The Bayer Crop Science Parkland Super League of Curling got underway, Sunday, with two games.

Defending champion Greg Todoruk of Richardson Pioneer defeated Rob Fisher of Hrychuk Yard Solutions, 6-4, while Glenn Toews of Nutrien Ag Solutions beat Oil Depot’s Jim Todoruk, 4-2.

The game between Chad Sahulka of South Fork Ag Services and Turko Fertilizer’s Kyle Forsyth was postponed to Monday.

A pair of Dauphin defenders push a Virden player out of bounds in the Murray Black Cup, Saturday.

The Clippers overcame the cold, snowy conditions to score a 31-18 victory, to win the Murray Black Cup.

The Doug Steeves Cup will be played, Saturday, featuring the top two teams in the league, the second-place Interlake Thunder facing the number-one ranked St. Vital Mustangs in Winnipeg.

After seeing their four-game winning streak snapped at the hands of the Niverville Nighthawks during the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s annual Showcase, the Dauphin Kings have started another winning streak, this one reaching three games going into this week.

The Kings rebounded from last Monday’s loss to Niverville with a come-from-behind 3-2 shootout win over the previously unbeaten Winkler Flyers.

Dauphin then made it two wins in a row with a 7-2 win over the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, Friday in Dauphin and made it three straight wins with a 7-2 win over the Winnipeg Freeze, Sunday in Winnipeg.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt the players were a bit nervous heading into the Showcase, which resulted in the loss to the Nighthawks.

“The guys want to get to the next level. We’ve been playing outstanding and we’ve been playing as a team. And we just got caught up in a little bit of the atmosphere there and the talk about schools coming up to watch,” he said. “I think we just got onto an individual page a little bit. We started doing things that we weren’t accustomed to doing all year, making an extra move before we pass the puck up, trying to beat guys with toe drags. And our rush defence wasn’t very good.”

Austin Seibel got the start in goal and played well, according to Hedley.

“He made some big saves. You can only give up so many odd man rushes before it kills you. And I thought we learned from it. We had a really good third period,” he said.

Dauphin fell behind Winkler, 2-0 after the first period and tied the game in the second with a couple of power-play goals.

“We sure never quit and the guys stuck together and found a way to get it done. It was a huge win for us,” Hedley said.

The Kings carried the momentum of that win into Friday’s contest against the Wolverines, building a 5-1 lead before the game was 10 minutes old.

“The way we started the game tonight was a direct result of that game in Winnipeg. We were on our toes and we set the pace right off the hop against Wayway,” Hedley said.

Dauphin’s power play, which struggled early on, is on fire as of late. In the last five games, the Kings have scored 13 times in 30 tries with the man advantage, a 43.3 per cent clip.

As a result they now have the best power play in the league, with a 31.4 per cent success rate.

Hedley noted all four goals at the Showcase came on the power play.

“Guys are starting to move pucks and we’re starting to get some breaks in front of the net,” he said. “The guy that’s in the right spot a lot of times net front is Walks (Logan Walker). He’s making a big difference and he’s getting some big goals for us.”

The Kings will look to extend their winning streak when they host the Wolverines, Friday, at 7:30 p.m., before heading south to take on the division-leading Virden Oil Capitals, Saturday.

Kings court:

The Kings moved up two spots in the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s Top 10, coming in at no. 10. After two weeks at no. 1, the Winkler Flyers dropped to no. 5 this week, while the Steinbach Pistons come in at no. 8.

Jeannette Ritchot tickled the ivories, Friday, to open the open mic night at the Old Fire Hall at the Watson Arts Centre.

A capacity crowd of more than 40 people enjoyed an evening of entertainment by local musicians.

The next open mic night will be held, Nov. 17, at 7 p.m.

A lack of urgency and compete resulted in the Parkland Rangers winning just one of three games over the weekend.

In the team’s annual Hockey Fights Cancer Game, the Brandon Wheat Kings scored five times on the power play en route to a 9-2 win.

The next day, it was the Norman North Stars which took advantage of Parkland’s penalty kill, scoring three times in a 4-2 victory.

Parkland got a measure of revenge, Sunday afternoon, when they connected four times on the man advantage in a 10-1 rout of their northern counterparts.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said Brandon’s top players proved to be hard to play against, which is something he hopes his players can take away from that game.

“That was the message that we wanted to have overall, as an entire team. We don’t have three or four players that are going to break the game open. We’re a team that has to work together,” he said.

Prior to Saturday’s loss, Carefoot asked his players what type of player to they want to be.

“All these players and families aspire and hope that they’re going to play at higher levels of hockey. In order to do that, you need to ask yourself if you are a competitor. If you are tough to play against and you have that internal drive to be the ultimate competitor. And (Saturday) we lacked that,” he said.

The Rangers turned things around, Sunday, and earned the two points to build some momentum going into next weekend, when they host the winless Kenora Thistles, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

Despite the number of power-play goals the Rangers gave up, Carefoot said that is not why they lost.

“It just comes down to being ready to play and being hard to play against and tough on pucks. It doesn’t matter what level of hockey you watch, whether it’s the NHL, the junior leagues, the Western League, junior A, the Kings, all the language is the same. And that’s the question you have to ask yourself. Am I hard to play against?” he said.

“Going forward, we have to have that mindset. Every player. You have to be on the right side of pucks. All of us need to buy in. And that’s the message going forward.”

An agriculture project in which 160 acres of canola was planted will benefit the Dauphin and District Community Foundation.

Jason Beyette spearheaded the grow project starting in the spring, with various sponsors donating everything that was needed to make the project a success.

“We had received donations from various retailers. The Co-op was instrumental in getting the seed organized for the field and then they followed it up with the chemicals to spray the crop,” he said. “And we’ve had other retailers, like 360 Ag Consulting. They provided the agronomy for us and told us what we needed to do on the field.”

Reit-Syd Equipment looked after all the custom spraying, as well as donating two combines to harvest the crop, which took place, Oct. 17.

“And the Michaeleski family has been trucking it into town for us to the elevator,” Beyette added.

The idea came from one of the DDCF board members, Beyette said.

“Sherrie Volk had noted that in her hometown of Elkhorn, their community foundation had done a grow project and she thought it would be neat to do that here,” he said.

The land used for the project was owned by the late Peter Sklepowich.

Beyette does not yetknow how much the project will raise and it will be a while before they do.

“But we’re hoping to raise a substantial amount of money through this grow project,” he said.

Because of the success of similar grow projects as a fund-raising endeavour, Beyette feels it would be a wonderful fund-raiser for DDCF if they can get the land to do it again.

“I think retailers are very charitable in giving product to organizations to get a crop in the ground. And I think there’s always producers willing to lend a hand to help that succeed,” he said, adding his thanks to everyone who has contributed to the project. “And thank you to the foundation for taking the leap and going forward with it,” he added.

Kit Daley, DDCF executive director, said the project will have a huge impact on what the foundation can grant every year.

“Obviously, every donation helps, but the hope with this crop is it will be a substantial gift and it will increase annually what we can give back to the community. So the more projects and organizations we can support through our granting program, the better it is for our community,” she said.

The SVRSS Tigers Boys and Girls Soccer teams travelled to Dauphin for the MHSAA Soccer Provincials for the second straight season as wildcard teams for their respective groups...

The Dauphin Clippers senior boys volleyball team won the Neepawa Tigers Varsity Boys Tournament, Saturday.

The Clippers opened the tournament with a 25-18 and 25-21 win over the Alonsa/McCreary co-op team, then beat the Portage Collegiate Trojans, 25-22 and 25-18.

After a 25-21 and 24-25 split with the host Tigers, the Clippers were set to face the William Morton Warriors of Gladstone in the final round-robin match.

With the two teams were already slated to meet in the semifinals, the round-robin match was deemed unnecessary, so the Warriors forfeited and the teams went ahead with the semifinal match, which the Clippers won, 25-13 and 25-17.

In the final, Dauphin won the tournament title with a 25-21 and 25-16 win over Alonsa/McCreary.

Clippers win preseason tourney

The Clippers hockey team opened its preseason schedule by winning the annual Glenboro/Carberry/Baldur Wildcats preseason tournament, over the weekend.

Dauphin began the tournament with a 3-0 win over the Pembina Tigers.

Tyron Sweetman scored twice and Liam Chartrand had a single in support of Owen Chubka, who earned the shutout in goal.

In the semifinals, Boston Karlson scored twice to lead the Clippers to a 5-3 win over the Reston/Elkhorn/Melita/Hartney Renegades.

Ronin Mouck, Sweetman and Chartrand had Dauphin’s other goals, while Joseph Tabin earned the win in goal.

Chubka recorded his second shutout of the tournament in a 2-0 win over the Carman/St. Claude Cougars in the final.

Ethan Everett and Cody Zurba scored for the Clippers.

Clippers end regular season

The Clippers football team ended the Rural Manitoba Football League with a 32-21 loss to the Swan Valley Tigers, Friday in Dauphin.

Quarterback Cody Zurba completed five of 15 passes for 39 yards, while Will Miner ran for 187 yards on 15 carries.

Declan Waggoner led the defence with 14 tackles and five assists, Blake Thacker had eight tackles and three assists and Lars Gudbjartson contributed five tackles, three assists and one fumble recovery.

Josiah Seale added three tackles, two assists, one interception and three knockdowns and Riley Lobert had an interception return for a touchdown and he also scored on a 60-yard punt return.

Sully Fox had the Dauphin’s other major.

The Clippers finish the season with a 2-4 record and will now host the Neepawa Tigers in the consolation semifinals. The game is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m.

Tavyn Boychuk’s power-play goal, 1:44 into overtime lifted the Parkland Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Wild, Saturday in Winnipeg, the team’s first W of the season.

Cam Sarna opened the scoring just 1:29 into the contest and added his second midway through the period to give Parkland a 2-0 lead.

It stayed that way until the 15:55 mark of the third period when Gino Cotroneo put Winnipeg on the board. The Wild tied it 43 seconds later on a goal from Cole Babych.

Winnipeg’s Carter Kingerski was called for a holding penalty 1:06 into overtime and the Rangers capitalized when Boychuk netted the winner.

Chase Glover made 28 saves to earn the win, while Winnipeg’s Jacob Armstrong took the loss with 21 saves to his credit.

Parkland was seven seconds away from their second straight win, but had to settle to a 4-3 overtime loss to the Interlake Lightning, Sunday in Teulon.

Drew Russell in the first period and Brandon Burak in the second had given Interlake a 2-0 lead. But Cash Clarkson put the Rangers on the board 55 seconds after Burak’s goal and Sarna tied the game 41 seconds later.

Cade Legaarden put Parkland in front 58 seconds after that and the Rangers skated into the third period with a 3-2 lead.

All three Parkland goals came on the power play.

Russell’s second of the game came with seven seconds left on the clock, sending the game to overtime, where Burak scored his second, 3:01 into OT to give Interlake the win.

Alex Myers made 35 saves in the win, while Glover had 29 saves.

After playing the Eastman Selects twice last weekend, Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot wanted his team to create the same identity as the Selects.

“And that’s just being a hard team to play against and just executing all the little details behind the scenes that we always talk about as a group,” he said, adding the Rangers have played very well against the Wild in recent years.

“I’m not too sure if it’s because they maybe take us for granted. But the game against the Wild, we were in control all the way through.”

After taking the lead in the first period, the Rangers didn’t sit back and kept up the pressure offensively. It wasn’t until towards the end that Winnipeg started pressing to tie the game.

“I thought they got a lucky goal there to tie things up and send it into overtime and we found a way to win,” Carefoot said. “You talk about momentum shifts in a season, that game just proved to all of us that we can compete in the league this season, but we can win some games if we have the mindset of, together, playing the right way.”

In Sunday’s game against Interlake, the Rangers were able to overcome killing off three of four penalties in the first period.

“So they had all kinds of momentum, generating lots of chances. And we weathered the storm,” Carefoot said.

Interlake tied the game on what Carefoot called a lucky bounce.

“Their D-man just kind of hail Mary’d it on to the net and a little deflection beat our goalie,” he said.

What made Carefoot most proud about the weekend was the chemistry the players built over the weekend, developing a bond of brotherhood that most teams strive for.

“Guys are battling for each other. We care for each other and I think we recognize that, if we’re going to have some success, it’s really important that we have that team unity and buy in,” he said. “Factor in the way we are competing and executing, we are on the right track.”

The Rangers start a seven-game homestand with three games in as many days this weekend, beginning, Friday, when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings at 7:30 p.m.

On Saturday, the Rangers face the Norman North Stars at 7:30 p.m. date, followed by a rematch, Sunday, at 1:30 p.m.

The Dauphin Kings ended a four-game home stand with a 4-3 overtime victory over the Neepawa Titans, Saturday at Credit Union Place.

Trey Gnetz was the overtime hero for Dauphin, snapping home a shot past Neepawa netminder Mason Lobreau, who was stellar in goal, making 44 saves.

For Gnetz, it was his first of the season.

Also scoring for Dauphin were Alex Senf with his first, Blake Boudreau with his fifth and Rhett Perrin with his first.

Dylan Schrader, Kyle Weisgarber and Cooper Kasprick scored for Neepawa, with Kasprick’s goal coming on a power play with 4:32 left in the third to tie the game.

Cole Sheffield picked up his league-leading sixth win of the season, making 17 saves in the process.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley noted Neepawa had five different players dressed from the night before when they lost 9-2 to the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, which made a difference in their play.

“I’m glad we got the two points. They hang in there and they work hard. We had so many chances and real good looks. Lobreau plays well. You’ve got to be lucky to be good and good to be lucky and he was both,” he said.

The Kings dominated from the opening faceoff, with a strong forecheck.

The line of Ethan Williment, Perrin and Gavin Nemis was outstanding all night, Hedley said, pointing out Nemis stripped the puck off a Neepawa player in the neutral zone leading to Gnetz’s game winner.

“I was really happy with those three. Just our work ethic overall is really good. We’re working hard,” he added. “The stick battles tonight had to be definitely over 50. Stick battles are usually one of our indicators on how hard you’re working. I thought with the stick battles tonight, we turned a lot of pucks over.”

The Kings used their speed to break out of their zone well, Hedley added, which led to some good scoring chances.

“Coming up through the dots and we drove the paint really well. Senf’s goal was a really nice play. That’s the kind of stuff we have to do. Because our D-men are so active, we can drive three guys to the net and still get that fourth guy coming in with the D-man jumping in late,” he said.

As well as the Kings are playing, there are still some areas that could be improved upon, such as the power play, which sits last in the division and 11th overall at 11.1 per cent success rate.

The penalty kill is sixth overall at 84 per cent.

“Our power play has got to get better. It’s got to start making teams pay for taking penalties and taking liberties on us. So we’ve got to be better on special teams,” he said. “Defensively, we played really well tonight, using the weak side and getting pucks up the dots. And our rush defence probably has to improve a little bit, just identifying guys that we’re picking up and communicating who’s got who.”

After a slack schedule through the early part of October, things will pick up now as the Kings hit the road, Saturday, to play the Wolverines in Waywayseecappo at 7:30 p.m., before heading to Winnipeg for the league’s Showcase at the Seven Oaks Sportsplex, where they will face the Niverville Nighthawks, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m.

The next day, Dauphin plays the Winkler Flyers, which leads the MGEU East Division with a 7-0-0-0 record, having allowed just nine goals in those seven games.

The Kings sit alone in first place in the MGEU West Division with a 6-1-0-0 record, one point ahead of the Virden Oil Capitals, but Dauphin has games in hand on every other team in the division and will play their next seven games in 15 days.