DAVIDSON—Friday, Davidson Cyclones Senior hockey team kicked off the 2014-2015 season by hosting the Leroy Braves.
The Cyclones enter the season coming off two wins in exhibition play against teams from the Saskatchewan Valley Hockey League. The most recent game was last Saturday when the Cyclones played host to the Beechy Bombers winning 7-5.
The Cyclones managed the win despite being short players.
Coach Jason Shaw said three Cyclones, Cody Danberg, Pat Cey and Kyle Bortis were in Saskatoon for the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The three men were members of the 2004-2005 Saskatoon Contacts team that went 16-4-1 in the Saskatchewan AAA Midget Hockey League enroute to a 4-1 win over Gatineau and a Telus Cup national championship.
The Cyclones didn’t lose any players during the offseason and are welcoming a few new faces. Brett Ward of Saskatoon has joined the squad on defence. Ward most recently played for the U of S Huskies. Garret Ward (no relation to Brett) is new to town and is playing forward for the Huskies.
Davidson’s Allan brothers Colton and Tory are playing together once again. Tory has returned to play hockey in his hometown. Last season Tory was playing for Georgia’s Columbus Cottonmouths in the Southern Professional Hockey League.
Coach Shaw said the goal is to keep the players healthy so as the season wears on, they’ll be able to carry a robust roster into the new year when playoffs roll around.
“If we can keep everybody healthy…it depends how we play in January, February and March,” Shaw said of their shot at another league title.

DAVIDSON—Dakota Wightman hopes to make it to the Olympics some day.
Her dream, should the International Olympics Committee co-operate by reinstating softball in the summer games, is to officiate an Olympic softball game.
The Davidson native is well on her way.
Wightman has swiftly risen up the umpiring ranks.
On Oct. 25 Softball Saskatchewan selected Wightman as its Umpire of the Year. The award recognizes all that Wightman has done for umpiring in the province.
This year she umpired games on all levels as well as taking on a leadership role with the Softball Saskatchewan, serving as deputy Umpire in Chief on the Umpire Development Committee.
“She also went above and beyond by continually recruiting new younger umpires to be part of the minor program in Saskatoon,” Duane Bakken, provincial umpire in chief, said when he presented Wightman with the award. “You could often find Dakota at the diamonds offering feedback to them and encouraging them to improve their game.”
To read more, please see the Nov. 3 print edition of The Davidson Leader. To subscribe, phone 306-567-2047.

By Jamie Harkins
LOS ANGELES—The 2014 Stanley Cup Champion Los Angeles Kings roster remains virtually intact for the 2014-2015 campaign with the only new plate above a dressing room stall bearing the name Brayden McNabb.
As of press time, the Davidson-born defenceman has appeared in all six Kings games this season where he has recorded zero points, two penalty minutes, 16 hits and a plus-one rating in 17:21 of average ice time each game. Due to an early season injury to Jake Muzzin, McNabb has spent this time on ice playing alongside all-star defenceman Drew Doughty.
“He’s a great player,” said McNabb, 23, who beat out fellow Manchester Monarchs rearguard Jeff Schultz for the sole vacant roster spot in camp. “He’s one of the best if not the best defenceman out there, so it’s pretty fun. He’s an easy player to play with and when you give him the puck you know he’s going to do something good with it. It’s just a good experience to learn from him.”
McNabb said playing with Doughty presents a good challenge for him because the duo are facing the opposing team’s best line each shift. He said lining up with Doughty for one game in the pre-season and black acing with the team during the Cup run has helped him transition to this spot, but there are still areas of the game he needs to get better at and the coaching staff is helping him in this regard.
“I do video with (defensive coach) John Stevens almost after every game,” he said. “We watch over my shifts and he’s really good at analyzing the game and helping me on what I need to work on. But that basically is just playing within the dots and having good angles on players and just being a hard guy to play against.”
The current edition of the Kings is proving to be just as hard to play against as they were during last spring’s Cup run. Los Angeles has a 4-1-1 record through the first six games and sits in second place in the Pacific Division.
McNabb said the veteran laden team is a confident group and should be considering everyone on the roster except himself has at least one or two Cup rings. He said the players in the room are really tight and it is easy for him to see why they win so much with the great chemistry they have.
“It’s good to be around the older guys,” said McNabb. “You get to watch and learn from them and use it for now and for the future of my career.”