St. Albert prop Andy Tiedemann started for Canada in the Churchill Cup final, a 38-18 loss to the England Saxons last Saturday at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J.
Tiedemann, 21, also made the starting 15 in the 48-6 throttling of Uruguay and the 33-27 upset of France A in Colorado as Canada qualified for its first appearance in the tournament final.
Against the English B-side, Canada charged back from a 17-0 deficit to get within seven at 20-13 before the Saxons pulled away for good.
Tiedemann’s Churchill Cup debut last year included starts against the Georgia Lelos and Ireland as the youngest player on Canada’s roster.
The high school product of the Paul Kane Blues entered his second test season after leading the University of Victoria Vikes to victory in the Rounsefell Cup final, 31-27 over the defending British Columbia champion Meraloma. He has one year of eligibility left with the Vikes.
The graduate of the Lorne Akins Gators junior high co-ed flag rugby program has also competed at various levels while climbing the ranks at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club, including a stint with the 2007 second division provincial champions in his first season of senior rugby, and a brief appearance last year with the third division Exiles and the first division side.
Tiedemann also played for the Prairie Wolf Pack last year as part of the Americas Rugby Championship.
The former standout football player with the St. Albert High Skyhawks is a serious contender to make Canada’s roster for the 2011 World Cup in New Zealand.
Tara Feser, co-captain of the Canadian women’s wheelchair basketball team, has signed a semi-pro contract with Trier-Dolphins of Germany.
The St. Albert Paralympian will hoop it up with her new team from September to April.
It’s another major accomplishment for the 30-year-old Feser, a national team post player since 2008. In April the 4.5 classification player won her second-straight NCAA women’s wheelchair basketball championship with the University of Alabama Crimson Tide.
The 2010 Wheelchair Basketball Canada female athlete of the year is currently preparing for worlds, starting July 5 at Birmingham, England. Canada is the four-time defending champion and is ranked fifth in the world after finishing fifth at the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing.
Canada is coming off an undefeated showing at the recent Paralympic Cup at Manchester, a tournament warm up for worlds.
Jody Sydor was named captain of the University of Connecticut women’s hockey team for the upcoming season.
The product of the midget AAA St. Albert Slash was an assistant captain as a junior last season. She is also the first defenceman to wear the C since 2007/08.
The former Slash captain was a Hockey East honourable mention and represented the NCAA division one team at the Women’s Hockey East Association all-star game against Team USA. The pharmacy student finished the season among the team leaders with 10 assists and plus-14 rating in 37 games. Both of her goals were scored on the power play.
The team’s rookie of the year and Hockey East all-rookie team selection in 2008 amassed seven goals (five on the power play), 35 assists, 42 points and 107 penalty minutes in 107 games during her career at UConn.
Registrations are underway for the annual St. Albert Triathlon on Aug. 8 at Fountain Park Recreation Centre.
Visit www.starrt.com for online entries. Deadline is July 31.
Race events include the sprint and sprint team (750-metre swim, 20-kilometre bike and five-km run) and try-a-tri (250-m swim, 10-km bike, 2.5-km run).
The Triathlon Alberta-sanctioned competition is hosted by the St. Albert Roadrunners and Triathlon Club.
For more information, contact race director Alice Graham at [email protected]
Volunteers can also sign up through Lucille at [email protected]
