The Encana Atom Raptors came home from a unique tournament in Leduc with a championship and some cool new uniforms.
    The Raptors competed in the Frozen 4 on February 2 and 3, an outdoor tournament in the spirit of the NHL Winter Classic Games.
    The Raptors went undefeated in tournament play beating teams from Claresholm, Red Deer, and the home Leduc squad. Throughout the tournament, they braved frigid temperatures on the ice.
    Coach Ryan Bitz is proud of the team. “It was lots of fun and the organizers did a pretty good job. The boys were cold but the benches were heated a little bit,” he said.       “It was great to see the boys play at night with the snow falling, it is something they will remember.”
   To fit with the retro theme, the teams donned classic jerseys including the Atlanta Flames and the Vancouver Canucks. The Raptors wore the retro Colorado Rockies Jerseys.

    Brooks Mayor and president of Canadian Badlands, Barry Morishita and Lonna Hoggan, discussed a new Dinosaur Trail Project as a partnership between Canadian Badlands and the Town of Drumheller.
    The plan is to designate billboard style signs from the Dinosaur Provincial Park to the Royal Tyrrell Museum to generate and direct traffic to continue the dinosaur experience for tourists visiting Eastern Alberta.
    “I think that it turns a one day outing into a possible overnight outing,” said Morishita. “I think that’s one of the key things and the other thing is I think there is a lot of things to discover between here and Drumheller and from Drumheller to the Dinosaur Park area. Just having that opportunity to expose travellers and tourists to the unique and different opportunities and keep them overnight. That’s kind of the primary goal.”
    The largest number of tourists coming to the area are drawn from Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Regina according to Morishita.
    “The Dinosaur Trail is a project we have been working on for quite a few years at Canadian Badlands and the idea is to bring visitors from Dinosaur Provincial Park to the [Royal] Tyrrell Museum and of course take people from the Tyrrell Museum to Dinosaur [Provincial] Park through something designated as dinosaur trail which will take them through some unique canadian badlands landscapes.” said Morishita.
    The roadway they chose is focused on a route along the Red Deer River valley. It will begin at the Royal Tyrrell Museum heading east towards East Coulee and Dorothy on Highway 570. From there, it will snake it’s way south towards the Hamlet of Patricia on Highway 876 which will lead to Dinosaur Provincial Park.
    The City of Brooks has put $10,000 towards signage and Special Areas and the County of Newell have also pitched in for a grand total of $32,000 including installation.
    The goal is to have one design that is recognizable throughout the entire trail.
    “It will basically be a reflective fluorescent green and yellow material and it will have a black outline of a dinosaur, triceratops or something very visible on the signage,” continued Morishita. “The signs will hopefully indicate how far you are away from where you’re going so if you are going to Dinosaur Park it’ll say 100 kilometers to Dinosaur Park or turn here or those kinds of things.”
    Google will create a link for google maps which will create a map overlay to travel through for tourists to utilize. Travel Alberta will verify the trail and make sure all points of interest on the trail are accounted for.
    “You can just create a link and flop it on your map,” said Morishita.
    The project signs are expected to be seen on the roads later this year.