Twenty-five teams took to the ice at the Parkland Recreation Complex curling rink, this past weekend for the Dauphin Curling Club’s annual men’s bonspiel.

Nick Ogryzlo’s rink with Glenn Toews skipping, won the first event, sponsored by Embroidery by Design, beating Brad Edwards. Ogryzlo’s team includes Nick Solomon and Reid Procyshyn.

Darcy Todoruk was third and Paul Scinocca was fourth.

Doug Fisher and his team of Lorne Orpin, Mike Zazuliak and Ryan Zazuliak needed an extra end to beat Jared Nimegeers in the second event, sponsored by McMunn and Yates Building Supplies.

Regan Hedley was third and Glenn Rozak was fourth.

Chad Sahulka won the third event, sponsored by Parkland Source for Sports.

Sahulka’s team includes Terron Stykalo, Tyson Gillis and Tere Stykalo.

They defeated Ken Levandoski in the final, while Morley Bourns was third and Jeff Campbell was fourth.

The fourth event, sponsored by Baker Computers, was won by the team of Brian Freiheit, Dan Hudson, Keegan Freiheit and Kai Schettler.

They defeated Logan Devos in the final, while Greg Thompson was third and Kyle Forsyth was fourth.

This weekend will see the Royal Canadian Legion Dauphin Branch No. 20’s annual mixed bonspiel, Mar. 7 to 9.

The Dauphin Clippers varsity boys basketball team moved one step closer to provincials after completing a sweep in the zone playoffs against the Swan River Tigers, Feb. 24, with a 101-50 win in Swan River.

Clippers coach Steven Hudyma said the team played well despite missing one of their key players due to illness.

“And some other players stepped up, so it was a good win for us,” he said.

“The key to that victory was our tenacious defence and sharing the ball on offence.”

After a loss in game one, the varsity girls forced a third and deciding game with a 74-50 win in game two, Feb. 24.

But their season came to an end, Wednesday, when they lost 52-44.

The varsity boys will now host a provincial qualifer tournament this weekend, with their first game, Friday, against the St. Maurice Patriots.

Playing on their home court in the provincial qualifier should give the Clippers confidence heading into the tournament.

“The boys are very excited about that. To have a little more support from your crowd and just to do things at home and sleep in your own bed at night will make a big difference,” Hudyma said.

Eight teams will take part in the qualifier, with the top three teams advancing to provincials, in Winnipeg, Mar. 20 to 22, hosted by Westgate Collegiate.

Hudyma likes his team’s chances, with the way they have been playing of late.

“The mindset of the players has been where it needs to be,” he said.

The Dauphin Clippers varsity boys are one win away from a berth to a  provincial qualifying tournament after a lopsided 109-36 win over the Swan Valley Tigers in game one of the zone playoffs, Thursday in Dauphin.

Originally scheduled for Swan River, Feb. 17, the games featuring both the varsity boys and varsity girls were postponed due to the extreme cold and moved to Thursday in Dauphin.

Clippers boys coach Steven Hudyma liked what he saw from his team on the court.

“I really liked the way we played as a team today. And continuing going forward that’s what we’re going to have to do to be successful,” he said.

The Clippers used their pressure defence to continuously steal the ball resulting in the lopsided score. That pressure defence, Hudyma said, is one of the team’s strengths to create easy baskets.

“We started off a little slow with making some of our three-point shots. But then we were back to normal within the second quarter,” he said.

The Clippers, Hudyma added, like to mix it up with the defence to create easy layups and they rely on three-point shots when they are in their half-court set.

The Clippers advanced to the provincial qualifier with a 101-50 victory in game two, Monday in Swan River.

Prior to that, the Clippers have an exhibition game with Yorkton this Tuesday.

In the girls game, Swan River led for most of the contest, but the Clippers hung around and took the lead thanks to a late push only to see the Tigers sink a three-pointer with 31 seconds left to seal a 62-60 victory.

Clippers coach Natasha Nepinak has been telling the team all season to push through the fatigue.

“We went from having injuries to have not very many players. So we tell them to keep pushing and keep fighting to the very end,” she said.

Nepinak  is confident the Clippers can even the best-of-three series, Monday in Swan River.

“I think we have a good chance against them. I think that this was an off-game. I don’t know what was going on. I feel like we were kind of a little bit scrambled, but I feel like closer to the end we played how we usually play. So I have a good feeling in Swan next week,” she said.

Nepinak wishes they had a fan bus going to Swan River with them to cheer the team on. The fans in attendance on Thursday were loud and raucous as the Clippers made their late push to take a lead in the last minute.

“The fans are amazing. The energy in here was amazing. They help us all the time,” she said.

The key to winning Monday’s game is simple.

“Knowing that it’s do or die. If they want to continue practices, if they want to continue playing games, then they know what they have to do and that’s win.

The girls got the job done, forcing a third and deciding game with a 74-50 victory, Monday in Swan River.

Game three will go in Swan River on Wednesday.

The Dauphin Kings U15 hockey team won the provincial gold on home ice, this past weekend.

Hosting the Co-ed U15 A provincials, Dauphin opened the tournament with a 6-4 win over Virden.

Drayson Demeria led the way with three goals and Kellan Shtykalo added a pair. Carter Smigelsky had a single as Carter Porath earned the win in goal.

In Dauphin’s second game, Brayden Abrams scored twice and had an assist and Kenai Mouck scored once and added two assists in leading the Kings to a 7-2 win over Morden.

Demeria also scored twice, with Samson Bourgouin and Rossi Puchailo adding singles. Kaysi Sliworsky was in goal for the win.

The final game of the round-robin was a showdown for first place in the pool against Carman.

Smigelsky had a goal and two assists and Puchailo scored twice to lead Dauphin to a 6-3 victory.

Shtykalo, Abrams and Demeria had Dauphin’s other goals, while Porath was in goal for the win.

In the semifinals against Brandon, Shtykalo scored three times to lead Dauphin to an 8-4 triumph.

Bourgouin, Abrams, Mouck, Weston Rank and Puchailo also scored for Dauphin in support of Porath, who picked up the win in goal.

Dauphin got off to a quick start in the gold medal game against Swan Valley as Shtykalo opened the scoring just 15 seconds into the game.

Swan Valley tied the game with four seconds left in the second period and it stayed that way until Demeria netted the gold-medal winning goal with just 10 seconds remaining.

Shtykalo added an empty-net goal with five seconds left to seal the victory for Dauphin.

Porath was in net for the win and Rank chipped in with two assists.

Carman beat Brandon, 4-3 to win the bronze medal, while Virden won the consolation with a 5-1 win over Winkler.

The Swan Valley Stampeders U15 squad came within a hair of capturing provincial gold this past weekend in Dauphin. In the gold medal game, Dauphin broke a 1-1 deadlock with just 10 seconds remaining on the clock, then added an empty net goal immediately after to relegate the young Stamps to the silver medal finish. The 3-1 loss was a tough pill to swallow. Here, Stamps forward Jake Nykolaishen heads up ice in search of a goal. See next week’s Star and Times for the full story.

The Parkland Rangers have their fate in their own hands entering the final week of the regular season in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League.

The Rangers make their final trip to Winnipeg on the weekend, dropping both games to the Winnipeg Wild.

Reid McIntyre scored twice and added an assist and Declan Siwicki also scored twice to lead the Wild to a 6-0 win, Saturday.

Gino Cotroneo and Tyson Nimetz also scored for Winnipeg and Dawson Groen made 22 saves to record the shutout, while Kyle Pelletier made 30 saves in taking the loss.

On Sunday, Luca Pura’s goal midway through the second period stood up as the winner in a 2-1 Winnipeg win.

McIntyre had Winnipeg’s other goal, while Brayden Budolowski replied for Parkland.

Justin Perreault made 15 saves to earn the win in goal for the Wild. Piet Mierau had a busier afternoon, making 40 saves.

Parkland maintains its hold on sixth place in the standings, with a 23-20-1-1 record for 48 points. They are tied with the Pembina Valley Hawks, but have the advantage with 23 wins compared to 20 for the Hawks.

The Interlake Lightning and Eastman Selects are tied with 47 points entering the final week.

Parkland will be in tough when they face the Brandon Wheat Kings, Wednesday in Brandon.

But Parkland’s future will be decided on the weekend when they travel to Beausejour for a twinbill with Eastman, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Another busy week in the Westman High School Hockey League saw the Dauphin Clippers earn seven of a possible eight points, solidifying their hold on second place.

The week began with a 9-3 win over the Roblin/Grandview/Gilbert Plains Raiders, Tuesday in Dauphin, with Ronin Mouck leading the way with three goals and an assist.

On Wednesday in Russell, Mouck had two goals and two assists to lead the Clippers to a 5-2 win over the Major Pratt Trojans.

The only blemish came, Saturday in Dauphin as the Swan Valley Tigers scored a 4-3 shootout victory over the Clippers, with Mouck adding another pair of goals.

In the team’s final home game of the regular season, the Clippers beat the Reston/Melita/Hartney/Souris Renegades, 3-0, with Ethan Myhre stopping all 24 shots he faced to record the shutout.

Clippers coach Josh Yaschyshyn was pleased the team’s play, noting they are banged up right now.

“We’re getting contributions up and down the lineup. Guys are battling through injuries, sicknesses. A couple of APs have taken time out of their busy schedule to come help us out, as well,” he said.

“We won three games and lost in a shootout against a good Swan team. So I’m real pleased with the effort this week.”

The Clippers end the regular season with a pair of game son the road.

Thursday, the Clippers make their way north to face Swan Valley in a rematch, which could determine which team finishes in second place.

Dauphin currently holds down that spot with a 24-4-0-2 record for 50 points, five ahead of the Tigers, who have four games in hand.

Dauphin ends the regular season, Feb. 25, in Sandy Bay against the Badgers.

Yaschyshyn hopes the team can keep the momentum going as they prepare for the postseason.

“You’re always building towards the playoffs. Two games left, one against Swan, one against Sandy Bay. Hopefully, we can put out best foot forward going into the playoffs,” he said.

A chance in the playoff format will see the top eight teams select who they want to face in the first round of the playoffs.

At this point, Yaschyshyn said they have talked a bit about what they want to do, taking into consideration factors such as travel distance and how they match up with their possible opponents.

“We won’t decide on that until everything is all finished and everything is finalized,” he said.

Varsity boys win

consolation

The Clippers varsity boys basketball team won the consolation at a tournament in Neepawa, this past weekend.

After losing, 79-65 to the Souris Sabres, Dauphin beat Gilbert Plains/Grandview Co-op team, 111-44 in the consolation semifinals.

Dauphin then defeated the Boissevain Broncos, 104-24 to win the consolation.

Dauphin will host a JV girls provincial qualifying tournament, Feb. 28 and Mar. 1, and a varsity boys provincial qualifier, Mar. 7 and 8.

Dauphin will then host the AAA JV girls provincials, Mar. 13 to 15.

A Dauphin football player will be in Florida next week as part of the Manitoba Selects football team.

Brenden Higgins, 17, was selected to play for the Selects at a tournament in Miami and Orlando, Fla., Feb. 14 to 23.

Higgins attended three tryout practices in Winnipeg, which weren’t grueling.

“They weren’t hard practices. They were easy practices,” he said, adding he was excited when he made the team.

“I was ready to travel.”

Higgins has played several different positions for the Selects, starting as a defensive tackle. That changed after a trip to Minneapolis.

“We decided that wasn’t the best spot, because those big boys were throwing me around. So I went to linebacker and these past couple of practices, they put me back at linebacker and at guard,” he said.

Higgins began playing football just last year. His favourite part of the game is hitting people. The Grade 12 student hopes to catch the eye of some scouts as he looks to land a scholarship.

Despite one of their worst games of the season, the Dauphin Kings managed to extend their lead over the Northern Manitoba Blizzard and Neepawa Titans in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

Just six days after spoiling the party on Ukrainian Night with a 4-2 win over the Kings, the Virden Oil Capitals scored three times in a span of 1:21 midway through the first period of Friday’s game in Virden en route to an 8-0 shutout victory.

The Kings had little time to dwell on that loss as they faced the Blizzard on home ice for the first time this season, scoring a 3-1 victory, moving eight points ahead of the Blizzard and Titans.

Neepawa lost to Winkler, 3-2, Saturday, blowing a 2-0 lead.

The Kings came out flying, scoring on the first shift of the game just seconds in when Rylan Gage blasted a slap shot past Blizzard netminder Taye Timmerman.

Havryil Simchuk would get credit for a goal on a goalmouth scramble to give the Kings a 2-0 lead and Gabriel Bugeaud made it 3-0 before the period break.

It would stay that way until Miguel Bouvier put the Blizzard on the board with 4:08 remaining.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the team didn’t play that bad in Friday’s game in Virden.

“It’s that just everything went in. Yash (goalie Bryson Yaschyshyn) had one of the toughest nights. We didn’t help him. At times we didn’t play well defensively, we didn’t help out. We didn’t compete like we did tonight,” he said.

“We were hard on pucks tonight. We were battling. It was a great rebound game.”

Friday’s loss was a costly one for the Kings as they also lost forward Cayden Glover for four to six weeks with a broken wrist, as well as defenceman Aiden Murray for a couple of weeks with a rib injury.

On top of that, the team’s best defenceman Naaman Hofer was hit with a two-game suspension for a cross checking major in Friday’s game. He will be able to return this weekend.

Playing the next day was huge for the Kings, Hedley said, especially after losing those three players.

The line of Joshua Schmidt, Gage and Sheldon Shyiak was fantastic, Hedley said.

“They’re a heavy line. They can play against some good top lines and they were very good tonight,” he said.

Getting off to such a good start was also key as was the team’s defensive play.

“When you’re not chasing the game, you can play totally different. I thought our D-zone tonight, the defencemen kept it simple. We did a lot of reverses, going D to D and up. But we never screwed around. We never tried to beat guys, never tried to go through the middle,” Hedley said.

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

The Dauphin Clippers varsity girls basketball team won its home tournament, this weekend, going 3-0 in the process.

Dauphin opened the tournament with a 52-30 win over the Virden Golden Bears, Friday, then defeated the Steinbach Christian Flames, 57-43.

Saturday morning’s contest with the Neepawa Tigers was for first place after the Tigers also beat Virden and Steinbach.

In a close contest, the Clippers pulled away to win the tournament with a 45-36 victory.

Clippers head coach Natasha Nepinak said the team was able to overcome a short bench.

“So we knew that we were going to have to play through the fatigue. I just told them that we were on a bit of a winning streak and once we won our first game just to keep the streak going and play through the fatigue,” she said.

The Clippers originally had 12 players and one dropped out during tryouts. They lost another player for the season to injury in the first tournament of the year.

Another player was an exchange student who was only in Dauphin for the first semester and has since returned home, leaving the Clippers with just nine players.

Dauphin will be in Beausejour for a tournament this weekend.

Nepinak said she is still trying to assess everyone’s strengths and weaknesses.

“And who plays well together. We’re looking forward to zones against Swan River. That’s our goal right now, is to figure out how we’re going to beat them to extend to provincial qualifiers,” she said, adding they have never seen any of the teams they will face in Beausejour.

“So we’ll practice and keep trying to get better,” she added.

The varsity boys were in Winnipeg, taking part in a tournament hosted by Pembina Trails Collegiate.

In their opening match against the Springfield Sabres, the Clippers scored an 88-34 win to advance to the semifinals, where they fell, 80-62 to the Elmwood Giants.

The third-place game against the St. Maurice Patriots saw Dauphin come away with a 71-45 victory.

Ryder Waggoner was Player of the Game against Springfield, while Nick Hudyma was Player of the Game against both Elmwood and St. Maurice.

Clippers coach Steven Hudyma said the boys played well despite missing two key players.

“We were led by Nick, our captain, and put a great effort out there,” he added.

Hudyma is pleased with the progress the team has made since the start of the season.

“We were fighting through a few injuries. And a couple of our players couldn’t be there this weekend. That being said, they have been progressing very well,” he said.

The Clippers will host the Clipper Classic this weekend, with the first game, Friday at 2:30 p.m., when the Clippers face the Swan Valley Tigers.

Hudyma is looking forward to playing their first games at home this season. A home game against Yorkton was postponed and rescheduled to late February.

The Clippers JV girls team was in Winkler for a tournament hosted by Northlands Parkway Collegiate, where they finished in second place.

Dauphin opened with a 63-27 win over the Garden Valley Zodiaks on Friday.

On Saturday morning, they clinched first place in their pool with a 77-44 win over the Morden Thunder, which is ranked third in the province behind the Clippers.

This put Dauphin in the championship game, where they dropped a 53-36 decision to the host Nighthawks.

Clippers coach John Marshall said the team had a great tournament.

“They were very strong. It really showed how much they’ve progressed this season,” he said.

The Clippers came out slow against Garden Valley.

“But then we gradually got our legs. It’s a four-hour trip to Winkler, so I think that showed in the first half,” he said.

“In the second half, they got their legs. Better rebounding. Better movement on the ball. The press looked better.”

The Clippers knew the game against Morden was an important one, with the Thunder ranked right behind Dauphin in the top 10 rankings.

“The girls came out flying and, really, the game was never close at all. We basically dominated from first quarter to fourth quarter,” Marshall said.

The final against the Nighthawks was Dauphin’s second of the day and the host’s first after playing twice on Friday.

“I think that kind of showed. We didn’t quite have our legs. We weren’t really rebounding as well as we could. Our press wasn’t as effective as hoped for. But in saying those things, we only lost by seven. So we know that when we’re on, when our legs are there, when we’re rebounding, when our press is working, we’re a really hard team to beat,” Marshall said.

The Clippers will travel west to take part in a tournament in Yorkton, this weekend, where they will face some new competition.

The JV boys were at a tournament in Neepawa, losing their first game, 88-18 to Brandon’s Vincent Massey Vikings.

In the consolation semifinals, Dauphin lost, 70-23 to the Virden Golden Bears.

In the seventh-place game, Dauphin lost, 61-40.