Matthew Zurba took home the coveted Norris Aitken Memorial Award, presented by Aitken’s daughters, Joan Nadolny and Beth Monson, at the Dauphin Clippers football team’s awards banquet, Nov. 30.

Other award winners were:

Most Improved From Last Season - Oliver Dandeneau
Most Improved During This Season - Kyle Lunsted
Most Outstanding Player, Defence - Joseph Lopez
Most Outstanding Player, Defensive Line - Damon Nepinak
Most Outstanding Player, Offence - Lopez and Scott Gower
Most Outstanding Player, Offensive Line - Sully Fox and Owen Tyschinski
Rookie of the Year - Mitchell Rauliuk
Wellborn Family Dedication Award - Gower
Coaches Award - Liam Jamieson
Best First-year Player, Grade 11 or 12 - Josiah Seale
Special Teams Most Outstanding Player - Austen Semchyshyn
Playoff Most Outstanding Player - Lopez
Ron Ricketts Family Award - Rob Tomkins.

Players voted for their choice for each award and the coaching staff made the final decision.

The Parkland Rangers find themselves back in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League playoff race after earning three of four points from the Southwest Cougars, this past weekend.

Two goals in the third period lifted the Rangers to a 3-2 victory, Friday in Dauphin. On Saturday in Killarney, Nate Robson netted the winner with 35 seconds left in overtime to give the Cougars a 4-3 win.

Southwest led Friday’s game 2-1 after the first period on goals from Kelby Diehl and Sebastian Stone, while Dru Mushumanski replied for the Rangers.

After a scoreless second period, goals from Tavyn Boychuk and Hayden Seib erased the deficit and put the Rangers in front, and they hung on for the victory.

Glover was outstanding in net for the Rangers, finishing with 45 saves, while Southwest’s Micky Gross stopped 28 shots.

On Saturday, the Rangers had three different leads only to see Southwest to tie the game on each occasion.

Andrew Pidskalny and Mushumanski with two, scored for Parkland, while Nicholas Cullen, Stone and Luke Mackenzie replied for Southwest.

Evan Svoboda made 22 saves for Southwest, while Glover made 32 saves Parkland.

Rangers coach Tyler Carefoot was pleased with the team’s play in both games.

“I think Friday, other than our first period, I thought we were the better team in the second and third. I just thought, after we made some little adjustments going into the second period, we were the better team and I was very pleased,” he said. “Not only did we get the win, but just how we executed the game plan. It was good to see, considering it’s been a work in progress. And to finally have a game where, for the most part, we put everything together, it was gratifying, for sure.”

The Rangers are 3-2-1-1 in their last seven games and are now just six points behind the eighth-place Eastman Selects.

That is something the team talked about on Saturday, Carefoot said, about how if they keep picking up points they can get back into the playoff race.

“So we had to have the mindset that this is a playoff mentality. And (Saturday) night, almost from start to finish, I thought we were the better team,” he said.

Another topic of discussion was the need to hang onto leads.

“That’s something we’ve got to do a better job of is locking down some of these leads that we have,” Carefoot said. “But we stuck to the game plan, we outworked them and they got a late goal to tie the game and we went to overtime. Three-on-three, anything can happen.”

Carefoot has seen a lot of improvement from the team from the start of the season, noting the players are playing with more confidence and are feeling good about themselves.

The Rangers have a chance to close the gap on Eastman as they play the Selects, Saturday and Sunday in Beausejour.

Carefoot hopes the players have the mindset of sacrificing the body to make plays.

“I hope they have the mindset that we’re going to have to hurt. We’re going to have to take hits to make the right play and getting in lanes to block shots. That’s something we’re going to have to add to our repertoire this weekend,” he said. “Eastman is probably somewhat of a surprise this season. They’re usually at the top of the league and this year, they’re near the bottom. I’ve heard they’re a big team and I feel if we can continue with focussing on getting pucks behind their D and all of the things that we’ve been talking about, hopefully, we’ll have some success.”

While out and about in the community you may have noticed hats, scarves and mitts on statues, trees and other locations.

The cold weather gear is there for free, for anyone who needs it. Help yourself.

The Parkland Rangers found the consistent effort they have been looking for this past weekend.

Playing the first of three games in three days on Friday, the Rangers scored four goals in the third period en route to a 6-2 win over the Norman North Stars in Dauphin.

On Saturday in Winnipeg, the Rangers fell 5-4 to the Thrashers and dropped a 5-2 decision to the Thrashers on Sunday.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot was pleased with the overall effort in all three contests, noting teams have to bring their A game anytime they face a Winnipeg squad.

“And I think, for the most part, we were in both games. It was just some simple little breakdowns, turnovers. But at the end of the day, we were able to compete,” he said, adding the Rangers are starting to get some balanced scoring, most notably from the line of Tyrell Leaske, Linden Smigelsky and Tavyn Boychuk, which has, arguably, been the team’s most productive line the past few games.

“They are executing their assignments very well and keeping their game simple, which has led to some offensive production in addition to extra ice time. These guys have progressed well since the start of the season,” Carefoot said.

The Rangers trailed 5-2 at one point in the third period of Saturday’s game, but scored a pair to make it close.

That was a result of a timeout Carefoot called with about 14 minutes left to play, during which he told the players to look into the stands where a lot of scouts were watching the game.

Get the full recap in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The Dauphin Clippers hockey team improved to 10-2-0-0 on the season with a pair of wins, last week.

William Miner scored twice and added an assist to lead the Clippers to a 6-2 win over a shorthanded Minnedosa/Erickson Chancellors squad, Thursday in Dauphin.

Liam Chartrand, Jaymen Fee, Jake Kuzmiak and Logan Chapman had Dauphin’s other goals, while Owen Chubka recorded 10 saves in picking up the win.

Jaden Trotz and Keagan Gaywish had the Chancellors’ goals and Jackson Bachewich finished with 57 saves.

The Chancellors dressed just 10 skaters due to illness and a suspension.

On Sunday in Brandon, Chapman had a goal and two assists in leading Dauphin to a 6-2 win over the Crocus Plains Plainsmen.

Liam Chartrand, Ethan Carnegie, Tyron Sweetman, Fee and Kuzmiak also scored for Dauphin. Cody Coombs earned the win in goal.

Will Galatiuk and Drayden Murray replied for Crocus Plains, while Radek Rockley was tagged with the loss.

After a spirited effort led to a 4-3 victory over the Portage Terriers, Nov. 22, the Dauphin Kings stumbled in a home-and-home with the Neepawa Titans.

Neepawa scored a 5-1 win over the Kings, Friday in Neepawa, before scoring a 2-1 win in Dauphin on Saturday.

As a result the Kings find themselves in third place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division, two points back of the Swan Valley Stampeders and one up on the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the Kings were not very good in Friday’s game against Neepawa.

“We were terrible. We weren’t very good. Had no jump,” he said.

Special teams played a role in all three games, last week. Dauphin did not have a single power play against Portage, which scored twice on five chances with the man advantage. On Friday, the Titans scored three times in five chances, including a five-on-three late in the second period when the Kings were called for three minor penalties three seconds apart.

On Saturday, Neepawa had a goal in four power plays, while the Kings only had two chances with an extra man.

Hedley said the calls on Friday changed the game.

“We chased the game the whole time. It was a bad goal the first one. He (Marko Belak) just missed it. Missed a wrist shot from the blueline. The second one bounced off two sticks and bounced in,” he said. “We had come back and were all over them in the second and they gave us three penalties, two different guys on the same stoppage.”

Hedley hopes this is the kind of adversity the team can learn from. The Kings, he felt, were the better team on Saturday.

“We deserved better. I thought our guys worked hard. It’s just we’re not crashing, we’re not going to the paint hard enough. We’re not getting traffic, we’re not getting in front of his eyes and taking his eyes away,” he said, adding some players had outstanding games, among them Jonathan Wong, who returned to the lineup after missing several games.

“I think our energy was better. Shift after shift in the second period, they never got out of their zone. We had all kinds of chances. Pucks didn’t bounce our way. Sometimes you go through it. But (Neepawa goalie Mason) Lobreau definitely stole the game for them,” Hedley said.

The game was Teddy Bear Toss Night for the Kings. After a scoreless first period, fans finally got to throw their stuffed toys onto the ice when Myles Yearwood scored at the 10 minute mark.

The weekend marked the debuts of forwards Aaron Neal, who was acquired from the British Columbia Hockey League’s Powell River Kings, and Roblin’s Jakob Brook, who was released by the Western Hockey League’s Regina Pats.

While it will take time for the newcomers to get used to the systems, Hedley feels the Kings will get better as time goes on.

“We’ve got a good hockey club. Now it’s a matter of finding ways to score and keep pucks out of our net,” he said.

The Kings are expected to make more roster moves this week, as Dec. 1 is the deadline to get down to 25 players.

The Kings will play the Winkler Flyers in a home-and-home this weekend. Friday’s game is in Winkler, with the rematch in Dauphin on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

The Kin Aquatic Centre was a busy place, Saturday, as Dauphin Clinic Pharmacy sponsored a free swim as part of the parade day activities.

The day also featured Christmas at the Fort and the return of the Christmas Parade of Lights.

The Grinch, along with some citizens of Whoville made the trip to Dauphin to take part in the city’s Christmas Parade of Lights, Saturday.

The parade was well attended with the streets lined all the way along the route to watch the more than 50 floats taking part.

A 6-4 victory over the Winnipeg Freeze, Friday in Dauphin allowed the Dauphin Kings to maintain their hold on second place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

Sunday’s game in Winnipeg was postponed due to the Grey Cup and will be rescheduled to a later date.

Winnipeg took a 3-2 lead into the first intermission and the Kings tied it in the second period. Dauphin took the lead with two goals in the first five minutes of the third and the teams traded goals to round out the scoring.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said it was not one of his team’s best games they’ve played this season.

“But at the same time, we found a way to get two points. Any win is a big win in this league. It’s not easy to do and any time you end up on the right end of the score is a good thing,” he said, adding there are still areas of the game the team has to work on.

“Including our work ethic. But you find a way to get it done and you move on,” he said.

The Freeze only have two wins on the season and are last overall with only five points. But they gave the Kings all they could handle, Friday.

“You have to give the Freeze credit, they played hard. They capitalized on some mistakes we made,” Hedley said.

“But we were on the wrong side of pucks a lot. We were on the wrong side of battles a lot. The back pressure that we’ve been doing consistently lately wasn’t there. Just the hard on pucks and stick battles. We weren’t at our best, but we found way to get it done.”

The first-ever Top Prospects Showcase was held in Portage, last Tuesday and Wednesday, with 12 players from the Kings taking part.

Hedley said all 12 players represented the team well.

“I thought all of guys showed real well and deserved to be there,” he said.

The Kings lineup will be bolstered by the addition of a pair of players from Ukraine, 20-year-old goaltender Dmytro Kubritskyi and forward Havryil Simchuk, who turns 16, Dec. 17.

Simchuk’s older brother Mikhail currently plays for the Brooks Bandits of the Alberta Junior Hockey League.

Hedley said once their paper work with Hockey Manitoba and Hockey Canada is done, they can start playing, which he hopes will be done by the end of the week.

The Kings were contacted last year by a representative of Canadian Friends of Hockey in Ukraine about Ukrainian-born players joining the team.

“They’re trying to place national team members in North America to play hockey somewhere, because of what’s going on there,” Hedley said.

The Kings will get a good test on Tuesday when the Portage Terriers pay their first visit to Credit Union Place at 7:30 p.m.

On the weekend, Dauphin plays the Neepawa Titans in a home-and-home, beginning Friday in Neepawa, with the rematch in Dauphin on Saturday. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.