Carlin Van Driesten of the Flyers battles for a rebound with St. Mike's Dragons.

F.P. Walshe Flyers completed an undefeated season Saturday in junior high A girls’ basketball.
The Flyers, who went undefeated during the regular season, won three straight games to top the playoff tournament at F.P. Walshe school.
The Grade 9 team is Sam Bassett, Carlin Van Driesten, Cheyenne Hofer, Mary Many Bears, Jayden Goodstriker, Nicole Quinlan, Nicolle Roy, Hannah Burbank and Carleigh Grier Stewart. Coach is Dan Burbank.
Flyers 63 Dragons 11
The Flyers opened the tournament Saturday with a 63-11 win over St. Michael’s Dragons from Pincher Creek.
The outcome was never in doubt as F.P. Walshe went up 17-2 in the first quarter and increased their lead to 39-4 at halftime.
Cheyenne Hofer led the Flyers with 16 points and Sam Bassett and Jayden Goodstriker each poured in a dozen.
Carleigh Grier-Stewart scored seven, Carlin Van Driesten had six and Mary Many Bears and Nicole Quinlan each had four.

Sam Bassett and Jayden Goodstriker of the F.P. Walshe Flyers swarm a Willow Creek Cobra for the ball.

Flyers 76 Kainai 18
The win over St. Mike’s advanced the Flyers to a semifinal match against Kainai Saturday afternoon.
Kainai had advanced by beating J.T. Foster Raiders 23-22.
The Flyers jumped to a 25-11 lead in the first quarter and pulled away to a 47-11 halftime lead.
Cheyenne Hofer held the hot hand, scoring 25 points for the Flyers.
Jayden Goodstriker had 19, Carlin Van Driesten scored 10, Sam Bassett and Carleigh Grier-Stewart each had eight and Nicole Quinlan had six.
Flyers 53 Cobras 15
With the win over Kainai the Flyers advanced to the tournament championship game on Saturday night.
Their opponents were the Willow Creek Cobras from Claresholm, who had advanced by beating Matthew Halton Hawks 47-17 and Piikani Eagles 44-42.
The Flyers came out on top in the final as Jayden Goodstriker scored 18 points to lead the Flyers to a 53-15 win.
Sam Bassett had 14 points for the Flyers, Cheyenne Hofer had 13 and Carlin Van Driesten, Mary Many Bears, Nicole Quinlan and Carleigh Grier-Stewart each scored two.
In the game to decide third place, Kainai edged Piikani 46-45.

Cheyenne Hofer of the F.P. Walshe Flyers splits the Willow Creek Cobras defence on her way to the basket.

Nicole Quinlan of the F.P. Walshe Flyers goes up for a lay-up against St. Mike's Dragons.

Sheldon Wenzel of the Brooks Black Hawks tucks the puck past Fort Macleod Mustangs goalie Cody Hall on a penalty shot in the first period of Friday's game

Jadon Porterfield of the Fort Macleod Mustangs tries to get the puck past Brooks Black Hawks goalie Trevor Baker.

Nick Yorgason of the Fort Macleod Mustangs impedes the progress of Brooks Black Hawks Matt Conacher.

Fort Macleod Mustangs took a stranglehold on their Ranchland Hockey League playoff series with a pair of home ice victories.
The Mustangs beat Brooks Black Hawks 4-3 Saturday and 5-3 Sunday to go up 2-0 in the best-of-five quarterfinal.
The series shifts to Brooks for the next two games on Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb. 25.
The fifth game, if necessary, will be Sunday, Feb. 26 at 3:30 p.m. at Fort Macleod and District Sports Centre.
In the other quarterfinal series, the Nanton Palominos won two games on home ice to lead Peigan Cowboys 2-0.
The next games in that series are Friday, Feb. 24 and Saturday, Feb. 25 at Pincher Creek, with a fifth game Sunday, Feb. 26 in Nanton if necessary.
Mustangs 4 Black Hawks 3
Hayden Shackel’s second goal of the game with 8:04 remaining stood up as the winner Friday as the Mustangs edged the Black Hawks 4-3.
The teams were tied 1-1 and 3-3 after 40 minutes.
Kyle Eskes and Mason Bond also scored for Fort Macleod. Tyce Gallamore assisted on three goals and Greg Schimanski picked up one helper.
Sheldon Wenzel scored twice for Brooks — one coming on a penalty shot — and Richard Renard had a goal and an assist. Geoff Tiffin and Jeff Goodheart had assists.
Cody Hall made 44 saves in the Fort Macleod net to earn first star honours. Brooks goalie Trevor Baker made 31 saves.
Shackel was the game’s second star and Wenzel was third star.
Mustangs 5 Black Hawks 3
Cole Matson and Tyler Bilodeau each scored twice Sunday afternoon to power the Mustangs to a 5-3 win and a 2-0 series lead.
Brooks took a 1-0 lead in the first period but the Mustangs rallied to move in front 4-3 in the second frame and added the only goal in the third period.
Tyce Gallamore scored Fort Macleod’s other goal and assisted on two goals.
Kevin Olson and Kent Broere each had two assists on Fort Macleod goals and Colby Charteris and Jadon Porterfield had one assist apiece.
Wenzel had another two-goal game for the Black Hawks and Dustin Hullman also scored. Chad Sewall assisted on two goals and Brandon Lanz, Tiffin, Chad Deunk and Renard each had one assist.
Hall was again the game’s first star as he made 37 saves. Baker blocked 25 shots in the Brooks goal.
Gallamore was second star and Wenzel was third star.

Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith and Livingstone-Macleod candidate Pat Stier

Wildrose Party leader Danielle Smith is ready for battle.
With a full slate of candidates and comprehensive policies representing the party’s conservative leaning, Wildrose and its leader is ready for the provincial election.
“I call this the longest job interview of my life,” laughed Smith, who has spent the past two years laying the ground work for the new party.
Smith was at Pincher Creek Golf Club on Feb. 14 for a Wildrose Party fund-raiser and to get her Livingstone-Macleod crew geared for an election.
Smith is anxious to begin an election campaign, in which she will tangle head-to-head with rookie Progressive Conservative candidate John Barlow in the Highwood riding.
“We’re ready to go whenever they are,” Smith said of the ruling Conservative party.
As of last week Wildrose had candidates in place in all but three of the ridings in Alberta and those were to be filled right away.
The party has been actively raising money for more than a year to fund a campaign, and has been in election mode since as far back as September.
Smith said Albertans are ready for a change in government and are listening to what Wildrose has to say.
There is no danger, Smith said, of Wildrose and the Progressive Conservatives splitting the right wing vote to allow the New Democrats or Liberals to come up the middle.
“We’re the only conservative party,” Smith said. “They (Progressive Conservatives) are the liberal party.”
Wildrose represents the only real alternative to form the government in Alberta, Smith said.
“People have a choice of the kind of conservative government they’ve been used to,” Smith said of the Wildrose Party.
The Progressive Conservatives, Smith maintained, have gradually moved far to the left in order to nullify the Liberal Party.
Livingstone-Macleod candidate Pat Stier is also anxious to contest the riding against incumbent Conservative MLA Evan Berger, who is minister of agriculture and rural development.
“I’m going to be interviewed, but Evan is going to be reviewed,” Stier said, explaining Berger is going to have to answer to voters for controversial moves by the government surrounding issues such as property rights, power transmission lines and the oil and gas royalty framework.
Smith said Albertans are concerned about those issues, along with education and health care.
“They’re concerned about the state of our democracy,” Smith added.
Smith said the Conservatives did not do themselves any favours with the latest provincial budget.
“It was a disaster,” Smith said of Premier Alison Redford’s first budget. “We call it the Alison in Wonderland budget. There was absolutely no credibility.”
Smith said the government cannot get spending under control, and continues to depend on unpredictable non-renewable resource revenue to bail it out.
“We take a different approach,” Smith said of Wildrose policy, which includes balanced budgets and saving for the future.
Smith said voters in Livingstone-Macleod have a good choice in Stier as the Wildrose candidate.
Stier has a background in agriculture, oil and gas and business.
“He will be able to stand up for the people in this area,” Smith said.

Lori Hodges

A school council chair and parent volunteer is the newest member of Livingstone Range School Board.
Lori Hodges was elected as a Ward 3 trustee Monday in a by-election that had voting in Fort Macleod and Pincher Creek.
Hodges polled 58 votes to edge Gerry Karchuk, who had 50. Ted Buzunis placed third with 23 votes.
The by-election was held to replace Jim Burdett, who was disqualified as a trustee after he stopped attending board meetings early in his third term.
Burdett no longer resides in Livingstone Range School Division.
Hodges, her husband and their three children moved to Fort Macleod five years ago.
Hodges has chaired the school councils at both W.A. Day and G.R. Davis schools. She also sits on the school council at F.P. Walshe school. Hodges is also a Fort Macleod delegate on Livingstone Range regional school council.
Hodges is also active in the schools as a volunteer and as a substitute teacher assistant.
During her campaign, Hodges said priorities include high school programming, modernization of Fort Macleod schools, and the Education Act.

The Royal Canadian Mint crafted the sterling silver medal. Each relay participant gets a replica.

The Man In Motion’s medal is coming to Fort Macleod on Tuesday, Feb. 21.
Rick Hansen won’t personally be in town to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his world-wide journey in a wheelchair.
But the sterling silver Rick Hansen Relay Medal will be carried through Fort Macleod by medal-bearers as part of a cross-Canada tour.
The relay will start at 2:50 p.m. at Fort Macleod Health Care Centre and make its way to the Fort Macleod and District Sports Centre.
The last medal bearer is to reach the sports centre at 3:15 p.m. A short ceremony will take place, followed by free public skating.
The relay will leave the sports centre Wednesday, Feb. 22 at 1 p.m.
Hansen passed through Fort Macleod in February 1987 as he closed in on the 23,000-mile mark of his Man In Motion tour.
As part of the 25th anniversary celebration a nine-month national relay began Aug. 24, 2011.
The relay will pass through hundreds of communities from St. John’s, Newfoundland to Vancouver, B.C.
Rick Hansen is unable to visit every community on the relay route due to the six-month duration of the event as well as his everyday duties with his foundation.
Hansen will be present at ceremonies in some major centres, such as Calgary and Edmonton.
The 25th anniversary relay is intended to celebrate people who are making a difference in their communities.
F.P. Walshe student Rebecca Neels is one of the people chosen to carry the medal through Fort Macleod.
Rebecca, who at 14 months of age was diagnosed with cerebral palsy, is in Grade 10 at F.P. Walshe school.
Another medal-bearer is Const. Shane MacMillan who found the courage at age 42 to join the RCMP, and encountered some challenges along the way.
“It took both determination and courage on my part, along with some sacrifice,” MacMillan said in his application to join the medal relay. “During the six months of training, I missed my oldest daughter’s college graduation, and my youngest daughter’s prom, high school graduation and black belt grading in Kung Fu.”
Then the MacMillans left their long-time home in Arthurette, New Brunswick for his first RCMP posting in Fort Macleod.
“I am very happy with my career choice and the opportunity in gives me to make a change in not only the community, but also in people’s lives,” MacMillan said.
Joanne Patton of Fort Macleod will also be a medal bearer.
“I remember when Rick did his Man in Motion tour all those years ago,” Patton said. “It made me proud to be a Canadian.”
Chantal Heffernan lives in Lethbridge but works as a public health nurse in Fort Macleod.
“I am so excited that I was selected to be a medal-bearer running the relay between the communities in which I live and work,” Heffernan said. “I recall being 10 years old and my whole school lined up to watch Rick Hansen pass by. He was and continues to be so inspiring to me and others.”
Chris Schamber has been a quadriplegic 24 years and has faced some of the barriers Hansen hoped to eliminate with awareness.
“I have started my own business to try to work for a barrier free tomorrow,” said Schamber, who has designed an accessible four-plex. “All we can do is try to the best of our abilities to make a difference.”
Other people who will serve as a medal bearer on the Fort Macleod route include Alyssa Barbero, Robb Sulava, Kendall-Jo Oliver, Rina Dececco and Jane Judd.
“During a Grade 8 language report, I had the luck to be able to research and report all about Rick Hansen’s injury,” Alyssa Barbero said. “The way Rick got through his life changing experience and was able to carry on and excel with his life inspires me.”
Every medal-bearer will receive his or her own replica of the medal designed by the Royal Canadian Mint.

Granum Hall

Time may finally have run out on Blunden Hall in Granum.
At one point slated for demolition, the hall was saved from the wrecking ball by MD of Willow Creek council.
Council decided Feb. 8 it will no longer hold onto the hall.
Council agreed Feb. 8 to contact Alain Dubreuil, who owned the salvage rights to the hall until the municipality purchased them from him for $25,000 on Aug. 12, 2009.
Council plans on asking Dubreuil if he will buy back the hall and continue with his plans to take down the building and salvage materials.
The MD of Willow Creek originally bought the hall, after it had commissioned an engineer’s report on what a hall restoration would cost.
That report suggested a restoration cost of about $1-million.
The MD of Willow Creek also explored grant possibilities, looked at whether the hall could be declared a heritage site, and held a public meeting to consult the public on the hall.
A non-profit society was established by community members to enhance the community and look at community hall possibilities.
Council agreed it was time to move on, so Dubreuil will be contacted.

Call Marr of the Fort Macleod Mustangs steps into a Lomond Lakers player during Friday night's game.

Lomond Laker Dorran Layng slashed Fort Macleod Mustang Kevin Olson during Friday night's game.

Fort Macleod Mustangs downed Brooks Black Hawks 4-1 Saturday in a preview of one of the Ranchland Hockey League’s quarterfinal series.
The fifth-place Black Hawks will battle the fourth-place Mustangs in a best-of-five playoff series that gets under way at 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 18 and 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 19 in Fort Macleod.
In the other quarterfinal series the third-place Nanton Palominos take on the sixth-place Peigan Cowboys.
The regular season champion Blackfoot Miners and second-place Lomond Lakers get first round byes.
Mustangs 4 Black Hawks 1
After a scoreless first period Saturday in Fort Macleod the Mustangs got three unanswered goals to lead 3-0 after 40 minutes.
The teams traded goals in the final period as the Mustangs galloped to a 4-1 win.
Willy David and Nick Yorgason each had a goal and an assist for the Mustangs and Justin Donahue and Greg Schimanski each scored once.
Kyle Eskes picked up two assists and Kent Broere, Tyce Gallamore, Kevin Olson and Cody Hall each had one.
Hall made 49 saves in the Fort Macleod goal while Brooks counterpart Trevor Baker made 48.
Lakers 7 Mustangs 3
Lomond Lakers scored three unanswered goals in the second period Friday on their way to a 7-3 win over the host Mustangs.
The teams were tied 1-1 after the first period but the Lakers charged ahead to a 4-1 lead in the second.
Lomond then scored three more in first half of the third period to control the game 7-1 before the Mustangs added two late goals to make the final 7-3.
Josh Weist scored twice for the Lakers and Dustin Brosz, Rustin Murray, Cody Gedjos, Kyle Sargeant and Cody Berube added singles.
Kevin Olson scored twice for the Mustangs and Greg Schimanski had a goal and two assists. Cole Matson picked up two helpers.
Joel Hasselman made 43 saves in the Fort Macleod goal, while Michael-Lee Tesiak blocked 36 shots for Lomond.
Nanton 5 Mustangs 4
On Feb. 3 a goal by Chris Gerla mid way through the third period stood up as the winner as Nanton Palominos edged the Mustangs 5-4.
Nanton took a 2-1 lead in the first period but Fort Macleod fought back to tie it 2-2 with the only goal in the second frame.
The teams traded goals in the third period before Gerla popped the eventual game winner.
Chris Berns had a goal and two assists for Nanton and Kenny Cummings, Derek Sears and Brad Taylor also scored.
Tyce Gallamore, Willy David, Kent Broere and Tyler Bilodeau replied for Fort Macleod. Justin Donahue picked up two assists and Mason Bond and Ben Webb each had one.
Cody Hall made 44 saves in the Fort Macleod net, while Nanton counterpart Mike Kraneveldt turned aside 38.