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.”

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