River Ratz race set for Saturday

Mon, 14 May 2012 13:30:15 -0600

The Qu’Appelle River north of Whitewood will be the site of the 3rd annual River Ratz Canoe/Kayak Race this weekend.

The first race was held in 2010 and the second was planned for 2011 but had to be cancelled due to excessive flooding along the Qu’Appelle Valley system.

This year’s race will take place on Sunday, May 20, with racers coming from Winnipeg, Saskatoon and Regina, including marathon club racers that race all over North America.
The race will accommodate both recreational paddlers and more serious racers by incorporating two separate starting points: one at the bridge on the Esterhazy-Burrows Grid #637 for the more serious racers and the bridge at Hazelcliffe Road for the recreational paddlers.

For the serious racers, registration begins at 10 a.m. and the start time for their 35 kilometre race will be 11 a.m. while recreational racers, who will also register at 10:00 a.m., will begin the race from their starting point at 12:00 noon. Recreational paddlers will cover a distance of 20 kilometres.

A new finish line has been established due to the riverbank being washed out at the old finish point.

River Ratz Canoe/Kayak Race organizer Paul Ashfield of Ravenshoe Outfitting estimates completion times of around four or five hours, depending on the speed of the current on race day.

Entrants of all ages are welcome to register but for those under 18 years of age, legal guardians must sign a waiver.

Ashfield says a racing club was formed this year and the club has joined Canoe Kayak Saskatchewan, the provincial sport governing body for canoe and kayak in the province. The association’s goal is to encourage participation and develop excellence in the sport of canoe and kayak. Members of Canoe Kayak Saskatchewan consist of competitive athletes, novice and developing athletes, recreation paddlers and enthusiasts, coaches, officials and supporters.

Ashfield isn’t sure exactly how many racers will be participating in the race this year; the first race, held in 2010, attracted 33 racers from Manitoba and Sask-atchewan.

As for prizes, says Ashfield, “First place winners for both the serious race and the recreational race will take home $250. Second and third prizes are $100 and $60 respectively.” Entry fees are $60 per paddler. A supper will be held at the end of the day at the Valleyview Hotel in Tantallon. Information about the race can be obtained by contacting Paul Ashfield at 306-735-7960 or by email: ravenshoe@sasktel.net.

Bear gets drafted by Seattle Thunderbirds

Mon, 7 May 2012 15:48:28 -0600

A young hockey player from Whitewood is making a name for himself in the sport and last week was picked up in the Western Hockey League (WHL) bantam draft.

Ethan Bear was drafted 25th overall in the second round of the draft by the Seattle Thunderbirds. The son of Lloyd and Geraldine Bear, he played last season with the Pursuit of Excellence (POE) Hockey Academy Bantam Tier 1 team in Kelowna, BC.

Bear plays right Defense and is 5'10" and 189 lbs. Scouts had been watching the talented young player and had picked him to go 22nd overall in the first round of the WHL draft.

Three Moosomin and one Grenfell player also got drafted during the WHL bantam draft. Moosomin’s Dakota Boutin and Rykr Cole were both picked up in Round 3 of the draft while Jesse Gabrielle was selected in Round 5. Grenfell’s Donovan Neuls was chosen in Round 8.

Boutin, a 5’11” right winger who weighs 157 lbs., was picked 50th overall by the Lethbridge Hurricanes and traded to the Brandon Wheatkings. He is the son of Jody Boutin and Sherri Toms and played last year with the Melville Millionaires.

Cole, who plays center and is 5’9” and weighs 155 lbs., was chosen 50th overall by the Kamloops Blazers and traded to the Regina Pats. He is the son of Jeff and Tammy Cole and played last year with the Melville Millionaires.

Gabrielle, a left winger who is 5’9” and 184 lbs. was picked 100th overall by the Brandon Wheatkings. He is the son of Brian and Shawna Gabrielle and played last year with the Minnesota U14.

Grenfell’s Donovan Neuls, a left winger who is 5’8” and 148 lbs., was picked 157th overall by the Seattle Thunderbirds. He played last year with the Melville Millionaires.

Ball diamonds to be resurfaced

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 09:23:58 -0600

Whitewood’s ball diamonds will be seeing some upgrades this year as a $7,000 repair project has been given the green light to go ahead.

Recreation Director Cam Page says weeping tile will be laid down at both diamonds and the playing fields will be resurfaced as well. Weeping tile will allow for better drainage in wet years so that the diamonds will still be usable.

“The cost of freight for the red shale was high,” Page said, so the fields will be leveled and resurfaced but not with red shale.

In 2010, the cost of the entire project was estimated to be around $25,000. “There’s a $14,000 difference from what was projected two years ago to now,” Page said, just because of the freight costs of red shale.

Minor ball got underway last week with about 50 players registered. The number of players is down this year with 87 players registered.

Arena has successful year with rise in usage

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:33:32 -0600

The Whitewood Community Center saw one of it’s busiest years this past winter which helped bring in more revenue for the local skating and curling facility.

In a report to town council last week, councillor Dexter Samida presented an overview of the year from the Facility Management Committee (FMC), a committee which he sits on as a town representative. And while no figures were presented, Samida said that the arena saw a fairly successful year.

Samida told council that ice usage was high this season, largely in part because of the agreement the Town had with Ochapowace to use the facility until their new arena is built. And because of the extra teams, increased usage, and higher kitchen sales as a result, the facility also had a good financial year.

“The kitchen is basically all volunteers so that puts a fair bit of money back into the facility,” said Samida.

While the FMC is hoping to be able to extend the agreement with Ochapowace again next year if their arena is not yet built, Samida pointed out a few concerns that the FMC is forecasting. He said that some minor hockey teams are struggling with numbers and the figure skating club is also seeing a decline in some areas.

“The figure skating club had a good year and did well but their skaters are all young. And it’s looking like next year will be similar where it will be younger skaters and maybe none in upper end, like the star skate program,” said Samida.

The curling club had not met prior to the last FMC meeting so Samida was unable to provide results on their season. But he did say that the club had penciled in that they would be hosting the Southern Junior Women’s playdowns in November.

On the subject of next season, Mayor Malcolm Green asked if the FMC had discussed doing something about the glass at the front entrances to prevent the glare inside during daytime curling and skating events. Saying he would like to see something done to fix the problem before the start of next season, Samida agreed it should be looked at.

“It really would improve the rink during those daytime games if you could block out the sun,” said Samida.

Before ending the discussion on the arena, Councillor Walter White asked if a cost analysis had ever been done on the cost savings of operating the new ice plant compared to the new one. Saying that the Town was promised substantial savings with the new plant, White said a comparison should be able to be done now that the new plant has been operating for two seasons.
Town Administrator Sharon Rodgers said that Recreation Director Cam Page does review the power and energy bills every month but she was unsure if a comparison has ever been done. She told council that she believed that the power had gone down but that the energy may have increased, partly because the dehumidifier was installed.

Town Foreman Harry Malansky told council that the longevity of the building is much better now with the dehumidifier because there isn’t corrosion happening from dew constantly sitting in the building. It was also pointed out that there is a huge cost savings happening from not as many break downs and service calls.

Realizing it will be difficult to compare apples to apples due to changes in power and energy rates, a doubling of usage with Ochapowace this past season, and an unusually mild winter, council felt a comparison should still be done for piece of mind.

Mayor Green agreed but said that regardless of the cost comparisons, he felt that installing the new ice plant and dehumidifier was well worth the $360,000 price tag, of which the town was responsible for one-third of.

“I think doing what we did at the time, using 30 cent dollars, I think it was the time to do it because it is just going to add to the longevity all the way around,” said Green.

Local curlers tie for third at Provincials

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 09:44:51 -0600

Although they have played together for only a few months, a local curling team tied for third place at the 2012 Juvenile women’s provincial curling playdowns held in Birch Hills, Sask. from March 23-26.

The team consists of skip Amelia McMullin from Maryfield, third Samantha Merrett from Whitewood, second Jasmine Cook from Langbank, and lead Tess Stanick from Moosomin.
The team was formed only a few months before provincials, and had to make it through zone playoffs in Weyburn March 9-11 first. Coach Connie Stanick says the team had no idea what to expect, since the girls had curled together for such a short period of time.

“We just wanted to get a girls team together and curl,” she says. “We didn’t expect to even leave Weyburn. We just went to zones hoping for the best.”

To their surprise, the team came away with three wins and two losses, qualifying them for Juvenile women’s provincial playdowns in Birch Hills, Sask.

Stanick says, with quite a few years of curling experience behind each of the girls, who have been competing with their local curling clubs from a young age, the team seemed to gel quickly, giving them the competitive edge they needed.

“They’ve all nicely fit into their positions, and their chemistry was good from day one,” she says.
The team’s third, Samantha Merrett, says her and her teammates expected to be competitive, and sharing a common goal of making it to provincials helped them get there.

“I thought we worked well as a team and we all got along well too,” she says. “I think we all expected good things because we have all curled a lot, and we all worked well as a team, and we expected to get to provincials.

“We bonded quickly together considering how we didn’t know each other too well. We got together and it was instant. We all kind of found our place on the team and we all wanted the same thing too, which helped. We all had the dream of getting to provincials and we put that determination together.”

The team ended up tied in third place at provincials with Regina, coming home with a record of four wins and three losses. Lampman was in second place while Saskatoon advanced to nationals in Toronto.

“I think it was really good for our first time at provincials and competing at a higher level together,” says Merrett. “We were all pretty happy with that. It was good because we also learned what we need to improve on for the next year to make us a better team.”

Stanick says the team tried to practice at least once a week leading up to zones and provincials, and took any ice time they could get at local rinks in the area.

The team also worked hard to focus on strategy, mental preparation, fitness and diet leading up to and during provincials, even spending an evening learning strategy with Jason Krupski, a former world curling tour competitor from Whitewood.

Stanick says she was elated to see how the team performed at provincials.

“Anything is possible,” she says. “Hard work and determination, and wanting something bad enough can make all the difference in the world. They just wanted it. They went out and said ‘we are going to be in this and we are not going to let anyone take this from us.’ ”

Stanick says the team is already looking forward to competing together next year, both at the Juvenile and Junior levels, as Jasmine Cook will be too old for the Juvenile level next season. Stanick will also be back as coach.

“It was the funnest thing I ever did,” she says. “I was so proud just to be in their presence.”