Three of the Dauphin Clippers basketball teams were in action this past weekend with varying levels of success.

The varsity girls were in Powerview for a tournament, where they finished first, winning all three games.

Dauphin was awarded a 1-0 win over the St. Laurent/Aurele-Lemoine co-op team, which failed to arrive in time for the game on Friday.

Later on Friday, the Clippers beat the Sagkeeng Anicinabe Wolves, 69-14.

On Saturday, Dauphin defeated the Fisher Branch Cougars, 39-24, and clinched first place with a 45-13 win over the host Powerview Wild.

Clippers coach Natasha Nepinak was pleased with the team’s play on the weekend.

“(Assistant coach) Amber (Fidierchuk) and I are always expressing to the girls how important it is for them to work as a team and to be selfless. We saw a lot of assists this weekend and everyone on our team scored a basket. We were missing a couple players so we can’t wait to have a full roster at our home tournament,” she said.

Nepinak saw an improvement in the team’s play over the course of the weekend.

“Our first game it took a while for us to get going. I think the girls were still a little groggy from such a long bus ride. Once everyone started to wake up it was all gas and no brakes,” she said.

“After the first game, we all agreed that was the standard for the rest of the weekend and that we wanted the winning to continue, so they knew with only eight players they needed to push through fatigue to make that happen.”

Nepinak feels the team has improved since the start of the season.

“At the beginning of the season, everyone was still shaking the rust off. Commitment is very important, the more practices everyone attends, the more they can play together and everyone can get into a groove,” she said.

The Clippers will host the Clipper Classic this weekend, with games Friday and Saturday.

The JV girls and boys were in Brandon for the Crocus Plains Invitational Tournament, Friday and Saturday.

The Clippers girls started the event with a 52-45 loss to the Portage Collegiate Saints, dropping them to the consolation side of the bracket.

In the semifinals, Dauphin beat the Neelin Spartans, 65-38, before beating the Crocus Plains Plainsmen Grade 9 unit, 65-8, to win the consolation.

Clippers coach John Marshall noted the loss to open the tournament was against a AAAA school, whereas the Clippers are a AAA team.

“I don’t think they had lost a game all year up to this point,” he said.

“It was a close game. And when I talked to the Portage girls after, they had said it was their best game so far that they played against us. It was a very competitive game.”

The Clippers knew what they would be facing against Neelin, having played them before. And Marshall said it was important to beat another AAA team to, hopefully, hold on to their ranking.

As of Jan. 20, the Clippers were ranked second in the province behind the Linden Christian Wings.

The game against the Crocus Plains Grade 9 team gave the Clippers a chance to give every player some playing time.

“We had a chance to play our bench players. They had a chance to play a lot of the game. That was real exciting to see them play and do very well,” Marshall said.

Marshall said the team is executing its plays a lot better from the start of the season and they are communicating a lot better, as well.

“As a team, they are working for each other and all around, they are playing the game at a higher level than when they started at the beginning,” he added.

The Clippers JV boys opened their tournament with a 69-48 loss to the Virden Golden Bears and were knocked out of contention for the consolation title with a 72-39 loss to the Minnedosa Chancellors.

Dauphin beat the Crocus Plains Grade 9 team, 62-34 to finish seventh in the tournament.

Despite seeing their four-game winning streak snapped on home ice Saturday, the Dauphin Kings didn’t lose ground in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

Cayden Glover had a goal and two assists to lead the Kings to a 4-1 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders, Jan. 21 in Swan River.

It was Dauphin’s fourth win in a row.

On Saturday, in front of a capacity crowd of 2,112 for Ukrainian Night, Bryce Bryant scored twice to lead the Virden Oil Capitals to a 4-2 win, snapping Dauphin’s winning streak.

Dauphin’s record now sits at 26-10-1-0 for 53 points, six ahead of the Northern Manitoba Blizzard and Neepawa Titans. Neepawa pulled into a tie with the Blizzard over the weekend, with the Blizzard maintaining its hold on second place by virtue of having two more wins than the Titans.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley, who returned behind the bench against the Winnipeg Blues, Jan. 18, is happy to be back from his eight-game suspension.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’m looking forward down the stretch. We’ve got a real good group of kids that are going to work hard,” he said.

“It was a tough one tonight, but we’ll get better.”

Hedley said the team has played really well in the four wins prior to Saturday’s loss.

“We played with speed. We played north-south, we made some plays at the blueline. We made some great plays in small spaces and came through with some big goals. We scored a lot of goals this segment,” he said.

“But unfortunately tonight, we had a lot of shots and a lot of opportunities, we just didn’t get in front of his (Virden goalie Loic Morin) eyes. We didn’t take any eyes away at all.”

Virden did a good job of getting sticks into lanes, often deflecting passes or shots. But the Kings still managed to direct 39 shots at Morin, who finished the night with 37 saves, while limiting the Oil Capitals to just eight shots through 40 minutes.

Virden grabbed a 2-0 lead after the first period and Glover scored twice in the second period to tie the game entering the third.

Virden’s Adler Johnston took advantage of a miscue to score the go-ahead goal at 7:44 when Kings defenceman Aiden Murray skated the puck in front of the Kings net and collided with a teammate, presenting Johnston with an opportunity he did not miss.

The Oil Capitals added an insurance marker with 3:17 remaining.

Hedley said Virden was just waiting for the Kings to make a mistake.

“And we made a mistake with about eight minutes left. All of a sudden it’s 3-2 and they can just frustrate the hell out of you,” he added.

Hedley would like to see more players adopt and shoot first mentality.

“We’ve got to get better finishing. Gabriel Bugeaud is one of our best shooters on the team and he passed the puck off twice when he was right in the slot to shoot,” he said.

“We’ve got to start thinking that we want to score goals. It’s okay to share the puck, but when you can shoot like he can and when you’re in the slot, there’s no sense  passing it over to somebody.”

Hedley added the Kings did not do a good job of stopping on pucks, doing a fly-by instead, while Virden was stopping on pucks in the last 10 minutes.

Hedley also feels the special teams can improve. The Kings were just one-for-six on the power play, Saturday.

“We have great movement, great possession. But we’re not taking eyes away, we’re not getting a net front presence and we’re not getting rebounds. We’ve got to find a way to get into those tough spaces, those tough areas to get second shots and rebounds,” he said.

The Kings will look for better results when they are in Virden, for a rematch on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Saturday, the Kings return to Credit Union Place to face the Blizzard, also at 7:30 p.m.

Kings court: Dauphin’s record on Ukrainian Night falls to 4-5. They won in each of the last three years before Saturday’s loss to Virden. . . .With two goals on Saturday, Cayden Glover now leads the MJHL with 33 goals and 10 power-play markers. And he has also moved into a second place tie in league scoring with Niverville’s Adam Vigfuson, each with 52 points. They trail Steinbach’s Connor Paronuzzi, who leads with 61. With 44 points, Naaman Hofer continues to lead all defencemen in scoring . . . defenceman Matt Haun announced his commitment to play at College of St. Scholastica, next season. The Saints play NCAA Division 3 hockey in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) . . . Glover and Hofer will be joined at the MJHL/SJHL Showcase this week by defenceman Matthew Thomas and goaltender Cole Sheffield on the 20U Black team for the MJHL/SJHL Showcase, which takes place this week. Forward Gavin Nemis will suit up for the 18U squad.

The Dauphin Clippers have fallen to eight place in the Westman High School Hockey League.

The Clippers split a pair of games last week, beginning with a 6-2 win over the Minnedosa/Erickson Chancellors, Jan. 14, in Minnedosa.

Josh Yakielashek scored twice to lead the Clippers offence.

Layne Wolfenden, Julien Lopez, Noah Hanneson and Norman Lacquette also scored, while Chase Glover made 28 saves to earn the win in goal.

William Melvin and Colby Pentecost replied for the Chancellors and Parker Soltys stopped 37 shots.

After Friday’s game against the Crocus Plains Plainsmen was postponed due to weather, the Clippers faced the league-leading Vincent Massey Vikings, Saturday, falling 5-0.

Tate Bercier, Theron McGregor, Josh Romanik, Joey Leblanc and Tyler Rogers scored for the Vikings and Hunter Gregory stopped all 38 shots he faced to earned the shutout in goal.

Glover made 15 saves through 40 minutes before giving way to Ethan Myrhe after he was ejected from the game at the end of the second period. Myrhe made 12 stops in the final period.

Clippers head coach Josh Yaschyshyn said the game against the Chancellors was a full 60-minute effort, with balanced scoring.

The game against the Vikings has a different story, however.

“There’s a reason they haven’t lost yet,” Yaschyshyn said.

“They work well as a team. Their top line is phenomenal. I think the lowest scorer on that line has 60 points. They do all the little things right.”

But Yaschyshyn felt the Clippers played well at times.

“For stretches of the game we controlled the play. We just didn’t get any bounces. But overall, I’m not upset or mad or anything like that,” he said.

The game was chippy at times. Glover was ejected with a five-minute major for attempt to injure at the end of the second period. That is an indication of the rivalry that has developed between the two teams.

“This is a little bit of a rivalry that goes back a number of years. The boys always looks forward to playing Massey. It was nice to see a little feistiness, for sure. It shows the boys care,” Yaschyshyn said.

The good news is the Clippers have games in hand on everyone above them in the standings.

And with a busy week ahead, they will make up some of those games.

On Wednesday, the Clippers are in Sandy Bay to face the Badgers at 7 p.m.

Dauphin will play their makeup game against Crocus Plains on Friday in Dauphin at 8:30 p.m., and they will host the Glenboro/Carberry/Baldur Wildcats, Saturday at 4 p.m.

On Sunday, the Birtle/Shoal Lake/Rossburn/Birdtail Falcons visit Credit Union Place for a 6 p.m. date with the Clippers.

The Dauphin Kings upped their lead over the Northern Manitoba Blizzard for first place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division to four points with a pair of wins last week.

After spotting the Swan Valley Stampeders a 2-0 lead after the first period, the Kings stormed back with five unanswered goals in a 5-2 victory, Jan. 14.

Ty Pratte, Naaman Hofer, Cayden Glover, Gavin Nemis and newly acquired Nolan Masson scored for Dauphin, while Dobie Unrau and Ben Groome staked Swan Valley to their early lead.

Cole Sheffield made 33 saves for Dauphin, while Rowan White stopped 44 shots for the Stampeders.

After Friday’s game in Winkler against the Flyers was postponed due to adverse weather conditions, the Kings made the trek to Winnipeg on Saturday to face the Blues, scoring a 7-1 victory.

Glover hit the 30-goal mark with his 10th two-goal game of the season.

Madden Murray, Joshua Schmidt, Gabriel Bugeaud, Pratte and Matthew Haun had Dauphin’s other goals, while Adam Matar replied for Winnipeg.

Sheffield picked up his league-leading 21st win of the season, making 25 saves. Davis Penner made 40 saves in taking the loss.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the Kings got off to a slow start against Swan Valley in the first period.

“But the last 40 minutes of the game we started playing like we could. We started using our speed and made some good plays in small spaces and really used our speed to create some opportunities,” he said.

Hedley told the team in practice they have to get ion a position where they are not chasing the game in the first 10 minutes. That led to a good start in Saturday’s game.

“Part of our identity is that we’re one of the teams that skates hard and works hard. But it starts right from the drop of the puck. And I thought we did that in Winnipeg against the Blues,” he said.

Glover leads the league with 30 goals and has had chances to get the third on numerous occasions, but just can’t seem to pull the trigger.

“It’s on his mind a little bit. But you can’t go wrong having 10 two-goal games, that’s for sure. He’s been one of our best players game in and game out all season,” Hedley said.

The Kings face the Stampeders again this week this time in Swan River, tonight at 7 p.m.

Hedley knows the Stampeders will be tough as they have crawled their way back into the playoff hunt, trailing the  Virden Oil Capitals by eight points.

“We know they’re going to come at us hard. It’s a small barn and they have some good speed,” Hedley said, adding two players - Lance Gulutzan and Will Brown - were selected to play in the MJHL-SJHL Showcase, Jan. 28 and 29.

“They’re both very good players. So we have to be aware of those two guys when they’re on the ice. They need points as much as they can get them. So we have to be prepared, for sure.”

The Kings will host Virden, Saturday at 7:30 p.m. It is the team’s annual Ukrainian Night, celebrating Ukrainian culture and heritage.

Kings court: Five players from the Kings were selected to play in the MJHL-SJHL Showcase. Representing the Kings will be goaltender Cole Sheffield, defencemen Naaman Hofer and Matthew Thomas and forwards Cayden Glover and Gavin Nemis.

A former Dauphin resident is set to experience the thrill of a lifetime when his work is performed by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (WSO), this weekend.

Nic Bray, who was born in Winnipeg and moved to Dauphin with his parents when he was just two weeks old, recently won the 2025 Emerging Composers Competition presented by the Prairie Chapter of the Canadian Music Centre.

The competition is for composers from the prairie provinces to showcase their works for WSO and, as a result, Bray’s piece, titled “Spruce”, will be performed at this year’s Winnipeg New Music Festival, Jan. 25.

Bray was encouraged to enter the competition by a friend who was a past winner of the competition.

“I applied for it for a few years and didn’t succeed. And then this past year, I was fortunate to get the opportunity to be able to work with the WSO now,” he said.

Bray admitted to shedding a few tears when he learned he had won, feeling an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

“And just excitement for the prospect of that. I’ve been trying to really having that as a goal for the last three or four years, working towards wanting to write for an orchestra,” he said.

“And to have that happen with such a wonderful orchestra that I’ve admired so dearly for the past few years, as well, is certainly the opportunity of a lifetime. And a treat, to say the least.”

“Spruce” was inspired by what Bray called a back country camping trip with his partner in 2023. One day, while they were in Riding Mountain National Park, they were laying in a hammock looking up at the spruce trees holding them up.

“And it was just kind of striking to me the simultaneous might and strength, but also that beauty of it, as well. That kind of grandeur and elegance was really kind of striking to me and that juxtaposition of that kind of this immense power, this huge towering figure, but the delicate beauty that I think it does possess, as well,” he said.

“So that juxtaposition was the guiding force behind the musical ideas with ‘Spruce’.”

Bray got out of the hammock and scrawled a formal conception of the work in the dirt. When he got home, Bray wrote “Spruce” based upon that concept.

Bray has been a huge admirer of WSO for many years and has attended many of their performances and has even tried to get to know some of the musicians.

“And it’s such a privilege to work with such a wonderful community of people like there is with the WSO. So that kind of personal aspect of, not only getting to work with an orchestra, but this one who is local to us in Manitoba. And to be able to work with some wonderful people that I so admire is a great, great privilege and it means a lot to me personally,” he said.

Winning the competition has served as a launching pad when it comes to Bray’s career. He is currently working on the score for a horror film with Manitoba Film and Music and the Grand Illusion Film Studio called “Princess and the Dragon.”

Bray is also working on a commission out of the University of Toronto and a number of other things that are falling into place, which will allow him to be able to write music for a living.

Bray is also currently working towards his Masters degree in composition at Brandon University.

“It’s a lot at once. It’s a very transitionary period. So with my first film, first commission, there’s not a lot I want to be saying no to, of course. But it’s certainly a lot to balance. But it’s a very fortunate position I am in to have those opportunities to balance, for sure,” he said.

While he is looking forward to the WSO performance of his work, Bray said it is hard to imagine what he will be feeling in that moment.

“Because it’s still surreal to me that it is happening. But I think once we get into that rehearsal hall and once we start working on that and they start playing the piece, I think really it will be in that moment that it comes fully real for me,” he said.

“But I can only imagine and predict that it will be one of the most emotionally impactful and overwhelming moments in my life so far.”

Bray will have the support of friends and family who will be in attendance, as well as students from Brandon University.

“To have all of that support and community is really, I think, what is going to make that moment even stronger, being able to be surrounded by all these loved ones,” he said.

The Parkland Rangers find themselves in seventh place in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League after a busy week, which began with a 7-5 loss to the Yellowhead Chiefs, Jan. 7, in Dauphin.

Grady McNish and Nolan Kozak each scored twice and Colby Asselstine, Riley Swereda and Winston Lepp added singles.

Cole Lelond made 30 saves to earn the win in goal.

Dayson Martin scored twice for Parkland, while Forest Karlson, Ryzlie Nepinak and Landyn Garton had one each.

Kyle Pelletier made 21 saves in the loss.

On Wednesday, the Brandon Wheat Kings scored three goals in the final four minutes to skate away with a 4-1 win over the Rangers.

Reid Nicol with two, Jonah Lemoine and Roan Michalchuk scored for Brandon, while Martin replied for Parkland.

Brady Low made 19 saves to pick up the win, while Piet Mierau stopped 43 shots in the loss.

On Saturday in Winnipeg, Ethan Saari’s second goal of the game, 2:39 into overtime lifted the Winnipeg Thrashers to a 4-3 win over the Rangers.

Ed Saly and Rydon Duchon had Winnipeg’s other goals, while Liam Chartrand, Quentin Fisk and Benjamin Poole replied for the Rangers.

Tate Barnaby earned the win with 33 saves, while Mierau took the loss after stopping 37 shots.

On Sunday, Ryder Gardner scored 45 seconds into overtime giving the Rangers a 3-2 win over the Interlake Lightning in Teulon.

Brayden Budolowski staked the Rangers to a 1-0 lead in the first period and Interlake took the lead in the third period on goals from James Franklin and Ryder Kirk.

But Cade Legaarden’s shorthanded goal with 42 seconds left sent the game to overtime, setting the stage for Gardner’s heroics.

Mierau finished with 49 saves, while Interlake’s Dylan McFadyen made 43 stops.

Rangers head coach Tom White said the team didn’t come out as strong as they wanted to against Winnipeg, which only dressed 15 skaters, two of whom were APs.

“I don’t know if that had a factor to play into it. We just didn’t play to what we’re capable of. Fortunately, we got a point out of it. But it should have been a one-sided game in favour of us,” he said.

Sunday, White said, was an exciting game to watch.

“We played very well. And we never quit. We had a 1-0 lead for quite a while. They tied it and then went ahead on the third. And we took a late penalty with just under two minutes left,” he said.

“We had a set play on the faceoff in our zone and we got the puck in their zone, pulled Piet and managed to tie it up.”

This weekend, the Rangers will host the Winnipeg Bruins, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

It was a successful start to the season for the Dauphin Clippers JV girls basketball team.

Hosting the Clipper Classic this past weekend, the local JV girls won the tournament, going 3-0 in the process.

The tournament began with a 70-14 win over the rival Swan Valley Tigers, Friday afternoon.

On Saturday, the Clippers defeated the Neelin Spartans, 52-30 before clinching the tournament title with a 55-50 win over the Crocus Plains Plainsmen.

It was Dauphin’s second tournament of the season after finishing second at a tournament in Winnipeg hosted by Linden Christian, losing to the host Wings in the final.

“We had a great game against them. For 3-1/2 quarters we were right with them and then we ran out of gas in the last part of the last quarter,” said Clippers coach John Marshall.

“We came up a bit short, but it was a great game and they’re a really good team.”

Winning their home tournament, Marshall said, establishes the fact that the Clippers are also a really good team at this point.

“And it’s nice to win in your backyard and have some fans out to see that. I know the girls were quite excited to grab that tournament,” he said.

It was important to start the season well as Dauphin will host the JV girls provincials in March.

“We want to establish ourselves as a really good team, hopefully winning tournaments or at least being finalists, so that we get a good seeding at provincials,” Marshall said, adding he was proud of the girls, who battled hard all weekend.

The final against Crocus Plains was tough, he added, but the defence held strong and the team never gave up.

The JV boys took part in the Nighthawk Invitational, hosted by Northlands Parkway Collegiate in Winkler.

In round-robin play, the Clippers lost to the Garden Valley Zodiaks, 55-28, then fell 66-23 to the Léo-Rémillard Renards of Winnipeg.

In the fifth-place game, Dauphin defeated the host Nighthawks, 49-46.

It was the first tournament of the year for the boys, who battled hard in all three games and improved with each game, according to coach Josh Marshall.

“A lot of these kids missed an entire year of organized basketball. So there’s lots to work on right now and you can see that with every game,” he said.

“Defensively and energy-wise, they give their all. The fine-tuning up front, that’s something we need to work on all year, but we’ve got lots of time for that.”

After struggling through the first two games, winning the third game will provide a boost to the team’s confidence.

“The third game, we actually started to look like we were putting stuff together and we came away with the win. It feels pretty good as a coach to see small improvements after just three games,” Marshall said.

“Winning the last game is way more important for them than winning the first game and losing the next two. Then it just feels like maybe that first game was more fluky, whereas winning the third game was just reps. They got shots blocked the first two games, third game they finally started falling. It’s awesome to see.”

The Clippers will host the Clipper Classic, this weekend. Marshall is looking forward to seeing his team continue to improve.

“There’s lots to improve on. It’s good to see kids who have room for improvement. With these kids, when you’re teaching them stuff, you can actually see them make those improvements in game and in practice. It’s pretty exciting,” he said.

The Clippers varsity boys were in Sanford to take part in the 21st Big Cat Classic, where they opened the tournament with a 93-63 win over the Westgate Wings.

Dauphin then defeated the Stonewall Rams, 94-84 before falling in the final, 71-57 to the Linden Christian Wings.

It was the second tournament of the year for the Clippers, after third at a tournament in Brandon, hosted by the Neelin Spartans.

Coach Steve Hudyma said the team played solid throughout tournament, but the offence dried up a little in the final against Linden Christian.

Hudyma is pleased with the start to the season.

“We had a very good start to the season. After every tournament and after every couple of practices, the boys are learning something new and adding to our game. So we’re excited for this weekend when we’re in Winkler,” he said.

The Dauphin Kings moved into sole possession of first place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division, with a 4-1 win over the visiting Winnipeg Blues, Saturday.

Sunday’s game against the Northern Manitoba Blizzard, who are now two points behind the Kings, was postponed due to transportation issues and will be rescheduled to a later date.

Cayden Glover and Havryil Simchuk each scored twice to provide the offence, while Cole Sheffield made 26 saves to earn his 19th win of the season.

Evan Gradt replied for Winnipeg. Kyle Beilman started in goal and stopped 11 shots before giving way to Samuel Couture, who made 21 stops in the final 28:13.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley was pleased with the team’s play, considering they haven’t seen any game action since, Dec. 17.

“We practiced a couple of times, but we knew the timing was going to be off a little bit. I think the first period-and-a-half, two periods were a little sluggish. But I thought we played a very good third period and did what we had to do to win the game,” he said.

Even though their play was sluggish at times, Hedley said the players were excited to come back.

“It’s a good break. The guys were real excited to get back. And that’s half the battle, is you get away from it. You’re mentally fatigued a little bit. You’re physically tired and we had a few injuries to heal in (Gabriel) Bugeaud and (Aiden) Murray,” he said, adding their return is like making a trade.

“The 10, 12 days that we had were really good for the guys. They came back real excited and ready to work,” Hedley said.

The Canadian Junior Hockey League trade deadline is on Friday. At this point, Hedley said there are some players on the wire he is interested in. But he is not going to make a trade just for the sake of making one.

“We’re not looking to do many changes. It’s got to make our club better. So we’re not just out there looking to make a trade. We’re really happy with our group right now. We really like our group. We think we can do some good things in this second half and if we can add to our forward group or our backend, we’ll look at doing it,” he said.

“Right now our wish list would be somebody that could play in our top six or a couple forwards that could maybe help us.”

Forward Luke Myhre returned to play for the Prairie Hockey Academy, based in Moose Jaw, Sask., to get more ice time.

“I think it’s a good move. It gets him a lot of puck touches, gets some go-to minutes back at Prairie. We’re recruiting there now for next year. They have a real good hockey club. They should be playing some real good competition,” Hedley said.

“He’s going to be their main guy. He’s got to get those puck touches, get some confidence back and just be ready to work hard. He’s real excited about coming back here next year and contributing.”

Hedley was recently suspended for eight games by Hockey Manitoba’s maltreatment committee. He is expected to return behind the bench, Jan. 17, when the Kings visit the Winkler Flyers.

Hedley did not want to comment on the suspension at this time.

The Kings visit the Portage Terriers, Wednesday, at 7:30 p.m., before hosting the Winnipeg Freeze, Jan. 11, also at 7:30 p.m.

Kings court: Kings captain Ethan Williment was named an RBC Community Ambassador for his work in the community. RBC will donate $1,000 in his name to Whitmore School. One player from each team is selected to the RBC Ambassador Team. Each player has displayed outstanding citizenship and sportsmanship both on and off the ice and a commitment to volunteerism. RBC Community Ambassadors are recognized for making a difference and giving back to their communities where they play . . . Defenceman Naaman Hofer, who recently committed to the University of Alaska Anchorage, was named the Safe Work Manitoba Defenceman of the Month for December. In five games, Hofer recorded nine assists. Connor Paranuzzi of the Steinbach Pistons is the RBC Player of the Month after tallying four goals and 19 points in just eight games. Winkler’s Liam Ernst is the Original 16 Goaltender of the Month after posting a 4-0 record with a 0.50 GAA and .978 save percentage with three shutouts in four games. The Chevrolet Rookie of the Month is Taye Timmerman of the Northern Manitoba Blizzard. In seven games, Timmerman posted six wins, a 1.71 GAA and .945 save percentage. His Blizzard teammate Miguel Bouvier is the Manitoba Pork Peak Performer after scoring seven goals and 12 points in nine games.

The Dauphin Clippers hockey team began the new year in a resounding way, Sunday afternoon.

Ronin Mouck had two goals and three assists and Julien Lopez scored once and added four helpers to lead the Clippers to a 12-2 win over the visiting Major Pratt Trojans of Russell.

Ethan Carnegie also scored twice and had a pair of assists for Dauphin. Wil Busby had two goals and an assist and Lyric Smith had a goal and two assists, while Jordan Braun, Noah Hanneson, Drayson Demeria and Josh Yakielashek had the other goals.

Jorey Reichmuth and Raphael Mowbray scored for Major Pratt.

Ethan Myhre picked up the win in goal, making 18 saves. Xander Perih made 31 saves leaving the game with an injury in the third period. His replacement, Brandon Wasilka, made six saves.

There is sometimes concern about team’s suffering from “turkey legs” when coming back from the Christmas break. But Clippers coach Josh Yaschyshyn wasn’t worried about that.

“We had two hard practices this week. We went Tuesday morning. We had a little three-on-three tournament, with a bunch of mini-games. The boys worked really hard. And then Thursday, we had another real good hard working practice to shake off the turkey and the rust. I knew the boys would be ready for today,” he said.

Yaschyshyn was impressed by the team’s unselfish play against the Trojans.

“Everybody was playing for each other. Nobody was concerned about wanting to score. They were more excited when teammates scored, which was nice to see,” he said.

The Clippers enter the week in sixth place with an 11-3-1-0 record for 23 points, just three back of third-place Swan Valley.

Yaschyshyn said it was nice to start the second half of the season with a win like this and he hopes the team can build on it.

This weekend, the Clippers are in Winnipeg for the annual Piper Classic, hosted by John Taylor Collegiate.

The next league action for the Clippers will be, Jan. 17, when they host the Crocus Plains Plainsmen at 7:30 p.m.

It was quite the year when it comes to sports in Dauphin.

The highlight of the year was the successful Manitoba Summer Games in August, featuring more than 1,500 athletes putting their skills on display over the course of seven days.

More than 700 volunteers stepped up to help make the games a success.

As for the results, Winnipeg Blue topped the medal count with 103 in total, including 50 gold, 30 silver and 23 bronze.

Team West, which featured many athletes from the Parkland, was third with 78 medals on 15 gold, 30 silver and 33 bronze.

Part of the games’ legacy was the Myles Haverluck Athletics Facility at the DRCSS, which includes a new rubberized track, new long jump and triple jump pits and an outdoor basketball court.

The Bayer Crop Science Parkland Super League of Curling completed another season, with Kyle Forsyth’s Turko Fertilizer rink, with Jarvis Whyte, Trent Hill and Cody Hill winning the top prize of $1,500.

Ayden Bradley of Ste. Rose advanced to the second of four stages as he worked towards the CrossFit Games.

After three events of the CrossFit Open, the top 25 per cent of athletes received invitations to advance to the quarterfinals.

Bradley finished in the top 14 per cent (86th percentile) in the boys 14 and 15 division worldwide and received an invitation to advance to the quarterfinals, where he finished 244th worldwide.

After finishing in third place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division, the Dauphin Kings faced the second-place Blizzard Junior A Hockey Club in what turned into an epic battle for the ages.

Four of the seven games went into overtime, highlighted by the five-overtime game six marathon won by the Kings to force a game seven, which went to triple overtime.

Although the Kings lost that series it will be remembered as one of the best series in league history, certainly one of the longest in terms of minutes played as the teams played almost 9-1/2 games (568:33 minutes) in the seven contests.

The Kings are setting themselves up for what they hope will be a long playoff run as they enter the Christmas break tied with the Blizzard for first place in the West Division, though the Kings have five games in hand.

The Mazergroup Professional Bull Riding made its debut in Dauphin in May. The soldout event featured some of the top bull riders in the world trying to stay on their mounts for the required eight seconds.

The Dauphin Clippers girls rugby team won its second straight Westman High School Rugby League title, with a 78-0 win over the Souris Sabres. They also became two-time provincial champions a week later, beating Souris, 92-0.

Dauphin finished the season undefeated, going 7-0 and outscoring their opponents, 490-0.

The Clippers boys, meanwhile, won their first league championship, beating Crocus Plains, 31-21 in the final.

At provincials, which  Dauphin hosted, the Clippers improved upon their bronze medal from the previous year, winning silver after losing to a strong St. Paul’s Crusaders squad, 37-5, in the championship game.

In the fall, the girls won their third straight 7s championship, finishing the season with an 11-1 record, clinching the title with a 33-0 win over the rival Rivers Rams.

When the Florida Panthers won the Stanley Cup in June, it guaranteed hockey’s Holy Grail would be coming to Dauphin.

Dauphin’s Myles Fee, an assistant coach with the Panthers, shared the Stanley Cup with local fans in July, with more than 700 people in attendance to take pictures with the Cup and get autographed pictures of Fee.

Also in July, local drag racer Marty Isfeld was invited to take part in the Street Outlaws No Prep Kings (NPK) All Stars vs Canada drag races in Edmonton.

Isfeld ended up challenging his idol, Shawn Ellington, better known as Murder Nova, with their race being the first one of the day.

Although Isfeld lost, the race was close, with the winner having to be determined via video.

Ryan Boguski, who grew up in Sifton, was inducted into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame. Boguski played his minor baseball in Dauphin before taking his skills to Brandon. He was one of nine individuals, four teams and one family to be inducted.

A lifetime of activity in bowling has led to the Manitoba Bowling Hall of Fame for Dauphin resident Ralph Piasta, who was inducted for meritorious service in October.

The start of the golfing season in Gilbert Plains was delayed due to flooding, with about 2-1/2 feet of water flooding the course.

The Province of Manitoba committed $2.11 million to repair damage done to the facility as a result of the flooding.

The Clippers football team had high hopes after finishing the Rural Manitoba Football League regular season in first place with a 6-1 record. But their hopes for a championship were dashed by the Moosomin Generals, who beat the Clippers, 26-20 in overtime in the semifinals.

The Generals, the only team to beat the Clippers this year, went on to win the league championship, 31-28, over the Swan Valley Tigers.

Dauphin’s Julien Lopez was named Rugby Manitoba’s Male Junior Player of the Year in December.