The 2010/2011 hockey season was a roaring success for Westlock’s Midget Sabres as the sliced their way through the competition to the league title in March.
They battled their way through some stiff competition to earn their chance at the Tier 3 title in the 1660 Hockey League, and ultimately emerged victorious in a tight 3-2 final game over the Lamont Hawks on March 20.
To make the season even more impressive, the defence proved to be among the best in the league, with the Sabres giving up a league low of just 82 goals in their 24 games.
This was not a bad result for a team that might not have had enough players if not for the dedication and hard work of five or six of the players who pulled everyone together, coach Jeff Copeland said.
He added he was not surprised by the win, since he knew all along they were the best team in the league.
“They were the best players I could ask for,” he said. “They went out and played a full 60 minutes every game.”
The Sabres have returned for another season, hoping to repeat the victories they earned last year, and they’re off to a good start.
It’s not exactly the most popular sport in the Westlock area, but most residents became well aware of what sport jumping was all about after the Edmonton Skydive Club hosted the 2011 Canadian Skydiving Nationals in July.
Jumpers from across the country, and some from south of the border as well, literally descended on the Westlock Airport for the prestigious event.
All told, about 200 men and women took to the skies for a variety of events like accuracy competitions, distance competitions, and synchronized jumps.
Several Canadian and world records were set at the event, including the national record for a female accumulating points in a freefall, and the most forms – 16 – performed in a four-way 35-second freefall. Over the course of the event, more than 2,000 jumps were recorded with not a single injury. There were four parachute malfunctions, causing the divers to have to use their reserve chutes, but that is below the average of one in 400 jumps where this occurs.
All in all, organizer Al Christou said, the event was very safe and came off as a success.
The Westlock Thunderbirds Football club continues to make marked improvements year over year, have another season in 2011 that was the best yet.
For the first time since the club reformed six years ago, the T-Birds hosted a playoff game, beating the Athabasca Pacers by a comfortable 21-7 margin on Oct. 22.
Unfortunately, the T-Birds couldn’t overcome the Bonnyville Voyageurs in their next playoff game, with a 34-8 loss on Oct. 29 spelling the end of their run for the Wheatland Football League title.
And although Westlock lost that crucial game to Bonnyville, players and coaches alike can take consolation in the fact that the Tier-2 T-Birds outscored the Tier-1 Voyageurs 8-7 in the second half of that game — definitely a way to end the season on a high note.
This was the first year the division was split between Tier 1 teams, those that have a bantam feeder program, and Tier 2 teams, those without. That made a big difference and helped the T-Birds have a spectacular season.
“I think by all accounts, it was the best season we’ve had both statistically and record-wise,” coach Jon Kramer said. “Even the hustle the guys put up. Every practice, even in the end when it was starting to get cold, they were working hard.”
Wrestling the Westlock area was alive and well last year, with three local wrestlers earning some impressive accolades at tournaments across the country.
On March 19, local wrestler Kellie Galliford pinned down a gold medal at the Alberta Open, a high-school level tournament that qualified her to take part in the nationals in April.
Galliford earned a sixth-place finish at nationals, despite battling a stomach ailment that affected her performance at the event.
All told, however, she was happy with the result.
Another Westlock-area wrestler, Austin Tremblay, took part in the same national tournament and earned a silver medal in his division and posted a 6-1 record over the course of the tournament.
Tremblay, who hails from Clyde, and Hayley Heffel, who hails from Dapp, both did the region proud at the Western Canada Summer Games in Kamloops, B.C. in August.
For his part, Tremblay went undefeated in the tournament, bringing home a gold medal for the 63 kg weight category, which is especially remarkable since he had been used to competing at 58 kg.
Heffel, meanwhile, earned a silver medal in the 65 kg category, losing out to the reigning national champion.
The Westlock Red Lions had a good season dominating the diamond in the North Central Alberta Baseball League, but despite claiming home-turf advantage in the playoff semi-finals, weren’t able to move on in the playoffs.
Nonetheless, it was a great season for the Lions. The ended the regular season in second place with a 0.75 winning percentage, just one win behind the first-place Parkland White Sox, who went on to claim the league title.
The Lions hosted the semi-final tournament at the same time as the Westlock and District Ag Fair, which ensured the stands were packed to cheer on the home team. In the first game of the best-of-three series, the Edmonton Blackhawks earned a tight 6-5 win to take the series lead. The Lions responded in kind by earning a dramatic 2-0 victory in the second game — coach Ryan Rau hit a single in the second inning with the bases loaded, which was enough to put two runs in.
The last game didn’t go as well for the Lions, who lost in the final match and ended their season with a 4-1 loss. Despite being stopped from a chance at the playoffs, the Lions had a successful season, which was punctuated by Rau’s second time winning the Bob Kootenay award for Manager of the Year.
