Okotoks

The Carstar Okotoks Bisons hit the ice for the first time Friday (Sept. 13) since winning Provincial gold last season and completing the Heritage Junior B (HJHL) three-peat as champions.

The Herd will play hosts as the Agra Risk Wheatland Kings will be in town with the game being played at Murray Arena with a 7:30 pm puck drop. It will be the first and last pre-season game for the Bisons as the regular season starts on September 20 when Okotoks welcomes the High River Flyers to Murray Arena.

The cougar that killed a house cat on an acreage south of Calgary is believed to no longer be in the area, according to Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services.

On Tuesday (Sept. 11), Jessica Low and her five-year-old daughter came face to face with a cougar right outside the back door of their house.

The animal was holding the body of their pet cat in its jaws, and though it eventually left, it returned to the same window hours later.

Air Canada and business leaders are asking Ottawa to be ready to intervene in labour talks with its pilots as time is running out before a potential shutdown, but so far the government has said the two sides need to work things out. 

Airline spokesman Christophe Hennebelle said Thursday that Air Canada is committed to negotiations, but it faces wage demands from the Air Line Pilots Association that it can't meet. 

"The issue is that we are faced with unreasonable wage demands that ALPA refuses to moderate.”

Women's hockey was thriving last year with the inaugural PWHL season, but fans were upset that the teams had no names and felt the jerseys needed work.

This is no longer an issue as the original six teams in the PWHL now have team names attached to the cities and new logos to go with them.

The teams are now known as the Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost, Victoire de Montreal, New York Sirens, Ottawa Charge, and the Toronto Sceptres.

A burned body has been discovered outside of Calgary just north of Indus.

On Wednesday in the early morning hours a motorist called in a report of a fire to the Strathmore RCMP.

Upon arrival, and once the fire was put out, RCMP members discovered a body.

RCMP believe it was a targeted attack and now the RCMP Major Crimes Unit has taken over the investigation.

The body was found in Rocky View County near Township Road 233 near Highway 791.

With the opening game of the BCHL regular season looming, the Okotoks Oilers have announced three more players who have made the cut for the team.

Returning players defenceman Ryder De Nys and forward Hunter Sawka have been placed on the roster for this season, and Niklas Gudmundson will play in his first season with the Green and Gold.

There are now five million more reasons to play the Lotto Max this week.

The main prize cap has been increased to $80 million, up from the previous $70 million grand prize.

The grand prize for this Friday (Sept. 13) is a record $75-million, and there will also be 12 Maxmillions prizes available for people to win.

In total, $87 million will be up for grabs on Friday the 13th.

It's your last chance on Thursday (Sept. 12) to get local produce and crafts at the High River Farmer's Market.

The market is run by Inclusion Foothills and executive director Orvella Small says it's been a great season.

"Basically, every week we'd have at least a thousand people come down the street within the first hour so that's very positive for all the vendors that came to our town to be able to put on this farmer's market."

You'll need to be there within the first hour as some popular vendors can run out of product.

Some underground utility work will be taking place in Foothills County soon.

Starting on Thursday, September 12, crews will be doing some underground utility installation adjacent to Pine Creek Road and Dunbow Road.

The work will consist of horizontal directional drilling of sub-surface utilities.

The High River Flyers with the HJHL have announced that former GM and head coach Colten Hayes has accepted a new role as being the assistant coach for the Olds Grizzlys of the AJHL.

Hayes spent three seasons with the Flyers dating back to the 2018-2019 season when he first was introduced to the coaching staff. He would then earn the GM title in the 2019-2020 season before coaching the Okotoks Oilers U18 AA and the Foothills Bisons U18 AA teams in the next two seasons.