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featured, Sports

Kodiaks crowned provincial champs

The Kenaston Kodiaks senior girls basketball team are 1A provincial champions.

The girls won both their games at HOOPLA March 22 and 23, beating the Lake Lenore Lancers 61-60 in the first match held at St. Joseph High School in Saskatoon before taking home the gold with a decisive 51-38 win over the Middle Lake Three Lakes School Avengers at Evan Hardy Collegiate a day later. This is the first provincial title for the Kodiaks since 1999.

Gene Zdunich, head coach of the Kodiaks, said the girls played great in the final game against the Avengers and deserved the win, but they have to credit a few outstanding individual performances in the dying seconds of their game against the Lancers to get them to that gold medal game.

“It was a tense game right from start to finish,” said Zdunich about their 61-60 win over the Lancers. “It was real close. There were quite a few lead changes and we were four points down with about a minute left and (point guard) Eve Ulmer hit a three. Then somebody travelled on Lake Lenore and Eve took the ball to the basket and hit both of her foul shots with about 17 seconds left. They called a timeout and advanced the ball and (centre) Maria Matovich blocked a shot just on the edge of the key with time running out and we won by one.”

Kenaston’s only Grade 12 player, forward Shae-Lynn Evans, lead all Kodiaks’ scorers with 17 points against the Lancers. Against the Avengers, Maria stepped up with 20 points to lead all Kenaston scorers.

“We played pretty well against Middle Lake,” he said. “We controlled their players that we knew we needed to control and scored when we had to. We had the lead throughout. They took a run at us a couple of times, but they never got the lead.”

Zdunich said the team never had any expectations of being so successful this year, but their goal was to make it to HOOPLA and win at least one game. He said the season as a whole was “pretty successful” for the girls and even more especially so given the age and number of players on the senior club.

“It was an exciting season,” he said. “We didn’t play very much because we only have eight players, three of which are in Grade 8. We only played 23 games before playoffs just to try and keep our players fresh and avoid injuries and sickness from getting run down too much.”

The coach said he’s not predicting a dynasty starting up for the Kodiaks considering seven of those players will be back on the court next year, but he is hopeful for continued success.

Craik

Craik School drama students showcase “Night of the Prowler” at dessert theatre

Three months of hard work by Craik School drama students ended in a murder by the infamous prowler being thwarted in the school gym last Monday night.

Well, at least a fictional murder in the funny and entertaining 2013 Craik School Dessert Theatre play “Night of the Prowler.”

Janet Warkentin, co-director of the play, said the students involved in the school’s annual Dessert Theatre drama production put on a great performance in front of the over 100 people that crammed into the school gym to watch the play. She said it was especially hard to stage the play this year considering the winter weather conditions, but the students all pulled through and should be commended for their dedication to putting on a good show.

“They all worked really hard coming to practices and learning their lines,” said Warkentin. “With this year there was a lot of snow days, so we had less practices than usual, but we always seem to pull it off in the end.”

Whitney Ryan Garrity’s “Night of the Prowler” is a comedy-thriller that shines a spotlight on a group of scared family members and servants locked up in a mansion during a frightening thunderstorm while trying to decipher if someone amongst them is the murderous prowler that is stalking the people of Los Angeles.

The play opens with the extremely excitable maid Gertie (Megan Korchinski) reading a mystery novel before catching a glimpse of the prowler lurking outside. She lets out a scream and sets the play in motion. In rushes the stoic butler Fitch (Drayden Selinger) who finds a note that says the owner of the house, Burton Wingate (SkyAnn Stinson), will be murdered at midnight.

To read more please see the April 1 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

featured

Winter gives region another good wallop

A winter storm tore through Saskatchewan last Wednesday and Thursday making roads impossible to pass and stranding motorists either in their cars or, if they were smart enough not to venture out, where they last were before the snow started falling.

The RCMP media relations bureau released numerous no travel advisories starting last Wednesday evening and continuing all day and night Thursday cautioning people to stay where they are to keep themselves and their families safe.

The advisories stated roads were blocked by the winter storm in an area ranging from north of Saskatoon through Regina to the United States border and west to the Alberta border. They said the RCMP received 150 calls of vehicle incidents on the roads for crashes, vehicles stuck in the ditch or on the road and semi-trailers jackknifed.

The wind was blowing steadily at about 40 to 60-kilometres per hour with gusts at one point reaching 80 km/h.

The police said the storm reduced visibility to zero at points and long snowdrifts made roads impassable. They said nightfall on March 21 made travel extreme and the severity of the storm made it difficult for even emergency personnel to be on the roads.

Locally, Highway 44 was closed around noon Thursday and reopened mid-afternoon Friday.

Fred Wilson, Reeve of the Rural Municipality of Dundurn, said residents off sub-division roads in the RM were trapped in their homes for two or three days during the storm due to closed roads. He said the graders hit the roads in their attempt to clear the 300 kilometres of roads they are responsible for at dawn last Friday, but it was expected it would take a few days to get everything back in good shape.

“Some of our ratepayers have taken it upon themselves to open up a few spots on their own, which is gratefully accepted,” said Wilson. “We found it very hard, so our loader tractors had to go out with one of the graders because we don’t have a plow on the front of it, so just to break it open. The stuff is hard as a rock, but we’re getting by.”

Wilson said he’d like to thank their ratepayers for being so understanding with the time it is taking to get the roads back up and running, as the graders couldn’t go out during the storm and had to wait a few days to clear the roads.

“There was no point because every time you open (the road) up, it blew right behind the grader,” he said. “It just made it harder for people to get where they’re going so we didn’t even bother going out.”

To read more please see the March 25 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Davidson

Sask. Party and NDP disagree on aspects of the 2013-2014 provincial budget

The Saskatchewan Party government and the opposition New Democratic Party differ on three key issues of concern to residents of this area in the recent 2013-2014 provincial budget announced last Wednesday at the legislature in Regina.

Greg Brkich, Sask. Party MLA for Arm River-Watrous, said the government has maintained their promise to hold the line on education property tax rates, increased crop insurance coverage to record levels and improved rural physician recruitment and retention by investing more funds to boost physician numbers in this province.

Trent Wotherspoon, NDP MLA for Regina Rosemont and opposition finance critic, said the vast majority of people across this province will actually see their property tax bills increase this year, the growth in insurance coverage will be offset with cuts in other agriculture areas and initiatives announced in the budget actually do not confront the challenge presented to rural communities in physician recruitment and retention.

The government announced in their budget that to offset the 67 per cent increase in property values in the province over the past four years, they are lowering the education property tax rates on all classes of property in order to keep re-assessment revenue neutral. The new education mill rates are 2.67 mills for agricultural land, 5.03 mills for residential property and 8.28 mills for commercial property.

Brkich said holding the line on education property tax rates is a huge benefit to town and village property owners as well as farmers facing a reassessment this year.

“We’ve tried to make it revenue neutral,” said Brkich. “It may not be 100 per cent revenue neutral, because of some properties. Their assessment is way above normal. They will probably have to pay a bit more tax, but there will be some that went down with their assessment. The top of the assessment is a little below normal, but basically it’ll be revenue neutral.”

Wotherspoon said the government is just keeping their commitment with this promise, but “pretending somehow” that this represents big savings for Saskatchewan residents is not true. He said with a growing population and resources that are in demand, the government is failing to support communities where it counts.

“In fact, the property tax increase is going to be significant and in many ways it is going to be significant because this government is failing to provide the infrastructure needs required for our growing communities,” said Wotherspoon.

To read more please see the March 25 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

Sports

Sabers and Aztecs come close, but fall in senior basketball regionals action

Basketball season came to a close for the Hanley Sabers senior boys and Loreburn Aztecs senior girls teams last week at regionals.

The Sabers made it to the final at the March 15-16 regionals in Birch Hills, but foul trouble did them in. Despite leading at the start of the game, the team would eventually lose to the Birch Hills Marauders by over 20 points.

Mark Anderson, head coach of the Sabers, said the club held a 14-12 lead heading into the second quarter, but it was all Birch Hills after that. He said the Marauders were up by seven at the half, 12 by the end of the third quarter and rolled through the fourth eventually putting up 85 points to Hanley’s 62.

“We didn’t shoot well,” said Anderson. “If we had shot anything like the night before (a 83-59 win over Balcarres), we would have been in fine shape. Our top scorer from the night before (forward Steven Sira) had four fouls before the first half, so I had to pull him and then he fouled out in the second half. Our top scorer from this game (centre Josh Anderson) had four fouls as well, so it was tough.”

Anderson said the kids on his team had a great season even with the miss on Hoopla competition and should be proud with the strong athletic game they brought to the court.  He said his team is more of a “football team playing basketball,” but as the season progressed they picked up their play and became a real threat.

“When we got to the end here, if we could of put it all together we would have been dangerous, but at the end we faltered,” he said. “It was a great group of kids and a really good game.”

Loreburn Aztecs

The Aztecs can say they ended their season on a winning note, but a loss a day earlier cost them a chance of playing at Hoopla.

Tim Hom, head coach of the Aztecs, said the club beat the Kerrobert Rebels “handily” in their final game at regionals in Frontier. He said despite the lopsided win, both teams showed great sportsmanship throughout the game.

A day earlier the club lost to the Middle Lake Avengers, whose undefeated record at regionals propelled them to this past weekend’s Hoopla tournament.

“We lost by 40 (to Middle Lake),” said Hom. “They are a very good team, well-coached and have lots of good skilled players. We had a pretty short bench, but that’s no excuse. We played well.”

Hom said he is happy with the season the Aztecs put together this year and credits their fans, parents and staff at the school for their support and help building a great basketball program at Loreburn Central School.

“The girls gave a lot of effort,” he said. “Success isn’t measured in wins or losses, but I thought we were pretty (good). A lot of our team is coming back (next year), so hopefully we get a better result.”

Davidson

LCS makes it to final 10 in Majesta outdoor classroom competition

Loreburn Central School staff and students want to be free of the four walls that surround them and they need your help to escape.

The Kindergarten to Grade 12 school has advanced into the last 10 finalists of the Majesta Trees of Knowledge competition that would award them $20,000 towards building an outdoor classroom at the school if they win. They need people’s votes at majestatreesofknowledge.ca from now to April 26 to earn them that coveted outdoor learning paradise.

“It would bring a new environment to learning for us,” said LCS Grade 11 student Gillian Wankel, 17. “We’re never really learning outside. We’re always stuck in a classroom on a computer or whatever, so if we’re outside learning on a chalkboard that might bring a new type of learning to us.”

The new classroom the school proposes to build is an open concept space located in the 90-degree corner of the L-shaped school and will include shrubs, rocks, paths, trees, flowerbeds and a gazebo. The classroom would be built by LCS students and outside contractors and be ready for learning for October 2013 if they win the competition.

Judy Brown, principal of Loreburn Central School, said staff at the school has been discussing the issue of building an outdoor classroom for years as a way to get kids into a friendlier atmosphere. She said the school has already raised $7,500 towards building the space and if they win the $20,000 competition that would put them over the top.

“This is something we’d really like in our community,” said Brown. “It’s more relaxing and the students can focus. It’ll get them out of the building to enjoy the outdoors and fresh air.”

The 104 students at the school put forward an essay, written by Grade 10 student Paige Travers, and a youtube video, coordinated by Grade 12 pupil Jordyn Hauberg, along with a report on their timeline for building and maintaining the classroom, their budget and the wider involvement of the community for the project to Majesta in early January to enter the contest. They were informed they made it to the final 10 by the end of that month and have been coming up with ways to get out the vote ever since.

LCS Grade 9 student Brock Archibald, 15, said an outdoor classroom would give the students more variety in their learning, which could help them improve their grades.

“Breathing in the fresh air might clear the mind a bit,” said Brock.

As an added incentive, a voter at majestatreesofknowledge.ca for the winning classroom is eligible for a chance to win a $10,000 cash prize. People can vote once daily in the outdoor classroom competition and LCS is hoping for your support.