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.
