Davidson’s Luke McCreary may have been on the losing side in five straight matches at the Saskatchewan Junior Men’s Provincial Curling Championship held at the Weyburn Curling Club earlier this month, but he still had a “lot of fun” taking part.
“It was a really well-organized and well-run event,” said McCreary. “There were a lot of good quality teams there. We were real happy (with the way) that we played. We were within a couple key shots on four different games where it could have gone either way, so the 0-5 record didn’t really represent how we curled.”
McCreary, 18, played third for Team Allan Walter at the Championship held Jan. 3 to 7 in Weyburn. The team, which included skip Walter, second Brayden Miskolzie, lead Sheldon McIntyre and was coached by Brian Champion, finished last in the “A” pool in round robin play failing to make it to the playoffs.
He said there were two pools of six teams participating at the event with the top two teams from each pool moving on to playoff action after the five-game round robin.
“It was really good,” said McCreary, who threw the fifth and sixth rocks out of eight and held the broom when the skip was throwing. “It was the top 12 teams in the province, so it was really strong competition.”
They lost their first game at the event 7-5 to Team Cole Tenetuik Jan. 3. A day later, they would lose 9-2 to eventual champion Team Brady Scharback and 5-4 to Team Kris Keating. The next day would see them first lose a close one 9-8 to Team Travis Tokarz before dropping their final game 8-5 to Team Zachary Turner.
McCreary said their team, which plays out of the Sutherland Curling Club in Saskatoon, formed this past September and includes three members of their University of Saskatchewan team. He said this was his first junior provincials, but he did suit up as a substitute for the juvenile provincials last year.
The current engineering student at the U of S said he has been curling competitively since he was a Grade 7 student at Davidson School and curled for the school team throughout his studies there.
As for the rest of this season, McCreary said his university team is currently trying to make it to the University Westerns held in Edmonton in February while they look forward to another shot at provincials next January.
“It was a great experience. Three of us are still of age to do it again next year, so we’re hoping to stick with it.”

For the betterment of the game, Hockey Canada and the Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) are trying to create an environment of respect for its officials whether that is a minor, elite or recreational showcase of the sport.
Ryan Lundquist, manager of officiating development with the SHA, said the association is trying to raise awareness of respect among officials, parents, coaches and players in hockey through advertising as well as supervision of the product on the ice. He said there are extra supervisors in the rinks at various times this season across Saskatchewan to monitor officials in how they react to abuse in an effort to resolve inconsistencies among the province’s referees.
Lundquist said there is a rule in place, namely 9.2 of Hockey Canada Referee’s Case Book/Rule Combination concerning “Harassment of Officials, Unsportsmanlike Conduct/Misconduct” that guides officials actions towards their conduct and that of the teams involved whether on or off the ice and in any place at the rink. He said this rule enables officials to call penalties on players or coaches that direct abuse in their way, but it is up to the individual discretion of a ref when to call a penalty.
As far as fans and parents abusing officials, the refs are generally advised to ignore them and focus on their own task at hand and not worry about what the motives of the people in the stands may be.
“Everybody is looking for somebody to blame because it’s easy,” said Lundquist. “Hockey Canada had a poster where there is an official dropping the puck between two kids and on the back of one kid it says ‘meal ticket’ and on the other player it says ‘daddy’s dream’ and then on the back of the ref it says ‘scapegoat.'”
He said it is also true that refs make mistakes as well, but everyone has to just remember minor leagues in hockey are learning leagues and the game on the ice that the fan is watching is somewhat new to the players, coaches and referees involved.
To read more please see the Jan. 7 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The Davison Raiders senior girls basketball team suffered a lop-sided loss to the Loreburn Aztecs in their season opener at the Davidson School gym last Wednesday.

The Aztecs dominated on both sides of the floor cruising to a 59-17 victory over the Raiders. The Loreburn girls played stifling man-to-man coverage barely letting the Raiders get to the net throughout the match and easily penetrated through the Raiders defence getting into the paint and hitting numerous easy lay-ups during the game after breaking past one Raider after another.

“Our girls played well,” said Aztecs head coach Tim Hom. “I think after getting used to the new gym they did pretty good.”

The Aztecs and Raiders both started off slowly in the game, with the first quarter mainly seeing the teams feeling each other out. Loreburn stepped up the pace in the second quarter, scoring at will on their way to taking a 29-9 lead by the half. The second half was more of the same with the Aztecs leading 44-13 after three and finally 59-17 to finish.

Karielle Willner, head coach of the Raiders, said their first game of the season was a good learning experience for the girls, giving them a look on what they need to work on to reach their goal of having a successful season.

“I really just want to see every girl play to her best, to improve and for us to get as far as we possibly can,” she said. “A lot of teams, their goal is to win in senior and ours is to get as many girls playing as possible and that doesn’t always necessarily lead to a win every time. All girls who want to play play, so that is the rule we live and die by.”

To read more please see the December 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

It may have been Jordan Eberle night at the Regina Pats-Red Deer Rebels game Dec. 5, but it was Rhyse Dieno who stole the show.

The right winger took first star honours in the Western Hockey League game scoring two goals and adding two assists on the night the Pats retired the No. 7 jersey worn by Eberle during his 2006 to 2010 stint with the club.

“It was a pretty good game,” said Dieno, the grandson of Davidson’s Terry and Carol Dieno. “It was cool to see Eberle’s jersey being hung up, so the boys were pretty excited about that and we were coming off a seven game winning streak. We were trying to build off that and the points just started coming to me, so it was nice.”

The Rebels 5-1 win against the Pats made it eight in a row for the Brent Sutter managed and coached club, which also marks the same amount of games Dieno has suited up on the top line for the team. Playing on a line with Turner Elson and Brooks Maxwell, Dieno has managed 11 points including four goals.

“My coach has put a lot of confidence in me,” said the 19-year-old winger. “It’s a little different than what I had last year (with the Medicine Hat Tigers), so it’s nice. He trusts me in situations to put the puck in the net and I’m just building off that and I have a lot of confidence.”

The quick-skating two-way forward got the call up to the WHL while trying out for Team Canada West in Calgary for the 2012 World Junior A Challenge. Dieno made the team and helped them take home a silver medal in the Nov. 5-11 tournament held in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, in which he recorded five points playing on a line with Alex Kerfoot and Dylan Richard.

“It was an unreal experience,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I would love to do it over again, but I’m a little too old for that now. It was a great experience.”

The turnaround for Dieno turned out to be “pretty quick” as he had to fly back to Saskatchewan from Yarmouth and head straight to La Ronge, where he had spent the earlier part of the season playing for the Saskatchewan Junior A Hockey League’s Ice Wolves. Dieno packed up his stuff, said goodbye to his teammates and coach and hit the road to Red Deer. Less than a week later he suited up for his first game with the Rebels scoring the tying goal in 2-1 home win over the Swift Current Broncos.

“If I keep playing like I am right now I plan to play here the whole year and maybe even as a 20-year-old.”

The Davidson Raiders junior boys basketball team got their 2012-2013 season off to a great start last week with a ‘B’ side championship win at the W. W. Brown School season kick-start tournament.

The boys defeated a strong Warman Wolverines club 51-47 in the championship final Dec. 1 before a deafening crowd in Langham that continually rooted for the Davidson side to defeat the W. W. Brown School rival. The game featured exceptionally strong and gritty play by Raiders centre Ben Nykiforuk, shooting guard James Morrison and point guard Huck Rettger as well as an overall great team game against the Wolverines.

Kim Rettger, head coach of the Raiders, said the Warman team is a big 4A school population wise that also includes six club players, so heading into the game he just told his boys to “stay with them” and make the game respectable. He said what transpired next was the “best team game” he’s seen from his boys in three years.

The Raiders rushed out to a 10-point lead in the first quarter thanks to strong defensive play by the whole Davidson squad who each saw regular playing time. The Raiders kept up the urgency pressing the Warman defence as the 10-point lead held past the half and through the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Wolverines started chipping away at the Raiders lead eventually going on a run that saw Warman take a three-point advantage heading into the final two and a half minutes.

Rettger said Nykiforuk then made a “tremendous and courageous” drive to the net with a Warman player draped all over him, scored and hit the free throw to tie it back up. The Wolverines came right back with a basket, before Morrison tied it up once again for the Raiders. Huck Rettger hit a two and a free throw after that giving Davidson a three-point lead heading into the last minute.

The Wolverines pressed throwing up threes to try and tie the game up and send it into overtime, but couldn’t find the mesh. Huck would hit another free throw with 0.7 seconds left to give the Raiders a deciding four-point lead.

To read more please see the December 10 print edition of The Davidson Leader.