Sports | DrumhellerMail

Ouellette selected to take on Russians

    A Drumheller hockey player has a chance to match his skills with some top calibre Russian players, he only hopes he’ll be healed in time.
   Trent Ouellette is in his third season with the Regina Pats and was having a break-out season. The centre man jumped out to being the top scorer for the team through 14 games. He is being noticed and was selected for an elite WHL team for the Canada-Russia Subway Super Series.
   He explains the major junior leagues are putting together teams to play an elite Russian junior squad this month.
   “We’ll (WHL team) play two games, one in Vancouver and one in Victoria against Russia,” explains Ouellette. He is on the roster to play in the game in Vancouver on November 14.
   “It is really exciting and kind of surprising,” Ouellette told The Mail. “I felt honoured to be picked. From going undrafted in the bantam draft to this. It is a big step.”
   So far, Ouellette has six goals and eight assists in 15 games this season.
   “It’s going really good, I am putting the puck in the net, points are coming my way and I was getting lots of opportunities,” he said, until he was injured in a game versus Lethbridge.
   “It was an awkward hit, the guy went low for a hip check and just caught my back leg between the board,” said Ouellette.
   He sprained his medial collateral ligament and was listed as indefinite.
   He is expecting to be on the ice skating this week and hopes he’ll be back in shape for the Subway Super Series. As far as the season goes, he hopes to pick up where he left off and continue to build some buzz on his strong start and his selection.

Saints win Bassano tournament

    The St. Anthony’s Saints junior high volleyball team swept their way to victory in tournament play.
   The Saints were in Bassano on Saturday, October 27 to play in the Bassano Invitational Tournament. The round robin event involved featured top-notch teams from the area.
   The Saints first met Tilley in round robin play and came away with a victory. This put them on to the home team, and they were able to post their second victory in two games.
   This put them first in their pool and on to play Rosemary in the semifinal, who they beat in two games.
   In the final, the Saints were back up against Tilley and were able to take the victory in two straight games.
   “We were undefeated, and we never lost a match through the whole tournament,” said coach Greg Lemieux.
   He said consistent serving from Jeremie Doolittle and Tyler Cardamone was key to their victories. He adds strong net play from Riley Gaudet and Jordan Mazereeuw helped them to victory.
   The Saints are having a strong season, with its young team. In fact, Gaudet is their only Grade 9 player, and the rest are in Grade 7. So far they are 2-1 in league play, beating Hanna and splitting with Morrin.

The Saints struck gold in Bassano, winning their junior high boys volleyball tournament. Members of the team include (back) assistant coach Blake Wright, (second row; l-r) coach Greg Lemieux, Bailey Calderon, Jordan Mazereeuw, Paul Epp, and assistant coach Jakub St. Jean, with (third row; l-r)Jeremie Doolittle, Tyler Cardamone and Ashton Lal, and Riley Gaudet, front.

Dynos ready to take bite out of regionals

    The Drumheller Valley Secondary School Dynos senior girls’ volleyball team was in action once again this past weekend in Strathmore.
   The team came home after narrowly missing a playoff berth at the tournament.
   “We missed the playoffs by one match again. A playoff berth was decided on the last match of the round robin. We played Senator Gershaw from Bow Island. Winner of the match stayed and played in the playoffs, loser of the match went home early,” said Dawn Sullivan, head coach of the Dynos. “It was a good match but unfortunately, we came up on the losing side.”
   Sullivan was pleased with the performance of the team, describing it as being better than their games in Olds the previous weekend. The Dynos narrowly missed the playoffs by a few points in Olds.
   In the tournaments, the Dynos have been up against some of the tougher teams around.
   “We have been playing many 3A and even 4A teams which provide a higher level of play and have been very close to pulling off some upsets,” said Sullivan.
   The Strathmore tournament was the final chance the team had to play competitively before regionals. This weekend, the Dynos will be going up against teams in the region to determine who will go on to zones.
   “The team is pumped for regionals and know they have to place in the top six to advance to zones. If they don’t, their season is over,” said Sullivan. “The Dynos are more than capable of doing this, they just have to be ready when they step on the court and play for the full 25 points.”

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