Davidson’s Addison Ouellette protects the ball from an Assiniboia attack during a senior football game on Sept. 9.
By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — The Raiders were expecting a tough fight from Assiniboia last weekend, and they did not disappoint.
The visiting Assiniboia Rockets handed Davidson their first loss of the season, with a final score of 52-36, in the Sept. 9 senior football game.
Raiders coach Jason Low was upbeat despite the loss, saying the experience served to prepare the team for the challenges they’ll face in the rest of the season.
“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” he said Wednesday, noting that Assiniboia had a 5-1 record last season and reached the provincial quarter-finals.
Assiniboia’s Riley Moneo was first to score in Friday’s game, followed shortly by a touchdown by Davidson’s Addison Ouellette.
For the full story, please see the Sept. 16 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.
Davidson’s Elena Nykiforuk jumps up to strike the ball during a senior girls volleyball game against the LCBI Lady Bisons on Wednesday.
By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — There’s plenty of new faces on the RaiTec senior girls volleyball team this year.
Manager Sandra Baldwin said that five Grade 10 players have joined this fall, taking the place of five Grade 12 players who graduated in June.
Three other players did not return this year, making for a very different lineup, but Baldwin said she likes what she’s seeing so far.
“Things are looking very positive,” she said, adding that they are aiming to get the younger and older players working together and “clicking” as a team.
“We also look forward to doing as well as we can,” Baldwin continued. “It would be nice to make a return trip to provincials, but it’s pretty early.”
The team includes players from both Davidson and Loreburn, and its name comes from a combination of the schools’ teams, the Raiders and the Aztecs.
Last year’s RaiTec team was highly successful, enjoying many tournament wins and capping off the season with a gold-medal win at 2A provincial championships in November.
Coach Tony Baldwin returned to his post this year, assisted by Jacey Sanden. The team has a lineup of 11 players.
For the full story, please see the Sept. 12 edition of The Davidson Leader, or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.
Clay Murfitt (80) of the Davidson Raiders heads for the end zone during the team’s season opener against the Outlook Blues on Thursday.
By Joel van der Veen
OUTLOOK — As they kicked off their season on Thursday, the Davidson Raiders were feeling the heat in more ways than one.
The temperature hovered close to 30°C with a cloudless sky overhead as the senior football team visited the Outlook Blues for their season opener.
Hopes were high for coaches, players and fans alike, all anticipating a big year for the Raiders.
“We’re hoping to make a big run,” said head coach Jason Low, calling the current lineup “the best team on the field that Davidson’s had, up to this point.”
The Raiders delivered on those hopes with a triumphant 90-38 win over Outlook.
Davidson led from the start, with Dawson George scoring the team’s opening touchdown four minutes into the first quarter.
The first half saw the Raiders giving up little ground, holding the Blues to just one TD, scored by Jeff Pshyk near the end of the first quarter.
The Raiders’ offensive had similar success with repeated touchdowns and a couple of successful conversions by kicker Morgan Manz, bringing the score to 54-8 at the halfway mark.
A large lead gave Davidson freedom to rotate its lineup in the second half, allowing younger players plenty of time on the field.
Though Outlook made some progress, the Raiders continued to dominate, taking the tally to 76-30 in the third quarter.
Low and the other coaches were clearly pleased with the results.
“We feel pretty darn good about it,” said Low, adding that after the first offensive and defensive series, “we realized that things were going to work for us.”
For the full story and a full page of photos, please see the Sept. 5 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.
Dean McNabb, seen here with his mother Jeannine, is pictured signing a standard player agreement with the Victoria Royals of the WHL on Aug. 29.
By Joel van der Veen
VICTORIA, B.C. — A hard week at training camp came with some great news for Davidson’s Dean McNabb.
The 16-year-old goalie signed a standard player agreement with the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League on Aug. 29.
He was scheduled to join the team on a road trip for its first three pre-season games this past weekend.
Dean is the youngest child of Kim and Jeannine McNabb of Davidson, measuring six feet, two inches, and weighing 174 lbs.
He was in Victoria in late August taking part in the Royals’ rookie camp when he received the news.
McNabb said he was happy to take the next step with the organization, having been selected by the Royals in last year’s WHL draft. He was a third-round pick, coming 61st overall.
He described the training camp as hard work, with practices, goaltending sessions and games each day.
“You’ve got to keep up and work hard,” he said, adding he’s building his skills and also working to develop patience and confidence.
As one of two rookie goalies, McNabb acknowledged that the next few games will be an uphill battle for him, as he seeks to prove he can compete at the WHL level.
“I am the youngest guy so I shouldn’t be expecting too much,” he said. “For a 16-year-old it’s a bit harder.”
For the full story, please see the Sept. 5 edition of The Davidson Leader, or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.
Technician Marlow Nadeau installs a fresh oil filter on a school bus in Sun West School Division’s garage in Davidson on Tuesday morning.
By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — It’s another year of strong enrollment at Davidson School, principal Jason Low reported last week.
The new school year began Thursday, with a total of 261 students registered locally — identical to the count from last year.
This includes 23 children beginning their educational journey in the Kindergarten classroom.
Davidson also welcomes a handful of new staff members this year, including secretary Kelly Allan, who joins Barb Moskaluke in the school office.
The school has two Grade 1 classrooms this year. New arrival Sandra Delorme will oversee one, while Crystal Johnson looks after the other.
Kristin Dolman returns to Davidson to teach Grade 6, while Tenille Kirtzinger, who interned here last year, will teach Grade 4, filling in for a maternity leave.
The school will not have any interns this year — a sharp change from last year, when seven interns were working in Davidson.
Interns are in short supply in general, with a total of five working across all of Sun West School Division.
It’s “quite a different year that way,” said Low, but aside from that it’s mostly business as usual.
A meet the teacher evening is scheduled for Sept. 29, and the Student Leadership Team is organizing its annual Spirit Week beginning on Tuesday.
For the full story, including updates from Craik, Kenaston, Loreburn, Hanley, Dundurn, Imperial, Bethune and Holdfast, please see the Sept. 5 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.
Construction of Davidson’s new pool continued on Tuesday.
By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — Planners and contractors say Davidson’s new pool is less than a month away from being completed and commissioned.
“We’re going to see a lot of finishing work being done in the next three weeks here,” said recreation director Trevor Ouellette, adding that the project has remained on schedule for much of the summer.
Construction began on the new facility in late May and is expected to wrap up by mid-September, allowing the pool to open for the 2017 season.
“I’m extremely pleased with how smooth everything has been,” said the recreation director. “There’s headaches with any construction job, but there haven’t been any major, major ones.”
Davidson’s new pool is classed as a junior Olympic size. It is L-shaped with the largest part being 25 metres long and 17 metres wide, and a beach entry measuring 15 metres long by eight metres wide.
The pool will feature a deck level board, less than one metre high, plus a second board atop a diving tower three metres high.
Five lanes will be available for lane swimming and instructional use. At its deepest, the pool is 3.8 metres deep, or almost 12.5 feet.
The pool has a capacity of 690,000 litres, or about three times the size of the old pool. The facility will be equipped to allow future expansion, such as a slide or other fixtures.
It uses five sand filters and four pumps, each capable of pumping out 150 gallons of water per minute.
Once landscaped, the facility will include a grassy area measuring about 17,000 square feet, easily dwarfing the 400 sq. ft. lawn adjacent to the old pool, along with a common area between the pool and poolhouse of about 3,000 square feet.
The building, about 1,700 square feet in size, will include both the mechanical rooms and the change areas.
For the full story, please see the Sept. 5 edition of The Davidson Leader or call 306-567-2047 to subscribe today.
