Dauphin’s Julien Lopez was selected as Rugby Manitoba’s Male Junior Player of the Year for 2024.

Lopez was surprised when he learned of the honour from his father Gerald late one night.

“Just excitement and gratefulness to be able to play at the Summer Games and be able to win it,” he said.

Lopez helped the  Dauphin Clippers win their first Westman High School League championship, as well as a silver medal at provincials.

And he captained Team West Green to gold at the 2024 Manitoba Summer Games. Lopez also recently played with a team from British Columbia.

“I got a lot of experience and help from the great coaches up there,” he said, adding he also hopes to play on the U17 provincial team.

Lopez played with MacDowell Rugby at the Global Youth Sevens in New Zealand, which was an eye opener for him.

“I can tell you it’s a step up from Canada. Those kids are massive. You wouldn’t believe they’re teenagers. It’s quite scary, honestly,” he said.

“The competition, you just level up along side with them. I’m excited to come back and play with my Dauphin team, my true home team.”

Lopez is looking forward to passing along what he learned to his Clippers teammates.

“Those coaches really helped, so I hope that I can transfer those words along to aid my own teammates who didn’t have that opportunity,” he said.

The goal, Lopez said, is to one day play for Team Canada.

“That’s the dream goal, actually. Rugby is my favourite sport, so if I go somewhere with any sport, I hope it’s rugby and Team Canada. But there’s a lot of good players out there,” he said.

The Rural Municipality of Dauphin council held its regular meeting, Dec. 17.

Accounts and finances

Council approved 15 cheques and payroll and online payments in the amount of $795,526.56. Council also adopted the financial statement as at Nov. 30.

Interim operating budget

Council approved the following interim operating budget for 2025: general government services - $250,000; protection services - $200,000; transportation services - $1,900,000’ environmental health services - $100,000; public health and welfare services - $1,375; environmental development services - $12,000; economic development services - $200,000; recreation and cultural services - $290,000; fiscal services - $80,000; and contribution to Capital - $500,000. The total comes out to $3,533,375, with the utility at $75,000.

Committee reports

CAO Nicole Chychota told council the recreation proposal had been forwarded to the City of Dauphin council. She also reported the alarm system in the RM building is going to be upgraded early in the new year.

Transportation

A new grader has arrived, but it still needs additions before it can be used.

The graders and plow truck have been busy plowing snow and when they are caught up, crews will start to put up ridges in the bad areas.

Crews have started hauling stones for the Chris Skuter riverbank stabilization project as this will be the RM’s contribution to Inter-Mountain Watershed District for this work.

Crews have been out with the loader pushing snowbanks back at dikes where they usually have issues.

Reeve Ernie Sirski said he had received a call from an RM resident complimenting RM crews for doing a good job of keeping their road open.

After receiving a call complaining about ruts in a road in the RM, councillor Todd Boguski reported the same resident called back to say the road was better after crews serviced the road again.

Meeting schedule

RM set its meeting schedule for 2025. Meetings will be held, Jan. 14 and 28, Feb. 11 and 25, Mar. 11 and 25, Apr. 8 and 23, May 13 and 27, June 10 and 24, July 8 and 22, Aug. 12 and 26, Sept. 16, Oct. 7 and 21, Nov. 4 and 18 and Dec. 2 and 16.

Request for

agreement

Council entered into an agreement with the owners of SE 24-26-19wpm, who are planning to build a shop on the property in the next two years. The agreement comes with certain conditions.

Emergency plan

Council adopted the 2025 Emergency Plan as presented.

Transfer to reserves

In anticipation of a surplus in 2024, council approved to allocate up to $300,000 to the Equipment Replacement Reserve, pending the completion of the year end.

Julien Lopez scored twice and Ethan Carnegie had three assists to lead the Dauphin Clippers to a 4-2 win over the Neepawa Tigers in the annual Christmas Classic, Friday afternoon in Dauphin.

Boston Karlson and Jordan Braun also scored for the Clippers, while Ian Foster had both goals for Neepawa.

Chase Glover made 22 saves to earn the win in goal, while Austin Michaluk stopped 41 shots in the loss.

Dauphin heads into the Christmas break with a 10-3-0-1 record, good for sixth place in the Westman High School Hockey League.

Clippers coach Josh Yaschyshyn said the team worked hard right from the opening faceoff.

“I really thought we dictated the pace of the play today. Overall, we thought we really outworked them down low. We talked about, after last weekend, we’ve got to get our work boots on,” he said.

“We had a good hard practice on Tuesday and the boys really answered the bell. I’m so proud of them.”

Yaschyshyn feels the team’s speed was a factor in the game.

“We were positive on the bench. Whenever we got scored on or something bad happened, we didn’t let that affect us. We just made sure everybody did their jobs and I’m happy that they can see this is the outcome when that happens,” he said.

The message going into the Christmas break, Yaschyshyn said, is to enjoy their time off.

“It’s a busy schedule. I hope everybody can rest up, spend some time with family and friends and just come back ready to work when we get back to practice after a week off,” he said.

The Clippers will practice, Dec. 31 and Jan. 2 before resuming their schedule with a game, Jan. 5 when they host the Major Pratt Trojans at 12:30 p.m.

The Parkland Rangers enter the Christmas break riding a four-game winning streak.

The team’s fourth straight win came, Sunday, when they scored a 7-4 home ice win over the Central Plains Capitals.

Alex Campbell led the way with three goals and an assist, while Landyn Garton scored twice.

Dayson Martin and Cade Legaarden had Parkland’s other goals, while Quentin Fisk had four assists.

Ivan Kushchev, Kaelan Waldner, Gavin Davis and Miguel Bonin scored for the Capitals.

Kyle Pelletier earned the win in goal, making 34 saves. Everett Winters took the loss after stopping 48 shots.

The win improves Parkland’s record to 16-12-0-0. They are tied with the Winnipeg Thrashers and Eastman Selects with all three teams sitting with 32 points, though the Rangers have a game in hand on the Thrashers and two in hand on Eastman.

Rangers head coach Tom White said the team was looking to end the year on a high note.

“And the guys did it,” he said.

“It was just a total effort by everybody. We had all four lines going. We were tough to defend, we forechecked hard, put pucks towards the net. Everybody contributed today in this win.”

The forecheck caused numerous turnovers, which the Rangers capitalized on.

“Our forecheck, that’s our bread and butter down deep in the zone. They caused chaos down there, turned pucks over and we capitalized,” White said.

The line of Campbell, Fisk and Martin combined for 10 points, the second straight game they hit double digits after totalling 11 points against Pembina Valley Hawks, Dec.14.

White said they’re success can be attributed to their hard work and tenacity on pucks.

“They’re all skilled guys and when they’re on their game, when they forecheck hard, they’ve all got long sticks, they always have sticks on pucks and they’re turning pucks over and they’re capitalizing,” he said.

“They’re skilled. They’re fast. And they’re tough to stop.”

White hopes the players come back from the break ready for what will be a tough second half of the season.

“We’ve got a tough January stretch coming up here. We’re going in on a high, so we’re looking to keep that going,” he said, adding the Rangers will finally have a full lineup with the returns of captain Sam Swanton and Ryder Gardner.

Parkland’s first game after the break will be Jan. 3, when they host the league-leading Brandon Wheat Kings at 7:30 p.m.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Dauphin Kings managed a split a pair of games last week.

In an uncharacteristic result, the Kings dropped a 7-5 decision to the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, Dec. 10, in Dauphin.

Sebastien Hicks and Jaxon Grosdidier each scored twice to lead the Wolverines.

Cam Sarna, Lucas Perry and Griffin Ayotte had the other goals, while Jase Wareham made 36 saves to pick up the win in goal.

Rylan Ringor tallied his first goal with the Kings since being acquired in the Ashton Paul trade.

Gavin Nemis, Rylan Gage, Gabriel Bugeaud and Cayden Glover also scored for Dauphin.

Bryson Yaschyshyn got the start in goal for the Kings and was pulled after Waywayseecappo’s fourth goal, 11:30 into the second period. He finished with 12 saves to his credit. Cole Sheffield stopped 10 shots the rest of the way.

The Kings had little time to dwell on the loss as the traveled north to The Pas to battle the Northern Manitoba Blizzard the next day.

Madden Murray scored twice to lead Dauphin to a 5-4 win.

Sheldon Shyiak, Matthew Thomas and Daniel Helary had Dauphin’s other goals, while Sheffield made 29 saves to record his league-leading 18th win of the season.

Brett Ward with two, Keenan McNeill and Tyler Dahms scored for the Blizzard. Alex Reedy took the loss after stopping 32 shots.

Sunday’s game against the Swan Valley Stampeders was postponed due to poor road conditions.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said neither goaltender was a sharp as they could have been against the Wolverines.

“It was just one of those games where it just seemed like everything was bouncing off skates and taking different deflections and were going in the net,” he said.

“The good thing about it is we didn’t quit. We pushed back. We could have packed up when it was 6-3, but didn’t. If the linesman hadn’t knocked over one of our players, we probably would have had a good chance to keep the puck in and who knows what happens?”

Hedley said it was a case of respecting your opponent and staying within the team structure.

“We weren’t very good in our D zone. We gave up chances that we don’t normally give up. And that’s all starting in the preparation and the mental part of the game,” he said.

“We talk about consistency all year and we’ve been getting better. It’s a work in progress. We’ve been getting better. We’re coming off two big wins against Virden and we expect better results at home.”

With the Wolverines battling for a playoff spot, the Kings should have expected them to come in and play as hard as they could.

“We weren’t on our toes and we weren’t competing as hard as we need to compete,” Hedley said.

Getting back at it right away helped the Kings as they had little time to reflect on the loss.

Although it wasn’t one of Dauphin’s better road games, the Kings got the job done in The Pas, picking up two big points.

“Any road win is huge in this league and you have to take it with a grain of salt to a certain extent. But we can get better in certain areas. It’s never easy to play in December when guys are thinking about the break and getting home for Christmas,” he said.

“It was a greasy road win and it’s one of those things where you battled, you found a way to get it done and it’s a character win for our hockey club.”

The final game before Christmas goes tonight when the Kings return to The Pas for the third and final time in the regular season to face the Blizzard.

Defenceman Ryan Gower was traded to the Neepawa Titans for the list rights to 17-year-old forward Shea Chornley and a player development fee.

Gower, who scored the winning goal with 42 seconds left in his Neepawa debut, asked to be moved to get more playing time.

“Most of it was facilitated through his advisor. As a 17-year-old, they wanted him to play a lot of minutes. They wanted him to play more and more consistent, just because they want him back in Prince Albert next season,” Hedley said, adding it would have been difficult to give Gower the ice time he needed, especially with the return of Aiden Murray from injury in January.

A three-game winning streak has lifted the Parkland Rangers back into fifth place in the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League.

The week began with a 6-4 win over the Yellowhead Chiefs, Dec. 10, in Shoal Lake.

Liam Chartrand scored twice and added two assists to lead the Rangers.

Forrest Karlson had a goal and two assists, while Carter Moncrief, Quentin Fisk and Alex Campbell had the other goals.

Piet Mierau made 34 saves in goal to pick up the win.

Grady McNish with two, Chase Cochrane and Alec Strachan replied for Yellowhead. Connor Rapley made 43 saves in the loss.

On Friday, with only 15 skaters dressed, the Rangers scored a 4-2 win over the Pembina Valley Hawks.

Ryzlie Nepinak, Fisk, Karlson and Landyn Garton provided the offence in support of Mierau, who was outstanding in goal, making 42 saves, while also assisting on Karlson’s winning goal.

Tegan Fehr and Cole Secord had the Pembina Valley goals, while Karsen Dyck made 20 saves.

In Saturday’s rematch in Morden, the line of Fisk, Campbell and Dayson Martin combined for 11 points in a 6-4 Rangers victory.

Campbell led the way with two goals and two assists, while Martin contributed a goal and three helpers and Fisk had two goals and one assist.

Garton had the other goal for Parkland and Mierau was again outstanding, finishing with 50 saves.

Tyson Pethybridge with two, Cohen Pilkington and Carter Unger scored for the Hawks. Ryler Gates had 20 saves in taking the loss.

The winning streak comes on the heels of a four-game losing skid.

Rangers head coach Tom White said the three wins were the result of a total team buy-in.

“We’re getting more and more committed to our defensive zone and neutral ice zone structure. And guys are starting to figure it out and things are starting to go our way,” he added.

The Hawks are among the teams fighting for position for the final four playoff spots, so the Rangers knew they had to win both games.

“We knew they were right on our tail and we needed both wins. And the guys came up solid. They played very well,” White said.

The current winning streak with such a short bench will give the team some confidence heading into the break, though they have one final contest, hosting the Central Plains Capitals, Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

“It just gives them the confidence that they can play the game with anybody, really. If we stick to our structure and everybody buys in, we’ll be fine. And some guys are just starting to figure it out,” White said.

A four-game losing streak has dropped the Parkland Rangers to eighth place in the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League.

Parkland lost 6-0 at home to the Southwest Cougars, Dec. 3, then dropped an 8-2 decision to the Winnipeg Bruins, Saturday, in Winnipeg.

Connor Hoemsen had two goals and an assist to lead Southwest to their victory. Shane Elder also scored twice, with Spencer Cullen and Bryan Laing adding singles.

Micky Gross made 28 saves to record the shutout. Piet Mierau made 30 saves before giving way to Kyle Pelletier, who stopped all five shots he faced.

On Saturday, the Bruins scored six times in the first period en route to the win.

Lucas Boulanger had a goal and three assists, while Shea Rollason scored twice and added an assist and Tyler Free also had a pair of goals.

Kingston Gunn, Owen Murray and Aiden Jacobson had Winnipeg’s other goals, while Brayden Budolowski had both of Parkland’s goals.

Jackson Hoes picked up the win in goal with 37 saves.

Pelletier, who started for the Rangers, and Mierau combined to stop 19 shots.

Rangers head coach Tom White said the team didn’t come out ready to play.

“We didn’t execute. We couldn’t really catch a break. We had enough shots on net to score, but their goalie played well. We couldn’t get a bounce,” he said.

It was much the same against the Bruins.

“Our first period was the death of us. We were totally not ready to play. So, after a sharp discussion in the first intermission, it was like a different team came out in the second and third. I mean, we played well enough to win,” he said.

“It’s just these guys have to be ready to play every game. And it seems like they’re not focused when they come to the rink.”

Parkland’s record is now 12-12-0-0 for 24 points. They sit in eighth place, but are only three points out of fifth. And they are three up on the Winnipeg Thrashers.

The Rangers will look to get back into the win column when they visit the last place Yellowhead Chiefs in Shoal Lake, tonight at 8 p.m.

White sees the game against the Chiefs as an opportunity, even though he knows Yellowhead isn’t going to lie down for the Rangers.

“We’re going to have to be sharp, on our toes. We got back from Winnipeg that night and had another meeting in the dressing room and discussed a few things. So we’ll see how they react,” he said.

“There’s still lots of ground to make up. We’ve got a pretty favourable schedule for the rest of December and January will be a tough sled. But if we can get things turned around, we’ll be fine.”

Parkland then faces the Pembina Valley Hawks in a home-and-home on the weekend, beginning, Friday in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m., with the rematch in Morden at 8 p.m.

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.”