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Strong Debut For Indoor Track Team Highlights Busy Weekend For RDC Athletics

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It was a great start for the RDC Indoor Track team in Edmonton, placing 2nd overall. The Red Deer College Curling teams earned the opportunity to compete at the ACAC Curling Championships in Feb. The Queens Hockey team split their weekend series with MacEwan University and the RDC Kings Hockey team lost both games to the SAIT Trojans. Both RDC Basketball squads dropped a pair of games to the Lethbridge College Kodiaks.

Here is a summary of what happened in RDC Athletics this past week:

Queens Basketball | Friday, Jan. 27 | RDC

The Lethbridge College Kodiaks defeated the RDC Queens 83-53. Dedra Janvier led the Queens with 14 points and was named the player-of-the-game.

Kings Basketball | Friday, Jan. 27 | RDC

In a thrilling game, the Lethbridge College Kodiaks edged the RDC Kings 79-78. Ian Tevis was named the Kings player-of-the-game. The guard from Kent, Washington contributed 30 points, 3 steals, 2 assists and 8 rebounds.

Kings Hockey | Friday, Jan. 27 | SAIT

In Calgary, the SAIT Trojans edged the Red Deer College Kings 3-2. Tyler Berkholtz scored a pair of power play goals for the Kings.

RDC Curling | Friday, Jan. 27 – Sunday, Jan. 29 | ACAC Curling Winter Regional | NAIT

In Edmonton, all 3 Red Deer College Curling teams qualified for the ACAC Curling Championships in Feb. This past weekend, the RDC Men’s Curling team finished 4-2, the RDC women went 2-3 and the mixed team earned a 4-3 record. The Fall and Winter Regional results are combined to determine the final standings. Over the 2 regionals, the men’s team finished 1st (10-2), the women’s team finished in a tie for 2nd spot (5-5) and the RDC Mixed Curling team earned 3rd place (10-4). Lakeland College will host the ACAC Curling Championships Feb. 24-26 at the Vermilion Curling Club.

Queens Basketball | Saturday, Jan. 28 | RDC

In a weekend rematch, the Queens competed hard but dropped a 66-50 decision to the unbeaten Kodiaks. Lauren Bailey was named the Queens player-of-the-game. The Bachelor of Science student finished with 10 points, 1 steal, 2 assists and 2 rebounds. Queens Head Coach Ken King was pleased with the effort against a top opponent. “Our student-athletes played a great game,” said King. “When we show up with the right attitude, energy and play together we can hang with the really good teams.” The RDC Queens sit in 5th place in the ACAC Women’s Basketball South Division with 10 points.

Kings Basketball | Saturday, Jan. 28 | RDC

In the rematch, the Kodiaks defeated the Kings 86-77. Ian Tevis was chosen as the Kings player-of-the-game. The Kinesiology and Sport Studies student finished with 31 points, 4 steals, 3 assists and 8 rebounds. There is a 3 way tie for top spot in the ACAC Men’s Basketball South Division between the Lethbridge College Kodiaks, SAIT Trojans and Medicine Hat College Rattlers. All 3 teams have 20 points and the Red Deer College Kings (9-6) are close behind with 18. With parity at the top of the South Division, anything can happen. “All we can focus on is winning our last games and let the chips fall where they may. As we know, anything can happen in the playoffs,” said Kings Head Coach Clayton Pottinger. “We are continually prepping for the playoffs. Once we get healthy and get our entire lineup playing again we can compete with any of these teams.”

Kings Hockey | Saturday, Jan. 28 | Penhold Multiplex

In Penhold, the SAIT Trojans defeated the RDC Kings 4-1. Riley Simpson scored for the Kings. The Red Deer College Kings sit in 5th place in ACAC Men’s Hockey with 19 points.

Queens Hockey | Saturday, Jan. 28 | MacEwan University

In the 2nd half of the home-and-home series, the RDC Queens defeated the Griffins 1-0. Rikki Smith scored the lone goal. Tracie Kikuchi turned aside all 39 shots for RDC. “It was a very good game and we had a lot of energy in our dressing room,” said Queens Head Coach Kelly Coulter. “Tracie Kikuchi was excellent in net tonight.” With the victory, the Queens jump back into top spot in ACAC Women’s Hockey with 27 points.

Indoor Track | Saturday, Jan. 28 | Running Room Grand Prix #1 | MacEwan University

In their 1st event of the season, the Red Deer College Indoor Track team placed 2nd overall behind MacEwan University in a competitive field. The RDC women’s team finished 2nd behind MacEwan University and the RDC men finished in 3rd spot. The overall team placement was a combination of the women’s and men’s results.

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The Raptors (Ridgefield Raptors that is) are coming to Edmonton next summer

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At first word that the Raptors will be spending a few days in Edmonton next summer, sports fans might be excused for jumping up and down at the thought of a high-profile NBA event.

But the Raptors under discussion play another game — baseball — and they’re based not in Toronto but in Ridgefield, Wash., a small centre near the Washington-Oregon border which claims fewer than 10,000 residents in its Wikipedia profile. Edmonton — officially labeled the Riverhawks — is now a partner in the West Coast League, which develops college players and has seen several top prospects selected in recent Major League Baseball drafts.

Also joining this week are teams based in Kamloops and Nanaimo, bringing the British Columbia contingent to four teams. Victoria and Kelowna were already members of what now is a 15-team organization.

Teams currently occupy Yakima, Wenatchee, Walla Walla and Port Angeles in Washington, as well as Bend, Corvallis and other communities in Oregon.

The city of Edmonton confirmed months ago that the Edmonton Prospects of the Western Canadian Baseball League would not be returning to Re/Max Field. Several years of association with Pat Cassidy and the Prospects had led to difficult feelings on both sides.

The Prospects are developing a new facility in Stony Plain. It will be ready for competition in 2022. Cassidy has said his team will find another place to play in 2021. All comments on next year and beyond are based, of course, on the progress of local, provincial and national fights against COVID.

Randy Gregg, the former Edmonton Oilers defenceman who led the new group’s campaign to function in Re/Max Field, unveiled his new organization at a well-attended news conference and said several options concerning the WCBL were considered but “there were continuing roadblocks.”

During months of negotiation, Gregg and his supporters did not communicate with the public. Neither did city council. “When you sign a non-disclosure agreement, you have to abide by it. Your signature has to mean something,” he said.

Gregg insisted the Riverhawks organization has no ill feelings about the WCBL. “It might have worked well,” he said. A few casual remarks were made about the potential value to this entire region if both the WCBL and the WCL are profitable.

The Edmonton approach includes sharing in travel costs for existing West Coast League teams. Similar situations made it difficult for a pair of so-called “independent” teams to operate in the years after the Edmonton Trappers were sold and Edmonton had no significant baseball.

Gregg is convinced the new load of travel costs will not be insurmountable. The Riverhawks are a collection of 28 contributors. He also pointed out that at least a couple of Edmonton’s new partners are owned or controlled by owners with major-league connections.’

“We’ve got a big job ahead of us,” he said. “We know that a lot of baseball fans have never seen a game at Re/Max Field.”

As things were unfolding between the Prospects and city officials, there were regular suggestions that no lease would have been granted for the WCBL in 2021. “Can you imagine what it would feel like to have no baseball for maybe three or four years in this great sports city?”

Last week our nation ran into a spree of high-profile miracles

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Hockey, basketball and volleyball gone from the U of A’s fall and winter to-do lists

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At almost any time in memory, Wednesday’s decision to remove hockey, basketball and volleyball from the University of Alberta’s fall and winter to-do lists would be considered a major surprise.

This year, I suspect fans and athletes should have been at least partially prepared for it. Blame the pandemic. That’s easy.

Explain that sponsorship money has dried up and every available penny must be saved to keep professors employed and students involved. That’s easy, too. Some are sure to suggest that there are deep political motives in this move to move beyond the Bears and Pandas for one year. Maybe. Maybe not. Rightly or wrongly, political movements are seen in every action these days.

If additional explanations are required, Alberta’s UCP government is sure to be singled out as cause number three; they inherited an entity in severe financial difficulty, ensuring that some budget cuts would be made as soon as possible after the NDP lost political control of the province.

This, of course, occurred well before the coronavirus crisis created overwhelming proof that sport, certainly in Canada, is something of an after-thought at all levels of society. As this is written, every professional sport is being exposed on a daily basis as a means for millionaires and billionaires to fatten their bankrolls. If timely political statements are necessary, fine; they’ll be made, but no rational soul would dare to suggest that sport has actual relevance in this time of incoherent arguments and twisted responses.

In one old scribbler’s opinion, good news ultimately will develop, almost as a result of the disappearance of the Bears and Pandas for at least one season. A move so dramatic at a level so vital is sure to create deep thought.

Which is where university sport fits in the puzzle. These organizations are the home of undoubted brilliance. In many ways, they create the model for all amateurs and low-profile professionals to follow. One day, perhaps soon, this world-wide rash of social, physical and emotional misery will be behind us. Then, cohorts of tough and committed leaders across the entire spectrum of athletics will have to step up. They will be obligated to contribute time and effort in a search for the best possible ways to ensure excellence in scholastics, citizenship and competition.

Now, looking back for even a few years, it’s essential to remember that amateur sports were being painfully slammed by financial necessities before COVID-19’s destructive arrival.

Athletic directors at U of A and MacEwan University have spoken of rising costs in tones that sometimes sounded almost desperate. I’m sure the same applies to the University of Calgary.

Similar words have been heard commonly in discussion with coaches and athletic directors at Alberta colleges. NAIT and Concordia leaders know the topic extremely well. So do alumni members working to keep hockey alive in the storied atmosphere of Camrose’s Augustana campus of the U of A.

In a lifetime of hearing old adages, one has stuck out since childhood:

“It’s Always Darkest Before the Dawn.”

This corner hopes the dawn comes quickly.

All is Well in Soccer – So Far

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