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.

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.