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Sports

Late goal locks up win against Canucks

The Davidson Cyclones senior hockey team withstood a late push by the first place Drake Canucks last Wednesday at home to gut out a 3-2 win on a late short-handed marker by captain Derek Allan and remain undefeated in the month of January.

“It was kind of a lucky bounce for our team is more or less what it was,” said Allan about his game-winner with a little over a minute left in regulation. Brett “Siroski shot the puck. It hit the goalie in the pads then hit me in the skates and then I batted it in off my skate. That doesn’t happen very often.”

The goal came with the Cyclones up 2-1 in a wide-open third period that saw the two teams step up play considerably after an evenly matched first two frames. With Drake on their second power play of the third and working the puck down low in the Cyclones zone the Davidson penalty kill managed to spring the puck loose sending Siroski and Allan on a mad rush down the ice resulting in the tally.

The goal capped off a wild third that saw Davidson forwards Carter Smith and Pat Cey ring pucks off the crossbar in two consecutive rushes halfway through the final 20 minutes. These shots gave Cyclones goaltender Brady Willner precious time to catch his breath during a break from repeated shots coming his way from a Drake team intent on breaking his shutout bid after Smith put in his second goal of the game a little under eight minutes into the third.

“Both our goaltenders (Willner and Mark Zoerb) are local kids and you’d be hard pressed in the province to find two better local hometown boys to play goal,” said Cyclones manager and interim coach Kirk Johnson. “It seems like the bigger the game the better they play.”

The Cyclones (8-6-1) and Canucks (12-6) started off the close-checking game with a feeling out first two periods where neither team seemed willing to take the chance of getting themselves out of defensive position and allow the opposition offence to take advantage. The exception was Allan who continually pushed the puck up the ice by racing down the wing and creating opportunities.

The only goal of the first 40 minutes came off a nice back check by Allan who stole the puck from a Drake forward trying to skate it out of his zone before passing it to Smith who wristed a shot past the Drake goaltender midway through the first.

“Derek has been solid all year and good all year,” said Johnson. “He’s a good player. He’s the captain of our team. He’s our leader and it shows out there and we need him to contribute and keep everybody going.”

To read more please see the January 13 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

McNabb siblings team up at Spengler Cup

Buffalo Sabres prospect and Rochester Americans defenceman Brayden McNabb may not have been able to travel to Davidson to enjoy the Christmas holidays with his family, but that didn’t stop some of his family from travelling to Davos, Switzerland, to celebrate the season with him.

Brayden’s sister Cara brought the holiday spirit to Davos, located high in the Swiss Alps, to spend some time with her big brother while he took the ice for the Rochester Americans during the 87th annual Spengler Cup.

“I was his plus-one,” said Cara, noting her brother was allowed by the Sabres to bring one person along with him during the trip and she was the lucky traveller. “I kind of expected it. It wasn’t really a big surprise. I haven’t been to many of his games. We’ve been talking about it for a while that I should go up and watch one of his games, so this was a good time.”

Cara said she hasn’t managed to head down to Buffalo to watch any of Brayden’s 31 NHL games for the Sabres or his 126 matches as an AHL Amerk in Rochester since he moved up to the professional ranks in the 2011-2012 season, but she has been to a lot of his games when he played defence for the Kootenay Ice in the WHL earlier in his career. The Davidson School Grade 12 student said watching him play the game on the bigger international ice surface at Vaillant Arena in Davos was amazing, which was further improved by the high-spirited European hockey crowds.

“They’re really into the games,” she said. “They sing along. It’s much different than here. They’re all really excited about it.”

Brayden said playing before those European fans and in such a prestigious international tournament as the Spengler Cup was a “cool experience” and having his little sister along with him for the ride made the holiday trip extra special.

“When this opportunity came I kind of knew my parents would be a little busy with my little brother with his hockey and it would be a good opportunity for Cara to come along,” said Brayden about the Amerks second-ever trip to the Spengler Cup. “She likes to travel and see things, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for her and I’m pretty sure she had a fun time.

“I enjoyed it a lot and I was really happy she came and we had some bonding time and it was good for Christmas to have some family (around).”

The young Rochester Americans team kicked off the Spengler Cup Dec. 26 with their opening game against a strong Geneve-Servette team before a large and boisterous crowd cheering loudly for the Swiss club. Nerves or the mountain terrain may have proved a detriment to the AHL team, who lost the opening Group Torriani match 5-0. In their next game a day later against the fabled Moscow club, CSKA Moskau, the Amerks put up a stronger showing, but eventually fell 4-3.

To read more please see the January 13 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

featured

Wizened old bird rescues a wise old owl

A Great Horned Owl will see its first Christmas thanks to an inquisitive and kind retired veterinarian.

Dr. Barry Heath, who has residences in Loreburn and Saskatoon, rescued the injured owl last month from the side of Highway 19 after finding it sitting about five feet off the shoulder of the road. Upon finding the owl Heath bundled it in his coat and drove it to the Western College of Veterinary Medicine in Saskatoon for treatment.

“How many people get to run across an owl in that sort of a situation and then essentially think they may have saved its life,” said Heath, noting the bird is still recovering at the veterinary college. “I don’t know what kind of life it may have yet. It might be a captive owl the rest of its life. I don’t know.”

Heath said he found the owl while he was travelling a bit slower than normal, as is his usual routine, along the highway near Hawarden looking for red foxes and coyotes when he noticed an odd coloured lump on the ground that on closer inspection appeared to be a bird. He said when driving past the bird he noticed it to be an owl and since it unusually didn’t take flight he just assumed it must be injured, so he backed up his van and checked into it further.

“I walked around it, did a circle, and it followed me with its head as owls do, a 180-degree turn, and then it whipped back the other way and followed me all the way around and still didn’t try to walk away or move,” said Heath, noting it did extend its wings when he first got out of the van so he knew it didn’t have a broken wing. “Then I wondered about some kind of a head injury because it was close to the road and didn’t seem to be able to fly.”

There wasn’t any blood on the bird, so Heath said he then bent down to get a better look at the owl all the while speaking to it to try and soothe it. He said the owl still didn’t try and get away at this point and he knew if he left the bird where it was it would be attacked come nightfall by a fox or coyote, which normally patrol the shoulders of the road looking for mice or rabbits.

To read more please see the December 23 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

RCMP warn of return of ’emergency’ phone scam

A resurgence in “emergency” phone scams in the area has prompted the Craik detachment of the RCMP to warn residents to be alert about suspicious phone calls.

Craik RCMP Constable Kam Hay said the telephone scam making its way across the Craik detachment area has people phoning senior citizens posing as a nephew, niece, grandchild or other family member asking for money to help them out of a emergency situation. He said the fraudsters claim they have just been in a car collision or are having trouble returning from a foreign country or that the police arrested them and need money for bail.

“It seems to dupe a number of people,” said Hay, noting police would never request money to be sent to them in order to guarantee a release or dropping of charges. “I mean they feel stupid afterwards, but (the scammers) are convincing enough and…they’ll use all sorts of different stories. They’ll use a second party sometimes who is reported to be a lawyer. They’ll call back and they’ll play whatever game or tell them whatever they need to hear in order to get them to send money.”

Hay said to avoid becoming a victim of fraud people need to confirm who is on the other end of the phone line, not give out any personal information and don’t send money unless they know for sure who is really asking for it. He said this is not easy to do as the fraudsters mask their voice to sound similar to the person they claim to be or say their voice has been altered due to an accident or assault.

“In some cases they (provide personal information),” he said. “Whether they’re getting that information from social media is a possibility or (from) other sources, but in lots of instances they do know a little bit of a family background.”

The constable, who has been a member of the RCMP for about a decade, said the “emergency” phone scam has been around for years. He said it is re-emerging in the area as the detachment has received more complaints in the past few weeks with at least one recent confirmed victim.

To read more please see the December 23 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Davidson town council puts the kybosh on auditorium air conditioner

A request from Dr. Abe Chaukla for $1,500 and approval to install electrical outlets at the end of the islands in the Davidson Dental building on Washington Avenue divided town council last Tuesday.

In a 4-3 vote, a motion by councillor Gerald Kenny to give Chaukla permission to install outlets at the end of the isles in the taxpayer owned building, but refuse him funding from the town to do so was passed.

It was learned at council that Chaukla initially approved the location of the outlets when viewing specifications of the building’s design while it was being renovated earlier this year. The vote means he can put in outlets at the ends of the islands now if he chooses, but he’ll have to pay for the work himself.

In other town council business discussed at the Dec. 17 meeting:

• Council passed a motion to borrow $160,000 to pay out two previous $80,000 loans, which then moves the borrowed money into one loan. The two $80,000 loans cover the purchase of the former CTRC building on Washington Avenue earlier this year and the subsequent renovations of the building to turn it into a medical services building. The town’s portion to buy and renovate the building actually came to $180,000, but they have already paid $20,000 of this off.

• Town hall complex rental rates are being increased effective Jan. 1. Every rental rate involved with the community centre including the auditorium, meeting rooms, kitchen, bar and miscellaneous items are being raised on average 60 to 65 per cent. For example, the current local rate of renting the auditorium for a supper and dance or dance/wedding is $200. Effective Jan. 1 that amount will go up to $300. Local rental rates are currently lower than outside rates and will remain so. An example is the current outside rate for a supper and dance or dance/wedding at the auditorium is $250. That will rise to $400. There are some exceptions to the rental rate increases as organizations that have long-term leases for the space and any bookings that are already done would still pay the current rental rates. Organizations that are not charged to rent the town hall complex such as Communities in Bloom, Fire Board and Donors Choice among a few others would continue to not have to pay.

• The wooden doors at the far side of the auditorium are being replaced at a cost of $2,500 plus taxes and costs to install the new doors. This is being done because the current doors do not close properly allowing cold air into the auditorium. A generator is also being installed at the town hall that would provide a backup power supply to the town hall building. The costs of both of the projects come to around $40,000. A portion of this cost is coming from an unused federal government grant that was previously earmarked to go towards the installation of an air conditioner in the town hall auditorium. As heard at the town council meeting the air conditioner has been “kyboshed.” The costs of installing the air conditioning unit and the expense involved with replacing the doors and putting in a generator amount to roughly the same.

Sports

Cyclones get sloppy win against Chiefs with coach absent

It wasn’t pretty or rough or very interesting, but a win is a win.

The Davidson Cyclones came back from a 3-1 deficit to beat the Nokomis Chiefs 8-6 Dec. 14 at the Davidson Rink in a game that featured back-and-forth action with little attention paid to the physical or defensive aspects of hockey.

“It’s actually kind of tough to get into the game (against Nokomis),” said Cyclones captain Derek Allan. “It’s more like a (recreational) game to be honest when we play those guys. It’s not much hitting and everyone is just out there trying to score goals and not prevent them. It’s not like the other teams in the league. The games are quite a bit different.”

The first period started off agonizingly slow with both teams creating few scoring opportunities. Davidson (5-5-1) would pot the first goal of the night on a power play marker from Pat Cey that saw him roof the puck glove side on Nokomis goaltender Adam Isherwood with 4:32 left in the opening frame.

The Chiefs (2-9) line of Brett Leedahl, Chad Murton and Kirk Belyk responded quickly at the beginning of the second period with Murton trickling a backhand shot five-hole on Cyclones goalie Brady Willner at the 4:02 mark. Twenty-seven seconds later Belyk also found space in front of the Davidson net and jammed home the second goal of the game, which he followed with another a little over two minutes later.

“After they went up 3-1 in the second I think the boys realized we’re in a game here,” said Willner, who stopped 30 shots in the win. “The boys dug deep and we came back. That was nice to see.”

The comeback saw Davidson bring the score to within one off a backhand by Cody Danberg with 11:37 left in the second. On a delayed penalty call to Nokomis with a little over six minutes to go Kyle Bortis rifled a shot blocker side over Isherwood’s shoulder tying up the game at 3-3 and setting the stage for a wide open third.

“It was a bit of a fire drill (in the third),” said Cyclones forward Carter Smith, who started off the period with a goal 21 seconds in. “We came out the way we wanted to, (but) it wasn’t our best game. As long as we score more goals than them I guess all is well.”

Davidson went up by two at the 2:37 mark when John Adam snuck a shot past the Chiefs goaltender from the blue-line. The ice resembled a see-saw during the seventh minute of the final frame when Danberg scored at 7:28 followed by Murton at 7:34, which Davidson got right back on Smith’s second goal at 7:58. The Chiefs then brought the score back to within two less than a minute and a half later when Belyk registered the hat-trick making it 7-5 in Davidson’s favour.

After Allan and Murton scored within 30 seconds of each other with a little over a minute left, the period and game mercifully came to an end for the two goaltenders.

To read more please see the December 23 print edition of The Davidson Leader.