Sports | DrumhellerMail

Drumheller's Dion Knelsen named academic All-American

    Alaska Nanooks men’s hockey forward, and former Drumheller Dragon Dion Knelsen was selected to the ESPN Magazine's 'Academic All-America At-Large Men’s First Team' announced Tuesday, as selected by the College Sports Information Directors of America.
    Knelsen, who graduated from the University of Alaska Fairbanks last month with a degree in Business Administration, maintained a 3.98 grade point average in his studies and was selected to the Chancellor’s List every semester of his four-year career.
    He signed a one-year contract to play professional hockey next season for the Sparta Warriors of Sarpsborgo, Norway, and the Norwegian Elite League.
    The leading scorer for the Nanooks this season with 19 goals and 24 assists, Knelsen led the Blue and Gold to an 18-12-9 record and their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. His four-year, career scoring line of 45 goals, 75 assists and 120 points rank 17th on Alaska’s all-time scoring list.
    His senior campaign was capped off with a heap of athletic and academic awards including: CCHA Scholar-Athlete of the Year, CCHA Humanitarian of the Year, CCHA All-Conference Team Honourable Mention, Lowe’s Senior CLASS First-Team All-American, UAF Joel Weigert Outstanding Graduating Senior Man, all-tournament team and MVP honours at the Kendall Classic and Brice Alaska Goal Rush, respectively, and was one of just seven finalists for the prestigious Hockey Humanitarian Award.
    He is the fifth Nanook to earn the prestigious distinction, joining Trevor Hyatt (Men’s At-Large, 2009), Marius Korthauer (Men’s At-Large, 2008), Vahur Teppan (Men’s At-Large, 2008) and Jenny (Lin) Benson (Women’s Basketball, 1989).

Badlands Basketball travel team wins tournament in Lethbridge

    The U17 Badlands Basketball travel team was victorious over some premier teams at a tournament in Lethbridge over last weekend.
    This was the second and final tournament for the travel team this year. The team was joined by Brandon Gruber to play in the tournament.
    The team suffered a loss to the Cougar Club, a team made up largely of players from Catholic Central in Lethbridge, but went on to beat the Junior SAIT Trojans team and teams from Regina and Claresholm.
    They made it to the final to meet the Cougar Club again and this time were victorious.
Coach of the U17 team Chad Pidhaichuk told The Mail the team did it on defense.
    “We won because of defense. Against the Trojans, we were down by 10…and we came out in the second half and just shut them down,” said Pidhaichuk. “We are more physical, we are tough and work harder under the basket. It is so frustrating for the other teams.”
    The U13 Badlands Basketball team were also in action in Lethbridge. Under the guidance of Tyler Fournier and Mitch Smith, the team won versus U13 from the Lethbridge Minor Basketball Association. Pidhaichuk explains they have a strong core of players in Grade 6, and are often playing much more experienced players when lumped in at the U13 level.
    “If we could keep that group together they are just going to be amazing. They are all amazing athletes and all have good sport-sense and basketball sense,” said Pidhaichuk.
    This is the end of the season for the travel teams, while the club teams will continue for another few weeks.
    Next up is the Badlands Basketball summer camp. The general camp, open to players ages 10-17 to work on fundamentals, is slated for July 12-15. The elite camp, geared towards high school aged players, is set for August 23-26. This camp works on development of team and individual skills to prepare for the upcoming school seasons.

Weekend lacrosse action fills arena

    The valley was filled with lacrosse action last Sunday as all teams were at the Drumheller Memorial Arena to compete. The Novice and Midget teams both played twice.
    Dan’s Oilfield Novice Raptors played Olds in the morning, getting the best of them in a tight battle. Sunday afternoon’s game saw the novices playing the kids from Lacoka (Lacombe/Ponoka). Lacoka came out strong and took advantage of the Drumheller team who had already played one game. Lacoka went ahead early and the Raptors just could not come back.
    The Midfield Pee Wee Raptors took on Innisfail in a great tough and tight game for the first two periods with the teams tied ending the second. Innisfail came out strong in the third and pulled away from Drumheller doubling up the young players.
    The Sports Room SFS Bantam Raptors were the comeback kids against Olds. They gave Olds the lead of 6-2 early in the third only to come back by game’s end with a 7-7 tie.
    The Canalta Midget Raptors started the day off with an exciting back and forth game with Red Deer Chiefs. Penalty troubles that have plagued the team all year popped up late and gave Red Deer the opportunity to take the game from them.
    The Midgets finished the day off with another tight game. Drumheller pulled within a goal with five minutes left but gave up a couple of late goals to watch the game slip away.
    The Midget Raptors play again this Friday night against Red Deer here in Drumheller at 7:30 at the Memorial Arena. The Pee Wee Raptors play Sunday at home at Noon against Blackfalds. These are the final two home games of the year so come check out the fastest game on two feet.

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