Monthly Archives: July 2013

Craik, Sports

Craik youth prepares for national lacrosse tourney

Team Saskatchewan bantam lacrosse player Kane Nolting, 13, is heading to Winnipeg next month for the lacrosse national championships.

“This year we have a pretty good team, so I think we can get second or first in the B side or maybe third on the A side,” said Nolting.

This is the third time Nolting will suit up for Team Saskatchewan at the national championships, which will be played the first week of August. He played for the peewee team the last two years when the tournament was held in Toronto.

Nolting said the competition is pretty tough at nationals with clubs from B.C. and Ontario being especially good. He said the players on the team don’t have any set positions other than the goaltender, but he’ll be right in the play every game.

“Everybody plays offence and plays defence,” he said. “For a draw it (is) two guys in the middle and then they call them restraining lines and usually you put two guys on one side of the restraining line around the defensive side and then two guys on the offensive side. Whoever wins the draw depends on which way we go.”

Playing for the green and gold in Winnipeg would cap off a great year for the Craik School Grade 8 student. Nolting’s house league team, the Moose Jaw Mustangs, won both the Moose Jaw Kinsmen Lacrosse Association league championship this spring and the gold medal at provincials held July 5 to 7 in Regina.

Nolting scored the second goal in the Mustangs 7-4 victory in their provincial title win against the Regina Stealth on the final day of the tournament.

“Most of the teams (at provincials) we played before in Regina and some of them are pretty good teams, but we managed to win,” said Nolting.

The love of lacrosse came instantly to Nolting, even though he said his introduction to it came by accident. Nolting was playing spring hockey with a team out of Moose Jaw four years ago when an email was sent out to the players inviting them to a “come and try it day.”

Nolting, along with his younger brother Deacon, 12, and older sister Charly, 15, “just decided we were going to try it,” he said. “We went and we liked it, so we started playing.

“It’s just fun to run around and score goals and play defence. It’s lots of hitting. It’s really physical. It’s more physical than hockey and more interesting than baseball.”

Davidson, Sports

Sarich to compete at Western Canadians

The Saskatoon Raiders peewee A ball club is relying on some local help behind the plate this August as they try and capture the Western Canadian title.

Raiders back catcher Jamie Sarich, 14, said the competition at the Aug. 2 to 5 Under-14 Western Canadian Championships held in Prince Albert should be fierce as it brings together the best teams from Manitoba to B.C., but they have high hopes on doing well.

“It should be good games all around,” said Sarich.

The Raiders recently came in third place at the provincials’ tournament in Regina finishing with a 3-3 record. Before that the ball club won a silver medal June 25 in the peewee A division of the Saskatoon Minor Softball League as they lost a hard-fought final game to the champion Saskatoon Lasers.

Sarich said the season on a whole for the team so far has been “pretty good.” The Davidson School Grade 9 student said their hitting could improve, but the team’s overall defensive game have helped them better their competition.

“We got silver in all our tournaments except one and then silver in city playoffs,” she said.

Playing city league ball this year involved a lot of dedication on behalf of Sarich and her parents Lorne and Rhonda as they’re “gone six night a week” for practices and games, said Sarich, but the catcher and the rest of her team hope it all pays off with a Western Canadian title.

Davidson

RCMP seek help solving hit-and-run

The Craik RCMP is asking for the public’s help in identifying a truck that fled following a serious collision earlier this month at the north entrance to Davidson.

The RCMP said a two-vehicle collision occurred July 6 at approximately 5:25 p.m. on Highway 11. In the collision a southbound Chevrolet Uplander van struck an eastbound truck that crossed into its path from a stop sign.

“The people in the Uplander were taken to the hospital with minor injuries and released,” said Craik RCMP Constable Ian Smith. “The truck is still unidentified.”

The truck has been described as tan in colour and possibly a GMC or Chevrolet work truck with a red fuel slip tank in the back. It received substantial damage in the collision as its rear bumper and tailgate were seen hanging from the back when it was last seen heading northbound on Hwy. 11 past the Davidson Golf Course.

Smith said the driver of the truck is at fault in the collision and also faces a criminal code violation for leaving the scene of an accident. He said the truck was pulling out into oncoming traffic at the time of the collision going from Davidson across to the other side.

“We don’t know at this point what the motive is for leaving (the scene),” he said. “If anybody has witnessed it or are possible witnesses or have any tips please let us know or Crime Stoppers.”

Obituary

Hagen, Dennis2

Hagen
Dennis Owen Hagen of Elbow, Sask. passed away on June 26, 2013. He passed away in Regina after a lengthy illness at the age of 64 years.
Dennis was born on Feb. 5, 1949 in Craik, Sask. to Leonard and Mabel Hagen.
Dennis received his high school education in Davidson, Sask. and also his GED.
He married Lily Hatten of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. in Dubuc, Sask.
Early in life, Dennis worked as a truck driver and continued to do so later on as well as helping farmers.
Dennis is survived by his loving family: wife Lily; daughters Marilyn (Glenn), Sharon (Jason), Leah (Derek) and Laura (Jeremy); grandchildren Krystle, Mark, Adam, Damon, Dustin, Clarissa, Amanda, Cheyanne, Trinity, Dean, Kyra and Ethan; great-grandchildren Maddison, Isabella and Chace; brother Melvin; sisters Donna, Marlene and Karen; also numerous cousins, nieces, nephews and other family members.
Dennis was predeceased by his parents Leonard and Mabel and by his grandson Sean.
The celebration of Dennis’s life funeral service was held at Bethel Lutheran Church at Elbow, Sask. on Wednesday, July 3, 2013 at 2 p.m. Officiating was Pastor Doug Lutz. Organist was Margaret Langager. Selections included The Old Rugged Cross and Amazing Grace with special CD selections processional Too Old to Die Young by Moe Bandy and recessional Grandpa by The Judds. Registers were Mary Ann Pilgrim and Virginia Dutkiewcz; ushers Troy Bramble and Victor Dutkiewcz; honourary pallbearers, all friends who shared in Dennis’s life journey; active pallbearers Glenn Bauer, Jeremy Lewis, Derek Sisetsky, Jason Prokopie, Dwayne Tyson, Tom Hudson and Calvin Taylor.
Interment was at the family plot, Elbow Cemetery, Elbow, Sask.

featured

Buckle up or be fined

The RCMP is focused on improving seatbelt use among drivers and passengers in vehicles this summer and will be handing out $175 tickets if they see someone not buckling up.

Craik RCMP Constable Kam Hay said the number one reason for injuries in a collision is not wearing a seatbelt. He said seatbelt use among motorists driving in towns around this area is pretty bad and this needs to change.

“Seatbelts are really important to me,” said Hay, who has been on the force for 10 years with detachments in Craik and Wynard and also with Lanigan Traffic Services. “I’ve been to a lot of collisions and the chances of survival are amazing if you stay in that vehicle without being thrown out.”

Hay said a $175 ticket is going to be handed out to drivers found not wearing a seatbelt or not wearing a seatbelt properly as well as any passengers in a vehicle not buckling up. He said if there are any passengers under the age of 16 who are not wearing a seatbelt the driver is going to get the ticket and multiple tickets can be issued at the same time if more than one person in the vehicle is in violation of the law.

“Vehicles are designed nowadays with a survival space,” he said. “Everything is designed to protect occupants of the vehicle. If a person is wearing a seatbelt they can stay in that survival space, which adds to their survival chances in a collision.”

A recent two-day traffic blitz in the province sponsored by SGI and involving multiple police agencies resulted in a total of 412 tickets being issued. Of that total, 95 were for seatbelt violations.

Kelly Brinkworth, manager of media relations for SGI, said in more than one-third of all traffic fatalities in the province, the person killed was not wearing a seatbelt. She said in 2012, improper or non-seatbelt use contributed to 47 deaths and 274 injuries.

“It’s quite crazy to think that around 100 tickets for non-seatbelt use are issued every month,” said Brinkworth. “It’s such a simple thing to do. It doesn’t prevent a collision, but it does reduce the risk of being injured or killed in one.”

According to RCMP statistics, Saskatchewan has the second highest seatbelt usage in Canada at over 90 per cent, but in rural areas this drops to below 60 per cent.

Hay said the excuse he often hears from motorists caught not wearing a seatbelt is that if their vehicle goes into the water or if it catches on fire they could become trapped if they are wearing a seatbelt.

“If you do go into the water and you’re not wearing a seatbelt you’ll probably get knocked out and won’t be able to get out of the vehicle, whereas if you are wearing a seatbelt you’ll remain conscious and be able to get out,” he said. “I have never come across a scene where someone was severely injured from wearing a seatbelt.”

Kenaston, Sports

Tweet gets ready for fight of her career

A local mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter wants a knockout this Saturday at Ameristar Casino in Kansas City, MO, in what will be the biggest fight of her young career.

Kenaston native Charmaine “Not So Sweet” Tweet (4-3) is fighting Brazil’s Ediane Gomes (10-2) at Invicta FC 6: Coenen vs. Cyborg. The winner of the bout will determine the next challenger for the Invicta FC (fighting championships) featherweight crown.

“We’ve had some predictions from my camp that this could be my first knockout in MMA,” said Tweet. “My coach can really see me actually scoring the knockout on her and basically if it does go to the ground I have to be really conscious of her submissions and go for my own.”

Tweet, ranked sixth in the world, said she doesn’t know that much about her opponent, who is ranked second in the featherweight class, other than the Brazilian has a black belt in ju-jitsu and likes to strike. She said the fight against Gomes was up in the air until the last week of June and she is a last minute replacement for fellow Canadian fighter Julia Budd who had to back out due to a neck injury.

“I was told to stay ready, so basically what I’ve been doing is just going to my classes as usual and not training for any specific opponent, but training and staying loose and practising the techniques (of) ju-jitsu,” she said. “Now that we know who I’m fighting we can tailor it for the next two weeks to an opponent and come up with a game plan.”

Despite not knowing if this fight would happen, Tweet has been working hard with her coach Wiley BJJ out of Regina to prepare for it just in case. Since moving to the Wiley BJJ camp, Tweet’s ground game has improved mightily resulting in four wins out of her last five fights.

Tweet said other trainers kept telling her to stop fighting off her back, which went against her style of fighting. She said at her new gym they have let her develop her striking from the bottom philosophy.

“That is what I did in my last fight (against Amanda Bell June 1) and it worked really well for me,” said Tweet. “Just as I was striking her, and she didn’t really want too much more of that, I got lucky enough to steal the sweep and take the top position.

“Basically my style hasn’t changed too much. They’ve just worked more with the style I already have whereas at other gyms they tried to change it. It’s really a good fit where I am now because of lot of their philosophy is the same as mine going into MMA.”

To read more please see the July 8 print edition of The Davidson Leader.