Local Sports

Lightning 31 Rams 21What looked to be an easy victory turned out to be anything but for the Hunting Hills Lightning.

Queens 3 Rattlers 0The RDC Queens looked a little nervous in the early portion of their Alberta Colleges Women’s Volleyball League season opener at RDC Friday.

Blades 4 Rebels 3Details, details.The Red Deer Rebels have lost sight of the little things that define a successful hockey team. Friday’s WHL contest at the Enmax Centrium was a shining example of that, as the hosts stumbled their way to a 4-3 loss to the Saskatoon Blades in front of 4,975 fans.

The Innisfail Eagles have had their sights set on returning to senior AAA hockey for some time now.When Brian Sutter moved from the Bentley Generals to take over as the Eagles head coach last season, that goal become even more realistic.

The rumours of their demise, as it appears, were greatly exaggerated.Mildly popular off-season scuttlebutt amongst both senior hockey followers and casual observers revolved around the possibility and even likelihood that the Bentley Generals would take a step back in 2013-14.

The Notre Dame senior boys volleyball Cougars won’t be satisfied with anything less than a berth in the provincial tier 1 high school championship tournament in late November.That’s understandable, considering the team is ranked fifth in the province.

Zina Kocher has her plans set for the future.The 30-year-old biathlon star from Red Deer will compete in her third Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in February, then begin to look at retiring from the sport.“I think this will be my last Olympics,” she said during a telephone interview from Canmore.

The Notre Dame Cougars put the finishing touches on their 2013 Central Alberta High School Football League season with a 38-20 victory over the Ponoka Broncs in the ninth-place game at Great Chief Park Wednesday.

Red Deer native Graeme Craig, with all of four goals to his credit over his first four seasons in the WHL, was an offensive force for the Saskatoon Blades last weekend.The six-foot-four, 215-pound defensive defenceman was a virtual sniper in a 5-3 win over the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings Saturday, settling down somewhat the next night while adding an assist in a 5-4 shootout loss to the host Regina Pats.

The Lindsay Thurber Raiders will look in the mirror and blame themselves for an 18-9 loss to the Notre Dame Cougars in their final Central Alberta High School Football League regular season game at Great Chief Park Thursday.On the other hand the Cougars will look in that mirror and feel proud about a solid two-way performance.