2015, you have one tough act to follow.
From professional debuts, selection in the NHL Draft and record-making performances in both team and individual sports, the calendar year was one to remember for foothills sports fans.
Here are my top eight stories from 2014:
1. Bisons make history
The Okotoks Jr. B Bisons are in the business of winning titles, and business is good.
Okotoks locked up its record setting fourth consecutive Heritage Junior Hockey League (HJHL) in a thrilling winner-take-all Game 5 on home ice over their arch rival Blackfalds Wranglers in late March.
Fourth-year Bisons Michael Savage, Phil Dillon and Matt Howatt capped their Junior careers with a championship in each season wearing the Bison blue-and-red.
Okotoks’ latest championship improved its remarkable record to 11 league titles in 19 seasons in the HJHL. The team would ultimately see injuries catch up to them as it finished out of the medals at the Junior B provincials in April.
2. Swimming for gold
Gone are the days of just showing up to the nationals for the experience.
Three foothills swimmers shattered the glass ceiling at the Age Group Canadian Championships in Winnipeg, bringing home the first indoor swimming national medals in Okotoks’ history.
Foothills Stingray Layne Guidinger captured a milestone swim, earning the first national gold in program history in the 50m backstroke. Teammate Justin Lisoway would add two silver and two bronze medals. Elsewhere, Okotokian Tanner Potaka, a member of the Killarney Swim Club, swam to a bronze medal in the 200m breaststroke.
I have a strong feeling there are many more medals to come.
3. Juniors get bronzed
Sometimes out of nowhere the pieces fall in place perfectly.
Starting the season not sure if they would be part of a team at all, Okotoks curlers Taylor Ardiel and Kyle Morrison found a home on Carter Lautner’s rink and rode a brilliant season to a provincial championship.
A trip to the Junior men’s national tournament followed as the Alberta representatives walked away with a third-place finish and the experience of a lifetime at the Liverpool, Nova Scotia held event.
Team Lautner, which also featured David Aho at second, capped the season with the Alberta Junior Curling Tour Player’s championship title.
4.What a feeling, what a Rush
Years of hard work finally came to fruition for the first Okotokian to play professionally in the National Lacrosse League.
Mitch Banister made his long awaited debut with the Edmonton Rush in their 15-11 victory over the Calgary Roughnecks, the team his father Brad used to own, on April 12 at the Saddledome.
Banister, an Okotoks Junior A Raiders alumnus, was drafted by Edmonton in 2012. He made the Rush roster in 2013, but didn’t see any game action. In 2014, Banister plied his trade on the practice roster before making his breakthrough performance.
Score one for persistence and dedication.
5. Minor hockey hits
The Okotoks Oilers Athletic Association (OOAA) had one heck of a task to sum all of its accomplishments into one awards night in April.
The association had almost too many feats in one season to mention.
Firstly, the Rocky Mountain Bantam AAA Female Raiders skated to their third straight league championship while the Okotoks Bantam AA Oilers brought home back-to-back South Central Alberta Hockey League (SCAHL) banners.
The Rocky Mountain Bantam AAA Raiders enjoyed a big reversal in fortune to produce the best season in program history while the Highwood Midget AAA Raiders put together their best season in recent memory with a trip to the provincial finals.
Of its three teams in the SCAHL, AA Oilers at every level from Peewee, Bantam and Midget took home league silverware. Brodie Wilson, Ryan St. Jean, Jack McArdle, Hunter Young and Peyton Krebs brought home league awards.
6. Madell world class
He was already among the elite up-and-comers in his sport, now he just might be one of wheelchair rugby’s most dynamic figures.
Holy Trinity Academy graduate Zak Madell continued his rapid ascension in wheelchair rugby during the calendar year. He was named the MVP of the world championships in Denmark, leading Canada to a second-place finish to the powerhouse Australians. He provided more than 60 per cent of the offence for Canada in its important games at the championships.
His accomplishments didn’t go unnoticed. Madell was named the Male Athlete of the Year at the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association banquet in early November.
What a tremendous honour for a young man who’s in just his fourth year as a wheelchair rugby athlete and should only continue to get better and better.
7. Eagles soar to new heights
The Foothills Bantam Eagles had about as dominant a football season as imaginable.
Foothills posted a perfect regular season and playoff, winning eleven straight games en route to the association’s first Tier 1 Calgary Bantam Football Association championship.
In an epic battle of undefeated squads, the Eagles put a licking on the Calgary Bulldogs in a physical final victory by a 58-20 score on the frozen tundra of Hellard Field in early November.
The Eagles were both an offensive juggernaut and stingy defensive unit and showcased an ability to win games in every conceivable fashion. They were void of one star carrying the team, instead Foothills relied on a three or four pronged running game and gang tackling mentality on defence to reign supreme.
Its remarkable run to a provincial title ended at the semifinal stage. Their younger compatriots, the Foothills Peewee Eagles, finished the job in the provincial playdowns as they took the Tier II championship over the St. Albert Riders.
8. Resurgence of Lions
The second season under club coach Jim Ryan saw the Foothills Lions senior men’s rugby team break new ground.
Behind an increasingly youthful lineup full of graduated high school rugby standouts such as scrum-half Reid Watkins, No. 8 Jamie Irving and flanker Cody Thompson, the Lions finished 6-6 to earn a home playoff date in the second-division for the first time in club history.
Foothills was the class of the division for the first half of the season, playing consistent, fluid, expansive rugby with club captain Spencer Watkins providing highlight reel plays on a weekly basis.
They may not have finished as the best team, but you would be hard pressed to find a more exciting senior men’s rugby team to watch in Alberta.
