The 14U Parkland Vipers club volleyball team was in Winnipeg and Niverville for provincials this past weekend, where they finished 16th out of 38 teams.

The Vipers opened with a three-set victory over BVC, then forced a third set against Westman before losing 11-15 in the third set.

In the last round-robin game, the Vipers forced a third game against Bandits Madi, which they won, 15-11.

This put the Vipers in second place in their pool, setting up a match with Impact Black to open the playoffs, winning in three sets with a 15-11 final in the third set.

Parkland then played Bisons Gold in an exciting match with the winner advancing to the quarterfinals. The Vipers battled back from a seven-point deficit to tie the game 24-24, fighting off three set points, before eventually losing 24-26.

The Vipers played well in the second set, with outstanding defence, but ultimately fell to the Bisons Gold.

On Sunday, the Vipers played some good volleyball, but lost all three matches against the Blazers, Pilots Navy and Agoojin.

Vipers coach Taylor Schmidt said, overall, it was a successful tournament with the Vipers playing some of their best volleyball of the season.

“The players really worked hard throughout the whole tournament. We had some tough competition in our pool and we were going to three sets quite often and the girls were able to pull out some wins and to give ourselves a chance. That was our goal after round-robin play, was to give ourselves a chance to be in the finals, which we did,” he said.

With Bisons Gold going on to win the provincials title, Schmidt was proud of how well the Vipers played against the Winnipeg squad.

“We made them really work and I was really proud on how the girls handled themselves and how hard they worked throughout the whole tournament. They never gave up,” he said.

Schmidt has noticed not just the Vipers, but every team at that age group has improved since the start of the season and it showed at provincials.

“The level of volleyball that was happening from all the teams from the beginning of our club season until now is just really impressive. And just in general, the level of volleyball at the 14U level just has been so impressive,” he said.

“And throughout the tournament, the competition kept on improving on both sides of the net, meaning both teams were continuing to adapt and change and make adjustments throughout the game in order to compete and win.”

The Vipers were a part of that improved level of volleyball, being engaged and invested in their play.

“And they did whatever they needed to do to win the set or even compete. It was really impressive,” Schmidt said.

The future bodes well for the Vipers club program, as well as for the players’ high school programs, as well, as they will take their experience at the club level to their respective high schools teams.

“I can only speak for my team, but they are definitely putting themselves on the map as a club to compete and be amongst the top clubs in the province. The sheer size of the athletes that we pull from the fact that we’re right there competing with the larger clubs like the Bisons and WinMan and Big Sand. It’s a real complement to the players in this region and the club itself,” Schmidt said.

The season is not over yet as the Vipers will compete at nationals, May 8 to 10, in Edmonton.

The Dauphin Kings will have a new face behind the bench next season after mutually parting ways with Doug Hedley.

Kings interim president Bryan Romanow said the board decided it was time for a change.

“And we basically mutually agreed to separate,” he said.

The Kings are now taking applications for the positions of head coach and general manager, with a May 3 deadline.

Romanow said junior hockey has become more focused on developing players.

“Which Doug is really good at. So we’re going to probably continue with that. And winning isn’t bad, either,” he said, adding experience would be an asset.

“But we’re open to whatever comes our way. We’ll go through an exhausting application process and find the best candidate we can for the organization,” Romanow said.

With the Manitoba Junior Hockey League annual general meeting scheduled for late May or early June, the Kings hope to have someone in place before then.

“We’d like to wish Doug all the success in future endeavours and he did a great job with the Dauphin Kings,” Romanow said.

For Hedley, he made it clear before the playoffs started he would like to return.

“It was one of those things that it’s just going to work better for both. We’ve parted ways and have agreed to move on,” he said.

Hedley leaves the team as the franchise leader in games coached (770), wins (461) and losses (259), as well as 33 overtime losses and 17 shootout losses.

He also guided the Kings to a Turnbull Cup championships in 2022, his first and only title in his junior career.

For the full story, read this week's edition of the Dauphin Herald.

With more than 130 vendors and large crowds throughout the weekend, the Dauphin’s Countryfest Business Expo was a great success.

Business Expo chair Natalie Haslund, who also serves as beverage services chair for Countryfest, was pleased with the number of vendors for this year’s event.

“There was probably an extra 20 to 30 vendors added on. Tons more crafters, crafter-plus. The attendance has been phenomenal. Our 50-50 is double from what it was last year. It’s just been a great turnout, so I’m really happy with that,” she said.

While there were plans to add more crafters to the expo, Haslund said the request from local crafters to attended was already there.

“We took it over last year from the Kinsmen and we weren’t sure what to expect. We took it over in January and only had four months,” she said.

“This year we had a year to plan for it. So there was just better planning, I think more awareness about the expo. And we were able to advertise a little bit more, as well. So we knew what to expect or what we could offer everybody.”

Last week’s snow storm kept some out-of-town vendors from the expo.

“It was just the snowfall. The only reason why some a few vendors did not show up, they were snowbound or they just couldn’t get out in time,” Haslund said, adding organizers extended the set-up time to Saturday morning to allow for that after the storm hit.

Changes were also made to accommodate the entertainment lineup, which included Bluey, Taylor Swifter and Princess Bell.

“But overall, the turnout was really good,” Haslund said.

“This year was a great success and we look forward to doing next year and seeing how we can do more.”

Two Parkland Pirates rugby teams recently returned from a trip to England and Wales, where they played games against local teams and did some sightseeing along the way.

Organizing for the trip began two years ago, right after a team from the program returned from a trip to Ireland.

Trip organizers go through a gentleman who runs Irish Rugby Tours, which organizes professional rugby tours around the world.

“We worked with him on the last trip to Ireland, which was amazing. We went through him again for this trip to England and Wales. And it was another amazing and great experience trip,” said Pirates coach Aaron Miner.

The Pirates’ girls team was 2-2 in their games, while the boys were 1-2.

Although the results were mixed, the experience gained was positive, Miner said.

“It would be like an English high school hockey team coming to play our high school hockey team,” he said, adding the Pirates played a game against the Bristol Bears farm team.

“The Bristol Bears are like the Rink Academy of London. It’s a prep school. They were so kind. They rolled out the red carpet everywhere we went. We were given their best coaches the day before to run drills in a training session for us,” Miner said, adding they also played the Harlequin rugby team, as well as Cardiff in Wales.

“We played their largest club team. We were just so happy with the way the boys played. We won one out of three. The girls won two out of four. It’s amazing to even touch the ball down in the try zone when you play against teams of that caliber,” Miner said, adding the results were one step better than when the teams went to Ireland.

For the full story, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

The Dauphin Clippers rugby teams have begun working towards a four-peat as Westman High School Rugby champions.

While some players attended player academies before Christmas, the teams began ramping up workouts about seven weeks ago, holding practices in the high school gym.

“Our numbers were anywhere from five to about 13. And now that basketball is done, we should be 20-plus,” said girls coach Shawn Sarkonak, who said the team is looking good so far. He added there are a number of veterans who will be expected to lead the team this year.

“It’s also a big harvest year for us with graduating players and, of course, the handful of Rotary exchange students. This year’s 15s season, we have four, I believe, so on top of nine to 11 graduating Grade 12s, it’s going to be a big harvest year and rebuilding going into next year,” Sarkonak said.

Being limited to what they can do indoors, the Clippers have been focusing on conditioning for the most part.

“Especially for the new ones coming in, making sure they have the cardio to hold up in a 60-minute game, if they end up having to play that long,” Sarkonak said.

“And just making sure they’re ready, so when we get to go outside, we hit the ground running and get tackling and doing our safe play game prep.”

But for now, the teams are also working on the basics of the game, getting the ball in their hands and getting used to the core skills.

Although hesitant to predict how the Clippers girls will do this season, Sarkonak said there is a lot of experience on this year’s squad.

“We have some quality young athletes that started back with us in the 7s season that will push for a starting spot and looking to join the leadership moving forward,” he said.

“With this year’s  Grade 11s taking the reigns heading into the fall, I’m confident in the fact that we’ll have a lot of skill. And, with the ones that are away on the trip in Wales and England, it will give us that much more of a jump when the season gets going.

“So you’re always optimistic, but you don’t want to be overly confident either. But we’re definitely chasing that four-peat.”

Boys coach Aaron Miner said the Clippers are looking good so far.

“We have a large group of Grade 12s this year. A few Grade 11s and then another huge group of Grade 9 and 10s. So the plan is to put two teams into the league this year, because we have so many,” he said.

“We don’t want to lose any kids for future years, so we want to find a place for all of them to play.”

The coaching staffs for the two teams will be announced after the annual John Keogh Tournament in Brandon, later this month.

Coaches will include Miner, Mark Symchych, Gerald Lopez and Mike Penner.

Players from both teams were recently on the trip to England and Wales as part of the Parkland Pirates program, where they played against youth teams, before returning home on Sunday.

“We came over here and we’ve seen what we needed to see. We learned a lot. We were taught a lot of lessons. School of hard knocks, we’ll call it,” Miner said, adding they won one game against a team out of London and were taught a lesson in rugby by an academy school that was part of the Bristol Bears program.

They ended the tour with a game against Cardiff, which Miner said was the most amazing match he’s ever seen.

The trip to the United Kingdom will benefit both teams when the season begins.

“By the time we hit our first game after the Keogh, we should be midseason stride. We’ve been practicing since January now, with this group and we feel as if we’re way ahead of the game,” Miner said.

“We came out with very limited injuries after the tour here in Europe. We’ll be heading into the season fully healed, fully ready to go with two full squads of very knowledgeable boys.”

Miner expects to not only win the league for a fourth straight time, but he expects to face Winnipeg’s perennial powerhouse St. Paul’s Crusaders in the provincial final.

“Our goal is to meet St. Paul’s in the final. I hate to put the cart before the horse, but our dream matchup will be nothing less than St. Paul’s for the gold medal this year,” he said.

Professional Bullriding Canada (PBR) makes its return to Credit Union Place, May 23.

Lindsey Kyle, assistant general manager at Dauphin Recreation Services, said about 200 tickets have been sold to this point.

“We started selling them mid-December for those who maybe wanted to get stocking stuffers or Christmas gifts. So we started then and have made steady progress,” she said, adding DRS hosted a PBR night at a Dauphin Kings game last month, where coupons were given away, encouraging people to buy tickets at a $5 discount.

“We did see an uptick in tickets purchased over that weekend. And we hope to continue to see that as the event gets closer and closer,” Kyle added.

The major sponsors are Crossfire Bullriding, DRS and Dauphin Agriculture Society.

“It’s exciting to bring the PBR back to Dauphin once again,” Kyle said.

While the bullriding is the highlight of the evening, there is more to take in.

“It always kicks off with a preparty. This year that is going to be sponsored by the Dauphin Ag. Society. So stay tuned for events that will happen before the shows kicks off and the bulls start bucking,” Kyle said.

Although only 200 tickets have been sold, Kyle said they are hoping for a sellout of 1,500 people.

“We’ve got a little ways to go and we hope we sell the building out,” she said.

“I just would encourage people to get their tickets soon. There’s different levels of seating available, so the prime seating, obviously, always sells out first.”

People can purchase tickets by visiting the Crossfire Bullriding website at crossfirebullriding.com. Tickets range from $30 to $60.

“The bulls buck for about two hours, so it’s very affordable,” Kyle said.

A highlight of this year’s show will be some local junior bullriders trying their luck.

The second annual Ukiefest Bonspiel hit the ice at the Parkland Recreation Complex curling rink, this past weekend.

The family event saw 26 teams entered for a weekend of fun and frivolity, with members of Canada’s National Riding and Dancing Cossacks on hand to keep everyone in line.

When all was said and done, Nolan Hadway and his team - which includes Bryanne Bates, Alex Iwanchysko and Evan Gullett - won the first event, defeating The Princess Team.

Makenna Hadway was third and Ashley Sidar was fourth.

Dave Bencharski and his team of Abbey Lachowsky, Jacquie Bencharski and Nicole Ogryzlo, won the second event, beating Jens Jensen.

Tom Messinbird placed third and Therese Deah was fourth.

The team of Max Galloway, Gracey Gulak, Melissa Galloway and Greg Dyck won the third event, beating Lucas Boulbria.

Mazer Group Service was third and Mazer Group Parts was fourth.

The 13U Parkland Vipers girls volleyball team won a tournament hosted by Club West in Virden this past weekend.

The Vipers split their matches in the round-robin, beating Offspeed Red, 25-7 and 25-17, and Brandon Westman, 25-15 and 25-20. They lost to Brandon Volleyball Club (BVC), 21-25, 25-15 and 16-18, and completed the round-robin with a 24-26 and 22-25 loss to Selkirk.

After BVC lost to Westman, the Vipers finished second in their pool and played Moosomin, Sunday morning to open the playoffs.

Parkland advanced to the quarterfinals with a 25-17 and 25-19 win, where they defeated Offspeed Black, 25-20 and 25-19 to move on to the semifinals.

Parkland defeated Queen City out of Regina, Sask., 22-25, 25-13 and 15-10, to advance to the final where they met Selkirk in a rematch.

This time the Vipers got the better of their opponents, with a 22-25, 25-14 and 15-6 win to claim the tournament championship.

After playing just okay on Saturday, the team talked about how it wasn’t their best volleyball.

“And then we came out that second day and we played some really great volleyball. Our offence was really on point and our serving was great,” said head coach Sean Rea.

“And so we came out and beat a bunch of teams that we actually lost to in round-robin play and came out with the win.”

Rea said the girls were excited to win their first tournament of the year.

“We’ve had a couple of close finishes. Third at the Premiere Tournament and we’ve been just losing out in the semis a couple of times. So I think the girls were really excited and it’s always good to come home with a win.”

The win, Rea added, will do wonders for the team’s confidence as they head into spring break.

“We have a week or so off before our next match. So I think it’s good to go into that break on a high and come out as champions,” he said.

Playing in front of their hometown fans, the Ste. Rose Celtics boys basketball team won the bronze medal at provincials, Saturday afternoon.

The Celtics opened the tournament with a 61-48 win over the Dufferin Christian Stingers, Thursday.

The Celtics then fell, 95-36, to the Glenboro/Baldur Panthers in the semifinals, setting up a bronze medal showdown with the Wawanesa Warriors.

In a back-and-forth game, the Celtics prevailed, 64-58.

Aiden Brunel was named a tournament all-star for his efforts.

Celtics coach Nathan Zadorozny said it was a loud and emotional game.

“The fans in Ste. Rose were incredible and they really helped us win that game. It was a hard fought effort by our guys,” he said.

The Celtics led by nine at halftime, but the Warriors fought back and took the lead at one point. It wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Celtics regained the lead for good.

“We had some foul trouble from our varsity guys and a couple of Grade 9s and Grade 10s had to step into the game and they really made a big impact to keep us in the game,” Zadorozny said.

Zadorozny had never won a medal before as a player or coach, so this was a big moment for him, as well as the players.

“This is the best feeling ever. This is my first medal game ever. And the guys gave me a medal. They brought it home for me, so it feels absolutely amazing right now,” he said.

Zadorozny said the Celtics were one of the hardest working teams all year long, which was a key factor in its success.

“And we always go no matter what the score is. We had to fight back after that loss against Glenboro. It was a pretty big loss. They’re a very good team. But we didn’t care. We just knew we still had a job to do and we went and did it,” he said.

Zadorozny saw an improvement in the team’s play since the start of the season.

For the full story, read this week’s edition of the Dauphin Herald.

The 50 LCol. Barker VC Dauphin Air Cadet Squadron is part of the Royal Canadian Air Cadets organization, which provides youth ages 12 to 18 with opportunities to grow into confident, capable and community-minded leaders, according to Dauphin commanding officer Marcus Paddock.

Across the country, Paddock added, the program includes sea, army and air cadets, each offering unique training experiences.

In Dauphin, cadets study aerospace and aviation principles, learn about aircraft systems and navigation and participate in flight simulation, aircrew survival training and familiarization flights in gliders and powered aircraft.

Late last year, local cadets had the opportunity to begin training on a flight simulator, thanks to the efforts of Richard Hillcoff.

“When I became the liaison (between the cadet squadron and Royal Canadian Legion Branch 20), I wanted to put the air back into air cadets. So I figured the best thing is to get a simulator,” he said.

Hillcoff trained with the local squadron himself, beginning when he was 12. He noted there has to be 18 air cadets to run a squadron.

“When I took over, they were going to shut the squadron down. There were two people who came to see me and convinced me. So I did some homework and became a captain in the reserves, so I could run the squadron,” he said, adding he ran the squadron from 1979 to 1984, before handing the reigns to someone else.

Hillcoff became the liaison between the cadets and the Legion, 3-1/2 years ago.

Hillcoff spearheaded some fund-raising campaigns to purchase the flight simulator for the local squadron.

After doing some research, Hillcoff decided on a simulator and made the purchase for $15,000.

“Everybody in the cadets, they get a chance, no matter who they are, from the very beginning through to the end,” he said.

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