Geo answer

Follow the Red Deer River for today’s Geo Quiz.

The Red Deer River runs across the Canadian province of Alberta.

The river starts near the eastern slopes of the Canadian Rockies in Banff National Park.

And it eventually joins up with the Saskatchewan River.

But it runs right through the city we’re searching for today.

This is Alberta’s third most populous city.

Only Calgary and Edmonton are bigger.

The city’s demographics are said to reflect the overall character of Canada.

This city has an English-speaking majority.

But French isn’t the second most popular language there.

It’s ranks third — after Spanish.

That’s a reflection of Canada’s recent immigration trends.

This time of year the Red Deer River is still mostly frozen.

Outdoor skating rinks are scattered around the city …and hockey is in the air.

More about those rinks… when we reveal the answer.

We asked you to name the third largest city in Alberta, Canada.

It lies along the banks of the Red Deer River.

This time of year, the local ice rinks are packed with skaters…. hockey pucks are flying every which way.

Colin Orthner: My name is Colin Orthner. The sounds that I’ve recorded here come from right across the street from my home in Red Deer Canada.

So the city of Red Deer is the answer to our Quiz.

Colin Orthner says playing hockey is a way of life for the city’s teenagers — just like it was for him as a kid growing up in Red Deer.

Colin Orthner: Virtually every evening throughout the winter months there’s either a practise or a hockey scrimmage going on and normally I would just tune out all those sounds. One night they really captured my memory of what it was like when I was quite a bit younger. The coach had just finished blowing his whistle to end the formal practise, so we’ve got twenty 12 year olds just messing around having a good time and it really captures a little bit of what I remember from my youth.

Orthner ran outside with his microphone to catch the last few minutes of the practice.

Red Deer, by the way, is also the home to the Red Deer Royals — hailed as “Central Alberta’s only Marching Band.”

Music by the Red Deer Royals marching band…goes perfectly with this last bit of hockey news we spotted in Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper.

You’ll never guess where the prized Stanley Cup turned up today.

The NHL’s championship trophy is on tour in the company of some retired hockey stars, nicknamed Team Canada.

They’ve flown all the way to southern Afghanistan, trophy in hand, to entertain soldiers at a military base in Kandahar.

But there’s no ice in sight — so some street hockey matches are planned … between soldiers and retired NHL players.