The Parkland Rangers played the role of spoiler over the weekend at the expense of the Interlake Lightning.

The Rangers began the week by scoring an 8-5 win over the Yellowhead Chiefs, Tuesday in Dauphin, keeping Yellowhead from moving ahead of the Winnipeg Thrashers and into fifth place.

On Saturday in Dauphin, Parkland beat the Lightning, 3-1, while the Southwest Cougars defeated the Norman North Stars, 7-2. This resulted in the Cougars moving past Interlake into the eighth and final playoff spot.

The Lightning got a measure of revenge on Sunday, beating the Rangers 8-4, while Southwest stayed one point ahead of Interlake with a 6-1 victory over Norman.

Sunday’s loss snapped a four-game winning streak by the Rangers.

Overall, Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot was pleased with the team’s play in the three games.

“When you start winning games, the expectations change. We won, Tuesday. We found a way to win (Saturday) and then now it’s no more moral victories. You’re disappointed when you’re not winning,” he said, adding he was proud of Kyler Swanton, who was the difference in Saturday’s win with 43 saves.

“Our first period, we were absolutely just flat. No energy whatsoever. I didn’t know if the players even had a pulse,” he said. “But Swanny held us in there. And again, you win a few games and you feel better about yourself and you find ways to grease some one out and we did that (Saturday). I was very pleased with the way Kyler played to give us a chance to win that game and we found a way.”

Carefoot and the Rangers knew Interlake would be desperate on Sunday after getting knocked out of the final playoff spot.

In the end, it was too many unforced errors that cost the Rangers.

Interlake scored 18 seconds into the second period and added another 1:07 later to take a 4-1 lead. And it took them just 29 seconds to find the back of the net in the third.

“You can’t have that. You’ve got to eliminate that. I just think, overall, today we were just too easy to play against. And when you’re playing against a team that’s desperate, we were easy prey and that’s what happened,” Carefoot said.

Carefoot was especially pleased with the play of forward Hayden Seib, who is second in team scoring with 34 points, including 15 goals. He has points in each of the last seven games.

“He’s been consistent all season, just trying to focus on the details,” he said, adding Dru Mushumanski has also shone of late, with seven goals and 22 points in his last 12 games to take over the team scoring lead.

The Rangers end the season with a final road trip to Brandon to take on the Wheat Kings on Wednesday, before hosting Norman, Saturday in Swan River at 7:30 p.m.

Carefoot hopes the team can finish the season strong, noting they are looking at the Brandon contest as their Mount Rushmore game.

“We’re going to treat that game like it’s the championship final. I want to make sure the boys are ready to go. We’re going practice on Tuesday, leading into Brandon. All that I want that night is just energy and just the spirit of being the best that they can be, whatever the result may be,” he said. “Regardless of the result, that will lead us into the weekend against Norman to wrap up the season.”

In the ever changing landscape of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division, the Dauphin Kings find themselves tied for second place after losing two of three games last week.

Dauphin dropped a 2-1 decision to the Virden Oil Capitals, Tuesday in Virden, before Marko Belak made 28 saves in leading the Kings to a 4-0 win over the Winnipeg Freeze, Friday in Dauphin.

On Saturday, a pair of second-period power-play goals lifted the OCN Blizzard to a 2-1 victory over the Kings in Dauphin.

Kings head coach and general manager said the team has been getting good goaltending, but not the effort to match.

“It’s one of those things where we’ve got to be ready to play. If they’re thinking about what they’re going to do when the season is over, then it won’t be long before it’s over,” he said. “When we play on our toes and we play fast, we’re a really good hockey team. We’re probably a first-place hockey team. But when we watch and be spectators and watch what other guys do, it’s frustrating.”

The offence has been hit and miss of late. But Hedley said that is what happens when you don’t attack the blueline with speed or don’t go to the net for second shots or throw the puck at the net.

“The little things. We know what to do and when we do it, we do it well. It’s just frustrating, because I know we’re a lot better than this,” he said.

Hedley pointed out the Kings are 8-5 since the Christmas break and still have their destiny in their own hands.

Things will not get any easier for the Kings as they face the Steinbach Pistons in a home-and-home this weekend, beginning, Friday in Dauphin with the rematch the next night in Steinbach.

Eight of the remaining 12 games are on the road, including six of the final eight games, so now is the time to start playing consistently, Hedley said.

If there is one area the Kings need to improve upon, Hedley said it is puck management and competing for pucks.

“When we stand and watch and spectate, we’re not a very good hockey club. When we’re first to pucks and compete and win stick battles and guys are on their toes, we’re real tough to beat,” he said, adding the team also has to be more disciplined.

The Kings enter the week tied with Virden for second place with 55 points, two behind Waywayseecappo’s 57 points. OCN sits in third place with 53 points and Swan Valley is now on the outside looking in with 52. Neepawa is starting to fall by the wayside, with 45 points.

The Heritage Day Fair is making its return to Dauphin Market Place Mall, Feb. 17 and 18.

Organizing committee member, Don White said it nice to be back after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And with 13 organizations participating to celebrate the history of the Parkland, there will be plenty to see, White added.

For example, those attending the free event can expect to see Manitoba’s winning entry into the 1967 Centennial Voyageur Canoe Pageant, the Pierre Radisson, courtesy of Fort Dauphin Museum. All aspects of the area’s history will be highlighted, White added, noting the Negrych Homestead and the history of the Dauphin Fire Department are popular topics among fairgoers.

The displays will be set up in the former Ardene’s location, which has allowed organizers to run the fair over two days.

“It’s two days so we can lock the door and everything’s secure,” White said, adding the move to two days was a positive one as it was a lot of work for the exhibitors to pack up their displays and head to the mall for a one-day event.

Get more info in this week's Herald!

Dauphin’s new city council is through the first 100 days of its mandate and for freshman mayor David Bosiak, the last three-plus months in office has confirmed a lot of what he expected heading in, but there have been a few surprises along the way.

“Some of the things that I anticipated, or expected, are absolutely as I thought,” Bosiak said, citing the quality of the people employed by the City as an example. “Staff at city hall, at the shop, at the water treatment plant are all doing a great job. They’re stellar employees and I think the City is very fortunate to have such a combination of enthusiastic, dedicated and experienced staff members. That’s been very, very clear to me and other members of council, how competent the staff is.”

Associated with that realization is one of surprises, a pleasant one, that surfaced for Bosiak.

“I’m surprised a little bit by actually how much preparation staff does for the mayor and members of council,” he said. “I was anticipating having to be doing more homework to be ready for having council meetings and other committee meetings and the homework is pretty simple in that we are so well prepared.”

That support has allowed Bosiak and new councillors Randy Daley, Ted Rea and Steve Sobering to settle quickly into their roles and get up to speed with returning councillors Christian Laughland, Kathy Bellemare and Devin Shtykalo.

“I’m very pleased, generally, with the tone and tenor of council. They all seem to be on a the same page, or a very similar page, that we all have, I think, very similar outlooks on what we expect and why we ran for election and are on municipal council,” Bosiak said.

That has allowed council and City staff to advance one of Bosiak’s priorities heading into his tenure as mayor, looking at the structure of committees the City is involved with and gauging the work being done by those committees.

“Sort of doing a bit of a check, a sense of, is this an appropriate level of City involvement. Should there be more, should there be less,” he said. “And in those situations where we fund external agencies, I’ve asked council to really look carefully at, are we funding these organizations to the appropriate level? Meaning might some need more funding from the City based on what they’re doing and what they’re trying to accomplish, and might some needed a lower level of funding based on what they are supposed to be doing and what they may actually be doing?”

As they attend meetings, councillors are bringing reports back to council as a whole.

“And we’re having very thoughtful discussions on that,” Bosiak said.

In terms of getting council better organized, a planning session is set for early March during which a facilitator experienced in municipal governance will spend a half day with councillors and the City’s senior management team.

“Just to help us understand how do we incorporate the next four years of what each of us thought we could do as we got elected and bring that to some sort of fruition,” Bosiak said.

Tempering those expectations are plans and projects put in place by previous councils that the current edition of City government must fulfill. Bosiak did not fully appreciate the amount of work that was already on the table and quickly came to realize council needs to allow staff to continue to work on those projects.

“That does have an impact on what we intended to do in our first year of our mandate,” Bosiak said. “But we have our own objectives to put into place for the three years, so that’s one thing that we’ll be talking about.”

Going forward, a focus will be on the City’s relationships with other levels of government. In particular, Bosiak would like to maintain and hopefully improve Dauphin’s relationship with the provincial government, an important relationship given the major infrastructure projects the province is helping fund in the city.

However, those efforts have been hampered by recent resignations and restructuring at the cabinet level, he said.

“I was hopeful that we could have more of an ongoing dialogue with the provincial government and we’re attempting to do that from the City’s end and it’s just been a little bit slower than I was hoping,” Bosiak said.

For the most part, however, Bosiak’s time since the Oct. 26, 2022, municipal election has gone pretty much as he thought and he is looking forward to the remainder of his four years in the mayor’s chair.

“We’re just busy doing the regular business of municipal government,” he said. “There is lots of positive stuff, mostly positive stuff and it’s been a pretty decent first hundred days.”

Prairie Mountain RCMP conducted a significant drug bust in Rossburn, Feb. 4.

Located in a residence was 188 grams of cocaine, and 732 grams of methamphetamine, with a street value of over $37,000.

Read more in this week’s Banner!

For close to a decade - nine years in fact - the annual Stick It To Cancer fundraising hockey game has been part of life as a student of Major Pratt.

For the Major Pratt Trojans and their opponents - who more often than not have been the Roblin Raiders - they’re wearing shocking pink hockey jerseys.

Their hockey socks are pink and so are most of their skate laces too. In fact, many of the Roblin Raiders had their sticks taped with pink hockey tape and pink laces in their skates too. The concourse of the Russell Regional Multiplex was awash in pink too as the generosity of the communities surrounding Russell (and the 13 communities who are under the umbrella of the Expanding Community Cancer Care project) shone bright with the donations to the rainbow and silent auction.

As he has for every Stick It To Cancer game, Bruce Hutton of Art Farm produced the jersey’s, the tuques and the hoodies, all on sale for the cause.

Check out all the details in this week's Russell Banner!

Bob Cross, a long-time local businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist, was one of only a thousand Manitobans who have been singled out for their significant achievements and contributions to their communities.

Cross was named a winner of the province’s Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal.

Check out a photo of the presentation ceremony in this week’s issue.

Prairie Mountain RCMP conducted a significant drug bust in Rossburn, Feb. 4.

Located in a residence was 188 grams of cocaine, and 732 grams of methamphetamine, with a street value of over $37,000.

Read more in this week’s RCMP Report

In an effort to brighten things up on Main Street, the Roblin and District Chamber of Commerce is hosting a contest in search for designs to showcase as banners.

The Street Banner Contest was visualized out of the popularity of the graduation banners that lined Main Street last June.

Find out more and who’s performing in this week’s Review.

There’s a lot of talk about truth and reconciliation, but when it comes to following the calls to action, many still aren’t there yet. The Pas Huskies hockey team can proudly say they’ve taken a step in that direction by participating in the Orange Shirt Day Project.
“I saw a post on social media back in October 2022, regarding the project and wanted to help bring the message of Truth and Reconciliation through sport to our team and help educate anyone who asked about it,” said Huskies Head Coach Ernest Muswagon. “I applied to partake in this project for the team and I've sent the link orangejerseyproject.ca to others who have kids in hockey down south and hope their teams also applied to get the jerseys.
“The jerseys came from Keener Jerseys. The idea of this began with the Orange Shirt Society and the premier sponsor is Canadian Tire. Not only were we sent jerseys; we were also sent a book on Orange Shirt Day.