Since 2008, Donna Kemp-Drysdale has been teaching youngsters in Dauphin as young as two how to skate. But after 14 years at the helm of Skate Dauphin, she is looking to take a step back and let someone else takes the reins.

Kemp-Drysdale began her career as a junior coach in 1978 at the age of 11 in Brandon.

“And then I started coaching professionally in 1984 in Ste. Rose. So that’s what brought me to the Parkland,” she said, adding she began coaching in Dauphin in 2008. “So just after they moved into the new building. But I did spend a lot of time in the old DMCC as far as that goes. It was an incredible building. Had a great vibe happening in there,” Kemp-Drysdale said.

“Lots and lots of early morning skates in there that I would travel when I was working with some of the students from Dauphin when I was teaching in Ste. Rose.”

In 1982, Kemp-Drysdale became the Manitoba master clinic conductor for the Can Power Skate program.

“So my role at that point was I traveled all around Manitoba doing clinics for coaches to learn how to do power skating. So within that realm, I reached out to a lot of different people in different communities,” she said, adding she held some clinics in Saskatchewan, as well.

There are many different levels that Kemp-Drysdale enjoys about coaching.

“The reality is I’m not inventing the wheel. I’m passing on knowledge that I’ve gained and processed and then give over to the students. And the expectation is that they process that knowledge and they have to put it into their abilities,” she said. “For some kids, they soak it up like a sponge. Other kids, it just falls to the ice. And it’s not so much that they don’t want to learn, they just don’t translate it well. So everybody learns in so many different ways. And as a coach, it’s my responsibility to come up with ways that they’ll understand it.”

Get the full story in this week's Total Market Coverage Dauphin Herald!

Sifton’s Peter Prokopowich will be entering the Manitoba Curling Hall of Fame this spring.

The induction dinner and ceremony, which will be held, May 7 in Brandon, will see the local curler inducted into the hall with the Kelly Robertson team, which also included Doug Armour and Bob Scales.

Curling out of the Neepawa Curling Club, the quartet won provincial senior men’s title won in 2011, 2012 and 2014, losing in the final in 2013.

They had a memorable run in 2011, winning the national title, which allowed them to represent Canada at the world’s in 2012, where they lost to Ireland’s John Jo Kenny in the final in an extra end.

“I was quite surprised. I really didn’t expect that. It came as a nice surprise,” he said of his reaction when he heard the news.

Prokopowich remember how well they all got along as a team.

“And that was the key to winning. Everybody was on the same page,” he said.

It was quite an experience, Prokopowich said of the team’s success, noting 2011 was the first year they had curled together.

“We had lost our first game in the qualifier in the bonspiel and then went through to win the bonspiel,” he said. “And then we went on a run at provincials and nationals. To win Canada was an amazing year. People say representing your country, what a great feeling it is. And it really is to go to another country and represent (Canada). It was quite the experience. It was quite a run we had.”

Prokopowich knows quite a few of the other inductees and is looking forward to the evening.

He admits he keeps in touch with his former teammates on a regular basis.

“We don’t curl together anymore, but we touch base a few times a year,” he said.

Prokopowich considers himself lucky, having curled on a number of good teams over the years.

“And for some reason that team just clicked. I don’t even really know why, but things just worked out for us. It was kind of nice after all those years,” he said. “I consider myself very lucky. I got to play in bonspiels in Sifton and all the small surrounding towns and then to go on and represent Canada, you can’t ask for anything else.”

The Dauphin Kings are set to face the Swan Valley Stampeders in a rematch of last year’s Manitoba Junior Hockey League quarterfinal series, which the Kings won in six games.

Dauphin ended the season with a 3-2 overtime loss to the Winkler Flyers, Saturday in Winkler. That came on the heels of a 6-2 victory over the Winnipeg Freeze, last Monday in Winnipeg.

The Kings dressed APs Marco Bodnarski, Havryil Simchuk and Madden Murray, while Roan Coe made his MJHL debut on the blueline.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said it was a tough environment in front of a large crowd, noting the Flyers dressed their full lineup.

“I thought all our kids played real well. Roan Coe was good on the back ende, as was Marco Bodnarski. Simchuk and Murray all played very well,” he said, adding the Kings only dressed four 20-year-olds, including goaltender Dmytro Kubritskyi, who made 49 saves in the loss. “Like I said, it was a tough enviroment to play in and they responded really well. They didn’t look out of place at all and fit right in,” Hedley added.

Dauphin finishes the season in fourth place in the MGEU West Division with a 32-21-3-2 record. Their 69 points were two back of third-place Virden and three behind second-place OCN.

The Kings will now prepare to face the 36-16-5-1 Stampeders in the quarterfinals.

Dauphin won the season series, winning four of the six games. Five of the six contests were decided by one goal, with the Kings winning three times in overtime. The only game not decided by a goal was a 3-00 Swan Valley victory in the first game between the two teams, Sept. 23.

Hedley expects a long, tough series between the two rivals.

“I’m expecting a real battle. Obviously, they’re well coached and have a good hockey club. We just have to make sure we bring our A game,” he said. “Hopefully, everybody is healthy and 100 per cent and we get four lines rolling. I think we stack up very well against them.”

Hedley knows goaltending will be key to any team’s success and with Swan Valley’s Kobe Grant winning the Top Goaltender Award this season, the Kings will have to find ways to get to him.

“The biggest thing is second shots. Taking his eyes away as you can by sitting in front of him. We have to get to the paint. We have to get to the net. We have to make it difficult for him to see pucks,” Hedley said. “Do as much as we can to create traffic in front of him.”

The schedule for the series can be found below!

MGEU WEST – (1) Swan Valley Stampeders vs (4) Dauphin Kings
***If necessary

A new multifunctional wedding venue has opened at the Gilbert Plains Country Club.

“But it’s also going to serve the community as just being open for anyone to rent for whatever they might need or want,” said Easton Hedley, proprietor of The Grounds. “So we will have a ceremony site available. They’re going to be planting a bunch of trees and flowers and making it look very beautiful this spring.”

Hedley said it will take a few years to make the ceremony site feel like a park setting, which is the goal.

“But we’re pretty convinced that the wait will be worth it,” she said.

The community hall, which was built over the last couple of years, will be available for other events, such as retirement or birthday parties or meetings.

“Whatever you may want. We want to book that out and make it as busy as possible,” Hedley said.

Hedley pointed out the hall was originally built to host golf tournaments and golf-related events.

“But it started to take on a life of it’s own. And we took a look at it after it was built. And it was like, ‘how can we share this with more people? How can we generate more revenue that we can put back into the course? How can we use it more effectively’?” she said, adding she had gotten married last summer. “And getting married in the Parkland was quite difficult, because we don’t have any wedding venues. That is, a hall and a ceremony site available,” Hedley said. “And there is also nowhere within an hour that is a wedding venue that is also a golf course. So they thought that this is something that we could bring to people outside of Winnipeg, essentially,” she said.

Planning a wedding can be expensive, as well as time consuming. So The Grounds has partnered with more than 40 local vendors, such as makeup artists, photographers, hoteliers, Air BnBs, DJs and caterers.

“All the things you need to really make your wedding special and to make it go. So they’re offering their services to our couples for a monetary discount. And it’s also going to help our couples who book with us in they’re planning process, because they don’t have to sort everything out on their own,” Hedley said, adding there is no obligation to use their vendors as it is being offered as a service.

Anyone who wishes to make a booking can call Hedley at 204-648-5047 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

There is also an Instagram and Facebook page, both at The Grounds. There is already one confirmed booking for this September and interest in another wedding in 2024.

“So I’m hoping with some of this media, we’re going to be some more bookings and, hopefully, get this thing off the ground, because we really want to share the golf course with people. Gilbert Plains is beautiful and it’s kind of a hidden gem. So we really want to share it and bring people together in the Parkland,” Hedley said.

The ceremony site, located along side the driving range, includes wooden arches, which can be decorated however the couples want.

“There’s a horseshoe area that we’re going to make a little more private with trees and how we’re going to landscape that part. So it’s going to be your own private area close to the parking lot so people have easy access,” Hedley added. “Then you can walk right across the beautiful bridge right into your reception.”

A new brewing company calling Dauphin home will be opening soon.

Obsolete Brewing Co., will operate out of the former Acklands building at 26 2nd Ave. NW.

The idea sprang from the minds of Ryan Vanderheyden, Steven Sobering and Kevin Steinbachs.

“Really, we just talked about it over the course of having beers, really,” said Vanderheyden. “We just talked about how it would be nice if Dauphin had a brewery. And then, at that time, we weren’t thinking about creating one. Then a couple of months down the road, we saw a building available. We went into the building, said, ‘this would be a great place for our brewery,’ and then we started it from there.”

According to Sobering, Vanderheyden is passionate about micro-brewing and beer making in general and already has ties to some micro-breweries in the province.

Sobering has an eye towards tourism and feels a brewery would help attract tourists to the area.

The group found a small batch brewing system and brewed a lot of beer in case they had to brew their product themselves.

“We brewed a lot of beer. It was pretty good. During COVID time, we weren’t able to get together with a lot of people, so we had some small tastings and they went over really well,” Vanderheyden said. “And then we just went through all the steps of finding the right equipment that would fit our size of company that we were going for. And finding everybody to be part of the team that we would need to hire to fit out the building.”

Advertising through the Internet, the group hired Marco Bardelli, a brewer from Brazil, who moved to Dauphin with his wife and two children not long ago.

“He’s replaced us for the brewing, which is probably beneficial to everybody involved. He’s a great brewer that has 12 years of craft brewing experience that will help us out starting up,” Vanderheyden said, adding Bardelli was able to correct some of the things the ownership group was doing. “We didn’t even know what we were doing wrong,” Sobering said.

“Even the equipment fit out, after ordering all our equipment, he did confirm we made the right choices in the size of equipment. But after going through the initial set up, he produced a massive list, like, ‘okay, now you also need this.’ I don’t even think we knew enough to know what we needed. It would have been a real trial and error, whereas now, we can hit the ground running, which is going to be a big benefit.”

The group purchased the lot right next door where Kelleher Ford used to be located and they plan to use that for parking, as well as a patio area, where patrons can sit.

The group, Vanderheyden said, envisions their area of the city as a craft district. The brewery is across the street from a bakery and meat shop, it is within walking distance of the Watson Art Centre and Vermillion Park.

“So people can walk in this area. So we hope we can encourage people to park in our area, come in, have a beer, go shopping at Prairie Supply Co., get some baking goods, a steak for the weekend and they can go home,” he said. “So we’re hoping to create a walking culture in the downtown here, where people can shop and see all the things that we have down here.”

Planning for the brewery began in 2020.

“We incorporated in November 2020,” Vanderheyden said.

Using their small brewing system, Bardelli has already manufactured more than 20 beer recipes. Because it is a small system, the beer does not last because of the tastings the group does.

“I think we have five or six at any given time for tastings. We’ve been touring people through here constantly, just different groups,” Sobering said.

The plan is to have a core line of six to eight different beer recipes, with as many as 20 available for tastings.

“We shifted the business model to be a tourist brewery. We can have a multitude of beers, so that everytime you come here, there will be something new to experience,” Sobering said, adding this will allow them to source local ingredients. There are also plans to produce non-alcoholic beers. “Our brewer makes kombucha, home-made lemonades, gingerale, the list actually goes on,” Vanderheyden said.

“We want the space not to feel like a lounge for people just to come to drink. We want it to be like a family friendly space, so kids can come and get that craft soda. They actually get to experience the new sodas, as well. And their parents can have a beer.”

They also plan to serve coffee.

Currently, the group is waiting for an electrical panel to be constructed. Once they receive that, there will be a bit of a process to get licensed at the provincial level.

“But we do hope to be manufacturing by April or May and maybe a grand opening by June,” Vanderheyden said.

Sobering said the production side of the business will be completed fast, so they can make beer in cans and kegs.

“So we can supply the liquor stores to sell over the counter or kegs in restaurants. But the tasting room will take a little longer, because it’s a different type of occupancy,” he said.

While there will be a learning curve when it comes to distribution, the plan is to provide their product in as many liquor stores as they can, while providing kegs to restaurants.

“And then selling out of the taproom. The best way to get the beer will be to come to the taproom. It will be the freshest. It will be the most variety,” Vanderheyden said.

Short-term there will not be many staff working at the brewery, but as the company grows, so too, will the number of staff needed.

Sobering noted all three partners in the brewery are community-minded.

“We’re all very invested in Dauphin’s prosperity and want to make Dauphin and great place to live. We want to attract some of those visitors, just that little extra step to come to Dauphin,” he said. “If we can sell our beer throughout the province and bring those revenues back here, we can just keep putting it back into the business and back into the community and keep adding more amenities. I think that was one thing all three of us are very committed to.”

Sobering has not heard any negativity around the project, adding people are positive about it.

“People are really excited about it,” he said. “I definitely think it’s going to be a real asset. It might mark a point in time where it’s before-and-after. We kind of want to see ourselves as what we do for Dauphin and this part of the city is what Lakehouse did for Clear Lake when they upgraded. Sometimes it just takes that catalyst, that first step to create that snowball effect. And we’re really hopeful that it’s going to be a hit.”

Following the game, Mar. 3, fans who collected the Dauphin Kings hockey cards had the opportunity to get them autographed by the entire team.

The collectibles were handed out to fans at the game that evening.

The season is over for the Dauphin Clippers hockey team.

The Clippers were swept in their best-of-three Westman High School Hockey League semifinal series by the Swan Valley Tigers.

Swan Valley scored a 2-1 victory in game one, Mar. 7 in Dauphin.

Eli Betcher and Bailey Hunt scored for the Tigers, while Jake Kuzmiak replied for Dauphin.

Owen Martyniuk started in goal for the Tigers and made seven saves before leaving with an injury. Nate Immerkar stopped 33 shots in relief.

Owen Chubka made 28 saves in the loss.

Swan Valley completed the sweep with a 4-1 win in game two, Sunday in Swan River.

Jackson Buchanan gave the Clippers a 1-0 lead after the first period, but that was all the offence they could muster.

Hunt and Tucker Thompson put Swan Valley in front after 40 minutes and Trace Langan and Kash Henkelman scored to seal the win in the third period.

Immerkar made 30 saves for the Tigers, while Chubka finished with 17 saves.

Swan Valley will play the winner of the series between the Neepawa Tigers and Killarney/Wawanesa Raiders. That series is tied 1-1, with game three tonight in Killarney.

In between those games, the Clippers traveled to Winnipeg, Friday, for provincials.

The Clippers came up against the top ranked Garden City Gophers in their opening game, with the Gophers scoring three times in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and skating to a 5-2 victory.

William Miner and Buchanan had Dauphin’s goals.

The second game of the day, saw the Clippers fall to the fourth-ranked team in the province, the Steinbach Regional Sabres.

Playing their second game in a matter of hours, the Clippers ran out of gas, falling 5-1, with Kuzmiak scoring Dauphin’s lone goal.

Any time you don’t win your final game when you’re in the playoffs, it is a disappointing way to end the season, according to Clippers manager Jason Alf.

“But I can’t fault the guys for the way they played in the last series. They worked hard. I think we were the better team for most of those two games. We just, for whatever reason, we found a bad time to go into a scoring drought,” he said.
As for provincials, Dauphin ran into penalty problems against Garden City, which took advantage, scoring four power-play goals.

“There was quite a few, what I like to call phantom calls in that one. We played them twice and gave up nine goals, seven of which were power plays,” Alf said. “We put all our gas into that one and it left us a little empty.”

That was expected given the quick turn around from their first game. The Clippers gave it their all against the Gophers, then had a brief respite while another game took place, before they hit the ice against Steinbach.

“So not much time to rest. We didn’t have time to go anywhere to eat and Steinbach came in fresh and they looked like a team that was well rested,” Alf said.

Looking back on the season, Alf feels it was a success following a second-place finish in the league standings.

“I don’t think any of us really expected that going into the season to be second place with the five losses and overtime loss and the second lowest goals against, which was another bonus,” he said. “We weren’t sure how the scoring was going to work, because we didn’t have a lot of scoring stars, per se, but we had a lot of hard workers and we spread it around.”

The Clippers will lose about half of their team to graduation, so next season is expected to be a rebuilding year.

“But there’s lots of good players in the area and, as usual, we’ll see what’s coming in the fall. But we hope to be back there in the top eight,” Alf said.

The Dauphin Aspen Insurance U13 Gold team, in action against Rivers, hosted provincials, this past weekend.

After recording a 3-3 tie with Rivers and a 4-1 win over Mitchell in the round-robin, the local hosts were eliminated from the tournament with a 5-4 loss to Rivers.

St. Claude won the gold medal with a 6-0 win over Rat River, while Swan Valley scored a 9-6 win over Rivers to win the bronze medal.

The Dauphin Fusion Credit Union U13 Silver team won bronze at their provincials in St. Adolphe.

After losing their opening game to Morden, 3-2, Dauphin rebounded to beat Stonewall, 5-2.

In the quarterfinals, Dauphin defeated Morden 5-3, then lost to Virden, 8-5 in the semifinals. The bronze medal game saw Dauphin beat Springfield, 7-4.

Emma Jensen won the Dauphin Ladies Bonspiel over the weekend.

Jensen and her team of Lane Prokopowich and Becky Friesen, beat Tiffany Armstrong in the final of the first event, sponsored by Eastside Furniture.

Pam Scott was third and Janelle Lach was fourth.

Theresa Payette won the second event, sponsored by Love and Persson Group. Payette and her team of Kaitlyn Payette, Paige Sahulka and Lisa Sahulka, beat Melissa MacQuarrie in the second event final.

Third place went to Bev Hess and in fourth place was Dawn Steiner.

Norma Johnson and her team of Pearl Maksymetz, Kayla Gillis and Terri Todoruk won the third event, sponsored by Fusion Credit Union. They defeated Kelli Zeiler in the final. Kerri Wieler was third and Leanne Fedak was four