The Parkland Rangers earned three of a possible four points last week to stay in the race in the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League.

Nolan Kozak’s second goal of the game 2:17 into overtime lifted the Yellowhead Chiefs to a 4-3 win over Parkland, Nov. 25 in Dauphin.

On Friday in Dauphin, Noah Smigelsky scored once and added a pair of assists to lead the Rangers to a 5-2 win over the Interlake Lightning.

Rangers head coach Rick Freese felt the Rangers played well at times on Friday, but feels they have to be better in the defensive zone.

“Our neutral zone steer got better today. Those two teams are indicative of the whole league. There’s four points between third and eighth, so we have to make sure we’re on every night,” he said.

“And we have to hate getting scored on more than we like scoring goals. We’ve got the fire power. We’ve got nothing but fire power here. But we have to make sure we’re defensively sound.”

The third period, Freese said, was a perfect example of how well the Rangers can play defensively, as they sealed the wall against Interlake, limiting the Lightning to just six shots.

“Twenty minutes of sealing the wall is one thing. But we’ve got to do it for 60. So we’re getting there. We’re getting better, but we’ve got some work to do, for sure,” he said.

The work ethic has gotten better since the start of the season.

“Holding players accountable is the only thing coaches can do. We control their ice time. That’s the only thing we can control. But, yeah, I think work ethic has gotten better in the last two months,” Freese said.

“But we’re in the dog days now and you’ve got to find ways to be a contributor, especially the bottom six guys. Sometimes those top six guys start to get worn out a bit in the dog days. So we want those bottom six guys to step up a little bit.”

The Rangers won’t get much practice time in this week as they are on the road, Tuesday and Wednesday.

They face the Chiefs in a rematch, Tuesday in Shoal Lake before heading to Brandon on Wednesday to play the Wheat Kings.

At 11-5-4-0 for 26 points, Parkland trails Brandon by five points and will look to close that gap.

On Friday, the Pembina Valley Hawks will provide the opposition at Credit Union Place in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m.

When the Rangers do hit the ice for practice, the focus will continue to be improving their defensive play.

“Offensively, we’re talented and we can do things down low, but we have to support our teammates a little better in how we enter the offensive zone as a unit, so we’ll work on that this week,” Freese said.

The Dauphin Kings extended their winning streak to six games before seeing it come to an end, this past weekend.

Havryil Simchuk scored the winner with 6:47 remaining in the third period to lift Dauphin to a 2-1 victory over the Selkirk Steelers, Saturday in Dauphin.

On Sunday, the Winkler Flyers scored a 4-0 win over the Kings to snap Dauphin’s winning streak.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt the Kings played well against the Steelers, playing with energy and creating some opportunities.

“I think we left them hanging around too long. If there’s one thing we could have done better, it could have been 3-1 or 4-1,” he said.

“We had a lot of opportunities. We still need to bear down around the net when we get opportunities and make teams pay for the mistakes they make.”

The important thing, Hedley added, is the players found a way to get things done and earn the two points.

The Kings started slow against Winkler, which was playing its third game in as many days after sweeping a pair in The Pas against the Blizzard.

The second half of the second period was penalty filled with Winkler getting four power plays.

“When you’re on your heels it’s tough to keep the bench in. It’s tough to get some momentum the other way,” Hedley said, adding if the Kings had scored on a five-on-three man advantage late in the second period with Winkler leading 3-0, they could have made it interesting in the third period.

“Our guys just didn’t bear down. They’re an aggressive team. You’ve got to give them credit. They’re playing hard. They’re fighting for their lives for a playoff spot with Selkirk right now in their division. But they’ve gotten a lot better,” he said.

“It’s too bad with two good teams on the ice like that they weren’t allowed to play.”

As frustrating as it was, Hedley said discipline starts with the coaches.

“We can’t control what the referees do. The players have got to play within the parameters they set, shut their mouth and play hockey,” he added.

Dauphin’s seven-game home stand continues Wednesday when they host the Virden Oil Capitals at 7 p.m.

Dauphin is seven points ahead of Virden in the standings, with the Oil Capitals having two games in hand by puck drop, after Virden hosts Selkirk on Tuesday.

On Saturday, the Winnipeg Blues are in town for a 7 p.m. date.

Ethan Stewart, who missed Sunday’s game as a precaution, left the team on Sunday to join Team Canada West at the Junior A World Challenge in Trois-Rivières, Que., Dec. 7 to 13.

Defenceman Ty Pratte has been cleared and should return to the lineup on Wednesday.

The Parkland Rangers learned a valuable lesson in a 5-4 loss to the Pembina Valley Hawks, Saturday in Dauphin.

The two teams traded goals through the first 40 minutes and the Rangers pressed for the equalizer in the final frame, but could not bury their chances.

Noting the Hawks are committed to defence, Rangers head coach Rick Freese said his team has to play the same way.

“For us to win against a team like that, we’ve got to keep it to two or less and we’ve got to be committed to D. And we had moments tonight where we weren’t committed to D,” he said.

Freese said the Rangers have the fire power to compete with any team in the league, but it is the commitment to defence that the teams needs to work on to compete with the best teams in the league.

“Our game is not fire fighting. We don’t want to be in a fire fight. We want to be in a defensively sound game. We don’t want to handcuff guys offensively. But if we’re going to cheat, we’ve got to cheat on the D-side every time. We can’t be cheating on the O-side,” he said.

Pembina Valley took advantage of some breaks, which led to goals. But with four goals on the board, Freese feels that should be enough to win games.

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t have won that game, 4-1. They didn’t get anything that we didn’t give them to a certain extent. They’re a hard working team, no doubt. And they put pucks to the net and they’re physical down low, but so are we,” he said.

“It’s like playing ourselves, almost a mirror image. We just have to be a little more committed to D.”

Freese is looking for a better defensive effort when they host the Yellowhead Chiefs, Tuesday at 7:15 p.m.

“We’ve got some of the best fire power in the league. But when you score four goals, there’s no reason why you shouldn’t win the game. If you can hold a team to two or less and be committed to D, there’s no reason, with four goals, you shouldn’t win.”

Freese feels the players have to learn to trust in their teammates and not try to do too much on the ice.

“So when we retreat, we have to make sure, we have to have it behind us that our teammate is doing their job, too. I think that’s the biggest thing, for sure,” he said.

Parkland’s only game this weekend is Friday, when they host the Interlake Lightning at 7:30 p.m.

It wasn’t the finish they had hoped for, but the Dauphin Clippers JV girls volleyball team still placed in the top four at provincials, this past weekend in Swan River.

Dauphin began the tournament with a 25-20 and 25-23 win over the Neelin Spartans, then defeated the Linden Christian Wings, 25-23, 27-29 and 15-8, before losing to the top-seeded Virden Golden Bears, 16-25 and 23-25.

Finishing second in their pool placed the Clippers in the quarterfinals, where they defeated the Niverville Panthers, 25-19 and 27-25.

The semifinals was a rematch with Linden Christian, which Dauphin lost, 16-25 and 21-25.

In the bronze medal game, the Clippers faced the W.C. Miller Aces of Altona, losing 17-25 and 21-25, to finish fourth.

Clippers coach Chris Wolfenden was pleased with the team’s play.

“Pool play was great. We ended up beating both Neelin and Linden, which set us up really well. The process of getting to the medal round was really good. We ended up beating Niverville in the quarterfinals, which wasn’t a super easy match,” he said.

“And then, we came up against two really good teams that we couldn’t get past. But I’m proud of the girls. Top four in the province is great. You always leave a tournament like that wishing for more. Hopefully, that motivates the girls to keep getting better.”

Wolfenden added there were a lot of lessons learned, noting the team was battling an illness, as were other teams at the tournament.

“We got to the semis. Top four in the province. I think the girls, after some reflection, will be proud of what they did. Because I know the coaching staff is very proud of them and we let them know that,” he said.

Wolfenden was pleased with the improvement he saw in the team from the start of the season. Noting the team is a mix of players from Grades 9 and 10, they were mostly all new to each other.

“Just becoming a team over time was great. Individually, I think everybody player got better, for sure, because everybody was able to push each other in practice every day. I think it was great. You always expect a group or want a group to do more, but I think the group did everything in their power to be the best that they could be,” he said, adding he enjoyed coaching the team and is looking forward to the future the group will bring to Clippers volleyball.

The City of Sunshine is set to kickoff its Christmas celebrations, next weekend.

The festive season kicks off with Fort Dauphin Museum hosting Christmas at the Fort, Saturday, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The day includes a visit with Santa and Mrs. Claus and there will be children’s activities, story time with Mrs. Claus, horse and wagon rides, free hot chocolate and a bake sale.

Then the Christmas Parade of Lights gets underway at 5:30 p.m.

As of Thursday, more than 30 floats were registered for the parade ahead of Monday’s registration deadline.

Parade organizer Pam Werbiski said there will be hot chocolate stands again this year and cookies will be handed out along the route.

Werbiski noted there will be awards handed out for the top three floats in the parade.

As always, the parade has received tremendous support from the community, with many sponsors stepping up to offer assistance to organizers.

“We’re hoping that it’s a nice night so everyone can enjoy it,” Werbiski said.

Following the parade, Nicole Yunker will host Nicole and Friends Christmas Celebration in the Johnston and Co. Auditorium at the Watson Arts Centre, beginning at 8 p.m.

The show will include The Basement Band, Keystone Chorus, Ste. Rose Community Band and Manuel Nakonechny.

The Dauphin Clippers football team handed out its postseason awards, Wednesday.

Julien Lopez was recognized for winning the Rural Manitoba Football League award for Most Outstanding Player - Special Teams.

Sly Fedorkiw, Rudy Oosthuizen and Blake Thacker each took home two awards.

Fedorkiw won the Norris Aitken Memorial Award and the Coach’s Award, while Oosthuizen took home the Most Outstanding Player - Special Teams Award and the Most Outstanding Player - Playoffs Award.

Thacker won the Most Outstanding Player - Defence Award, as well as the Wellborn - Most Dedicated Award.

Morgan Fleck won the Most Improved Player From Last Year Award, while Weston Oversby won the Most Improved Player This Season Award.

Reggie Clyde took home the Most Outstanding Player - Offensive Line Award and Mitchell Rauliuk won the Most Outstanding Player - Offensive Line Award.

Owen Gonty won the Most Outstanding Player - Offence Award, while the Rookie of the Year for Grade 9 and 10 went to Cole O’Connor and the Best New Player for Grade 11 and 12 Award went to Emile Saifulin.

Robbie Tomkins won the Ron Ricketts Family Award for Most Outstanding Coach.

A weekend sweep of the Norman North Stars has the Parkland Rangers riding a three-game winning streak.

Alex Campbell scored twice and added three assists to lead Parkland to an 8-5 win over the North Stars, Friday in Dauphin.

Forrest Karlson and Brayden Budolowski each had a goal and two assists and Campbell had three helpers in a 7-1 victory, Saturday in Dauphin.

The wins improve Parkland’s record to 10-4-3-0 for 23 points.

Following Saturday’s win, Rangers head coach Rick Freese felt the team played as well as they had to.

“We maybe didn’t play as defensively sound as we should have. Tonight our D was solid. We were clearing guys out in front. We were picking sticks up in front. I think our steer in the neutral zone was a little bit better,” he said.

“We still need to plug up the neutral zone a little more. But at the end of the day, we had some guys that played real good today. I thought we had some guys that played real good and are buying into our defensive philosophy.”

The effort on Saturday was much better than it was the night before. Facing different teams in the league, Freese said, can cause inconsistent play.

“When we play the Wild or the Thrashers, the top five, top four teams in the league, we play extremely well. We play hard and we play heavy. Some guys showed today that we can do it against any team in the league. And if we get consistent that way, it’s only going to benefit us going forward,” he said.

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

Despite heavily outshooting their opponents, the Dauphin Clippers hockey team dropped a 3-2 decision to the Virden Golden Bears in their home opener, Saturday.

Brandon Wood and Hayden Shtykalo had staked Dauphin to leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but the Golden Bears answered right back on a pair of goals from Shane Ritchie.

Slade Price netted what proved to be the winner, 5:35 into the third period.

Brodie Cameron made 52 saves to earn the win in goal for Virden, while Ben Miner was tagged with the loss with 18 saves.

Clippers coach Drew Kulcheski felt the Clippers deserved a better fate.

“I thought we played a real good 60 minutes. I couldn’t have asked them to have a better 60. We played our game and sometimes it just doesn’t go our way. But if we play like that for the rest of the season, I think we’ll be very successful,” he said.

Kulcheski isn’t concerned about the offence not burying their chances.

“It will come. This is only our second game together. We’ve got a lot of new faces. It will click. The hockey gods weren’t with us today, but sometimes they will be and sometimes they won’t be and that’s just the way it goes. I’m not concerned at all,” he said, adding he is pleased with the team’s defensive play.

“We stuck to our game plan. We trapped them when we needed to trap them. We kept them to the outside. They’ve got a couple of big scorers on there that I was concerned about going in and we held them off the scoresheet as well as we can. I’m very proud of how we played defensively,” Kulcheski said.

The Clippers are on the road tonight, as they face the Birtle Falcons at 8 p.m. in Birtle.

Dauphin returns home on the weekend to host the Neepawa Tigers, Friday at 7:30 p.m., and they face the Glenboro/Carberry/Baldur Wildcats, Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Kulcheski hopes the Clippers can continue its winning habits, something he has been quoting all season.

“If we keep playing the way we were playing today, we’re going to have success. We’re going to build on the little things that we did today, take it into Tuesday and, hopefully, come away with two points,” he said.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Parkland Rangers earned four of a possible six points in a three-game homestand over the weekend.

The weekend began, Friday, when the Rangers scored a 5-4 win over the Southwest Cougars on its annual Hockey Fights Cancer Night, during which the players wore pink jerseys.

Parkland built a 3-0 lead, 5-1/2 minutes into the second period on a goal by Dayson Martin and two from Landyn Garton.

The Cougars tied the game before the period break when Cole Lobreau, Eric Berger and Taylor Lockhart found the back of the net.

Brayden Budolowski and Ryzlie Nepinak put the Rangers back in front by two, but Southwest’s Coleton Koop narrowed the gap to one. However, that was as close as the Cougars would get.

Carter Sigurdson made 28 saves for the win, while Nate Brown stopped 16 shots in the loss.

On Saturday, the Rangers beat the Eastman Selects, 2-1.

Owen Sigvaldason and Budolowski tallied for Parkland, while Crosby Mateychuk had the Eastman goal.

Eddy Person picked up the win making 22 saves, while Sigurdson stopped seven shots in a  brief relief appearance.

Zaiden McDonald Horvath took the loss after stopping 12 shots.

It was a different story on Sunday as Seth Hooper scored twice and added an assist to lead the Selects to a 7-1 win.

Owen Law, Jevon Peters, Ty Mistelbacher, Liam Plett and Jax Huberdeau also scored for Eastman and McDonald Horvath made 11 saves.

Martin had Parkland’s only goal. Person made five saves before giving way to Sigurdson, who stopped 16 shots.

The Rangers sit in fifth place with a 7-2-3-0 record.

While pleased with the results, Rangers head coach Rick Freese was not pleased with the effort, feeling the team is starting to get a little bit complacent.

Read the full story in this weeks Dauphin Herald.

The Dauphin Clippers football team ended the Rural Manitoba Football League regular season with a 30-14 loss to the Swan Valley Tigers, Saturday in Dauphin.

The Clippers were missing some of their starters due to various reasons, which gave some rookies a chance to play.

“It gave a little bit of an opening for what we have next year,” said head coach Gerald Lopez, citing several players who played well throughout the game.

Julien Lopez led the defence with 12 tackles. Blake Thacker and Sly Fedorkiw had eight tackles each.

Julien Lopez ran the ball three times for 96 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown.

The Clippers ended the season in third place, with a 4-3 record, and will face the St. Vital Mustangs in the semifinals, Saturday in Winnipeg.

The Mustangs beat the Clippers in Dauphin, 55-54, Sept. 13, so Lopez expects another tight, close game.

“I think, not only our team, I think their team will be looking at our strong points as we’ll be looking at their strong points. So I think it will be a battle back and forth It will be a great game,” he said.