The Unity curling and hockey rinks will see the lion's share of activity this month.
This past weekend the curling club sent off the Glen Heidt rink to Kamsack to compete in Northern Senior Men's Tankard competition. Although a different team than he competed with in the SaskTel Northern Tankards held in Unity, Glen was confident with the experience of Bart Brown, Daryl Eddingfield and Gary Maze they would be competitive at this event.
After winning their opening draw, they did struggle somewhat throughout their event and ended up being defeated in the end by the 'other' Heidt team of Brad Heidt. So, Glen will have to wait for next year's curling season to try again for his chance to advance to a provincial championship. But, they have made their community proud of their accomplishments this year.
Also this weekend, winners were determined in the Jay Dee Ag Tech Annual Men's Open Bonspiel. Although somewhat down in numbers, the 23 teams competed for top prizes in three events with the winners being: A event - the Greenwald rink of Brent, Scott, Ryan Greenwald skipped by Harold Greenwald; B event winners - Neil Ehnisz, Brent Hepting and Ken Parker skipped by Martin Berg; C event - Clayton Kramer, Dave Ganter, Larry Heitt and skip Brent Heitt.
Next on the agenda at the rink down the highway in Wilkie, the UCHS high school boys and mixed curling teams competed in Battlewest District Championships. Mondays' action saw the boys team go undefeated all the way to the A final and led them to a silver in Battlewest District, after losing twice to NBCHS in the A/B final. However, they still advance to regionals in Maidstone beginning Feb. 18.
The Unity mixed team has held the title of Battlewest District Champions consecutively for three years. They had a fantastic opening draw against Wilkie, but came up one point short in the final end which dropped them to the B event of competition. However, they came out strong and hard in their second match and shut out the opposition of Major advancing them to Tuesday's play.
They played Luseland in their morning match and won. They then went on to defeat McLurg from Wilkie to win the B side. From there they played Macklin twice in the A/B final. Unity won the first match handily, but after curling 31 ends in eight hours they ran out of steam and came out just shy of the gold medal.
By winning the B side, the team advances to regional competition in Maidstone, Feb. 18 and 19. Regional champion winners will advance to provincial high school curling championships in Regina the beginning of March.
The UCHS mixed curling team, although made up of three new curlers replacing the grads from last year, is hoping to repeat as regional champs and earn their way all the way to provincials.
Following this event will be the annual oilperson's bonspiel that always attracts a number of teams, as well as the annual ladies' bonspiel.
The high school junior curling teams will compete in Unity the beginning of March for their chance to win a Battlewest district title .
In the hockey rink, the Unity miners won their first round of provincial championships over Porcupine Plain and will advance to the second round of against Wynyard. They also advanced in their league playoffs with Eatonia on the weekend and are waiting to see who their round two competitors are.
The Unity peewee team is the only team still in provincial play downs and played in their second round of playoffs, hosting Kindersley. All other teams are in their league playoffs and all divisions of hockey will either continue or end their league playoff hopes for this season.
The Unity Skating Club is gearing up for their annual carnival, also held the beginning of March. Their theme is "Dreams." This club was successful at an interclub competition in Biggar this winter and will be proud to show you their hard work and successes at the annual carnival.
Away from the rink, the UCHS basketball teams are gearing up for division and conference playdowns, which will swing into full gear after the school break Feb. 21 to 25.
As well the drama club is working feverishly on their annual spring play and will attend a drama festival in April.
All three schools are working on Telemiracle projects. At UCHS each grade has either held or will hold their annual fundraising event for Telemiracle. Initiatives include a slave auction and a movie afternoon. The Unity Public School will hold their first ever garage sale for Telemiracle March 1 and 2.
Lenten lunches will begin in early March presented by the Unity Ministerial Association. They rotate between the churches in Unity and this is your chance to worship and enjoy food and fellowship during our lenten season.
The Annual Kinsmen Snowmobile Rally will be held this weekend in Unity. There is a good amount of snow around, with more predicted this week, to aid in the success of this event. The Kinsmen have earmarked their funds this year to go toward the new ground floor hall fundraising project.
March 7 has been designated by the Chamber of Commerce as celebrate Unity night and all the committees who put on fantastic events throughout 2010 were invited to come and be celebrated by their community.
So as you can see, a flurry of winter activity is keeping Unity busy these days. That's all for this week.
