Alberta 55 Plus is sponsoring the Calgary 55 Plus Summer Provincial Games from August 10 - 12 at a variety of venues throughout Calgary. Individuals will participate in Track and Field, Slo-pitch, Tennis, Swimming, Ice Hockey, Cycling, Badminton, Pickleball, Golf, Horseshoes and 5 Pin Bowling.

Drumheller will be well represented with a total of 12 participants in 5 sports. Over 900 participants are expected to attend, with opening ceremonies and banquet on, Thursday, August 10.

Medallists from these games will qualify for the Alberta team going to the Canada Games in August 2018 in New Brunswick.

The last summer games were held in Strathmore, Alberta in 2015 and there were Drumheller participants in three sports.

This year, 9 of the 18 member bowling team are from Drumheller, Phil Wade is playing slow-pitch, Ron Bell is competing in golf and Jim Millman will compete in cycling - both the recreational 10 km and the 40 km road race.

Bowling members include Remie DeFoor in the men’s scratch division, a 55 plus team made up of Mike and Barb Barker,

Linda Traquair and Daryl Saboe and a 70 plus team - Wendy Sisson, Sandra Irwin, Ron Keats and Richard Nodder.

The Drumheller participants are part of Zone 2 - Big Country Seniors Sports Society which stretches from Banff to Hanna.

The Zone will send over 190 participants to the Games and will have representatives in all sports.

Following the Calgary Summer Provincial Games in August, members will focus on preparing for the fall games to be held in High Prairie on September 14 - 16.

Currently, four individuals have qualified for floor shuffleboard and two individuals will represent the Zone in cribbage. The Craft competition will occur on August 18 and 19.

Watch for the results of these competitions.

(Photo Submitted)

The countdown is on for the beginning of the AJHL season and the Drumheller Dragons have been working hard to prepare.

On August 2, the Dragons released its preseason schedule. The team hits the ice versus the Whitecourt Wolverines, the

Camrose Kodiaks and the Spruce Grove Saints at a preseason tournament in Camrose from August 30 to September 1.

Their first home exhibition game is Wednesday, September 6 versus the Olds Grizzlys and then on Friday, September 8, they play the Brooks Bandits.

While the ice has just been installed for the season at the Drumheller Memorial Arena, Coach Kevin Hasselberg has been busy working with the staff and roster.

“Number one, we want to establish a culture of excellence. The agreement between ownership, my own philosophies and the introduction of the management committee, I think there is a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of people that are willing to put in the work and a lot of support from the community,” said Hasselberg.

He says it is key to create a culture and identity.

“Summarizing it quickly, is “better people make better Dragons.’ I think it all starts with having good people in place. I think the previous staff has done a tremendous job of identifying good character people,” said Hasselberg. “When they put that jersey on, you know when they graduate from our program, that whoever gets to wear that jersey next has to have to really step up their game and have a very positive impact on the hockey team to wear it with as much pride as the previous owner.”

While there have been some arrivals and departures during the off-season, Hasselberg said a core of quality players will be back this season.

“I think everybody who has played a season for the Dragons… deserves that opportunity to be a part of this. They laid the groundwork for what we want to build moving forward, I think we really have to lean on those young men to keep establishing that culture,” said Hasselberg.

While he was not with the Dragons last season, he was impressed with how they finished the season despite the turmoil.

“I watched the team in the playoff last year, there isn’t a player on that ice coming back to this team this season that didn’t play with a lot of heart, determination, and they were very passionate about how they performed and I think it said a lot about those young men,” said Hasselberg. “We are going to pick on character first, and evaluate skill and talent.”

“Right now with a post season evaluation of a group of players, who all want to come back to a program that experienced some significant challenges over the course of the season, I think that says a lot about those kids.”