Josh Yaschyshyn, coach of the Dauphin Clippers hockey team, presented captain Logan Chapman with the Most Valuable Player Award at the team’s banquet, Apr. 5.

Chapman took home three awards as he also won the Top Forward Award and shared the Player’s Choice Award with Oliver Dandeneau, who also won three awards, taking home the Top Defensive Player Award, as well as the Top Defenceman Award.

William Miner was also recognized three times, winning the Top Scorer Award, Most Improved Player Award and the Hardest Working Player Award.

Also winning awards were Cody Coombs, who won the Clipper Commitment Award; Bradyn Paskaruk, who won the Coach’s Choice Award; Ethan Carnegie, who was named Rookie of the Year; Owen Chubka, who won the Top Goaltender Award; and Jake Kuzmiak, who was named the Playoff MVP.

City of Dauphin Bylaw Enforcement Officer Conrad Demeria goes over city bylaws at a bylaw information session with some of the city’s newest residents, Apr. 4.

The session was hosted by Regional Connections.

Costumers of Hippie Mama Gifts now have a store where they can shop in person.

The local business started as an online gift basket company in 2020, featuring Canadian made items from local entrepeneurs.

“Not just in Manitoba, but across Canada,” said owner-operator Jenna Scheller.

About a year-and-a-half later, Scheller started making her own bath and body products, because they proved to be the most popular items in the gift baskets.

“And eventually, I combined the two parts of the company and now opened a store,” she added.

Scheller’s son was born with eczema and when he had a bad rash, they would be given a prescription for a cortisone cream or steroid cream.

“And that’s not a natural alternative. So I decided to start making my own bath and body products to try and help treat his eczema and that’s how it all started,” she explained.

All of Scheller’s products are made from scratch.

“I don’t even use bases. A lot of companies will use a bubble bath base or a base for shampoos, whereas each and every ingredient I put into my products is weighed by me and melted and created,” Scheller said, adding it takes time to make her products. “My whips take 24 hours. It’s just a matter of the heat phase and the cooling phase. There’s items like the lip balms that take about 15 minutes to make 12 of them,” she said.

“So it is time consuming either way, but as my little company has grown, I’ve learned how to batch out larger and larger batches. So I get a lot more on the shelves.”

All of the ingredients Scheller uses for her products are purchased from Canadian companies and her products are available all across Canada on the company’s website, hippiemamagiftshop.com.

The first cross-Canada product she sold went to Nova Scotia, followed by an online order from British Columbia.

“And I thought that was so cool that I had reached either side of Canada. And now I ship all across and a lot of the time, locals will come in and buy my products and ship them across Canada themselves,” Scheller said.

Based on demand, Scheller decided to open a store, which is located at 119 Main Street North, next door to CIBC.

Customers had started appearing at her home and she wanted to keep her home and business separate for privacy.

“And I wanted to open up a store, because I wanted people to be able to come in and actually smell the products and see the products. And I also wanted to be able to have a location where local makers could come in and meet. It would just be a whole vibe, I guess, just like a movement that would support the community,” Scheller said, adding she is also offering coffee, as well, though that is not the main focus of her business.

When Scheller started her company online, one of the gift basket items she featured was Forbidden Flavours coffee from Brandon.

“So for me, getting into coffee was a no-brainer. I also know that this area of town, there’s a lot of people that don’t have vehicles. So it would be nice to have somewhere to walk, just to grab a quick cup,” she said, adding she hopes to get more people into her store to look around while they enjoy a cup of coffee.

While offering her own wares, Scheller is also offering her support to local youth artisans.

Based on her own experience, Scheller knows how difficult it can be to become established, so she is lending a hand to local youth artists and crafters by offering a corner of her store dedicated to selling their products.

“I remember when I got my first product in a store and my heart was just so warm and I felt so special. So I want to be able to provide that feeling to somebody and give it to them at a young enough age that they can figure out who they want to be and what they want to grow into and really experience and explore their artistic side,” she said, adding all proceeds are returned to the youth.

Hippie Mama Gifts can be found on Facebook and Instagram, where she not only promotes her own products, but those of the makers of products that are available in her store, as well.

Scheller plans to recognize a Maker of the Month, featuring someone whose products are in her store and she hopes to host workshops, as well.

For now, Scheller is working on her own, but she eventually hopes to hire someone to help out around the store.

“The dream a year ago was to have a store front. And now that I have the store front, I would love to be able to have somebody working here fulltime eventually, taking over the floor, helping with my creating, and possibly opening up another shop in another town. That’s the next dream,” she said.

Scheller does offer delivery within the city of Dauphin on Thursdays, but anyone ordering products online can pick up their orders at the store.

“There will be a delivery fee of $5 for me to deliver to you in town on a Thursday and it will be between six o’clock and eight o’clock,” she said.

Hippie Mama Gifts is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. But come summertime, Scheller may adjust those hours.

Sunday to Tuesday is when she takes time to make her products. But if Tuesdays work best for people and they want to come in themselves, she will take appointments on that day.

Scheller held her grand opening, Mar. 25, and so far the response has been amazing.

“Really, really great. I didn’t expect to get this amount of support from the community. I was super overwhelmed the first day and I thought, ‘okay, the second day will calm down.’ Nope, it’s been the same every day,” she said. “I know it’s a new shop and it has a different vibe to it, so people are very interested. And it’s a lot of customers that have been ordering off of me for the last three years that I’ve never had a chance to meet. It’s really great to put a face to the names in those conversations that I’ve had. So it’s going very, very well. The support is there.”

Scheller credits the support from her customers for getting her to where she is today, the proud owner of her own shop.

“I’m still blown away at the fact that I have a store. I can’t believe that the amount of support in the community in the last three years has got me here. And it is all because of them,” she said.

What started as a hobby has turned into a successful business for a Dauphin woman.

Amy Thompson of Amy Rae Maker, is a watercolour artist, who uses her art to create stationery products such as greeting cards, notebooks and notepads, all with her designs.

“I started in 2020. I’ve got two little kids at home, so I was looking for something just to do as a hobby and to keep myself busy. It started from there,” she said.

Thompson became involved in a program with The Hub, which helped her to get her business off the ground.

Everything she sells is available through her website at amyraemaker.com.

“It’s been really fun. I didn’t realize I’d grow it into a business. It started as a hobby and then it just moved up from there,” Thompson said. “I’ve been really enjoying the business side of it and the marketing side of it. It’s been a real awesome journey.”

Thompson has received a lot of support from the community and The Hub, as well as other businesses in Dauphin and throughout the province.

“So it’s been pretty cool,” she said.

Most of Thompson’s sales are in Manitoba, but she attends a lot of craft shows in the province, as well as in Saskatchewan.

“But I have a wholesale side to the business, as well, so small shops or anybody is able to register through my website on the wholesale page and they can stock my cards in their shop,” she said. “I have some shops in Dauphin here, as well as Roblin, Russell. I’ve got some in Saskatchewan and some in Ontario. So it is spreading. The goal is to, hopefully, get Canada-wide and do more wholesale with other businesses.”

Thompson never imagined having this kind of success selling her work when she started.

“It surprised me in a good way,” she said.

As for future goals, Thompson said she would like to do more work on the wholesale side of the business.

“And stock different places across Canada. Maybe the States eventually. So I’m leaning more towards doing that side of it,” she said, adding she will still have products to sell herself. “I get everything actually printed through the Dauphin Herald. So it’s nice to support (local). And it’s worked really well, having it so close and keeping it within the community, too, which is awesome,” she said.

Thompson credits her success to the support she has received from the community, as well as The Hub.

“I don’t think I would have been where I am without them,” she said, adding she was nominated for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the recent Parkland Chamber of Commerce Awards celebration. “Which was super, super amazing, just for people to recognize that it actually is something,” she said.

“So people believing in me and people supporting me has been the drive and kept things going.”

The Dauphin Kings will look to force a game seven in their best-of-seven quarterfinal series with the Swan Valley Stampeders with a win in game six Tuesday night at Credit Union Place.

After dropping the first two games last weekend, Dauphin got back into the series with a 6-3 triumph in game three, Mar. 28, in Swan River.

The Stampeders took a strangle hold on the series with a 3-2 double overtime victory in game four, Friday in Dauphin, but the Kings stayed alive with a double overtime victory of their own, Saturday in Swan River to bring the series back to Dauphin.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said there is a fine line between wins and losses right now.

“You’ve got to make a break count,” he said. “There was a real good crowd in Swan (in game five) and a good atmosphere and I think the guys responded very well. We worked hard, did some simple things, played well defensively, and, obviously, got a big goal from Deepkaran Hans at a good time to force a game six. We’re fighting and a lot of guys really stepped up and responded very well.”

Friday’s game four loss came after Jakob Brook was called for a questionable boarding penalty early in the second extra period. Swan Valley capitalized on the man advantage when Adam Rajsigl scored his second of the game at 2:18.

Even though they were down three-games-to-one at the time, the Kings were not down for the count yet.

“There’s a lot of clichés you can come up with and reiterate. But at the same time, you haven’t lost a thing until you lose four. So that was the message. We’ve won in that building three times already this year and every game has been so close,” Hedley said. “You just have to keep on fighting. Right now we’re out of second opportunities. It’s just a matter of being focused, being game ready and bringing the best possible effort and compete level that we can.”

With the exception of game three, every contest has been close with four of the first five games decided by one goal. That was the trend established in the regular season where the Kings won four of the six games, with five being decided by just one goal.

“We knew it was going to be real tight, regardless of the standings. When we play Swan, they’re tight games and they go back and forth. It’s nothing different that we expected with the regular season that we played against them. Right now, there are guys on both sides that are stepping up and playing real well,” Hedley said.

The focus for game six, Hedley said, is simple - win.

“Like I said, we don’t have any second chances. The compete level has got to be there,” he said, adding Dmytro Kubritskyi played well in goal in game five after coming into the game to start the second period in relief of Cole Sheffield, who allowed two goals on 15 shots. “Kubritskyi coming in was just to quiet things down, settle things down. He played with the experience that he has and going forward, I think we need to do the same thing. Just go out and do the simple things,” Hedley said.

Defenceman Owen Wareham left game five with a knee injury after a knee-on-knee collision with Swan Valley defenceman Owen Harris.

There was no penalty called on the play, but the Kings have submitted video seeking disciplinary action.

Wareham was to be re-evaluated Monday. If he should be unable to play, Hedley said it is next man up and, hopefully, Wareham can return as soon as possible.

Kings court: The Portage Terriers advanced to the semifinals with a five-game series win over the first-year Niverville Nighthawks. The Virden Oil Capitals, also advanced after beating the OCN Blizzard in six games. The Winkler Flyers, after falling behind three-games-to-one to the Steinbach Pistons, have come back to force a game seven, which takes place tonight in Steinbach.

A new face will be behind the counter at the Dauphin Lake Golf Club (DLGC) pro shop, this season.

Shawn Woods is the new general manager and golf professional at the local golf course, replacing Ray Karlson, who retired at the end of last year.

Woods spent 12 years at the Neepawa golf course until 2010, when he went to Poplar Ridge at Onanole.

“And then a couple of years at Kenosee and after that, I’ve been on the road as a sales rep for many golf companies,” he added.

Woods decided to make the move to Dauphin Lake when the opportunity arose.

“It’s been a while since the shop or ran a golf course, so I thought it was a good chance to get back into it in my later years,” he said, adding he missed interacting with club members. “I’ve always been in sales relatively my whole life, since I was about 12. So it looked like a good opportunity. It’s not too far from home where I can have that job and still reside where I do.”

While it has been a few years since he has been in a shop, Woods expects the challenges of running a golf course will be the same as when he last did it.

“Building your membership. Keeping your membership. Weather is always an indicator of the year, sometimes. I think keeping momentum going for golf in general. The pandemic was hard on everybody, as we know. On the other side of that, it was probably one of the greatest things for golf,” Woods said.

“So keeping that growth of golf that happened during that time to continue. I think everybody in the business realizes that it’s going to level off and I think it has leveled off a little bit. But it’s maintaining the people that did come to golf during that time and, hopefully, building on that and building on new relationships in the game.”

Woods feels there are some untapped markets available to golf courses, such as junior golf, as well as ladies golf.

“I think that’s gotten so much better, but I think we still have a long ways to go,” he said. “I think as it was before, just making people realize that golf is open to everybody. It’s a lifetime sport. You may think it’s silly before you play it, but once you play it, it’s a very addictive and challenging sport like no other, probably.”

At this point, Woods said it is too early to tell what changes may be made. One thing Woods brings to DLGC is that of a golf professional, which the club hasn’t had for a number of years.

“So there will be a better avenue for them learning the game, I would guess. I love to teach the game, so as far as private lessons or group lessons are way more available to them,” he said, adding one change to the pro shop is it will offer more in the way of equipment. “We’ll be carrying all the name brands. So now they don’t have to go to Golf Town to shop,” he said.

“That’s probably one of my biggest goals is to make sure that people give us a chance at the course to serve all their golfing needs and equipment needs and realize that we can get anything that the big stores can get.”

With this being his first year at DLGC, there will be a learning curve as he learns about the members and their needs, as well as the general public.

Woods has been doing some renovations at the pro shop, but it will be open starting Monday from noon to 5 p.m., on most days for anyone wishing to purchase a membership.

“I’ve had lots of people show up, even in my mess of renovations, just to say hi and pay their memberships. It’s always nice to meet people that are as eager as you to get to know some people already. It’s important,” he said.

At this point, it is hard to gauge when the course will be open for business. Woods doesn’t anticipate being open until the first week of May.

“There has to be a lot of melting and then there’s always cleanup and getting things ready. So I would think we’re likely looking at May sometime,” he said.

Joelle Brown and her team of Maureen Bonar, Natalie Claude Harding and Deb McCreanor of Charleswood built a 4-0 lead after three ends and hung on to win the Pharmasave Senior Women’s Curling Provincials in Dauphin, Monday afternoon, beating defending champion Terry Ursel of Neepawa, 5-3 in the final.

In the Strathcona Trust Men’s Provincials, Dave Boehmer and his team of Dale Lott, Sean Bracken and George Hacking of Petersfield erased a 5-1 deficit with two in the fifth and steals in the last three ends to beat defending champion Randy Neufeld of La Salle, 6-5, to win the provincial title.

Butch Mouck of Gilbert Plains, pictured above, qualified for playoffs, but lost in the crossover to Richard Muntain of the Granite Curling Club.

The Dauphin Kings find themselves in a hole after opening the best-of-seven quarterfinal series with the Swan Valley Stampeders with a pair of losses.

The Kings carried a 1-0 lead into the first period of game one, Friday in Swan River, but could not hold the lead in the third, giving up the tying goal less than five minutes in, before Swan Valley scored the winning goal with 1:08 remaining.

Kings coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the first 40 minutes of game one was really good for his team.

“We really shut down the middle, shut down their speed, controlled the neutral zone. (Carter) Zalischuk got a great goal on hard work and compete,” he said.

In the third period, the Kings forwards failed to protect the middle of the ice in the defensive zone resulting in a number of opportunities for the Stampeders.

“Sheff (goaltender Cole Sheffield) made some great saves and kept us in it,” Hedley said.

The winning goal came off a faceoff in the Kings end when a shot from Swan Valley defenceman Collin Jennings deflected in off of Justin Keck’s pants.

“But I was happy with the effort. We were really good for 40 minutes. It was a decent crowd there and there was a good atmosphere and the guys played very well,” Hedley said.

The Kings came out flying in the first period of game two on Saturday.

Dauphin outshot the Stampeders, 18-10 in the frame and carried a 2-1 lead into the second period.

They increased their advantage to 4-2, eight-and-a-half minutes into the second, before running into penalty trouble, resulting in Swan Valley scoring four power-play goals in the frame en route to a 5-4 lead entering the third.

After Jakob Brook tied the game at five, 8:17 into the third, Jennings completed a hat trick with 2:29 remaining to lift the Stampeders to a 6-5 victory and a two-games-to-none lead.

“We know we have team speed and when we play fast, we’re a tough team to beat,” Hedley said of the team’s start in game two. “Sometimes we just get to not stopping on pucks and getting on the wrong side of battles.”

Most of Swan Valley’s offence comes from the line of Keck, Trey Sauder and Jakob Jones, which combined for 85 goals and 195 points in the regular season.

When that line is on the ice, Hedley said teams have to be good in the D zone, be strong in the corners and protect the middle of the ice.

“And tonight, whether you agree with the penalties or not, we still took four or five in a row and one five-on-three that I think they sold pretty well. The bench pretty well called it. There was no hand up until the bench yelled, then the hand came up,” Hedley said, adding he liked the way the team pushed back in the third.

“I really liked our third period. We pushed back after giving up a two-goal lead and being down going into the last 20 minutes. I thought the team really show a push and resilience and tied the game up,” he said.

Even after Swan Valley took the lead late, the Kings still had some good opportunities to tie the game late.

Hedley knows the series is far from over, remembering last year’s series with Swan Valley, when the Stampeders won two games after Dauphin took a three-games-to-none lead.

“It’s not over until you win four. We were sitting here last year, up 2-0 and it ended up going six,” he said.

“You’ve got to get some goaltending. You’ve got to get big saves at the right time. And stay out of the penalty box. You can’t play on your heels and you can’t be killing penalties for eight, nine, 10 minutes in a row and expect to be on your toes all the time. We’ve just got to figure it out. Check with our feet and control our sticks and make sure we come back and push harder.”