Mountain View School Division and Assiniboine Community College Parkland Campus hosted their annual Graduation Powwow, May 16, at the Dauphin Recreation Services grounds in Dauphin. The 12th annual event is a chance to honour all of the graduates in the Parkland for their achievements and wish them well in their future endeavors as powwows represent all peoples coming together in dance to celebrate one another and their diversity.

The Dauphin Clippers rugby teams swept the Crocus Plains Plainsmen in Westman High School Rugby action, May 6 in Dauphin.

The Clippers girls won their game, 52-0, while the Clippers boys picked up their first win with a 21-14 triumph.

Clippers girls coach Shawn Sarkonak felt his team moved the ball fairly well in the windy and rainy weather conditions.

“It did get sloppy at times, a bit. But I think the girls responded really well with the elements they were given. But I think the best part of the game was the tackling and counter-rucking,” he said.

“They were able to get the ball back if it was turned over or lost. And I thought that was part of the strong point of the game.”

The girls ended the regular season, Monday, with a 69-0 win over the Souris Sabres in Souris.

The league semifinals will take place, May 22 and 23, with the finals taking place, May 25.

No matter who they face in the playoffs, the Clippers are looking forward to defending their league championship.

Get all the details in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The Dauphin Clippers baseball team opened its Prairie West High School Baseball League season with a pair of losses.

The Clippers dropped an 18-8 decision to the Neelin Spartans, Wednesday in Dauphin, before suffering a 10-9 defeat at the hands of the Major Pratt Trojans of Russell, Sunday in Dauphin.

In his first year coaching the Clippers, Mark Graham has been impressed with the team’s pitching, especially against the Trojans.

Check this week's Herald for the full recap. 

The Dauphin Clippers rugby teams opened the season last week.

The girls opened their season with a pair of lopsided wins, beating the Swan Valley Tigers, 94-0, Apr. 30, in Swan River, before beating the Vincent Massey Vikings, 95-0, Friday in Brandon.

The boys lost to their season opener, 34-14, to the Crocus Plains Plainsmen. Friday’s game against the Vikings was postponed and rescheduled to May 15 in Brandon.

Raylyn Koshowski led the way against Swan Valley with three tries. Paitin Bougouin and Megan Thompson had two tries each, while Ruth Evan, Mai Maguet, Bree Walker, Alma Schlapfer, Scarlet Ruiz, Felicity Sahulka, Desiree Flower, Ashley Korney and Mila Heschuk added singles.

Thompson added five converts and Walker had two.

Scoring for Dauphin on Friday were Walker and Schlapfer with three tries each and Evans, Tanya Devos, Kiersten Vandekerkhove, Thompson, Breanna Gryba, Sahulka, Ruiz, Ruth Dandeneau and Hailey Garlinsky, all with singles.

Thompson recorded seven converts and Walker had two.

After the depth lost from last year’s roster, Clippers coach Shawn Sarkonak knew they would have an athletic squad this year.

“But would be a little more inexperienced compared to last year. But they’ve come out of the gate running, that’s for sure. It’s been amazing to watch,” he said.

The season opener against Swan Valley, Sarkonak said, was the team’s most complete game, even going back to last season, when they went 9-0.

“It was just run, catch, pass. Just running hard lines, committing defenders and passing. It was a treat to watch, really. It was not just one or two people controlling the game. It was a complete team game,” he said.

And that, he added, is what coaches look for.

“When we talk to the girls, we tell them that if you’re wanting to go higher in rugby, those high performance coaches, university coaches, they don’t look to see who does the scoring. They watch what leads up to it. What created that opportunity. They look for the skill set,” Sarkonak said. “They know that there’s finishers out there and there’s people that can go out there and score. But they really want to see the skill set. And that’s what it seems to be happening right now in these first two games.”

Owen Tyschinski and Josh Yakielashek had the Dauphin boy’s tries and Colton Miner had two converts.

Clippers coach Aaron Miner felt the Clippers went into the game a little overconfident after the John Keogh Rugby Festival, Apr. 20. in Brandon.

“The boys felt they had it won before the game even started. And we were surprised by what they brought. They obviously didn’t show all their cards at the John Keogh,” he said. “We heard some of their bigger, stronger players were at a football camp that weekend. So we weren’t totally surprised. But we were definitely surprised when they showed up with six boys in their pack that definitely outsized our pack.”

Miner feels his team needs to bulk up in the front end of the pack.

“Not to make any excuses. They played a great game and they were definitely the better team on that day. But we were missing a few or our key players. Once we get our key players back in the lineup for Monday’s rematch against Crocus, I think we’ll be okay. I think it will be a pretty even game,” he said.

Both Clippers squads hosted Crocus Plains last night in the one and only home game of the regular season.

The girls won their game, 52-0, while the boys picked up their first win of the season, beating the Plainsmen, 19-14.

Both teams will be in Souris, next Monday, to face the Sabres.

Dauphin Co-op has jumped on board as a major sponsor of the 2024 Manitoba Summer Games powered by Manitoba Hydro.

On Friday, Dauphin Co-op donated $50,000 to the games, providing a variety of in-kind support in the form of fuel and food.

This investment will help offset operational costs for more than 900 competing athletes, coaches and volunteers participating throughout the week.

Dauphin Co-op general manager Lorne Eiffert said it was an easy decision to support to the summer games.

The full details are in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The Dauphin Kings got a glimpse into the team’s future at its annual spring camp, this past weekend at Credit Union Place.

More than 100 players hit the ice hoping to make an impression with the team’s coaches and scouts.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said there were two teams of 2009-born players, who will be eligible for next year’s draft.

“We’re looking for a watch list of players to watch for next season and get more comfortable with the guys that we’re going to draft in 2025,” he said. “It’s great to see those kids out. It was tough, because last year we had three teams. But the MJHL is running one this year at the end of May, so a lot of players decided, because we were going to be there, they would skate there. Still, we had a very good turnout.”

There were also four teams of players born between 2006 and 2008.

“Those kids are a lot of our list kids, a lot of kids that we want to draft this year. So it was really good for us to see them skate. Really good for our scouts to see them skate,” Hedley said. “And then we’ll put our list together after camp of the ‘08s that were here and rate them and rank them and get into a situation where we’re comfortable at the draft.”

Hedley liked what he saw on the ice from the young skaters, noting U.S. scout Andy Kubas brought some players from south of the border to camp.

“We’re really happy with those guys. We’re happy with some of the talent we have in the ‘08, ‘06 group and the ‘07 group from Saskatchewan and Manitoba. So it’s a good mixture of players and there’s some real good skill sets out here,” he said.

Hedley anticipates inviting 10 to 15 players back for the fall camp. He noted there were other players who could not attend the spring camp as they were competing at the Telus Cup U18 national championship with the Brandon Wheat Kings, which lost in the final to a team from Quebec.

There were also other players who could not make it to the spring camp, but will be here in the fall.

Since the season ended, Hedley has been busy getting ready for the spring camp and will now shift his focus to the league’s annual general meeting where the schedule for the 2024-25 season will be set. The draft will take place, June 2.

A new champion was crowned last week when the Winkler Flyers beat the defending champion Steinbach Pistons, 5-4 in overtime, Friday in Winkler.

Hedley said the Flyers were a big, heavy team that played heavy all season.

“It was well deserved. They’re a good team. Probably the heaviest group of forwards in the league. They had a great run. I offer my congratulations,” he said. “It’s always good to see different teams and the parity in the league that different teams are winning championships. I think they’ll represent our league very well.”

The Parkland Mavericks have hit the pitch to prepare for the upcoming season.

The Mavericks will play in Rugby Manitoba’s Men’s Division 2, with five other squads. Teams will play 10 games, one home and one away against each of the other five teams.

The Mavericks practiced outside for just the second time last week.

“This week was really the kickoff to the preseason and practicing, working towards the regular season that kickoffs, May 25,” said Mavericks player-coach Shawn Sarkonak.

After Rugby Manitoba failed to schedule any games for the team last year, the provincial organization changed things up to cater to each division’s strengths.

Check this week's Herald for more!

The short high school baseball season is about to get underway, with the Dauphin Clippers aiming for a berth at provincials.

The team began practicing in mid-March and will likely field a roser of 16 players.

Mark Graham will coach the team this year. He said it is a unique opportunity since he hasn’t coached in a while and hasn’t seen any of the players in action.

“So seeing what I’ve seen in the gym so far, we’ve got a fairly young group and a lot of them have played ball at a fairly competitive level. So the young guys have been pretty impressive,” he said. “Mix in a couple of the older guys and it’s a decent crop. But until we get outside, it’s pretty hard to tell too much of what’s going on.”

The Clippers are back in the Prairie West High School Baseball League and will play six games against teams in the North Division.

Find out when the season begins and more in this week's Herald!

The Dauphin Clippers boys and girls rugby teams were in Brandon, Saturday for the annual John Keogh Rugby Festival.

The girls won both of their games, beating Crocus Plains, 48-5, and scoring a 72-5 win over Vincent Massey.

A third game was more of a controlled scrimmage between the Crocus Plains rookies and Dauphin rookies. The reason for this, according to Clippers girls coach Shawn Sarkonak, is because Crocus Plains had a late influx of about 15 players.

“And they’re now sitting around 38 (players), so we wanted to make sure that everyone got some quality field time to get some good experiences,” he said.

Overall, it was a good tournament for the Clippers, with Sarkonak noting it was the first time the tournament has been held since 2019 because of the pandemic and adverse weather.

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