A five-game winning streak has vaulted the Dauphin Kings into a tie for first place overall in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

Rylan Gage scored twice and added an assist as the Kings beat the Northern Manitoba Blizzard, 4-2, Dec. 3, in The Pas.

Declan Hoad and Joshua Schmidt had Dauphin’s other goals, while Miguel Bouvier and Keenan McNeill replied for the Blizzard.

Cole Sheffield made 33 saves to pick up the win. Alex Reedy took the loss with 28 saves to his credit.

On Saturday in Dauphin, Gavin Nemis scored twice to lift the Kings to a 5-2 win over the Steinbach Pistons.

Ethan Stewart, Matthew Thomas and Hoad had Dauphin’s other goals. Sheffield was stellar in goal once again, stopping 34 shots.

Sam Noad and Mathis Laplante had Steinbach’s goals. Christian Green made 22 stops in taking the loss.

Dauphin nows sits with a 20-6-1-0 record for 41 points, equal to that of the Pistons, who have a game in hand, with one fewer loss.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the energy level the team had in The Pas carried the team to victory.

“Our energy level that we had up in The Pas carried through. The third period was really good we played up there. A really good structured game,” he said.

Saturday, the Kings still found ways to get the job done against a shorthanded Pistons squad.

“There were times when we could get better at certain things. But when we stick to our structure and stick to our plan of getting pucks in behind D units and not turning pucks over in the neutral zone, we’re a good hockey team,” Hedley said.

The line of Stewart, Hoad and Havryil Simchuk was Dauphin’s best of the night and they were rewarded with a couple of goals.

“I understand Steinbach was shorthanded, but I don’t think our top guys were our top guys either. The young kids were really good. Stewie, Hoady and Simmer were outstanding. They were one of our best lines all night,” Hedley said.

And that’s what you need. You’re not going to have the same guys doing the same thing every night. It’s great to have the depth. It’s great to have guys step up when the have the opportunity.”

The Kings host the Waywayseecappo Wolverines tonight at 7:30 p.m., before facing the Blizzard again in The Pas on Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Sunday, the Swan Valley Stampeders will pay a visit to Credit Union Place at 4 p.m., on tractor lotto night, where someone will win $100,000.

“We’re very happy to get 20 wins, but we sure want more. We have four games to go before we enter the break and each one is going to be tough. We have Wayway, (the Blizzard) twice and then Swan River. So we want to make sure that we take care of business and take it a game at a time and it starts Tuesday night against Wayway,” Hedley said.

Saturday’s game was the debut was Rylan Ringor, who made a nice spin-around move to feed a pass to Nemis for his first of the night.

The veteran has a high IQ, Hedley said, and can make plays in small places.

“He made a great play to Nemis last night to get him a goal. He has a high hockey IQ and knows where players are on the ice. If we can get him the right combination, he should be very good,” he said.

Hedley was not on the bench, Saturday due to an internal matter and wouldn’t comment. But he said the matter would be resolved by Thursday.

Kings court: Despite the current winning streak, the Kings dropped two spots in the Canadian Junior Hockey League Top 20 national rankings, from number 11 to number 13. The Pistons also dropped two spots and now sit at number 8. The Winkler Flyers cracked the list, coming in at number 20 . . . Cayden Glover continues to lead the MJHL with 22 goals, four ahead of Niverville’s Adam Vigfusson. Defenceman Naaman Hofer still leads with 27 assists, one more than Cameron Bullinger of Portage. Hofer also leads all defencemen in scoring with 31 points in 27 games. He is five points ahead of Blizzard rearguard Cheechoo Lathlin. Cole Sheffield tops the league with 16 wins and is fourth with a 2.31 GAA and third with a .925 save percentage.

To celebrate the release of her second book, On Veil Creek, Gaylene Dutchyshen hosted a book reading at the Dauphin Public Library, Saturday.

An avid reader as a child, she wrote her first novel in a Hilroy scribbler at the age of 13 and dreamed of becoming an author.

“I always wanted to write. I loved to read when I was a child,” she said.

“It was just something I always wanted to do. So I just set my mind to it.”

To help make her dream come true, Dutchyshen was 49 when she enrolled at the University of Manitoba in 2008 to complete here Bachelor of Arts degree, with a major in English literature.

She wrote a short story titled Fence Lines and, a year later while enrolled at Humber College, Dutchyshen worked with author Sandra Birdsell to expand the story into what became her first novel, A Strange Kind of Comfort, which was published in 2020. That novel was shortlisted for the Best First Novel in Manitoba for the Manitoba Book Awards.

Dutchyshen originally planned to be a teacher, but the program she was enrolled in changed, meaning she would have had to take another year. But being married, she didn’t want to go to university for another year, so she quit.

“And then I just always wanted to finish that degree. And I love school. I love learning. I’ve always loved to learn and it was just an opportunity that came and I did it. I graduated and I was almost 50 years old,” she said.

Because she had trouble finding a publisher, Dutchyshen decided to start her own publishing company, Scarlet Sky Press.

“A lot of people who self-publish, that is part of the reason. I had a lot of people asking, ‘when is the second book coming out?’ And I thought, I wasn’t going to wait around forever to find a publisher that’s going to take it. And I just thought I can learn to do it myself,” she said.

So Dutchyshen took a publishing course online and purchased some software to format the book herself. She also contacted people looking for a book designer and found someone to do her book trailer.

On Veil Creek was printed by Leech Printing in Brandon.

Dutchyshen has a website www.scarletskypress.ca and she will submit an item to the Manitoba Writer’s Guild newsletter, hoping to attract other writers.

Read more in this week’s Dauphin Herald.

The Parkland Rangers are struggling to find a consistent effort in recent games.

With just 14 skaters available, last Tuesday, the Rangers came up with a big 4-3 win over the visiting Central Plains Capitals.

Cade Legaarden had a goal and two assists to lead the Rangers offensively.

Dayson Martin, Quentin Fisk and Noah Smigelsky also scored for Parkland in support of Kyle Pelletier, who made 33 saves to record the win in goal.

Jaxon Hildebrand, Ethan Dion and Tryp Klassen replied for the Capitals, while Riley Foster made 19 saves in the loss.

Despite the return of some of their injured players back in the lineup, the Rangers came up with a lacklustre effort in a 4-1 loss to the Interlake Lightning, Saturday.

Blake Farthing scored twice and Cole Swanson had three assists to lead the Lightning attack.

Drew Russell and Will Van Norman had singles and Dylan McFadyen made 20 saves in goal.

Alex Campbell had Parkland’s only goal, while Mierau had a busy night in net, stopping 51 shots to keep the Rangers in the game.

On Sunday, with each team dressing just 15 skaters, the Lightning swept the two-game set from the Rangers with a 3-0 decision.

Mackenzie McPherson with two and Lucas Spencer scored for Interlake, while Seth Schaeffer made 34 saves to record the shutout.

Pelletier stopped 32 shots before he was pulled after allowing two goals in the first 1:03 of the third period. Mierau stopped all 12 shots he faced.

Rangers head coach Tom White said the team simply didn’t show up ready to play on Saturday.

“It was a bad scene. Nobody came to the rink ready. The focus wasn’t there and it showed,” he said.

“We didn’t deserve anything, yesterday. We didn’t work at all. It was just horrible yesterday.”

White was pleased with the effort on Sunday, noting the Rangers had a good first period.

“Ran into penalty trouble. But we worked hard enough. We didn’t get any bounces go our way today and I think that frustrated a few guys. But the effort was there. We just couldn’t bury on our chances,” he said.

The return of a few of the walking wounded will help as the Rangers try to right the ship going forward.

“It makes it a little less tiring for other guys, so we’re happy to have them back,” White said.

The Rangers will look for another good effort, tonight, when they end their six-game homestand against the Southwest Cougars at 7:15 p.m.

Parkland has just one game on the weekend, a Saturday afternoon affair with the Bruins in Winnipeg at 4 p.m.

In order to turn things around, White said the players just have to keep working hard.

“That’s all. Come to the rink ready to play. I think the guys did come to the rink ready today as the first period showed. We’ve just got to keep the band together and keep forging on here,” he said.

“It’s a long season. There’s lots of time here. We’re right in the thick of things here. We’ve just have a little bit of a hole to climb out of. Today was a step forward, I thought. We had a pretty good effort today. I was happy with what we did out there. We just couldn’t bury our chances, couldn’t get a bounce.”

Three straight wins has the Dauphin Kings starting to pull away from the Northern Manitoba Blizzard in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

Dauphin swept a home-and-home with division rival Virden Oil Capitals, scoring a 6-3 win on home ice, Friday night, before netting a 4-1 victory in Virden the next night.

At 18-6-1-0 for 37 points, the Kings are six ahead of the Blizzard with a game in hand. Dauphin sits second overall, just two points behind the Steinbach Pistons.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the team is down two players due to injury, allowing other players to step up.

“I thought everybody played fairly well. We came off one of our better defensive games against Portage and played very well in the D zone. And I thought we did the same on Friday and Saturday was okay,” he said.

“There were times when we got hemmed in our own end, but we kept it on the perimeter. And both goaltenders were good on the weekend, so it makes it a lot easier.”

Having success on the road gives the team confidence going forward as they have three road games this month, all against the Blizzard.

“We know if we battle and compete and play a structured team game, we’re going to be very tough to beat,” Hedley said.

Although the Kings are starting to put some distance between themselves and the second-place Blizzard, Hedley said they can only control what they do.

“We’ve been focusing on how we play and taking care of business of our own and what ever happens, happens. We’re comfortable with the way we’re playing right now and we’re getting contributions from the back end and some depth up front. So it’s been a good run, for sure,” he said.

Forward Ashton Paul left the team to return home to The Pas. Hedley said they are trying to make a deal to accommodate him.

The first of the three games in The Pas is tonight at 7 p.m.

The only other game this week is Saturday, when the Kings host the Pistons at 7:30 p.m.

It is hockey card night as the team will be signing their hockey cards for fans.

Kings court: The Kings begin the week maintaining its hold on 11th place in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Top 20 national rankings. Steinbach moved up three spots to number six, while Winkler and Selkirk were honourable mentions . . . with 10 goals and six assists in 11 games, Cayden Glover was named the RBC Player of the Month for November. Blake Matheson of the Winkler Flyers is the Safe Work Manitoba Defenceman of the Month after scoring twice and adding 11 assists in 11 games. Christian Green of Steinbach is the Original 16 Goaltender of the Month after recording eight wins, a 1.55 GAA and .943 save percentage with one shutout. Koy Funk of the Portage Terriers is the Chevrolet Rookie of the Month. The 16-year-old tallied three goals and nine assists in 12 games. Swan Valley Stampeders forward Will Brown is the Manitoba Pork Peak Performer after netting four goals and 13 assists in 12 games.

The Association of Manitoba Municipalities fall convention in Winnipeg provided an opportunity for local governments from across the province to meet and discuss various issues surrounding their communities.

With the convention being held in Winnipeg, it also gave mayors, reeves and councillors a chance to meet with various provincial ministers, which was one of the highlights of the convention for Rural Municipality of Dauphin reeve Ernie Sirski.

“We had 17 of the 18 (ministers) at the head table, answering questions. And they had no idea who was going to ask what question and which minister was going to address it,” he said.

“That stood out in my mind more than anything. Those people stood up there, they answered some really tough questions.”

Sirski himself asked one of the toughest questions, asking what can Manitoba do to offset the 25 per cent tariff recently proposed by US President-elect Donald Trump.

“And (Manitoba Premier) Wab Kinew himself answered the question. Now he put a lot of the heat on the Feds, but the long and the short of it is he said we have to stand up to Trump, we have to seriously look at the two per cent defence spending that Trump keeps talking about and the premiers are totally behind trying to make sure we can deal with Trump on a united basis,” he said.

Among other highlights was the election of a new AMM executive, with Thompson city councillor Kathy Valentino being chosen for president.

“I think she’ll bring a different style to the leadership of AMM. And, especially her being from northern Manitoba even makes it a little more exciting. I think it’s going to be interesting to see how she handles things given where she is,” he said.

“She’s a long way from Winnipeg where all the meetings are. But from what I’ve been told, she’s very dedicated and she’ll do a great job.”

Sirski was also pleased to see an election for vice-president.

“People running for two positions. Democracy is always interesting to watch,” he said.

RM of Dauphin CAO Nicole Chychota is also on the AMM board of directors.

Sirski, along with City of Dauphin mayor David Bosiak had a chance to meet with Justice Minister Matt Wiebe regarding the proposed Justice Centre, which was promised during the last election campaign.

Sirski said it was a good three-hour discussion regarding the centre, but he noted Minister Wiebe would not provide a timeline.

“I asked a couple times. And three times he said, ‘we are committed to this project.’ So I had to leave it at that, being fairly comfortable saying they’re serious about going ahead with it,” he said.

Sirski noted the convention featured a list of good speakers, including the former Chief of Police of Winnipeg, who hosted a good discussion on how to deal with people and how to move things along with people,” he said.

There are always some good general topics that come up. One that Sirski attended was on municipal planning and issues that have to be dealt with, not only locally, but provincially, as well, and what to keep in mind when planning a subdivision or business area.

“It was an interesting discussion,” he said, adding there were 700 registered delegates for the convention.

“I ran into some old friends that I haven’t seen in quite a while, which was kind of nice. I got to renew some acquaintances and got to make some new ones. It’s always a pleasure to do that,” he said.

Sirski credits the AMM staff for putting together a good program for the convention.

The Dauphin Kings maintained their hold on first place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division despite splitting their two games, last week.

On Thursday, the Waywayseecappo Wolverines built a 4-0 lead and hung on for a 4-2 win over the Kings in Waywayseecappo.

But the Kings rebounded with a 3-2 win over the Portage Terriers, Saturday in Portage.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said Thursday’s loss was not a case of the Kings taking their opponents lightly.

“We don’t seem to get the energy level, the compete level. And maybe it’s a subconscious thing against certain teams. But we’ve had success against them early in the season. It was 8-0 here in Dauphin. And when guys start thinking point night, you get in trouble,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, you’ve got to respect your opponent. They beat the Blizzard the next night. We know they’re a fast hockey club. They’ve got some offence and if they get goaltending from the young Wareham kid (Jase Wareham), like they usually do, they’re tough to beat. And every team should be taking every team serious.”

As an example of the increasing parity in the league, Hedley pointed to the Winnipeg Freeze beating the Neepawa Titans, 3-2, Sunday night in Neepawa. It was Winnipeg’s second straight win and only their third of the season.

Hedley was pleased with the rebound effort against Portage, which is 1-4 since an 11-game winning streak was snapped, Nov. 15.

The game marked the debut of Shea Rollason, who was called up for the contest.

“I was very happy with the compete, with the energy. We were shortstaffed. The young Rollason kid played very well. Stewie (Ethan Stewart) played very well with (Cayden) Glover and (Gavin) Nemis. So I was very happy with the rebound effort,” he said.

The Kings will face the Virden Oil Capitals in a home-and-home this weekend, beginning Friday in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m., followed by the rematch, Saturday in Virden.

It will be the first meetings between the two teams since opening weekend, which the Kings swept by scores of 3-0 in Virden, Sept. 20, and 4-2 in Dauphin, Sept. 21.

Hedley hopes the team can build an identity where the compete level is always the same.

“You’re going to make mistakes. It’s how you recover and rebound and come back harder. We’re going to play a good team home-and-home and we’re looking for a solid effort both nights,” he said.

At 16-6-1-0 for 33 points, the Kings are in sole possession of first place in the division, two games ahead of the Northern Manitoba Blizzard, with one game in hand.

Dauphin is also second overall, two points behind the Steinbach Pistons.

Kings court: The Kings dropped two spots in the Canadian Junior Hockey League Top 20  national rankings. They now sit 11th, while the Steinbach Pistons dropped from fourth to ninth. The Winkler Flyers enter the Top 20, sitting at number 17 . . . with two goals against Portage on Saturday, Cayden Glover now leads the league with 19 goals, four ahead of Niverville’s Adam Vigfusson. Naaman Hofer continues to lead the league with 22 assists and he is the top scoring defenceman with 26 points. Cole Sheffield leads the league with 14 wins.

The Gilbert Plains Trojans won the bronze medal at the Manitoba High School Athletic Association’s A/AA Junior Varsity Volleyball Provincials in Winnipeg, hosted by Immanuel Christian School.

The Trojans began the tournament with a 16-25 and 20-25 loss to the Gabrielle-Roy Led Roys of Ile-des-Chenes.

Gilbert Plains then lost to the Warren Wildcats, 23-25 and 13-25 before getting into the win column with a 25-27, 25-23 and 15-7 win over the Wawanesa Warriors.

In the quarterfinals, the Trojans faced their Parkland rivals, Goose Lake Angels, scoring a 25-20, 22-25 and 15-11 victory to advance to the semifinals, where they lost, 17-25, 25-16 and 8-25 to Warren.

In the bronze medal game, Gilbert Plains defeated Wawanesa, 25-21 and 25-20 to win the bronze.

Taedyn Solski was named to the tournament all-star team.

Warren went on to win the provincial title with a victory over Gabrielle-Roy.

Clippers win

The Dauphin Clippers hockey team continued its winning ways, Sunday afternoon, scoring a 3-2 overtime win over the Minnedosa/Erickson Chancellors.

Ethan Carnegie’s second goal of the game, 13 seconds into overtime lifted Dauphin to the victory.

Ronin Mouck had Dauphin’s other goal, while Zachary Lamb and Grady Burton replied for the Chancellors.

Chase Glover made 33 saves to record the win in goal, while Parker Soltys made 23 saves for the Chancellors.

Clippers assistant coach Curtis Yaschyshyn said the Clippers got better as the game went on after a slow start.

“We haven’t skated in a week and it showed out there, today. Hopefully, the boys are learning that we can’t just show up at the rink and go. We’ve got to be ready to play right off the first puck drop,” he said.

The Clippers weren’t skating as well as they have in the past, which led to their lacklustre play at times.

Yaschyshyn said it is always a concern when the team is not playing well.

Read the full story in this week’s Dauphin Herald.

The Dauphin Kings sit alone in first place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division after winning two of three games, last week.

The week began with a 3-1 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders, Wednesday in Swan River, followed by a 4-2 setback at the hands of the Neepawa Titans, Friday in Dauphin.

The Kings rebounded with a 5-2 win over the Stamps, Saturday on home ice.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the Kings deserved better against Neepawa, who got the game winning goal with 2:11 remaining in the third period.

“We outplayed them so bad in the third period. I thought our third period was really good (Friday) night. We were in their end most of the night. Most of that period, for sure,” he said.

“We started off fast, got a 2-0 lead and that was kind of a jinx. All of a sudden guys were on their heels and they’re not working as hard as we should be. We had so many opportunities. You’ve got to credit their goaltender, he was real good. But again, we’re still not taking their eyes away and not getting to the greasy rebounds.”

Hedley said the Kings let Neepawa hang around too long instead of putting them away after going up 2-0.

“When you have opportunities to put teams away, you need to do it. We just let them hang around too long and deserved better. But it is what it is. You’ve got to make sure you play 60 minutes,” he said.

The struggling Stampeders played hard, Wednesday in front of an afternoon crowd of 651 fans on the team’s school day game.

But Swan Valley’s netminder Elias Giaccari-Dimitriou kept his team in it, making 46 saves.

The power-play continues to produce, scoring three times in the two games on the weekend.

“We had some good movement. Guys are twisting the box a little bit and creating some seams. We’re getting some big rebounds,” Hedley said.

Overall, Hedley is pleased with the team’s play, noting at five-on-five, they are letting teams hang around too long.

Prior to the loss to Neepawa, the Kings won eight of nine games, going 8-0-1-0 in that span.

“Parts of our game are really good. There’s part of it that it’s a work in progress. Net front, low D zone, that type of thing. When we’re on pucks and we’re tough and we’re competing and winning stick battles, we’re a tough team to beat,” he said.

Defenceman Aiden Murray is out four to six weeks with an upper body injury. Forward Nathan Lenoski left the team to return home to become a firefighter.

“It’s disappointing. We were looking at doing something anyway. But he came in and said his heart wasn’t in it. He was tired of being injured all the time and decided to go back to his hometown and was offered a firefighting job. So he’s going into firefightng and playing in the MM (Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League),” Hedley said.

The Kings are on the road this week.

On Thursday, the Kings face the Waywayseecappo Wolverines at 7:30 p.m., before visiting the Portage Terriers, Saturday, also at 7:30 p.m.

At 15-5-1-0, the Kings are in first place with 31 points, two ahead of the Northern Manitoba Blizzard.

Kings court: The Kings moved up three spots to number 9 on the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Top 20 national rankings. The Steinbach Pistons sit at number 4, while Portage is number 14.

The Dauphin Clippers are hoping for a wildcard berth to provincials after failing to win at the interzone playoffs, Saturday in Swan River.

The Clippers boys won their semifinal match, beating the host Swan Valley Tigers, 25-11, 25-19 and 25-15.

In the final against the top-ranked Neelin Spartans, the Clippers fell in straight sets, 20-25, 18-25 and 23-25.

Clippers coach Taylor Schmidt said the team played very well in the first match against the Tigers.

“We played very disciplined and played with a lot of energy. Swan River pushed back a couple of times and the team didn’t panic. They kept playing disciplined volleyball and we were able to beat them three straight,” he said.

It was a different story against the Spartans, the number one-ranked team in AAA volleyball.

Schmidt said the Clippers were playing even with Neelin until late in each match.

“The third set, we had them on the ropes and were playing really, really well. Like the team they are, the number-one team, they’re very consistent. Not a lot wavers from them and they pushed back,” he said.

“I believe it was 23-23 at one point. We played them in the final at the Brandon University tournament, our very first tournament of the year, and the boys showed a lot of improvement and a lot of pushback. I was really proud of how they competed in the finals of the interzones.”

Neelin won that Brandon University tournament over the Clippers, 25-13 and 25-18.

The interzones, each match is a best-of-five, while during the season, matches were a best-of-three.

While that may not change a team’s strategy, it does change a team’s mindset going into each match, Schmidt said.

“To beat someone, any opponent, three sets is tough. Because you’ve got to be pretty consistent throughout the whole match. You can’t take a couple sets off or you can’t take a couple points off. You’ve need to be able to play pretty consistently for a longer period of time,” he said.

“It’s more of a different mindset.”

The Clippers, Schmidt noted, likely played their best volleyball of the season in the third set against Neelin.

“The boys, being down two, didn’t stop competing and actually pushed back,” he said.

The Clippers have applied for a wildcard berth to provincials.

Schmidt is confident his team will make an appearance at provincials, which will be held, Nov. 28 to 30, in Winnipeg, hosted by Westgate Mennonite Collegiate.

Over the course of the season, the Clippers compiled a strong record against other AAA teams.

“Now it’s up to the MHSAA (Manitoba High School Athletic Association),” Schmidt said, adding the Clippers did everything they had control over going into the wildcard selection process.

“The hard part is you don’t know who else applied and you don’t know how many teams there are. We’re hoping for at least a shot at a  match to try and earn our spot.”

The Clippers girls lost their semifinal match to the Virden Golden Bears, going to distance in the best-of-five set match.

The scores were 23-25, 25-17, 17-25, 25-21 and 12-15.

It was the only match to go all five sets between the boys and girls’ interzone playoffs.

Neelin also won the girls’ berth, beating Virden in straight sets in the final.

A lifetime of activity in bowling has led to the Manitoba Bowling Hall of Fame for a Dauphin resident.

Ralph Piasta was inducted into the Bowling Hall of Fame of Manitoba for meritorious service, Oct. 27 in Winnipeg.

Piasta, who learned of the honour about a month ago, has been involved in 10-pin for 40 years, serving in various executive positions across multiple leagues. He currently serves as the secretary of the Thursday afternoon Golden Ages League and he has served on the 10-pin tournament committee, currently as treasurer.

In the past, Piasta has served as president of the Dauphin 10-pin Association board, as well as also serving as a director on the provincial board.

When he found out about the honour, Piasta was surprised to even be nominated.

“And then when it got approved, that was kind of neat,” he said.

Being inducted, he said, is good recognition for the years of promoting the sport and being an active bowler.

“I’m on the tournament committee. I’m vice-president of one of the leagues. I’m secretary in another league. I’m on the board for the Dauphin 10-pin association. I chase down sponsors to keep the sport alive in Dauphin. There’s lots of good stuff,” Piasta said.

Piasta and another senior bowler started a league seniors about 29 or 30 years ago.

“So then we had two senior leagues in Dauphin for a while. And the other league folded after a few years, because we like to chase around. We go to Brandon. We go to Minot to bowl. And it was good. Some of the older bowlers didn’t want to travel that much,” he said.

Piasta continues to be active in the sport because he enjoys it.

“If I bowl good, it’s fine. It’s a bonus. If I just plain bowl, that’s good, too. That’s keeps me going in it,” adding he bowls twice a week, Tuesday in the men’s league and Thursday’s with the Golden Age League.

Piasta was unable to attend the ceremony due to illness, but he was represented by his children.

“They had what they called Flat Ralph there. It was a cardboard cutout of head and shoulders and about a full sized face glued onto this thing. And they put a fancy sport shirt on me. I was probably a bigger hit then than it would have been if I was there,” he said.

“And then my son read my acceptance speech.”