Alberta
RDP Queens to face Olds College Broncos in ACAC Championship series
RDP Queens Hockey ACAC Championship Preview
Brent Forster – Red Deer Polytechnic Athletics
Red Deer, AB – With the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) Women’s Hockey Championship approaching on Friday, the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens have been diligently preparing for their best-of-five final.
“We all have the same goal and same mindset of what we want to achieve,” said Mary Hirsch, a veteran forward. “[Coach] Kelly [Coulter] holds us accountable for what we need to get done and it benefits us in the long run.”
Hirsch (24)
The RDP Queens (11-2-2) solidified first in the standings with a 2-1 victory over the Olds College Broncos on March 4. With that accomplishment, the Queens received a bye to the championship final. Their opponent was undetermined until March 13 when the third seed Broncos (6-8-1) dropped the second place NAIT Ooks (11-4-0) in the best-of-three semi-final.
“The first week we made sure we skated and had intense practices because we didn’t know who we would face,” said Kelly Coulter, Red Deer Polytechnic Queens Hockey Head Coach.
Madison Fox (1): 0.83 goals against average & 0.965 save percentage
With the Olds College Broncos’ victory, Coulter and the Queens began strategizing specifically for their opponent.
“This week of preparation is more geared towards how we want to play against Olds,” explained Coulter, who led the Queens to their last ACAC gold medal in 2016. “We play them a little different compared to how we would play against NAIT. This week is about refining some of things we do.”
The Queens won all five regular season meetings against the Broncos. It was evident that the Olds College Broncos’ focus was on a specific style of defence.
“The Broncos are a hard team to get a lot of shots on net. They do a good job of collapsing to the net front,” added Coulter, an ACAC Women’s Hockey Coach of the Year recipient. “They defend well. It will be a good matchup for us – a good challenge and we’re looking forward to it.”
Hirsch noted a few areas that the RDP Queens will concentrate on in the offensive zone.
“Moving the puck fast and possession behind the net will be huge, along with isolating players so we can work on a two-on-one or some kind of attacking strategy where we get a better scoring chance,” explained Hirsch, a Bachelor of Science Nursing student from Calgary. “In practice, we have worked on a lot of tipping, battling in front of the net, getting open, so those will be huge.”
Making fast and calculated decisions will be crucial.
“That’s something that we want to be aware of, looking for passing lanes and getting shots off quickly,” said Coulter. “Putting pucks on net always results in good things.”
While the Queens were the best defensive team this season, allowing only 0.91 goals against, Hirsch identified the importance of finding ways to score in the series.
“With Olds, you can’t let them hang around. They work really hard and have a good core,” said Hirsch, who led the Queens during the regular season with 12 points. “The games have all been really close and have all come down to the third period, so we need a goal scoring mentality.”
During the regular season, the RDP Queens’ offence ranked second with 2.4 goals per game. The Broncos had the third best offence (2.33 goals for) and third best defence (2.73 goals against).
The extra week off has allowed the Queens to recover from the intense 15 game regular season.
“Everyone is healthy,” added Coulter. “We have a really good bill of health, so we’re happy that it’s at the right time.”
The coaches and student-athletes have expanded their preparation to off the ice, as well.
“We did a team builder before the start of the postseason to go over our habits that we’ve talked about all year,” said Coulter. “Then we had some systematic and team discussions about making sure that everyone is pulling the rope the same way.”
First-year defender Alex Black (12)
The student-athletes have made decisions and conducted themselves for the betterment of the Red Deer Polytechnic Queens.
“We have been going to the gym and working out, including team workouts Sunday mornings,” added Hirsch. “We are constantly putting the team first, so the big thing this year is sacrifice. We have a team first mentality to get us all the way to the end.”
Despite a hectic academic program, Hirsch is concentrating on being a supportive and productive member of the Queens.
“I’m full-time in my clinical placement right now, so I’ve been really busy, but when I get to practice, I’m focusing on what’s ahead of me and just trying to encourage my teammates,” said Hirsch, who is planning to graduate from the RDP Queens at the end of the season. “Just having that mindset is really huge and knowing that I’ve prepared the last four years for this, so I’m ready to go.”
The cancelation of the 2019/2020 championship and 2020/2021 ACAC season due to COVID-19 makes the ability to compete this season even more special.
“We are looking forward to getting started. The girls have worked hard all year, so it’ll be nice to get to the end and have a final this season,” said Coulter. “Last year was a tough year for everyone, so I think everyone will be excited to play for a championship.”
The Red Deer Polytechnic Queens will host the Olds College Broncos in game one of the best-of-five championship final on Friday, March 18 at 7 pm. Then game two will shift to Olds on Sunday at 7 pm. The remainder of the series will be completed the following week.
Tickets are available online.
Alberta
Working to avoid future US tariffs, Alberta signs onto U.S. energy pact
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu of the Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security
Premier Danielle Smith has joined the Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security to further support advocacy of Alberta’s energy and environmental interests with key U.S. states.
The coalition was established in September 2024 by U.S. State governors Jeff Landry (Louisiana) and Chris Sununu (New Hampshire) with the aim of ensuring energy security, lower energy costs, increased reliability, sustainable economic development and sensible management of energy resources and the environment. With 12 U.S. states already signatories to the coalition, Alberta is the first non-U.S. state to enter into this agreement.
By expanding energy ties with the U.S. and promoting cross-border energy trade and participation, Alberta is helping to build upon its North American Energy strategy. Alberta already accounts for 56 per cent of all oil imports to the U.S. – twice as much as Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Iraq combined – which is helping to drive job creation and prosperity on both sides of the border. Natural gas also plays an important role in North America’s energy mix. Alberta is the largest producer of natural gas in Canada and remains positioned to support the U.S. in filling their domestic supply gaps.
“I am honoured to join the Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security and would like to extend my sincere thanks to governors Landry and Sununu for the invitation. Alberta plays a vital role in North American energy security, serving as the largest supplier of crude oil and natural gas to the United States. With 200 billion barrels of recoverable oil, 200 trillion cubic feet of recoverable natural gas, significant natural gas liquids and ample pore space for carbon capture, Alberta’s contribution is set to grow even further as we look to work with the Trump Administration and other U.S. partners to increase our pipeline capacity to our greatest friend and ally, the United States. We are proud to collaborate with this coalition of allied states in advancing energy security, reliability and affordability for Americans and Canadians.”
“Our mission as an organization has not changed but Alberta’s welcome arrival to our group sparked a conversation about what our core mission is, and that is ensuring energy security in all its forms. Our members all share the common goal of enhancing and protecting energy options for our people and businesses, which leads to lower energy costs, increased reliability, sustainable economic development and wise management of energy resources and the environment. I welcome Premier Smith and the insights she will bring as the leader from a fellow energy-producing province, that like my state, is under a federal system of government where national imperatives are not always aligned with state or provincial interests.”
Alberta is a global leader in emissions reduction technology and clean energy solutions. The province has captured about 14 million tonnes of carbon dioxide through carbon capture, utilization and storage technology, and has the ability to support the U.S. in developing new infrastructure and supply chains for future energy markets in the areas of hydrogen, renewables, small modular reactors and others.
Alberta is also unlocking its untapped geological potential to help meet the increasing demand for minerals – many of which are used worldwide to manufacture batteries, cell phones, energy storage cells and other products. This includes the province’s lithium sector where Alberta’s government is supporting several innovative projects to develop new ways to extract and concentrate lithium faster and with higher recovery rates that are less capital and energy intensive and have a smaller land-use footprint.
As part of this coalition, Alberta looks forward to sharing best practices with states that already have expertise in these areas.
Quick facts
- The U.S. is Alberta’s largest trading partner, with C$188 billion in bilateral trade in 2023.
- In 2023, energy products accounted for approximately C$133.6 billion, or more than 80 per cent of Alberta’s exports to the U.S.
- The Governors’ Coalition for Energy Security’s 12 signatory states include Louisiana, New Hampshire, Indiana (Governor Eric Holcomb), Alabama (Governor Kay Ivey), Georgia (Governor Brian Kemp), Tennessee (Governor Bill Lee), South Dakota (Governor Kristi Noem), Mississippi (Governor Tate Reeves), Arkansas (Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders), Oklahoma (Governor Kevin Stitt), Wyoming (Governor Mark Gordon) and Virginia (Governor Glenn Youngkin).
Alberta
New red tape reporting website will help ramp up housing construction in Alberta
Helping builders by putting an end to housing delays
Alberta’s new Stop Housing Delays online portal will allow developers, municipalities and other housing partners to report red tape and unnecessary home-building delays.
Alberta’s government is focused on ensuring Albertans have access to the housing they need, and that means working to streamline processes, cut red tape and reduce delays that are slowing housing construction down. As part of this work, government has launched a new online portal to help in these efforts.
The Stop Housing Delays online portal is now available for developers and municipal authorities to help identify areas that are preventing fast and efficient residential construction. This portal will help government identify and address barriers to building homes across the province.
“The Stop Housing Delays portal will allow Alberta’s government to hear directly from developers, municipalities and other partners on where delays are happening in the construction process. This will help identify and remove barriers, ultimately getting homes built faster and continuing Alberta’s record home-building pace.”
“Alberta’s government will continue to work with municipalities and find solutions to speed up the home-building process. The Stop Housing Delays portal will give us another tool to inform those discussions and identify areas where we can improve the pace of home building.”
Once developers, municipalities or industry partners have submitted their issue using the online form, government will collect and assess the information provided. Alberta’s government will be taking a collaborative, cross-ministry approach to ensure the appropriate departments are working together to find solutions where possible. Solutions may range from minor changes to policy reform.
Alberta’s government continues to support builders and encourage new residential housing construction by reducing red tape, incentivizing housing construction and supporting innovative strategies to build homes faster than ever.
“This webpage is an excellent opportunity to gather knowledge and further eliminate red tape. Government has been persistent in our approach of cutting red tape and removing roadblocks, and this will help to speed up residential construction. I look forward to hearing from developers and our other partners on how we can help get projects moving and Albertans in homes.”
Alberta continues to see strong housing starts and increases while other provinces across Canada are seeing a reduction in housing starts. The first half of 2024 saw 9,903 apartment unit starts in the province. This marks the highest amount in any half year in Alberta’s history, breaking the previous record of 9,750 set in 1977. Albertans will benefit from 33,577 new housing starts from January through September 2024, up 35 per cent from the same period last year. Alberta’s government remains focused on working with industry and non-profit partners to ensure that the province’s growing population has access to the housing it needs.
“This portal is a valuable tool for industry to highlight gaps, barriers and delays that may need to be prioritized and addressed by either local or provincial governments. Real solutions can only emerge through transparency, open communication and collaboration. This is an important step toward identifying the unique challenges each region and municipality faces in delivering attainable housing.”
Quick Facts
- Housing starts for January – September 2024 compared with January – September 2023
- Provincewide: 33,577 compared with 24,904 (up 35 per cent)
- Edmonton: 13,359 compared with 9,099 (up 47 per cent)
- Calgary: 17,414 compared with 14,141 (up 23 per cent)
- Lethbridge: 599 compared with 148 (up 305 per cent)
- Red Deer: 314 compared with 146 (up 115 per cent)
- Data shows Alberta had 10,699 purpose-built rentals, making up 32 per cent of all housing starts.
- Since 2019, Alberta’s government has invested almost $850 million to build more than 5,100 units and close to 900 shelter spaces. This includes projects we have committed to, that are in progress and that are complete.
- Together with its partners, Alberta’s government is supporting $9 billion in investments into affordable housing to support 25,000 additional low-income households by 2031.
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