The Parkland Pirates rugby program has partnered with Rugby Canada to bring rugby into local schools for students in Grades 4 and 5.

Codi Harrigan has been running clinics in the five elementary schools in Dauphin, as well as in Grandview, after receiving a bursary from Rugby Canada,

“That’s something we’re incredibly proud of, especially as the only club in Manitoba and Saskatchewan leading this kind of work,” he said.

“It’s always been about the long game for us. We knew from day one, real results would take time, consistency and belief.”

The school program began, Apr. 6, and will end with a jamboree, May 15.

“All the schools will come together and showcase what they’ve learned, play against other kids and network with the other kids,” Harrigan.

The response to the program has been great, Harrigan said, adding the students are now playing the game.

“Whereas the first time we all got together, the kids had never even seen a rugby ball or knew anything about the sport. This week, every school has been playing full games of rugby between themselves,” he said.

The key to teaching the students about the game, Harrigan found, was hiding the learning in fun games and drills.

“We started off with a game called chaos and basically just built on that. Just hiding these little things in these drills and these fun games for them. Keeping it fun. At the end of the day, we still want them to just come out and have fun, pass the ball, get some touches in,” he said.

Harrigan visits some schools once a week and others twice a week. He added he would like to see the schools take the program on themselves.

For the full story, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

They entered provincials in Winnipeg this past weekend with high hopes, but in the end the Parkland Vipers 13U girls volleyball team had to settle for a 13th place finish out of 32 teams.

The Vipers opened the tournament with a 25-19 and 25-16 win over the Winnipeg Bandits and followed up with a 25-22 and 25-16 win over Brandon Volleyball Club.

A 15-25, 25-19 and 10-15 loss to Winman of Winnipeg left the Vipers in a three-way tie for first place in their pool, with Parkland claiming first place after the tie-breaker.

Parkland began the playoffs with a 25-12 and 25-12 win over Interlake.

A 25-27, 25-14 and 15-17 loss to Taika of Steinbach knocked the Vipers out of the top eight.

After a 14-25, 25-14 and 10-15 loss to Skyline of Winnipeg, the Vipers beat Brandon once again, 22-25, 25-23 and 15-10 to finish 13th.

Vipers assistant coach Ted Rea felt it was a disappointing result, given how well the team has played prior to provincials.

“The team that we had to play to get into the top eight was a team that had basically played 14U teams all season. So they were ranked 17th, but really they should have been ranked four, five or six. They were a pretty good team,” he said.

The teams which finished second and third in Parkland’s pool had an easier route to the top eight than the Vipers.

“So it was kind of a disappointment as far as we had to beat that team and  we ended up losing the third game 15-17,” Rea said.

“We had a chance to win a couple of times, but just couldn’t do it.”

Overall, the Vipers completed one goal on the first day of provincials by finishing first in their pool.

“And on the last day, when we could have folded our tents and gone home with our tails between our legs, the girls played with some pride and we ended up winning our last two matches on Sunday to finish 13th out of 32,” Rea added.

Looking back at the season, Rea feels the Vipers had a great season. Out of the five tournaments in which they competed, the worst they finished was fourth.

“Which is fantastic. We were right there with the teams like Winman, who ended up second in our pool. That team ended up losing in the finals to Bisons Gold,” he said.

“We had a pretty strong pool, I think, and the other two teams stayed on the A-side of the tournament. We can’t complain. I think the girls did improve and we’re looking forward to 14U next year.”

Rea wishes to thank the parents for their support over the course of the season and his son Sean, who served as head coach.

The Dauphin Kings will have a new face behind the bench next season after mutually parting ways with Doug Hedley.

Kings interim president Bryan Romanow said the board decided it was time for a change.

“And we basically mutually agreed to separate,” he said.

The Kings are now taking applications for the positions of head coach and general manager, with a May 3 deadline.

Romanow said junior hockey has become more focused on developing players.

“Which Doug is really good at. So we’re going to probably continue with that. And winning isn’t bad, either,” he said, adding experience would be an asset.

“But we’re open to whatever comes our way. We’ll go through an exhausting application process and find the best candidate we can for the organization,” Romanow said.

With the Manitoba Junior Hockey League annual general meeting scheduled for late May or early June, the Kings hope to have someone in place before then.

“We’d like to wish Doug all the success in future endeavours and he did a great job with the Dauphin Kings,” Romanow said.

For Hedley, he made it clear before the playoffs started he would like to return.

“It was one of those things that it’s just going to work better for both. We’ve parted ways and have agreed to move on,” he said.

Hedley leaves the team as the franchise leader in games coached (770), wins (461) and losses (259), as well as 33 overtime losses and 17 shootout losses.

He also guided the Kings to a Turnbull Cup championships in 2022, his first and only title in his junior career.

For the full story, read this week's edition of the Dauphin Herald.

With more than 130 vendors and large crowds throughout the weekend, the Dauphin’s Countryfest Business Expo was a great success.

Business Expo chair Natalie Haslund, who also serves as beverage services chair for Countryfest, was pleased with the number of vendors for this year’s event.

“There was probably an extra 20 to 30 vendors added on. Tons more crafters, crafter-plus. The attendance has been phenomenal. Our 50-50 is double from what it was last year. It’s just been a great turnout, so I’m really happy with that,” she said.

While there were plans to add more crafters to the expo, Haslund said the request from local crafters to attended was already there.

“We took it over last year from the Kinsmen and we weren’t sure what to expect. We took it over in January and only had four months,” she said.

“This year we had a year to plan for it. So there was just better planning, I think more awareness about the expo. And we were able to advertise a little bit more, as well. So we knew what to expect or what we could offer everybody.”

Last week’s snow storm kept some out-of-town vendors from the expo.

“It was just the snowfall. The only reason why some a few vendors did not show up, they were snowbound or they just couldn’t get out in time,” Haslund said, adding organizers extended the set-up time to Saturday morning to allow for that after the storm hit.

Changes were also made to accommodate the entertainment lineup, which included Bluey, Taylor Swifter and Princess Bell.

“But overall, the turnout was really good,” Haslund said.

“This year was a great success and we look forward to doing next year and seeing how we can do more.”

Two Parkland Pirates rugby teams recently returned from a trip to England and Wales, where they played games against local teams and did some sightseeing along the way.

Organizing for the trip began two years ago, right after a team from the program returned from a trip to Ireland.

Trip organizers go through a gentleman who runs Irish Rugby Tours, which organizes professional rugby tours around the world.

“We worked with him on the last trip to Ireland, which was amazing. We went through him again for this trip to England and Wales. And it was another amazing and great experience trip,” said Pirates coach Aaron Miner.

The Pirates’ girls team was 2-2 in their games, while the boys were 1-2.

Although the results were mixed, the experience gained was positive, Miner said.

“It would be like an English high school hockey team coming to play our high school hockey team,” he said, adding the Pirates played a game against the Bristol Bears farm team.

“The Bristol Bears are like the Rink Academy of London. It’s a prep school. They were so kind. They rolled out the red carpet everywhere we went. We were given their best coaches the day before to run drills in a training session for us,” Miner said, adding they also played the Harlequin rugby team, as well as Cardiff in Wales.

“We played their largest club team. We were just so happy with the way the boys played. We won one out of three. The girls won two out of four. It’s amazing to even touch the ball down in the try zone when you play against teams of that caliber,” Miner said, adding the results were one step better than when the teams went to Ireland.

For the full story, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

The Dauphin Clippers rugby teams have begun working towards a four-peat as Westman High School Rugby champions.

While some players attended player academies before Christmas, the teams began ramping up workouts about seven weeks ago, holding practices in the high school gym.

“Our numbers were anywhere from five to about 13. And now that basketball is done, we should be 20-plus,” said girls coach Shawn Sarkonak, who said the team is looking good so far. He added there are a number of veterans who will be expected to lead the team this year.

“It’s also a big harvest year for us with graduating players and, of course, the handful of Rotary exchange students. This year’s 15s season, we have four, I believe, so on top of nine to 11 graduating Grade 12s, it’s going to be a big harvest year and rebuilding going into next year,” Sarkonak said.

Being limited to what they can do indoors, the Clippers have been focusing on conditioning for the most part.

“Especially for the new ones coming in, making sure they have the cardio to hold up in a 60-minute game, if they end up having to play that long,” Sarkonak said.

“And just making sure they’re ready, so when we get to go outside, we hit the ground running and get tackling and doing our safe play game prep.”

But for now, the teams are also working on the basics of the game, getting the ball in their hands and getting used to the core skills.

Although hesitant to predict how the Clippers girls will do this season, Sarkonak said there is a lot of experience on this year’s squad.

“We have some quality young athletes that started back with us in the 7s season that will push for a starting spot and looking to join the leadership moving forward,” he said.

“With this year’s  Grade 11s taking the reigns heading into the fall, I’m confident in the fact that we’ll have a lot of skill. And, with the ones that are away on the trip in Wales and England, it will give us that much more of a jump when the season gets going.

“So you’re always optimistic, but you don’t want to be overly confident either. But we’re definitely chasing that four-peat.”

Boys coach Aaron Miner said the Clippers are looking good so far.

“We have a large group of Grade 12s this year. A few Grade 11s and then another huge group of Grade 9 and 10s. So the plan is to put two teams into the league this year, because we have so many,” he said.

“We don’t want to lose any kids for future years, so we want to find a place for all of them to play.”

The coaching staffs for the two teams will be announced after the annual John Keogh Tournament in Brandon, later this month.

Coaches will include Miner, Mark Symchych, Gerald Lopez and Mike Penner.

Players from both teams were recently on the trip to England and Wales as part of the Parkland Pirates program, where they played against youth teams, before returning home on Sunday.

“We came over here and we’ve seen what we needed to see. We learned a lot. We were taught a lot of lessons. School of hard knocks, we’ll call it,” Miner said, adding they won one game against a team out of London and were taught a lesson in rugby by an academy school that was part of the Bristol Bears program.

They ended the tour with a game against Cardiff, which Miner said was the most amazing match he’s ever seen.

The trip to the United Kingdom will benefit both teams when the season begins.

“By the time we hit our first game after the Keogh, we should be midseason stride. We’ve been practicing since January now, with this group and we feel as if we’re way ahead of the game,” Miner said.

“We came out with very limited injuries after the tour here in Europe. We’ll be heading into the season fully healed, fully ready to go with two full squads of very knowledgeable boys.”

Miner expects to not only win the league for a fourth straight time, but he expects to face Winnipeg’s perennial powerhouse St. Paul’s Crusaders in the provincial final.

“Our goal is to meet St. Paul’s in the final. I hate to put the cart before the horse, but our dream matchup will be nothing less than St. Paul’s for the gold medal this year,” he said.

Professional Bullriding Canada (PBR) makes its return to Credit Union Place, May 23.

Lindsey Kyle, assistant general manager at Dauphin Recreation Services, said about 200 tickets have been sold to this point.

“We started selling them mid-December for those who maybe wanted to get stocking stuffers or Christmas gifts. So we started then and have made steady progress,” she said, adding DRS hosted a PBR night at a Dauphin Kings game last month, where coupons were given away, encouraging people to buy tickets at a $5 discount.

“We did see an uptick in tickets purchased over that weekend. And we hope to continue to see that as the event gets closer and closer,” Kyle added.

The major sponsors are Crossfire Bullriding, DRS and Dauphin Agriculture Society.

“It’s exciting to bring the PBR back to Dauphin once again,” Kyle said.

While the bullriding is the highlight of the evening, there is more to take in.

“It always kicks off with a preparty. This year that is going to be sponsored by the Dauphin Ag. Society. So stay tuned for events that will happen before the shows kicks off and the bulls start bucking,” Kyle said.

Although only 200 tickets have been sold, Kyle said they are hoping for a sellout of 1,500 people.

“We’ve got a little ways to go and we hope we sell the building out,” she said.

“I just would encourage people to get their tickets soon. There’s different levels of seating available, so the prime seating, obviously, always sells out first.”

People can purchase tickets by visiting the Crossfire Bullriding website at crossfirebullriding.com. Tickets range from $30 to $60.

“The bulls buck for about two hours, so it’s very affordable,” Kyle said.

A highlight of this year’s show will be some local junior bullriders trying their luck.

The second annual Ukiefest Bonspiel hit the ice at the Parkland Recreation Complex curling rink, this past weekend.

The family event saw 26 teams entered for a weekend of fun and frivolity, with members of Canada’s National Riding and Dancing Cossacks on hand to keep everyone in line.

When all was said and done, Nolan Hadway and his team - which includes Bryanne Bates, Alex Iwanchysko and Evan Gullett - won the first event, defeating The Princess Team.

Makenna Hadway was third and Ashley Sidar was fourth.

Dave Bencharski and his team of Abbey Lachowsky, Jacquie Bencharski and Nicole Ogryzlo, won the second event, beating Jens Jensen.

Tom Messinbird placed third and Therese Deah was fourth.

The team of Max Galloway, Gracey Gulak, Melissa Galloway and Greg Dyck won the third event, beating Lucas Boulbria.

Mazer Group Service was third and Mazer Group Parts was fourth.

The 13U Parkland Vipers girls volleyball team won a tournament hosted by Club West in Virden this past weekend.

The Vipers split their matches in the round-robin, beating Offspeed Red, 25-7 and 25-17, and Brandon Westman, 25-15 and 25-20. They lost to Brandon Volleyball Club (BVC), 21-25, 25-15 and 16-18, and completed the round-robin with a 24-26 and 22-25 loss to Selkirk.

After BVC lost to Westman, the Vipers finished second in their pool and played Moosomin, Sunday morning to open the playoffs.

Parkland advanced to the quarterfinals with a 25-17 and 25-19 win, where they defeated Offspeed Black, 25-20 and 25-19 to move on to the semifinals.

Parkland defeated Queen City out of Regina, Sask., 22-25, 25-13 and 15-10, to advance to the final where they met Selkirk in a rematch.

This time the Vipers got the better of their opponents, with a 22-25, 25-14 and 15-6 win to claim the tournament championship.

After playing just okay on Saturday, the team talked about how it wasn’t their best volleyball.

“And then we came out that second day and we played some really great volleyball. Our offence was really on point and our serving was great,” said head coach Sean Rea.

“And so we came out and beat a bunch of teams that we actually lost to in round-robin play and came out with the win.”

Rea said the girls were excited to win their first tournament of the year.

“We’ve had a couple of close finishes. Third at the Premiere Tournament and we’ve been just losing out in the semis a couple of times. So I think the girls were really excited and it’s always good to come home with a win.”

The win, Rea added, will do wonders for the team’s confidence as they head into spring break.

“We have a week or so off before our next match. So I think it’s good to go into that break on a high and come out as champions,” he said.

Playing in front of their hometown fans, the Ste. Rose Celtics boys basketball team won the bronze medal at provincials, Saturday afternoon.

The Celtics opened the tournament with a 61-48 win over the Dufferin Christian Stingers, Thursday.

The Celtics then fell, 95-36, to the Glenboro/Baldur Panthers in the semifinals, setting up a bronze medal showdown with the Wawanesa Warriors.

In a back-and-forth game, the Celtics prevailed, 64-58.

Aiden Brunel was named a tournament all-star for his efforts.

Celtics coach Nathan Zadorozny said it was a loud and emotional game.

“The fans in Ste. Rose were incredible and they really helped us win that game. It was a hard fought effort by our guys,” he said.

The Celtics led by nine at halftime, but the Warriors fought back and took the lead at one point. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Celtics regained the lead for good.

“We had some foul trouble from our varsity guys and a couple of Grade 9s and Grade 10s had to step into the game and they really made a big impact to keep us in the game,” Zadorozny said.

Zadorozny had never won a medal before as a player or coach, so this was a big moment for him, as well as the players.

“This is the best feeling ever. This is my first medal game ever. And the guys gave me a medal. They brought it home for me, so it feels absolutely amazing right now,” he said.

Zadorozny said the Celtics were one of the hardest working teams all year long, which was a key factor in its success.

“And we always go no matter what the score is. We had to fight back after that loss against Glenboro. It was a pretty big loss. They’re a very good team. But we didn’t care. We just knew we still had a job to do and we went and did it,” he said.

Zadorozny saw an improvement in the team’s play since the start of the season.

For the full story, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.