The Incredibly Hip hit the stage at the Watson Arts Centre, Saturday, offering their own renditions of their favourite band, The Tragically Hip’s hits.

The tribute band from Winnipeg played in front of a crowd of about 100 people.

Wade Dance Centre’s 22nd annual recital drew just under 200 people to the George P. Buleziuk Centre.  Belva Wade Zentner’s students, who range in age from three all the way up to 20, thrilled the crowd with the perfection of their art.  At this year’s Northwestern Marquette Festival, the Wade Dance Centre students took all six of the adjudicator’s choice awards. 

 You can find more in the May 17^th edition of The Russell Banner.                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Thanks to a community based effort and the Lions Clubs in the Swan Valley area, northern and central Manitoba residents have an option to get cataract surgery done at the Swan Valley Health Centre (SVHC). 

The Lions Cataract Program is celebrating a milestone anniversary, however, it was facing record high wait times of 44 weeks, and recently according to the province’s cataract surgery wait times list posted online, it’s showing no services performed.

There's more in this week's Review!

A by-law was passed providing for the remuneration of members of council.

Council has not taken a pay increase since current indemnities were set back in 2020.

The monthly indemnity is as follows: Head of Council – $1,035.30 ($12,423.60 annually); Deputy Head of Council – $931.77 ($11,181.24 annually); Councillors – $828.24 ($9,938.88 annually).

Get all the details in this week's Roblin Review. 

For the first time since 2014, the Dauphin Kings are champions of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

Brayden Dube’s goal with 8:27 remaining in the third period snapped a 1-1 tie, lifting the Kings to a 2-1 victory over the Steinbach Pistons in game seven of the best-of-seven championship series.

Get more in this week's Roblin Review!

The Covid pandemic pretty much stopped the Roblin Archery Club dead in its tracks.

The club formed in 2020, thanks to the efforts of Francois Squirra, Corinne Berberat and David Sinclair, and members got about two or three practices in before pandemic restrictions were put in place and the fun came to end.

But the club reorganized this spring and is set to host its first-ever event, under the auspices of Archery Manitoba, at the Frank Skinner Arboretum Sunday, May 29.

More in this week's Review!

Volunteers were hard at work on Saturday (May 7) at the Swan River Centennial Arena preparing and handing out boxed shore lunch to go to benefit the Swan Valley Sport Fishing Enhancement. Patrons had the opportunity to purchase
boat raffle and 50/50 tickets before being provided their dinners.

A pair of Dauphin Kings fans take a swing at a car painted in Steinbach Pistons colours, including logos.

The destruction of the vehicle was part of the tailgate party the team hosted prior to game three, May 3.

The party included a barbecue hosted by Dauphin Consumers Co-op, a bouncy castle for the kids and a performance by the Chris Barker Band.

The Dauphin Kings and Steinbach Pistons are heading to game seven in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League championship series.

After splitting the first two games in Steinbach, the series shifted to Dauphin for games three and four, May 3 and 4.

Steinbach scored a 5-4 overtime win in game three, only for the Kings to bounce back with a 5-2 win in game four.

The Pistons blanked Dauphin, 2-0, in game five in Steinbach on Friday and had a chance to wrap up the series and claim the Turnbull Memorial Trophy, Sunday in game six in Dauphin. But the Kings stayed alive with a 2-0 victory of their own, setting the stage for the winner-take-all showdown in game seven, which goes, Wednesday in Steinbach.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the two teams match up pretty well, as the series is showing.

“When we get tough on pucks and hard on pucks and win stick battles, we’re a tough team to beat. And playing fast tonight, I thought we played real well,” he said, adding he felt the Kings deserved better, noting they had more chances than the Pistons did. “But at the same time, you have to give credit to (Steinbach goalie Will) Hambly. He played real well. The bottom line is we found a way,” he said.

What impressed Hedley the most about the game six victory and the third period when the Kings stayed the course and limited Steinbach’s scoring chances.

“We really stayed on them. We were relentless on pucks. Any chance they did have came from the blueline. There was nothing really in tight. So it was a good effort,” he said.

That has been the case for pretty much the whole series, Hedley said.

“Now our 20 year olds are our top guys, whether its Kaden Bryant, whether its Nakodan Greyeyes, (Matthew) Rathbone and (Logan) Calder can step up and win us a championship,” he said.

The line of Garrett Hrechka, who scored the game winner five minutes into the second period, Jeriah Shantz and Jayden Harris was outstanding in games four and six and produced offensively in both those games. The challenge facing the Kings in game seven is the small ice surface at the T.G. Smith Centre in Steinbach.

“In Steinbach, it’s so small there is no neutral zone. And halfway through a period, there’s so much snow the puck is bouncing. So it’s going to come down to a break and we’ve just got to make sure it’s us that gets the break,” Hedley said.

A break is how the Pistons won game five, 2-0, as Jack Rogers was the recipient of a shot that bounced off the glass behind the Kings net right to him and he deposited it into the open net on a power play.

Steinbach added an empty-net goal with four seconds left.

One thing the Kings can do better in Steinbach, Hedley said, is get to rebounds. In Sunday’s win, the Kings had more second shots in the first period than they had in the last two games in Steinbach.

“We’ve got to fight through it, try to find a way to get those second shots,” he said.

With two days between games, the Kings will have a chance to heal a bit as a few players are fighting colds. Monday will be a day of rest and they will get back on the ice Tuesday before leaving for Steinbach that afternoon.

Hedley has no plans to change the game plan, stating the Kings just have to keep winning battles, stay on the defensive side of the puck and be patient.

“The biggest thing is when we control the neutral zone, with even numbers and our D are up and playing aggressive and holding our blueline, we’re a tough team to beat. We’ve just got to make sure we make them work for everything they get and be confident that good teams don’t count on breaks, they make breaks count. That’s what we’ve got to do,” he said.

To counter the challenge of a smaller ice surface, the Kings need keep the game simple and smart.

“Everything has got to get behind their D. There’s no neutral zone, so you can’t be coming up the middle. You’ve just got to make sure you come up the walls and shut the walls down on them, because they do come at you hard and their D-men like to jump in as the second wave,” he said. “So you’ve really got to be smart on the rush and pick up those guys coming in.”

Hedley likes his team’s chances in game seven.

“We’ve been a good road team all year. There’s nothing better,” he said.

The Manitoba RCMP West District saw a year-over-year decrease in calls for March according to statistics released last week.

The district, which includes Dauphin, reported decreases in all main categories.

The following sub-category increases and decreases were highlighted by police:

• Common police activities - This category had an overall decrease of 19 per cent, from 569 calls in 2021 to 459 this year. The largest decreases was in suspicious people, vehicles or property, which dropped from 232 calls last year to 158 this year, a drop of 32 per cent, and breach of peace, which was down 33 per cent from 146 calls to 98. Wellbeing checks were up from 67 calls last year to 83 in 2022, an increase of 24 per cent.

• Crimes against the person - Overall, the category decreased from 381 calls for service last year to 346 this year, a drop of nine per cent, with a 15 per cent decrease in assaults, which were down from 232 to 198.

• Crimes against property - The category had a minimal decrease overall from 550 calls in 2021 to 547 calls this year, a drop of just one per cent. Theft under $5,000 increased from 112 requests for service to 136, an increase of 21 per cent, and fraud increased from 64 calls in 2021 to 71 in 2022, a rise of 11 per cent. Theft over $5,000 decreased from 42 to 29, a drop of 31 per cent.

• Drug enforcement - Overall drug enforcement decreased from 62 calls last year to 34 incidents this year, a drop of 45 per cent, with a notable decrease in trafficking, which was down from 42 to 17, a drop of 60 per cent.

The Manitoba East District also reported an overall decrease in incidents for March, dropping 13 per cent from 6,607 calls in March 2021 to 5,722 this past March.

The Manitoba North District, however, reported a 14 per cent increase in call volume climbing from 5,590 last year to 6,399 this year.