A Friendly Wager

A Friendly Wager

The damage prevention community is closely-knit and regardless of where we live or work, we are all working toward the same goal – improving public, worker and community safety. We routinely communicate across cities, provinces, countries and continents and the odd time we see one another, it’s a reunion and a chance to celebrate. The bond that we share, and our desire to make things better, can migrate beyond the job when the opportunity strikes.

A few weeks ago, the NHL’s Battle of Alberta was destined to eliminate the Calgary Flames or the Edmonton Oilers from Stanley Cup playoff contention. With superstars like Connor McDavid or Johnny Gaudreau, either team had a very good chance of moving onto the finals. When the Oilers emerged victorious, the province of Alberta got behind their team as they prepared to face the Colorado Avalanche – another great hockey city that experienced championships with the likes of Joe Sakic and Patrick Roy. Hopes were high for an entertaining series – and we decided to make it a little more fun.

Reaching out to our friends at Colorado811, the state’s One-Call Centre, we asked if they’d be willing to partake in a friendly wager on the Edmonton / Colorado series. "What do you have in mind?” they replied. After floating a few ideas, we decided the losing city would donate $500 to the winning city’s foodbank.

Game on.

Anticipation was high and Utility Safety Partners was hoping for a victorious series for their Alberta team. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen but the series was entertaining with a boat load of scoring chances and a lot of goals, too. USP didn’t have a lot to boast about on Twitter but the wager and friendly jeering with our friends at Colorado811 enhanced our interest in the series.

The Avalanche won the short series and Alberta, and Canada, hung their hopes of seeing the Stanley Cup return to Canadian soil for another year (it’s been 29 years since a Canadian team won it). Licking our wounds, we reached out to our friends in Colorado to make good on our wager and their response warmed our hearts, "We know how important hockey is to our Canadian friends. Please make your donation to a foodbank in Edmonton in our name.”

And that’s exactly what we did. Colorado wins the series, Edmonton wins the wager and together, we made things just a little bit better.

Mike Sullivan - President - Utility Safety Partners