Weekly Roundup — Sept. 11

Here's what's making news in Leduc and area this week:

• Leduc and district RCMP welcomed a new regional commander, Insp. Chuck Jackson, to the force Aug. 10.

• Local MPs are preparing for a possible fall federal election.

• Leduc County council will borrow $3.5 million from the province on behalf of the Leduc Foundation to finance their three-year affordable housing plan.

• The Leduc Public Library is offering an outreach service to the housebound.

• The City of Leduc is gathering feedback on changes to Leduc Assisted Transportation Services, including a possible fare reduction.

• A trial date has been set for an Edmonton man accused of stabbing a Co-op taxi driver in Nisku last month.

• Second Glance clothing has made a financial contribution to the upcoming Visualeyes Youth Conference, which aims to motivate local students and teach them about good decision making.

• In sports, the Chinese national curling teams have chosen Leduc as their training ground in the leadup to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver; the Red Deer Rebels and Edmonton Oil Kings played an exhibition game in Leduc last week; and a local track star placed fifth in his event at the recent Canada Games.

• Goofy Alberta musical comedy duo Lewis & Royal will play a free show in Leduc Sept. 19.

• Calmar is considering changing its water utilities bylaw to protect landlords whose tenants renege on their payments.

• A longtime employee of ATB Financial celebrated his retirement last week.

All this and more in the Sept. 11 issue of the Rep!

Weekly Roundup — Sept. 4

Here's what's making news in Leduc and area this week:

• Local school boards are waiting to find out how an $80 million cut to Alberta Education's budget announced last week will affect their operations this year.

• RCMP will be stepping up their presence in school zones this week to give drivers a refresher on speed limits.

• Laura profiles local punk band California Lane Change, who won the Battle of the Bands at Leduc's first Rock the Rails youth event Aug. 27. Also, check out our photo gallery with tons of pics from the event.

• Leduc County council has provided staff with guidelines for the county's 2010 budget, including a $250,000 contingency fund for Capital Region Board projects.

• Are you prepared to take up the Terry Fox challenge?

• Local school boards are updating their pandemic plans in advance of the fall flu season and are expected to include some guidelines for dealing with the H1N1 flu virus.

• Alex has a feature about Leduc County's Bridges mentorship program, which provides support and guidance for women living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

• City of Leduc council turned down a request by the owners of the Prairie Professional building — partially destroyed by a June 12 fire — for more than $10,000 in tax relief.

• Leduc County and the Town of Beaumont are embarking on a joint sustainable growth study.

• Construction is underway on a new elementary school in Thorsby.

• In sports, the Atlanta Thrashers have their eye on Leduc minor hockey alum Travis Toomey, who is heading to a scouting tournament this week.

• We have updates on the Bobcats', Wildcats and Ti-Cats' weekend football games; and despite not making the finals, the E2 Crude/West women's rugby team dominated in the B-division playoffs last week.

• And in your weekly crime and punishment update, a Leduc man racked up more than $3,000 in fines for playing his stereo too loud.

All this and more in the Sept. 4 Rep!

How many Rep reporters does it take to decipher hockey stats?

This is the dilemma we're facing as we say farewell to our summer intern, Bobby Roy, who is off to undoubtedly bigger and better things.

He is leaving behind three women who know next to nothing about sports, reporting on sports, interpreting sports stats or even what sports are in season right now.

Hence, the crash course:


Laura — the new, unofficial sports reporter — is pretty sure she's got a handle on things. But we're going to miss you, Bobby. Stay off that leg.

The story I wish was on our front page

“Next goal wins, boys. Next goal wins.”

Hockey for Hubbs organizer Jim Garrick spoke those words through a microphone to the 40 players at the rink next to Ecole Bellevue School as well as the crowd gathered to watch at 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 23.

Two minutes later, with Tanner Hubbs watching from the bench, the Braves scored, winning the game for the white jerseys despite the two hundred (or so) goal lead the black-clad Chiefs had.

At the end of it all, 109 hours and 32 minutes after Tanner Hubbs dropped the ball on Aug. 19, 40 young men (ranging in age from 15 to 29) had set a world record for the Longest Marathon Street Hockey Game and had also helped raise more than $50,000 for Hubbs and his family ... More from the Beaumont News

(Photo: Rick Hubbs, father of spinal cord injury victim Tanner Hubbs, embraces one of the 40 young ball hockey players who rallied the Town of Beaumont around Tanner's cause last week. Photo by Alex Pope)

Interview with a draftee

I'm a huge hockey fan especially when it comes to the NHL. 

I live, breath and fart hockey all year round and my dream one day would be to exclusively report on a NHL team or just be around the NHL as a reporter.

On June 30 I got to interview a hopeful NHL player that got drafted in the second round of the 2009 NHL draft in Montreal.

Brett Ponich is his name. 

He was drafted in the second round by the St. Louis Blues at the draft this past Saturday. Being drafted in the second round is a pretty big accomplishment for the young man from Beaumont.

 

This was my first interview with any type of NHL hockey player so it was a pretty good experience for myself and maybe one day our paths will meet again on a larger stage. 

Stanley Cup maybe? One can dream. 

You never know how these young kids will turn out in the NHL once they are ready, so talking to them at a young age is always exciting because I could one of the first people to ever interview a future superstar. Here's hoping.

Ponich is a 6'7 defenseman with the Portland Winterhawks and God knows NHL teams are always looking for the next Pronger or Chara or even a less talked about Hal Gill, who did win a Stanley Cup this year.

Ponich will not likely see any NHL playing time in the upcoming season unless St.Louis experiences a bunch of injuries, but the young defenseman will get his chance in the future with the Blues. 

He could see himself playing alongside other rising stars like T.J. Oshie, Patrick Berglund and highly touted defenseman Erik Johnson.

Ponich told me how getting that call felt and who the first person was to talk to him about being drafted.

Getting a call from any NHL organization is a dream for many hopeful young hockey players, but Ponich got an experience that little others have had.

“Al MacInnis was actually the first person to call me and welcome me to the organization so that was really amazing that I got to talk someone like that,” said Ponich.

Being a NHL caliber hockey player is not easy to achieve. It takes a lot of hard work from not only the player himself but other surrounding him. According to Ponich and Debbie (Brett's mom) growing up in Beaumont and Leduc really helped him to where he is now. 

Ponich got his first taste of skating at the young age of four when he joined his sisters ringette team and from there the rest is history.

Ponich spent all his younger years playing hockey in Beaumont and for Ponich there were many influential people on his journey to eventually being drafted.

“One of my coaches Rick Hubbs was a great influence while I played hockey in Beaumont. He helped me become the hockey player I am today,” said Ponich.

Developing a hockey player takes a lot of time and effort from not only the parents but also a whole community. 

"Although it may not take a whole community to raise a child, it does take a community to raise a hockey player,” said Debbie Ponich, Brett’s mom.

Maybe once Ponich makes his way to the NHL he'll remember the interview that I did with him or maybe not. Either way it'll be very interesting to see where this kid is going to go.

Check out Ponich's bio on the Blues website.

Flames are out

Laura needs to stop making hockey bets.

Someone lost a bet

Uh ... GO FLAMES GO!