Doug Zywina
Clippers tuning up for short season
The short high school baseball season is about to get underway, with the Dauphin Clippers aiming for a berth at provincials.
The team began practicing in mid-March and will likely field a roser of 16 players.
Mark Graham will coach the team this year. He said it is a unique opportunity since he hasn’t coached in a while and hasn’t seen any of the players in action.
“So seeing what I’ve seen in the gym so far, we’ve got a fairly young group and a lot of them have played ball at a fairly competitive level. So the young guys have been pretty impressive,” he said. “Mix in a couple of the older guys and it’s a decent crop. But until we get outside, it’s pretty hard to tell too much of what’s going on.”
The Clippers are back in the Prairie West High School Baseball League and will play six games against teams in the North Division.
Find out when the season begins and more in this week's Herald!
Clippers use rugby festival in Brandon as tune up for upcoming season
The Dauphin Clippers boys and girls rugby teams were in Brandon, Saturday for the annual John Keogh Rugby Festival.
The girls won both of their games, beating Crocus Plains, 48-5, and scoring a 72-5 win over Vincent Massey.
A third game was more of a controlled scrimmage between the Crocus Plains rookies and Dauphin rookies. The reason for this, according to Clippers girls coach Shawn Sarkonak, is because Crocus Plains had a late influx of about 15 players.
“And they’re now sitting around 38 (players), so we wanted to make sure that everyone got some quality field time to get some good experiences,” he said.
Overall, it was a good tournament for the Clippers, with Sarkonak noting it was the first time the tournament has been held since 2019 because of the pandemic and adverse weather.
Get the full rundown in this week's Dauphin Herald!
Flooding causes delay in start to golf season at GPCC
The start of the golfing season in Gilbert Plains will be delayed due to flooding.
According to Gilbert Plains Country Club general manager Scott McCallum, there was about 2-1/2 feet of water flooding the course.
“Water was coming in the back door of the clubhouse. We’ve got areas of the clubhouse that were flooded. Our whole maintenance shed, our new hall, that had water in it. And that’s just speaking of the buildings and the equipment, never mind the golf course that has to be repaired,” he said. “I’m not going to downplay the magnitude of this. It’s a daunting task. Sometimes it can get you down, because you work so hard on a small budget to make that golf course as beautiful as we can. And for events like this to happen, it’s definitely difficult.”
Working in the country club’s favour is the dedication of its board of directors, as well as the many volunteers and staff, to making the course look its best.
“The municipality has been absolutely unbelievable in supporting us. The provincial government, for that matter, has been out to see the damages and we’re really hoping they can get behind us and help us with it,” McCallum said. “We’re stepping in the right direction. We’ve just got to execute and get the golfers out on the golf course.”
Clean up will be an ongoing project, McCallum said. The focus right now, he added, is getting the facility open and golfers out on the course.
“But clean up is going to be an ongoing endeavour, for sure. There’s some things that might not affect the golfers that have to be done and those will be put in priority and we’ll deal with that as we go,” he said. “But as of right now, we’re just focusing on trying to get the fairways and the greens and everything cleaned up and ready for the golfers. And, obviously, we’ve got some pretty big icebergs that we’ve got to get rid of off the golf course, as well.”
McCallum said about seven or eight holes have been affected by the flooding. But the goal is still to open the course in early May.
To celebrate the upcoming golf season, a Tee Off to Summer, presented by the Battle For the Belts, will be held, May 4. The evening will feature the Duelling Keys, with prizes and food available.
Tickets are available by calling McCallum at 204-648-7834.
Kin Business Expo proves popular
he Dauphin Kin Club’s annual business expo proved to be a hit with attendees and vendors alike.
Kin Club secretary and expo chair Candice Taylor said there were 103 different vendors this year.
“We had a lot of return vendors, but we also had 20 or 30 new vendors that have never been to the expo before. So it was great to have a variety,” she said, adding the weekend went well. “Everything went really smoothly. We love and appreciate all the vendors that come in and support our community. Without them we wouldn’t be able to have an expo. It was great to see such a good flow of traffic throughout the weekend. The patrons were really great. We never had any issues, so it was wonderful.”
Among the highlights were the Kin Bar, which was something new, as well as children’s entertainer Doodles the Clown.
Overall, Taylor said it was a wonderful weekend.
“It was a lot of hard work. A lot of blood and sweat goes into it. But overall, I’ve had a lot of positive feedback from the vendors and that’s our goal, is to promote our community, promote vendors and have a good sense of community. It was awesome.”
Chamber hosts State of the District
The Parkland Chamber of Commerce hosted its annual State of the District address, Apr. 16, at the Watson Arts Centre.
The meeting was a chance for local municipalities and sponsors a chance to share what was happening in their respective districts.
Speakers included Greg Crisanti of Tim Hortons, Alexander Lavoie of Rural Manitoba Economic Development and Mike Csversko of Fusion Credit Union, as well as Charlene Gulak on behalf of Dauphin MLA Ron Kostyshyn, Jim Manchur, Reeve of the RM of Gilbert Plains, Lyle Morran, Mayor of
Grandview Municipality, Rm of Dauphin Reeve, Ernie Sirski and Robert Brunel, Mayor of the Municipality of Ste. Rose.
Chamber executive director Stephen Chychota said the event went well.
“It was a very full agenda, but we were able to get through it and make sure everyone had time to get back to work or do the networking thing after,” he said. “But it was very good. Really great presentations by the sponsors that were wanting to partner up on this. And then our four municipalities that were able to share some updates today. It was great to hear from them on the developments that they’re having, where things are headed in their municipalities. It just paints a really good picture for what’s happening in the region, which is what this program is all about.”
Summer games in dire need of volunteers
The 2024 Manitoba Summer Games, powered by Manitoba Hydro, are less than four months away, but they are in dire need of volunteers.
Games co-chair Carla Wolfenden said they really need people to start signing up.
“We are getting to be in the time where we’re getting a little worried. I know we’re a last-minute town, but with an event this size and with the sheer number of volunteers that we need, people have to sign up early,” she said. “All of our committees need to have their volunteers, their work force scheduled by the middle of May and as of right now, we are very, very short for volunteers.”
Wolfenden is not surprised people are waiting until the last minute and is confident they will meet the required number needed come August.
“But we need them all to sign up now. We really need to get people signed up. A lot of people say, ‘yeah, I’m going to volunteer.’ But we actually need them to register online, so that our committees can get them scheduled,” she said.
To register, visit the Sport Manitoba website and click on the Manitoba games link under the programs tab at the top of the page. Then simply scroll down and click on the link and fill in the form to register as a volunteer.
Or Google Manitoba Summer Games and it will take you to the summer games page.
“If people aren’t comfortable with doing it on their own, they can go to our games co-ordinator who works at city hall, as they can sign up there,” Wolfenden said, adding they will also have a booth at the Business Expo this weekend.
Other than a need for volunteers, planning for the games is going well.
We have an amazing crew of committee chairs that are paving the way for all the volunteers out there to put on a really good event. Everything is proceeding. We’re now into the really nitty gritty details of planning,” she said.
“Not so much big picture stuff. But now the small details that are going to make or break an event. But it’s going really, really well from that point of view.”
The resurfacing of the track at the high school is expected to begin soon. Other than that, the rest of the facilities just need some fine tuning.
“Just cleaning things up a little. Adding a few things here and there. Polishing. Making sure the soccer and rugby fields are weed free,” Wolfenden said. “We want to put on a good show and make our town look nice and our facilities are the main focus. So we’re looking forward to how they look come August.”
Some sports have already started their qualifying process, while others will take place in the coming months.
“Teams will start being finalized starting in May, again, depending on the sport. But some may not be in until mid-July,” Wolfenden said. “Hopefully, we have some local athletes representing. I know we have some local coaches and officials, but we really are excited to see some local athletes on those teams.”
The host committee will hold its last meeting with all of the provincial sport organizations represented, Apr. 26 and 27.
“Each committee is giving their, not quite final, but progress report on what’s going on and what still has to be done and what the plans are for each of their areas. So there will be 100 people here to hear some presentations,” Wolfenden said.
The Manitoba Summer Games will take place, Aug. 11 to 17.
Minor football program gets a boost from Blue Bombers
The newly-formed Parkland Minor Football Association is getting underway in Dauphin.
Last year, there was a group of players playing in an unofficial capacity, leading parents to start a formal minor football program.
“We wanted to improve the football here in Dauphin and get the kids started before high school, teaching them the fundamentals and basics of football. So that when they’re in Grade 9 and entering high school, they know the jist of it and can become better and stronger players,” said program co-ordinator Shannon Genaille.
The program is for students in Grades 5 to 8. Although there is a registration deadline of Apr. 17, Genaille said they will accept students beyond that date.
“It’s going to be a short season, because we’re done at the end of May. We play against teams from Saskatchewan right now. So we’ll take kids as long as anybody enters. And then we would adjust the registration fees, this year only,” she said. “Just trying to get more kids interested and involved. Boys and girls.”
Practices will be held, Mondays and Wednesdays from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at Kin Field at the Vermillion Park Sportsplex.
“They’re going to be at the rugby field this year because of the Manitoba Summer Games,” Genaille said.
Read more in this week's Dauphin Herald!
Clippers teams looking to repeat as WHSR champions
The Dauphin Clippers will look to repeat as Westman High School Rugby champions in both the boys and girls divisions, while the girls will also look for their second straight provincial title.
The two teams began working out in February whenever they could get time in the gym. Practices ramped up to twice a week, two weeks ago.
Coach Shawn Sarkonak said both teams are excited to get back on the pitch.
Check out this week's Dauphin Herald for the full story.
AA softball program begins in the Parkland
Girls wishing to play softball this year can do so thanks to the newly-formed Parkland Power AA Softball program.
Program co-ordinator Steven Hopfner said the program will include U11, U13, U15 and U17 age groups.
“Whoever is playing softball in the Parkland can tryout for the AA teams,” he added.
“The communities will range form McCreary, Ste. Rose, Dauphin, Russell, Roblin, Swan River and everywhere in between.”
Get the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald.
Kings and Blizzard are heading to a game seven showdown
The Dauphin Kings and Blizzard Jr. A Hockey Club are going the distance in their best-of-seven quarterfinal series.
Cayden Glover’s goal 10:46 into the fifth overtime period lifted the Dauphin Kings to a 3-2 victory over the Blizzard in game six, Monday in Dauphin.
After taking a two-games-to-none lead, the Kings saw their first-round opponent capitalize on some breaks to score three straight victories.
The Blizzard got back into the series with a 5-3 win in game three, Mar. 26, in The Pas.
Miguel Bouvier’s goal 4:34 into double overtime, Mar. 28, in Dauphin, evened the series at two games apiece.
The Blizzard then took the series lead with a 3-2 win in game five, Mar. 30, in The Pas, setting the stage for what turned into an epic battle between two evenly-matched teams.
Following Monday’s game six victory, Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said was proud of how hard the team worked.
“And (goaltender Cole Sheffield) Sheff, outstanding. Both goaltenders were outstanding,” he said.
Sheffield finished with 71 saves, while his Blizzard counterpart Tomas Anderson made 61 stops.
Hedley said the Blizzard got a few breaks which allowed them to take the series lead after five games.
With the Blizzard leading 4-3 late in game three, the Kings hit a couple of goal posts before the Blizzard sealed the win with an empty-net marker.
“Come back here and they win in double overtime. And then going back up there, it was a real tight game. I really liked the way we pushed back up there. We got outplayed the first period and we didn’t get off to a great start. We got down 2-0, but came back and made it a game. We outplayed them in the last 40,” Hedley said. “Both teams are so evenly matched.”
The pushback continued in game six with the Blizzard twice taking a one-goal lead only for the Kings to come back to tie it, with Alex Senf’s goal with 54 seconds remaining in regulation forcing the issue to go into overtime.
Both teams had quality chances in each of the overtime periods, but Sheffield and Anderson were equal to the task until Glover threw the puck at the net and it eluded Anderson sending what was left of the 1,041 fans in attendance home happy.
“I just can’t say enough about our pushback and our never quitting. Never giving up. This could be a galvanizing moment for us. We were talking in the room about how this could be the start of the journey, not the end,” Hedley said. “We found a way to get it done. We believed. (Sunday) we met and the whole room believed that we could find a way to get this done. Now they’re going back, getting home late. They’ve got to make two trips to our one.”
The key to success in game seven will be to keep things simple, Hedley said.
“Just like what we’ve been doing. We were relieving pressure by rimming pucks. We’ve been hitting, sticking and pinning the whole time. A lot better low in the D zone,” he said. “They had some opportunities, but we had some good opportunities, too. In fact, I thought it was over about three times, with (Jordan) Bax with an empty net, Zalischuk an empty net on rebounds and Glover walks in on a breakaway. Both goaltenders played well. You’ve got to give both teams credit for working hard and never quitting.”
Game seven will go, Wednesday in The Pas at 7 p.m.