Hockey Semi Finals

Tied 1-1

Biathletes Win At

Alberta Championships

Vikings Club Volleyball

2nd At U18 Tournament

Q&A With Alberta

Mass Start Champion

Ryan Burlingame

In Every Issue In This Issue

Adopt A Viking

Photos of the Week

Hockey Playoff Schedule Battle River Volleyball Club U18 Team Results

Biathlon Alberta Championships

Hockey Semi Final Series Tied 1-1

The Final Word: By Josh Ryan Athlete Q&A: Ryan Burlingame

Edgeworth Fitness Centre

Cross Country Skiing and Biathlon Coaches Step Down

Hockey Fan Bus Information

Battle River Volleyball Club U18 Team Results

Trust the Midas touch.

In their playoff debut the Vikings took to home ice Thursday night in the Encana arena. The Viking struggled in the opening period with the SAIT Trojans scoring a power play and a short handed goal to the Vikings one. The Trojans showcased their fast and physical play which the Vikings were able to match while also staying out of the penalty box. With only one Vikings Goal scored by Kenny Bradley in the second period the Vikings found themselves down 4-2 at the end of the second period. In third period the Vikings were able to find the back of the net with Torrie Dyck scoring twice early in the third period making it a tie game. Scott Aucoin would get another goal on the power play assisted by Torrie Dyck and Daniel Hope to take the lead. With the game winding down the Trojans were able to score two more goals to take the win in game one.

Saturday night the team headed to SAIT to play game two of the series and would come up with the kind of win-ning result that they have been used to all season. After a very physical but quiet first period the Vikings found them-selves down 1-0. The Vikings scoring run started only 56 second into the period with an unassisted goal by Scott Aucoin and would continue with three more Viking goals to the Trojans 2. In the third period the Vikings continued their scoring run with and additional four more goals; this time going unanswered b the Trojans. Final game score was 8-3 with the Vikings scoring on four of six power play opportunities and one short handed goal. The Vikings also showed their depth with scoring coming from six different players.

“After a very emotionally tough loss in game one, I was not surprised to see how our guys responded on Satur-day night. We had a real upbeat practice on Friday and our leadership core took over after that; everyone came to play in game two at SAIT, the guys stuck to the game plan, and everything fell into place for a crucial win on the road.” said coach Blaine Gusdal.

The Vikings now look to game 3 in the best of 5 series this Friday, March 9 @ 7:30 in the Encana Arena.

“The challenge ahead of us is simple: continue to get better and execute at home this Friday in game three.” Coach Blaine Gusdal

GO VIKINGS GO!!

Game 1 - March 1, 2012

Vikings 5 ~ SAIT Trojans 6

Game 2 - March 3, 2012

Vikings 8 ~ SAIT Trojans 3

Series Tied 1-1

Game 1 - March 1, 2012

Vikings 5 ~ SAIT Trojans 6

Game 2 - March 3, 2012

Vikings 8 ~ SAIT Trojans 3

Series Tied 1-1

SEMI FINALS

Thursday, March 1 vs. SAIT @ Encana Arena 7:30PM

Game 2 TBD

Friday March 9 vs. SAIT @ Encana Arena 7:30PM

Saturday, March 10, vs. SAIT @ SAIT Arena

Sunday, March 11 vs. SAIT @ Encana Arena 6:00PM

(Game 5 If Needed)

February 23-26 Quarter Finals

March 1-11 Semi Finals

March 15-25 Finals

SEMI FINALS

Thursday, March 1 vs. SAIT @ Encana Arena 7:30PM

Game 2 TBD

Friday March 9 vs. SAIT @ Encana Arena 7:30PM

Saturday, March 10, vs. SAIT @ SAIT Arena

Sunday, March 11 vs. SAIT @ Encana Arena 6:00PM

(Game 5 If Needed)

February 23-26 Quarter Finals

March 1-11 Semi Finals

March 15-25 Finals

This past weekend, the Camrose Ski Club hosted the Alberta Biathlon Championships where great competition was represented from all over the province. Saturdays race was a longer distance mass start where the athletes shot four times and had five bouts of skiing while Sundays race was a shorter distance sprint where the athletes shot twice and had three bouts of skiing. Many of Augustana’s biathletes had great races. In the mass start, a number of Augustana athletes medalled. In the Men’s category, Alex Frost won the silver medal. In the Junior Men’s category, Ryan Burlingame won the race, bringing home the gold and in the Junior Women’s category Kelly MacCulloch also won gold. In the sprint race, a number of Augustana biathletes also medalled. In the Men’s cate-gory, Kai Skinstad was able to win the silver medal. In the Women’s category, Carly Shiell won a bronze medal. In the Junior Men’s category, Ryan Burlingame won the silver medal. In the Junior Women’s category, Keely MacCullough again won a gold medal.

Congratulations to all the athletes.

Results can be viewed at www.zone4.ca

Vikings Photo Gallery

This past weekend the Battle River Vikings Volleyball Club

teams headed down to Calgary to take on the best U17&U18

teams in the province in the 1st Premier Tournament of the

season. On the girls side 36 teams participated, and on the

boys side 30 teams competed making it a tough competition.

The girls played really well under coach Stephen Leggitt

beating the Pandas U18 team on the way to the Division 1 fi-

nals. The women finished the weekend 2nd overall, a good

start to a promising season.

On the men’s side they faced some tough competition but

were plagued by injuries throughout the tournament. After a

tough Saturday of competing, the men found themselves on the

consolation side of the tournament. With coach Paul Kjos at the

helm the boys were able to battle back and finish 3rd on the

consolation side.

Vikings vs. SAIT Trojans

Saturday, March 10 SAIT Arena Calgary

Cost $30

1:00 Meet at Augustana Athletics

1:30 Bus Departs

Bus will stop at Pete’s Drive Thru for Dinner

Game Time 6:00

Please contact Alicia Hurley:

ahurley@augustana.ca

679 1642

Pay in Athletics by Wednesday March 7 @ 4:00

Balancing the books… Sleep, eat, classes, group projects, studying, team practice, strength training, travel, com-petition, eat, sleep, repeat… Not all days are like this, but our student-athletes, on average, dedicate 21 hours a week to training and performing in their chosen sport. Add in weekend travel to competitions, athletic therapy, and involvement in community initiatives and there is little to no time re-maining to take on part-time jobs to offset the costs of attending university. Financial assistance is crucial to the continuation of the proud tradition of sporting and academic excellence at Augustana. Invest in our athletes and their dreams will become reality. To Adopt an Athlete click on the link below and pick the sport your athlete participates in and honour them with a gift in their name. Adopt a Viking Online Giving Page Thank You Vikings Athletics

Why did you choose to attend Augustana?

What has been your best moment playing for the Vikings?

Do you have any rituals or superstitions?

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

What are you looking to accomplish in your time at Augustana? Who has been your biggest influence in your life thus far?

What has been the biggest accomplishment in sport?

What is the best advice you were ever given?

What is your favourite type of music/band?

What is your favourite food to eat before a game?

I chose to attend Augustana because it is such a close knit campus with the only Varsity Biathlon team in

Canada. The campus also has phenomenal coaches for the program, and I owe much of my reasons for

coming here to them.

I want to compete in the FISU, World University Games, for team Canada. But more im-

portantly as a Viking.

Yes. I always knock on wood.

It is kind of a tradition for me to eat home made pancakes, maple syrup, a banana and

some home brewed coffee before a race .

I am a big fan of Hip-Hop, Classic Rock, Daft Punk and MGMT.

My best moment as a Viking was this past weekend’s Mass Start Race, putting all my coach’ and I’s hard

work together and having it work out in a race.

My coaches, my awesome team mates, my family and friends and last, but not least,

Shane McConkey.

The biggest accomplishment in my sport to date would have to be in the Arctic Winter Games of 2009 I

placed first in all three races in the series.

Live and focus for now, and not for the future.

So far the people who have influenced me the most are; my coach Hans who has taught me so much about

being an athlete, how to focus, how to compete and that being a student athlete is more than just being an

athlete. And my team. They keep me going, we help build each other up and are always there.

Do you have any rituals or superstitions?

Where do you draw your inspiration from?

What are you looking to accomplish in your time at Augustana?

What is your favourite type of music/band?

What is your favourite food to eat before a game?

I want to compete in the FISU, World University Games, for team Canada. But more im-

portantly as a Viking.

Yes. I always knock on wood.

It is kind of a tradition for me to eat home made pancakes, maple syrup, a banana and

some home brewed coffee before a race .

I am a big fan of Hip-Hop, Classic Rock, Daft Punk and MGMT.

My coaches, my awesome team mates, my family and friends and last, but not least,

Shane McConkey.

The Augustana Campus of the University of Alberta has recently learned that Joan and Hans Skin-

stad have decided to step down as Coaches for the Cross-Country Ski and Biathlon Programs at the conclusion of the 2011-2012 season in March. For the past 12 years Joan has been the Head Coach of the Cross Country Ski Team while Hans has been Head Coach of the Biathlon Team for the past three seasons. They have made their

decision to step down to pursue other professional opportunities. During 18 years of coaching, at both Camrose Lutheran College and U of A – Augustana, there have been many successes. Joan has represented Canada as a Coach at the World Student Games in Austria 2005, Italy

2007 and Turley 2011, the World Jr. Cross Country Championships in 2004 in Norway and the World Cup in 2005 in Canmore. Joan has also been active nationally in the Canada Winter Games coaching in 2003, 2007 and 2011. Joan has been the recipient of the Cross Country Canada Firth Award for her contribution to cross country skiing

in Canada and was named the Cross Country Alberta Coach of the year in 2008. Joan was the first and only woman who has been certified as a Level 4 Coach in Cross Country Skiing. She was active on the board of direc-tors for Cross Country Alberta and nationally was part of a CCC Women On Skis Committee that worked to better

the competitive environment for females in cross country skiing. As an athlete Joan was named to the City of Camrose - Lions Sports Hall of Fame for her sporting career where she participated on three World Championship teams, won 21 national championship medals, 3 North

American championship medals and numerous provincial titles. She competed at two Canada Winter Games for Alberta winning a bronze in the relay event. She was on both the Canadian Biathlon and Cross Country Skiing National Teams.

Hans has represented Canada Internationally as the National Team coach at the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, was National Team coach in 1987 and 1988, was National Coach at the World Biathlon Cham-pionships in France 1984 and Switzerland 1985 as well as the World Student Games in Bulgaria in 1983 and Tur-

key in 2011. He also was Head Coach for Team Alberta Team and North West Territories. As an athlete Hans represented Team Canada at the Olympic Games in 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria and at

two World Championships. He has 34 national championship medals in his collection, as well as North American

and USA titles. In the past 12 seasons, this duo has placed 2 Augustana athletes on the Junior National Biathlon Team,

one on the World Junior Cross Country Team, one on the World Cup Biathlon Team and numerous athletes on

the World Student Games Team in both disciplines. They have numerous national champions in cross country skiing and national medalists in biathlon to their credit. Their passion for both their sport and for their athletes has been very evident in their daily efforts to help their student athletes to excel in both sport and academically.

As an Athletic Director, I would like to extend my appreciation to both Joan and Hans for their dedi-cated leadership to the cross-country ski and biathlon programs that enabled our student-athletes to achieve more than they had imagined possible. It has been a pleasure working with them and I wish them the very best in their

future endeavours. Decisions about future leadership and directions for Cross Country and Biathlon programs will be made in the coming weeks.

Greg Ryan - Director of Athletics

fitnesscentre@augustana.ca

http://www.augustana.ualberta.ca/athletics/recreation/fitness

http://www.augustana.ualberta.ca/athletics/recreation/fitness/rates.html

As promised last week, I’m going to talk about the volunteer work our coaches and the Vikings athletes have put into the community. For those who have been keeping up the last couple weeks, I’ve been highlighting the hours put in by the coaching staff and student athletes. However, I’ve only covered the hou rs directly related to training, travel, recruiting, and fundraising. In addition to all those hours, there is the volunteer work. Take for example the women’s volleyball team. In addition to all the above mentioned aspects of the team and their training, they are active in the community through various works such as coach-ing club volleyball as well as putting on clinics for teams. While Coach Steve Leggitt heads up both the 16U and 18U girls teams, team captain Catherine Laskosky lends her time as well. These teams practice every Sunday, requiring constant coaching of 4 hours each Sunday. It is quite a commitment to give up that much time every Sunday for about 5 months. The work coach Leggitt has put in with the team has been rewarded already, as they have grown as a club and just this weekend finished 2 out of 28 teams. On the way to the gold medal match they defeated some of the best club teams in the province including the Pandas club team. “This was a huge step for volleyball in the Camrose area in particular Vikings volleyball” said head Coach Steve Leggitt. The total number of hours put into the community by the women’s volleyball team and coaches exceeds 1,000 hours. Men’s volleyball also runs a club system, run mainly this year by Paul Kjos. His 18U team last year finished in the top 8 at provincials and are looking to do very well this year again. Total commu-nity time for men’s volleyball exceeds 500 volunteer hours per season. The work with the club teams not only is an avenue for people to see the work the athletes and coaches have done, but it also serves as a system to bring in players. Several athletes on both teams are alumni of the club program, including ACAC all-star Cole McCartney. The men’s hockey team runs the Battle River Hockey Academy, teaching young kids. They have also spent many hours working with Camrose minor hockey and visiting local schools to speak and work with kids. The guys ultimately put in 1000 + hours of work each season. Women’s basketball similarly are in the range of 900 volunteer hours per season doing clinics and running exhibition games in such diverse places as Ermineskin. Our guys’ basketball team runs the Battle River Youth Basketball program. Perhaps you have seen some of these youngsters out playing at half time of our conference basketball games. Their work re-sults in over 400 hours’ worth of volunteer hours. Our biathlon and cross-country ski teams put in work equates to well over 500 hours of volunteer work. As you can see the task of coaching and the role played by players is very complex, the hours are sometimes arduous, and in our “microwave mentality” world efforts to do not always equate to im-mediate positive win-loss ratios. Quite often it takes a long time to “crock pot” a program into success. Everyone knows that food out of a crock pot tastes much better than that which comes out of a mi-crowave. The work that these coaches and players are putting into the community is resulting not only in growth of sport in the community, but also significant growth in their programs. So next time you are examining a Viking team try to understand all the ingredients of success. They are hard to find, very complex and difficu lt to master.

By: Josh Ryan

As promised last week, I’m going to talk about the volunteer work our coaches and the Vikings athletes have put into the community. For those who have been keeping up the last couple weeks, I’ve been highlighting the hours put in by the coaching staff and student athletes. However, I’ve only covered the hours directly related to training, travel, recruiting, and fundraising. In addition to all those hours, there is the volunteer work. Take for example the women’s volleyball team. In addition to all the above mentioned aspects of the team and their training, they are active in the community through various works such as coach-ing club volleyball as well as putting on clinics for teams. While Coach Steve Leggitt heads up both the 16U and 18U girls teams, team captain Catherine Laskosky lends her time as well. These teams practice every Sunday, requiring constant coaching of 4 hours each Sunday. It is quite a commitment to give up that much time every Sunday for about 5 months. The work coach Leggitt has put in with the team has been rewarded already, as they have grown as a club and just this weekend finished 2 out of 28 teams. On the way to the gold medal match they defeated some of the best club teams in the province including the Pandas club team. “This was a huge step for volleyball in the Camrose area in particular Vikings volleyball” said head Coach Steve Leggitt. The total number of hours put into the community by the women’s volleyball team and coaches exceeds 1,000 hours. Men’s volleyball also runs a club system, run mainly this year by Paul Kjos. His 18U team last year finished in the top 8 at provincials and are looking to do very well this year again. Total commu-nity time for men’s volleyball exceeds 500 volunteer hours per season. The work with the club teams not only is an avenue for people to see the work the athletes and coaches have done, but it also serves as a system to bring in players. Several athletes on both teams are alumni of the club program, including ACAC all-star Cole McCartney. The men’s hockey team runs the Battle River Hockey Academy, teaching young kids. They have also spent many hours working with Camrose minor hockey and visiting local schools to speak and work with kids. The guys ultimately put in 1000 + hours of work each season. Women’s basketball similarly are in the range of 900 volunteer hours per season doing clinics and running exhibition games in such diverse places as Ermineskin. Our guys’ basketball team runs the Battle River Youth Basketball program. Perhaps you have seen some of these youngsters out playing at half time of our conference basketball games. Their work re-sults in over 400 hours’ worth of volunteer hours. Our biathlon and cross-country ski teams put in work equates to well over 500 hours of volunteer work. As you can see the task of coaching and the role played by players is very complex, the hours are sometimes arduous, and in our “microwave mentality” world efforts to do not always equate to im-mediate positive win-loss ratios. Quite often it takes a long time to “crock pot” a program into success. Everyone knows that food out of a crock pot tastes much better than that which comes out of a mi-crowave. The work that these coaches and players are putting into the community is resulting not only in growth of sport in the community, but also significant growth in their programs. So next time you are examining a Viking team try to understand all the ingredients of success. They are hard to find, very complex and difficult to master.