' some increased costs, and added that the unions are trying to have it both ways – they want higher wages but they want cars to be affordable. Something might have to give, he said. 'The market will settle itself out because that's how capitalism works,' he said. The president's supporters trust his judgment. 'He's a shrewd businessman, right? That's why people vote for him, so I say let's give it a chance, but if the cost of everything goes up then maybe he has to pull back at some point,' said Russ, an autoworker at the farmers' market who would only give his first name. At the UAW local hall across from the Flint Assembly plant, Fabbro isn't convinced, and fears layoffs. 'It'll only be a few years? OK, don't feed your kids for a few years. Sell your boat and home and everything you've worked for because you're willing to be a bargaining chip,' he said.
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Exiled Predators Defenseman Finds New NHL Home with Blue Jackets
Earlier in the season, the Nashville Predators gave away defenseman Dante Fabbro for free, placing him on waivers for the other 31 NHL teams to claim. That was one of a few short-sighted moves that set the Predators back this season. The Columbus Blue Jackets, as we know, took advantage of that and claimed Fabbro from the Predators. In 37 games in his new threads, the 26-year-old has four goals, nine assists, and 13 points, marking the second-most productive season of his NHL career with plenty of hockey still left to play. Playing on the one-year, $2.5 million contract he signed with the Predators on March 8, Fabbro will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. It's especially bizarre from Nashville, who signed Fabbro before the offseason started when he was a pending RFA, then gave him away for free anyway only months later. And, although Fabbro would be free to sign with any team of his choosing as a UFA, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reports in his latest "32 Thoughts" column that the Blue Jackets will try to keep Fabro in Columbus beyond 2025. "In addition to [Mathieu] Olivier, the Blue Jackets will try to extend Dante Fabbro, who has found a nice role there," Friedman wrote. There is an element of risk to keeping Fabbro long-term, as the struggling Damon Severson, 30, is anchored down in Columbus until 2031. The up-and-coming Blue Jackets team also has young prospects like Corson Ceulemans, Daemon Hunt, and Stanislav Svozil pushing for NHL time, while Fabbro, Ivan Provorov, Jordan Harris, and Jack Johnson are all on expiring contracts. For the Predators, this is not the first time moving on from a capable defenseman has burned them; youngster Justin Barron has struggled mightily since arriving in the Alex Carrier swap with Montreal. In the past, the Predators swapped captain Shea Weber for three years of P.K. Subban; who helped the team to a Stanley Cup Final berth in his first season but crashed and burned by Year 3. Visit The Hockey News Nashville Predators team site to stay updated on the latest Predators news, game day coverage, player features, podcasts, and more.
