Sports | DrumhellerMail

Dragons release preseason schedule

kevin hasselberg pensacola

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.”

Morgen’s masks getting noticed

Morgen Schinnour showing off one of her newest creations as a mask designer

There is an old adage that says “do you what you love and you won’t work a day in your life.” One Drumheller woman has taken her passions and turned them into her calling.

Last time “the Mail” caught up with Morgen Schinnour, she had established Schinny Designs in Lethbridge, specializing in custom goalie masks, had designed masks for the

National Ringette team, and saw her AJHL debut as the Drumheller Dragons’ Jonny Hogue donned one of her creations.

Moving forward a year and a half, she is taking more and more orders, in what has become her full-time job. This summer, in particular, has been busy.

“It kind of just happened in a frenzy in the last couple months,” she said.

She just completed three masks for the University of Saskatchewan, The Lethbridge Pronghorns and the University of PEI.

“I had five university masks all in one short period,” she said.

“I thought it was pretty awesome.”

She also had a mask debut in the WHL for Ryan Gilchrist of the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

These are the kinds of high profile masks that will help to build her reputation as a designer and artist in a very small, but competitive market.

To make her mark means designing unique masks, but also making contacts and sometimes just good luck.

“For the Saskatchewan Huskies ones, it was word of mouth. I did two last year for the Huskies; one was a returning goalie on the men’s team and the other two were for the women… the equipment manager for the women’s team saw my work for the men’s and said ‘oh, wow, let’s do this,’” she said

Others are finding her on the Internet or on social media.

She chuckles that she landed her WHL mask by doing a little “stalking.”

“I messaged him (Gilchrist) on Instagram personally because I noticed his mask was blank white,” she said.

She has found there is no off season in her line of work.

“This year it has been pretty steady year round. I changed the way I am doing orders, I am taking deposits and booking them in line,” she said. “Last year I had a little bit stressful situation because in August I had 11, and in June and July I had a total of four. So this year in January I started booking in advance, and now I’m fully booked until November.”

“I am averaging around 50-55 a year.”

Rumsey ball player at Canada Summer Games

Garrett Halowath headshot

Garrett Holowath (20) of Rumsey, Alberta, will play baseball for the U21 Alberta team at the Canada Summer Games in Winnipeg from July 28 to August 13.

After one of the coaches in the same men’s league approached him to play for the team, Holowath made his way through try-outs to make the Alberta team.

“I’m left handed and that really helped me,” said Holowath. “I think it gave me a little advantage compared to the rest of the guys.”

After lots of experience and games, Holowath was ready to tackle something higher on the ladder.

“I’ve been playing ball for most of my life so it just kind of worked out and an opportunity presented itself to go and I took it and now we are in Manitoba,” Holowath said.

The team officially formed in October of last year and have been practicing ever since. They have competed at senior men’s tournaments for the last month and a half in order to prepare for the upcoming Summer Games.

For the next 17 days, Holowath will be playing at the John Blumberg Softball Complex in Winnipeg. Sure to be in the cheering section would be Holowath’s family as his grandparents reside in the centre province.

“My grandparents live in Manitoba so I’ve been coming out here to Portage, Oakville area for my entire life every other summer,” said Holowath.

Holowath is excited and proud to be representing his home province of Alberta.

“It’s a great opportunity and I’m pretty pumped to be out here.”

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