Sports Briefs

Goalie cut by national team
Leland Irving will not have an opportunity to win a second consecutive world championship.
A year ago Irving was the backup goaltender for the Canadian hockey squad that captured the gold medal at the world junior championships in Sweden. Canada went with an all-Aboriginal duo between the pipes for that tournament. Starting goalie Carey Price, who is now a member of the NHL's Montreal Canadiens, was one of the stars of the world tournament. Price's solid play in Sweden kept Irving from seeing any action.
But with Price now in the NHL, Irving, a 19-year-old from Swan Hills, Alta., was obviously hoping to once again be named to the Canadian roster and play in this year's tournament, which begins Dec. 26 in the Czech Republic.
Irving, who is in his fourth season with the Western Hockey League's Everett Silvertips, was one of four netminders invited to the Canadian selection camp in Calgary in early December, but he did not end up cracking the 22-player roster.
Team officials opted to go with Jonathan Bernier and Steve Mason as their two goaltenders. Bernier is a member of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League's Lewiston MAINEiacs while Mason toils for the Ontario Hockey League's London Knights.

King leads huskies

Dayna King is not content to have her brothers earn all of the headlines in the family.
So the 20-year-old, who has a pair of hockey-playing brothers at elite levels, is doing her best to get a bit of the spotlight as well.
King, who is from Meadow Lake, Sask., is in her second season as a forward with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women's hockey squad.
Heading into the Christmas holidays, King was leading her team in scoring. She had earned 12 points (six goals, six assists) in 15 games this season.
King has already surpassed her rookie season point totals with the Huskies. A year ago she appeared in 22 games and picked up 10 points (seven goals, three assists).
King's 23-year-old brother D.J. is a forward who is in his second season with the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues.
Her 18-year-old brother Dwight, also a forward, has NHL aspirations as well. He was selected in the fourth round, 109th over-all, by the Los Angeles Kings in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft.
Dwight King is now currently in his third season in the junior ranks, toiling for the Western Hockey League's Lethbridge Hurricanes.

Nationals return to Ontario

The National Aboriginal Hockey Championships (NAHC) are returning to the province where they were first held.
The 2008 NAHC will be staged in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., after the Garden River First Nation was awarded the rights to play host to the national tournament.
The event will begin on Apr. 27 and continue for a week. Championship matches will be contested on May 3.
Akwesasne, Ont. had played host to the inaugural NAHC in 2002. Akwesasne also was the site of the 2003 championship.
Since then the national tournament has rotated to various sites across the country.
The 2007 NAHC was staged in Prince Albert, Sask.
As in previous years, the 2008 tournament will feature both girls' and boys' divisions. At last year's event there were nine entrants in each category.
The Ontario South girls' squad won its fifth title in six years at the 2007 tournament.
The boys' title was captured by the Quebec-based side called Eastern Door and the North (EDN). This marked the first time EDN had won the boys' division at the NAHC.

Milwaukee awarded games

Regina has once again lost out on its bid to play host to the North American Indigenous Games.
The Saskatchewan city was hoping to be the host for the 2011 NAIG. But those games will be staged in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as the NAIG Council selected that American city as the host in early November.
Regina had previously submitted a bid to play host to the 2008 NAIG. The '08 Games instead were awarded to Cowichan Valley, B.C.
Officials with the Regina bid were not given a reason why the Milwaukee bid was preferred for the 2011 Games, but a possible explanation could be the fact that the province of Saskatchewan has already played host to a previous NAIG. The 1993 games were held in Prince Albert.
Another possible factor could be that the NAIG Council members simply wanted the games to return to an American city since the '08 Games are being staged in Canada.
There is no stipulation, however, that the games must rotate between the two countries.
Canada played host to the inaugural games in 1990 as well as the following NAIG in Prince Albert. Canada also staged back-to-back Games in Victoria in 1997 and then again in Winnipeg in 2002.
Denver was the last U.S. city to play host to the NAIG when it held the 2006 Games.