DAVIDSON—After nearly two seasons and two extra periods of hockey, the Davidson Cyclones have finally beaten the Watrous Winterhawks.
Last Tuesday’s game against Watrous went into double overtime with the Cyclones defeating the Winterhawks 5-4 in the Long Lake Hockey League semi-final series. Tim Spencer scored the game winner four minutes into the fifth period.
“He’s been a big factor in this series,” said coach Brad Morrison of the Cyclones’ big #57.
In Game 1 against the Winterhawks Spencer got into a fight. “I think that put the fear into Watrous,” Morrison said. In last Tuesday’s game, Morrison said Spencer was nearly hobbled after his knee gave out and could barely walk or skate in the last two periods. Still he came through with the game winner to keep the Cyclones going in the series.
“We’ve lost to them 11 times in a row. It was nice to finally give them a game,” Morrison said. “We’ve been watching Watrous the last two years, figuring out their system.”
He said against Watrous they have to play good man-to-man hockey. Last Tuesday’s win was a team effort.
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League curling resumes tonight, Monday, Feb. 12 in Strongfield. This new curling rink replaces the older structure that was toppled by a July 20, 2017 windstorm. (Leader photo by Tara de Ryk)
STRONGFIELD—Curlers along Line 19 have come home.
Monday night curling has resumed at the Strongfield Curling Rink. The season kicks off tonight in the brand new rink that was built to replace the old rink that was destroyed by a July 20 windstorm.
A “Welcome home to Strongfield” banner was hung on the inside wall, greeting curlers as they stepped on the freshly made ice.
The banner is a thoughtful touch courtesy of Ron Sabiston.
When he was sorting through the remnants and equipment of the destroyed curling rink that were stored in the ice-skating rink next door, Sabiston said he found the banner, which was from the village’s homecoming celebration in 2012.
So he brought it over to the new curling rink and hung it up.
“This is like home. We’ve lived here the last four months,” Sabiston says.
He’s a member of a crew of volunteers who have been working nearly non-stop to get the new rink ready for the season.
He is known as “Northend Ron” to differentiate him from the other Rons living in and around the community including Downtown Ron and West Farm Ron.
“I found it kind of ironic. There were four Rons in town and then I get here and found out there’s two more Rons on the farm.”
Strongfield is like most Saskatchewan towns, populated by community-minded individuals who get things done. And they all have nicknames, so it can take a minute or two for a stranger to sort out who’s who.
George “Shorty” Follick was flooding the ice last Monday night. He’s known as Shorty to distinguish him from Strongfield’s former mayor George Bristow, who was of much taller stature.
Also part of the volunteer crew are Ryan Glubis, Strongfield Mayor Jeff Vollmer, Ronny Follick, Dave Wirth, Devon Ellscheid, Ernie Pryor, Jessica April and Amanda Glubis.
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Ryan Skinner gets dropped while sending the puck in front of the net. (Leader photo by Tara de Ryk)
DAVIDSON—Davidson’s Midget Huskies have advanced out of the first round of East Central Minor Hockey League playoffs.
Last Thursday the Huskies travelled to Humboldt where they defeated the Humboldt Broncos 6-2 to win the three-games series in two games.
Coach Jason Nolting said the Huskies got off to a slow start. “We were pretty lackadaisical in the first period and I’m not sure why.”
Halfway through the period the Huskies picked up the pace and the results started showing up on the scoreboard. Riley Berry, from Connor Watt and Deacon Nolting, had the first goal of the night. This was followed soon after with a goal by Kane Nolting, assisted by Phoenix Prpick and Josh McRae. This line continued its production with McRae scoring the Huskies’ third goal of the game, with help from Kane Nolting and Prpick. Davidson had a 3-0 lead after the first period.
The Second period was scoreless.
In the third period, while on the powerplay, the Broncos finally managed to get the puck past Davidson goalie Carson George. In response, the Huskies had a powerplay goal of their own with Hunter Herback scoring, from Watt and Deacon Nolting, to pad the lead to 4-1. Seconds later the Broncos responded, scoring their second goal of the game. Kane Nolting, from Berry and Herback, scored to put Davidson ahead 5-2. Trystan Stacowich, from Prpick and Jackson Firby, scored with 4:40 remaining to clinch the 6-2 win.
The Huskies controlled most of the game.
“We got a few penalties, but nothing too bad. We wanted to make sure we got out of there with the win and no suspensions,” he said. With a small roster, Nolting said the team can’t afford to be missing players.
The Huskies won Game 1 at the AGT Centre in Davidson Tuesday, Feb. 6.
Hanley’s Zach Armada heads up the court with Davidson’s Tobi Arowolo (left) and Parker Smith following closely behind during Wednesday’s game.
By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — The cats came back Wednesday, as Davidson hosted Hanley in senior boys basketball action.
While the Davidson Raiders took an early lead and ultimately won 80-63, the Hanley Sabers kept them on their toes throughout.
Davidson had a slim lead 42-31 after the second quarter, and for much of the third quarter Hanley trailed by just 10 points.
Carter Block, who coaches the Hanley team, said the school is still rebuilding its basketball program after several years without one.
“It’s about turning a bunch of football players into basketball players,” he explained.
Though the Sabers played a strong defence and had good ball movement, he said improved shooting might have made the difference between a loss and a win.
After a few years working with the team’s core players, Block said he is seeing signs of progress, though he has also lost a couple of players since the season started.
“It’s up and down for sure,” he said. “We’re still pretty young, mostly Grade 11s.”
Davidson’s Noah Schneider heads to the basket during a junior boys basketball game against Outlook on Tuesday.
By Joel van der Veen
DAVIDSON — A deep bench is paying deep dividends for Davidson’s junior boys basketball team this season.
Coach Garrett Bailey said the team has roughly 16 players in grades 7 through 9.
With such a large roster, he said, “We’ve had to split them up a little bit for some games.”
On Wednesday the Davidson Raiders hosted the Outlook Blues, one of their two competitors in their section.
Knowing they were up against a weaker team, Bailey said he used the opportunity to put some of his younger players on the court.
Even so, Davidson handily won the game, leading 23-10 after the second quarter and finishing with a score of 59-21.
Hunter Herback was the only Grade 9 player on the court for Davidson. This was just his second game of the season, as he had injured his ankle just before Christmas.
Herback — at 6’2”, the tallest player on the team — was the top scorer with 25 points, including a trio of three-point shots.
Gavin Arend scored 13 points, while Donta Desjarlais scored a total of seven points including a three-point shot.
Bailey said the team has a 3-3 record for the season so far.
This includes the games played in a home tournament co-hosted with the junior girls on Dec. 15 and 16, in which the boys suffered somewhat due to the absence of some key players.
“A lot of our better players are hockey players, too,” said Bailey, adding, “We’ve still been pretty strong against most teams.”
Junior girls
Following the boys’ game, the Davidson junior girls played Outlook, defeating the Blues 47-20.
Halle Herback and Tolu Arowolo led the scoring for Davidson with 10 points each.
Leila McDonnell and Mya Charette scored eight points each, while DJ Anderson added seven points to the tally, including one-three point shot.
Joell Tiffin, who coaches the team with Karrie Stamnes, said they have close to 20 girls in grades 7 through 9 playing this year.
“It’s the biggest team we’ve had since (we) started,” she said. “We’re learning a lot at every practice and applying it at games . . . It’s just a fun group of girls.”
The team is a younger group, with about half of the players in Grade 7.
The sectional playoff final for both the boys and girls teams will be held on Feb. 6. The winners of those games move on to West Central District finals on Feb. 14.
