The longest running social in Dauphin was held, Saturday, as the Dauphin Fire Fighters Association hosted its 122nd Fire Fighters’ Ball.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation of the Jack Carey Memorial Fire Fighter of the Year Award to Jordon Steiner.

In his remarks introducing Steiner, Dauphin fire chief Cam Abrey said Steiner is a past member of the executive of the firefighters’ association and has been an integral part in the past successes of the firefighters’ ball in previous years.

Abrey added Steiner continues to volunteer for the various events that the department takes part in and takes on a leadership role in every aspect of the department’s operations.

“Earlier this year, Dauphin Fire Department responded to a tragic accident as mutual aid to the Gilbert Plains Fire Department. In the hours, days and weeks following that incident, Jordon called or messaged not only members of DFD to check in on how they were doing, but also the members of GPFD,” Abrey said. “In June, following the incident that our fellow firefighters responded to at Carberry, Jordon suggested that Dauphin Fire send a contingent to their annual Cowboy Breakfast to show our support for them and what they had recently experienced.”

Steiner played a major role in an incident at Dauphin’s Countryfest when he came across an incident involving a festival goer that had been injured. First aid volunteers were there, but recognizing the urgency of the situation, he stepped up and assisted, in a major role, in getting the injured person to the ambulance and awaiting paramedics.

“I have worked alongside of this individual at training events and emergency response scenes and the level of compassion that they demonstrate when it comes to patient care is top notch,” Abrey stated. “Considering that he has recently started a new career, built a side business that he is committed to after his regular employment and has also become a new father, it is astonishing that he has still attended approximately 60 per cent of the calls over the past 10 months and almost 90 per cent of the weekly training. Astonishing, but not surprising given the integrity that he displays on a daily basis.”

Nominations for this Jack Carey Memorial Award are forwarded to the fire chief a month prior to the ball, submitted by the firefighters. There were five nominations received this year, all five were for Steiner, which Abrey said goes to show what an impression he has made on his fellow fire fighters.

“It’s a huge honour,” Steiner said.

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Norman Lacquette hits Minnedosa’s Rem Lemoing in the first period of Saturday’s game between the Dauphin Clippers and visiting Minnedosa Chancellors.

Sully Fox scored twice to lead the Clippers to a 5-2 win. William Miner, Liam Chartrand and Boston Karlson had Dauphin’s other goals, while Joe Tabin made 26 saves to earn the win in goal.

It was Dauphin’s second straight win, coming on the heels of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Hamiota/Rivers/Elton/Strathclair Huskies, Friday in Hamiota.

Chartrand scored twice in regulation, with Karlson and Ronin Mouck netting singles. Miner had the winner in the shootout, which lasted 12 rounds. Owen Chubka made 33 saves for the win.

The Parkland Rangers swept a weekend doubleheader over the Kenora Thistles, this past weekend.

A 5-3 win on Saturday and an 8-4 victory on Sunday, has the Rangers on a three-game winning streak going into a pair of home games with the Winnipeg Wild, this weekend.

Rangers assistant coach Colton Robak said the coaching staff was pleased with the team’s play over the weekend.

“It’s a big four points going into next weekend and next weekend is going to be even bigger against the Wild. We know we can beat them,” he said.

Parkland built a 7-2 lead 20 seconds into the third period of Sunday’s game, but Kenora, now winless in 11 games this season, made a game of it with three in the period.

“At the end of the third, we weren’t completely happy with the way we played. There’s some teaching points,” Robak said.

The Rangers may have played down to Kenora’s level at times, but when teams get a big lead, they sometimes sit back a bit.

But the Rangers, Robak said are having fun on their current winning streak.

“It’s getting into the boys’ heads that you’ve got to keep playing with that tenacity. You got to keep playing with a lot of grit right to the very end. It’s 60 minutes in a game,” he said.

The focus going into the two games with the Wild this weekend is to build off the success of the two games against Kenora.

Parkland worked on a lot of systems against Kenora to solidify those systems.

“So that, going into those games against the Wild, we just have to play smart and play simple. That’s the biggest thing right now,” Robak said. “The boys are having fun and we’ll go into this week for some practice and work on some things.”

Saturday’s game against the Wild begins at 7:30 p.m., while Sunday’s meeting gets underway at 1:30 p.m.

The Bayer Crop Science Parkland Super League of Curling got underway, Sunday, with two games.

Defending champion Greg Todoruk of Richardson Pioneer defeated Rob Fisher of Hrychuk Yard Solutions, 6-4, while Glenn Toews of Nutrien Ag Solutions beat Oil Depot’s Jim Todoruk, 4-2.

The game between Chad Sahulka of South Fork Ag Services and Turko Fertilizer’s Kyle Forsyth was postponed to Monday.

A pair of Dauphin defenders push a Virden player out of bounds in the Murray Black Cup, Saturday.

The Clippers overcame the cold, snowy conditions to score a 31-18 victory, to win the Murray Black Cup.

The Doug Steeves Cup will be played, Saturday, featuring the top two teams in the league, the second-place Interlake Thunder facing the number-one ranked St. Vital Mustangs in Winnipeg.

After seeing their four-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Niverville Nighthawks during the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s annual Showcase, the Dauphin Kings have started another winning streak, this one reaching three games going into this week.

The Kings rebounded from last Monday’s loss to Niverville with a come-from-behind 3-2 shootout win over the previously unbeaten Winkler Flyers.

Dauphin then made it two wins in a row with a 7-2 win over the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, Friday in Dauphin and made it three straight wins with a 7-2 win over the Winnipeg Freeze, Sunday in Winnipeg.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt the players were a bit nervous heading into the Showcase, which resulted in the loss to the Nighthawks.

“The guys want to get to the next level. We’ve been playing outstanding and we’ve been playing as a team. And we just got caught up in a little bit of the atmosphere there and the talk about schools coming up to watch,” he said. “I think we just got onto an individual page a little bit. We started doing things that we weren’t accustomed to doing all year, making an extra move before we pass the puck up, trying to beat guys with toe drags. And our rush defence wasn’t very good.”

Austin Seibel got the start in goal and played well, according to Hedley.

“He made some big saves. You can only give up so many odd man rushes before it kills you. And I thought we learned from it. We had a really good third period,” he said.

Dauphin fell behind Winkler, 2-0 after the first period and tied the game in the second with a couple of power-play goals.

“We sure never quit and the guys stuck together and found a way to get it done. It was a huge win for us,” Hedley said.

The Kings carried the momentum of that win into Friday’s contest against the Wolverines, building a 5-1 lead before the game was 10 minutes old.

“The way we started the game tonight was a direct result of that game in Winnipeg. We were on our toes and we set the pace right off the hop against Wayway,” Hedley said.

Dauphin’s power play, which struggled early on, is on fire as of late. In the last five games, the Kings have scored 13 times in 30 tries with the man advantage, a 43.3 per cent clip.

As a result they now have the best power play in the league, with a 31.4 per cent success rate.

Hedley noted all four goals at the Showcase came on the power play.

“Guys are starting to move pucks and we’re starting to get some breaks in front of the net,” he said. “The guy that’s in the right spot a lot of times net front is Walks (Logan Walker). He’s making a big difference and he’s getting some big goals for us.”

The Kings will look to extend their winning streak when they host the Wolverines, Friday, at 7:30 p.m., before heading south to take on the division-leading Virden Oil Capitals, Saturday.

Kings court:

The Kings moved up two spots in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Top 10, coming in at no. 10. After two weeks at no. 1, the Winkler Flyers dropped to no. 5 this week, while the Steinbach Pistons come in at no. 8.

Jeannette Ritchot tickled the ivories, Friday, to open the open mic night at the Old Fire Hall at the Watson Arts Centre.

A capacity crowd of more than 40 people enjoyed an evening of entertainment by local musicians.

The next open mic night will be held, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m.

A lack of urgency and compete resulted in the Parkland Rangers winning just one of three games over the weekend.

In the team’s annual Hockey Fights Cancer Game, the Brandon Wheat Kings scored five times on the power play en route to a 9-2 win.

The next day, it was the Norman North Stars which took advantage of Parkland’s penalty kill, scoring three times in a 4-2 victory.

Parkland got a measure of revenge, Sunday afternoon, when they connected four times on the man advantage in a 10-1 rout of their northern counterparts.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said Brandon’s top players proved to be hard to play against, which is something he hopes his players can take away from that game.

“That was the message that we wanted to have overall, as an entire team. We don’t have three or four players that are going to break the game open. We’re a team that has to work together,” he said.

Prior to Saturday’s loss, Carefoot asked his players what type of player to they want to be.

“All these players and families aspire and hope that they’re going to play at higher levels of hockey. In order to do that, you need to ask yourself if you are a competitor. If you are tough to play against and you have that internal drive to be the ultimate competitor. And (Saturday) we lacked that,” he said.

The Rangers turned things around, Sunday, and earned the two points to build some momentum going into next weekend, when they host the winless Kenora Thistles, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Despite the number of power-play goals the Rangers gave up, Carefoot said that is not why they lost.

“It just comes down to being ready to play and being hard to play against and tough on pucks. It doesn’t matter what level of hockey you watch, whether it’s the NHL, the junior leagues, the Western League, junior A, the Kings, all the language is the same. And that’s the question you have to ask yourself. Am I hard to play against?” he said.

“Going forward, we have to have that mindset. Every player. You have to be on the right side of pucks. All of us need to buy in. And that’s the message going forward.”

An agriculture project in which 160 acres of canola was planted will benefit the Dauphin and District Community Foundation.

Jason Beyette spearheaded the grow project starting in the spring, with various sponsors donating everything that was needed to make the project a success.

“We had received donations from various retailers. The Co-op was instrumental in getting the seed organized for the field and then they followed it up with the chemicals to spray the crop,” he said. “And we’ve had other retailers, like 360 Ag Consulting. They provided the agronomy for us and told us what we needed to do on the field.”

Reit-Syd Equipment looked after all the custom spraying, as well as donating two combines to harvest the crop, which took place, Oct. 17.

“And the Michaeleski family has been trucking it into town for us to the elevator,” Beyette added.

The idea came from one of the DDCF board members, Beyette said.

“Sherrie Volk had noted that in her hometown of Elkhorn, their community foundation had done a grow project and she thought it would be neat to do that here,” he said.

The land used for the project was owned by the late Peter Sklepowich.

Beyette does not yetknow how much the project will raise and it will be a while before they do.

“But we’re hoping to raise a substantial amount of money through this grow project,” he said.

Because of the success of similar grow projects as a fund-raising endeavour, Beyette feels it would be a wonderful fund-raiser for DDCF if they can get the land to do it again.

“I think retailers are very charitable in giving product to organizations to get a crop in the ground. And I think there’s always producers willing to lend a hand to help that succeed,” he said, adding his thanks to everyone who has contributed to the project. “And thank you to the foundation for taking the leap and going forward with it,” he added.

Kit Daley, DDCF executive director, said the project will have a huge impact on what the foundation can grant every year.

“Obviously, every donation helps, but the hope with this crop is it will be a substantial gift and it will increase annually what we can give back to the community. So the more projects and organizations we can support through our granting program, the better it is for our community,” she said.

The SVRSS Tigers Boys and Girls Soccer teams travelled to Dauphin for the MHSAA Soccer Provincials for the second straight season as wildcard teams for their respective groups...