The Dauphin Kings have started the new year red hot, having won six games in a row to move to within three points of second place.

Newcomer Ashton Paul paid immediate dividends in his first game, scoring the game winner on a power play with less than two minutes remaining in a 4-2 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders, Jan. 16 in Dauphin.

Then, after scoring in regulation, Paul netted the winner in the shootout, lifting the Kings to a 4-3 win over the MGEU West Division-leading Virden Oil Capitals, Friday in Virden.

On Saturday in Dauphin, Madden Murray scored twice including the game winner just 2:44 into the game as the Kings beat the Niverville Nighthawks, 6-0, with Cole Sheffield making 28 saves for his third shutout in the new year.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the team is positive and working hard during the current win streak.

“I don’t think we’ve had any better back-to-back efforts. The game in Virden was outstanding. The puck pressure, our forecheck, our back pressure coming back in the D zone, guys are on their toes and they’re working hard. The dressing room is really good right now,” he said.

The game against Swan Valley saw Dauphin outshoot the Stampeders, 69-33.

“We had the puck a lot. A lot of shots at the net. And that’s what we’re starting to do is we’re driving the net. We’re getting second shots, we’re going low to high, we’re getting some pucks through from the point. Yeah, we put a lot of pucks through on the net,” Hedley said, adding the Kings used their speed to create a lot of opportunities against Virden on Friday.

Hedley thinks the struggles the team experienced in December may be attributed to the Christmas break.

“Maybe with the Christmas break, guys were thinking about Christmas. The focus, the attention to detail wasn’t there. You just see the difference now,” he said. “In December, some of our players, they didn’t know if we had the team. We were trying to get better. But when that doubt enters the room it’s tough and you really have to battle hard. And it takes a special group to battle through it. The group we have in the room now, they believe in each other, they work for each other and go to war. That’s the difference.”

As well as they are playing now, Hedley would like to see things tighten up in the defensive zone.

“Sometimes we break down and give up real good chances. Sheff made some good saves when he had to tonight. In tight, there were a couple guys all alone a couple times. We’ve just got to clean up the D zone a little bit,” he said. “I really like our neutral zone right now. We’re controlling team’s speed, we’re getting pressure on the forecheck and we’re making some smart reads. But the D zone is going to have to get a little bit cleaner and getting tougher on pucks.”

Dauphin trails the second-place OCN Blizzard by three points with four games in hand.

The Kings are in Swan Valley tonight at 7 p.m.

On Friday, they host the Blizzard at 7:30 p.m., while Saturday is Ukrainian Night with the Steinbach Pistons in town for a 7:30 p.m. game.

Kings court: For the second straight week, Kings goalie Cole Sheffield was named one of the Original 16 Stars of the Week, after posting a 3-0 record with a .1.62 GAA and .950 save percentage . . . The British Columbia Hockey League announced over the weekend that five teams from Alberta - the Blackfaulds Bulldogs, Brooks Bandits, Okotoks Oilers, Sherwood Park Crusaders and Spruce Grove Saints - will join that league next season. As a result, the Alberta Junior Hockey League cancelled this weekend’s games involving those teams.

Valerie McInnes and Travis Senecal offered a few words in an online video inviting the public to the grand opening of The Bloom ‘n Bean, Saturday.

The public was invited to stop in for some coffee and cake as they celebrated their grand opening.

The Parkland Rangers are slowly falling out of the playoff race in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League after a pair of losses over the weekend.

The Rangers dropped a 5-3 decision to the Winnipeg Wild, Saturday in Winnipeg, before losing 7-1 to the Interlake Lightning, Sunday in Teulon.

As a result, Parkland’s record falls to 10-15-2-1 for 23 points, five back of the eighth-place Norman North Stars.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot was pleased with the team’s play against Winnipeg.

“I thought, for the most part, we were in that game right from pretty much start to end,” he said.

Twice the Rangers trailed by three goals, but they pulled to within one with 2:41 remaining.

“We didn’t quit. We had good structure. We had good work ethic and we found a way to keep the game close,” Carefoot stated, adding he wondered to himself whether to pull the goalie or not. “One of my veteran players heard that and said, ‘what have we got to lose?’ So we did (pull the goalie) and tried to make a push and in the end, they got the empty netter to make it 5-3. But overall, it was a good game,” he said.

Sunday’s game was a result of a lack of self-discipline on the part of some of the Parkland players, who had a late night despite getting back to their hotel by 10 p.m.

As a result, one player slept in and missed the team breakfast at 9 a.m., which did not please the coaching staff, while others were not attentive during a video session prior to leaving for Teulon.

During the pregame warmup, the Rangers did not leave the ice in time, resulting in a delay of game penalty to start the contest. Interlake, subsequently, opened the scoring on that power play to start the game and things went down hill from there.

“Everybody was off. Guys that we lean on to perform really well, those guys were all off. We didn’t have our routine. Everything about our routine was off,” he said. “And it goes back to the night before and it goes back to the morning. And then we can’t expect these players, you can’t sleep in and then go on the ice and be a high-performance athlete and perform at a high level when you’ve only been up for three hours.”

Carefoot admitted to being angry at the situation and felt it was a lack of self-discipline that resulted in Sunday’s loss.

“At some point there has to be some self-accountability,” he said, adding the Rangers have proven they can play with any team in the league, with the exception of the Brandon Wheat Kings. “But in order to do that, our structure has to be good and our work ethic has to be good. It’s just all those little things that we talk about. We have the capabilities of doing all that,” Carefoot said. “But the moment we choose to either take a shift off or a game off, or in this case, some guys chose to basically not want to show up at all, it’s very frustrating.”

Having said that, Carefoot recognizes that Interlake is one of the top teams in the league, currently sitting in third place.

“Interlake is for real. They’ve got a nice roster there. It’s not a fluke or an accident that they’re a top four team this year. I think that’s great to see. The last several years, they’ve been battling at the bottom end, so I think that’s great for their program,” he said.

The Rangers will look to right the ship this weekend when they face the second-place Southwest Cougars in a home-and-home, beginning, Friday in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m., with the rematch in Souris on Saturday.

The teams split a home-and-home, Jan. 6 and 7.

Southwest is another team the Rangers can compete with.

“They’re very structured. They don’t have any flashy players that pull you out of your seats, but they have non-negotiables that play within their structure. Hopefully, we can match that and we can be ready, because every point now going forward is just so important,” Carefoot said. “The game results over the weekend, the teams that we’re battling with, they either split or they found a way to get four points. So we need points. And so we need to be ready to execute and, hopefully, that’s the case.”

The Dauphin Kings were busy at the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s (CJHL) trade deadline, with five deals made.

The deals started, Jan. 5, with the Kings sending forward Blake Boudreau, 20, to the Carleton Place Canadians of the Central Canada Hockey League for a player development fee (PDF).

Boudreau had 10 goals and 16 points in 25 games for Dauphin this season.

In a move that surprised many Kings fans, 20-year-old defenceman Anthony Bax, who led the team in scoring with 32 points, including 13 goals, was shipped to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Flin Flon Bombers, the top team in the CJHL.

In exchange the Kings get forward Ashton Paul, 19, and future considerations.

In 28 games this season, Paul had four goals and 19 points.

Last season, playing with OCN, Paul tallied 26 goals and 56 points in 57 games.

Defenceman Nolan Wickham, 20, was sent to the Winkler Flyers for defenceman Ty Pratte, 18, and a second round draft pick in this year’s draft.

Wickham had two goals and 10 points in 29 games this season, while Pratte had a goal and an assist in 15 contests for Winkler.

Defenceman Aidan Brook, 20, along with forward Rhett Perrin were traded to the Portage Terriers in exchange for defenceman Brett Magarrell, 18, as well as a third and fifth round pick in this year’s draft.

Brook played 31 games this season, tallying four goals and 13 points, while Perrin had a goal and three points in 17 games.

Magarrell played 30 games with the Terriers and recorded a goal and six points.

Another deal saw the Kings send the list rights of forward Kai Clayton to the Swan Valley Stampeders for a PDF.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the trade landscape has changed with advisors now representing players.

Players, Hedley said, now have to consent to trades, which he understands when they are sent to a different league. But giving consent when being traded within the same league makes no sense to him.

“I think it’s going to have to be looked at,” he said.

Hedley tried to improve the team’s offence, but the deals he was working on fell through.

“Our original plan was to add some offence, some experienced guys that could score,” he said.

When those deals didn’t work out, Hedley gave the team’s 20-year-olds a choice to stay with the Kings or be moved to another team.

“We wanted to be fair to the 20-year-olds,” he said.

Only Logan Walker and Alex Senf chose to stay.

“They didn’t even hesitate. They came back in and said they wanted to be Kings, they wanted to wear the crest. They felt we had a good young group and we could challenge,” Hedley said.

Dealing away Brook and Wickham is particular was hard with both players being in their third year with the team, as well as being part of the championship squad that won the league in 2022.

“There’s all kinds of respect on our end for those kids. We just felt that they deserved a chance, they made the decision and we accommodated them,” Hedley said.

Hedley likes the return he got in the various deals.

“We think that we got some good young players back in return with Ty Pratte from Winkler and Brett Magarrell from Portage. Both are 18-year-olds that are going to be good D-men in the league,” he said. “In fact, if you look at our back end now, I really think we got younger, but we got more mobile and we’ve got real good speed, real good attitudes and real good work ethics.”

The Kings won their third straight game the day before the deadline, beating the Neepawa Titans, 3-0, with Cole Sheffield making 29 saves to record his second shutout in three games.

Hedley said the team played with a renewed energy and emotion in that game.

“We’re looking forward to working with this group and the work ethic and compete. Kyan Grouette has really helped us out as far as work ethic. He’s a real good addition,” he said.

Fans will get their first chance to see the new players in the lineup tonight when the Kings host the Stampeders at 7:30 p.m.

The Kings then visit the division-leading Virden Oil Capitals, Friday, before hosting the Niverville Nighthawks, Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

Sesley Sloboda signs a copy of her book, Mother, Mother, for Dr. Jim Rae at a private book launch for family and friends, Saturday in the Old Fire Hall at the Watson Arts Centre.

The book, which is the second Sloboda has written, will be available on all online book stores starting in March.

The Dauphin Kings started the new year with a pair of home ice wins.

Cole Sheffield stopped 24 shots to lead the Kings to a 3-0 win over the Winnipeg Freeze, Friday.

On Sunday, Anthony Bax scored twice in a 5-2 victory over the Selkirk Steelers.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt the team got back to playing the way they did at the start of the season when they built a 14-4-0-0 record.

“Guys were skating. That’s what separated us early in the season, was our speed, playing fast and how hard we worked,” he said.

Dauphin product Kyan Grouette made his debut after he was reassigned to the Kings by the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips.

Hedley was impressed with what he saw from the young forward.

“It’s unbelievable the way he works. And he’s made Zali (Carter Zalischuk) better player and he’s made (Madden) Murray a better player. He’s got a positive attitude. He’s come in here and he’s working hard. So it’s a great center-hole to fill.”

While recognizing the offence isn’t where the Kings want it to be, they created opportunities in both games.

“And our speed tonight on our back end was outstanding,” Hedley said.

With the trade deadline coming on Wednesday, Hedley has a lot of irons in the fire trying to work out some deals. But he is also willing to stay the course, stating he doesn’t have to do much at the deadline.

“I think we’re as good as any team in this division if we’re playing hard. And with the goaltending we have and the back end that we have, like our back end tonight was really good,” he said. “So we’ll see what happens in the next couple days. We’ve got a lot of things going on. If we can add a couple of guys on offence, we will.”

Regardless of what happens at the deadline, Hedley said the important thing is just to make the playoffs.

“As long as you get to the dance, if you get hot goaltending at the right time, guys coming up with big goals at the right time,” he said. “Our bottom six, with Kyan Grouette and Zalischuk and Murray, and then you’ve got (Rylan) Gage, (Joshua) Schmidt and (Sheldon) Shyiak, playing outstanding. And those guys can win a playoff game, because they’re heavy, they provide energy and they get the other guys going. They’re buying into exactly what we want to do as a team and how we forecheck. They get it. They pay attention to detail and they figured it out. It’s contagious.”

It was the play of the bottom six forwards that helped the Kings win the Turnbull Trophy in 2022, with players such as Garrett Hrechka and Cordell Coleman scoring key goals in the playoffs.

“Hrechka got the game winner in game six here, didn’t play in game seven and was one of the first guys on the ice to celebrate, because he understood. He was a teammate,” Hedley said.

Dauphin plays three games this week, beginning tonight in Neepawa against the Titans.

On Saturday, they host the Portage Terriers at 7:30 p.m., and on Sunday, they hit the road to OCN to battle the Blizzard.

Four local football players were part of the Manitoba Selects football program which took part in the Winter Showcase, Dec. 27 to 29 in Minneapolis, Minn.

Lars Gudbjartson, Owen Tyschinski, Sully Fox and William Miner put their football skills to the test, hoping to impress American college and university scouts.

Fox said the four players were invited by the Selects head coach Frank Devine to attend tryout camps every Saturday in Winnipeg.

“It was a pretty cool experience going to Minnesota this past weekend,” he said.

Fox said it was pretty cool to make the Selects program.

“It felt great. It was a good experience. I was really glad to be out there in my Grade 11 year, just to get lots of experience playing football and try to come back to help the team here at home,” he said. “I think more people should get into it, because it’s an open tryout. You just have to go there, work hard. If you make it, they want you there.”

Miner said the showcase consisted of individual skills, where players were expected to show the coaches what they could do.

“And you basically tried to show off what you could do. It’s not a team thing, hence the name showcase. You want to show off,” he said.

Fox added they had a couple of practices the first day and attended the facility where the National Hockey League’s Minnesota Wild practice, where a combine was held for players attended the football camp.

On the third day, he added, players visited the Minnesota Vikings stadium, which was a new experience for the young players.

Fox and Miner hope the experience will help them in their football careers.

Fox noted Joseph Lopez played on the Selects last year and received a couple of offers from different schools.

“So we’re kind of hoping for the same for both of us,” he added.

It was a year marked with celebrations and wondering what could have been when it comes to sports in 2023.

Dauphin Kings

The Dauphin Kings finished the 2022-23 season in fourth place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division, with a 32-21-3-2 record, just nine points out of first place, which was occupied by their Parkland rival, Swan Valley Stampeders.

The two teams met in the quarterfinals, where the Stampeders needed six games to dispatch the Kings and advance to the semifinals.

This season, the Kings started strong, but began to fade as the new year drew close. They enter 2024 in third place with a 16-11-1-0 record.

Parkland Rangers

With a 12-25-7-0 record, the Parkland Rangers missed the playoffs in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League.

This season, the Rangers are in the midst of the playoff race, sitting in 10th place with a record of 9-11-2-1, but they are only one point out of a playoff spot and sit just seven points out of sixth place.

Check this week's Dauphin Herald for more!