The Parkland Rangers will have some familiar faces behind the bench as the entire coaching staff will be returning next season.

Head coach Tyler Carefoot and assistants Chris Belhumeur, Colton Robak and Alex Lytwyn will look to bring some stability to the program.

Carefoot said it was something that has been in the works since the end of the season.

“It was just a matter of getting together with the board and meeting with manager (Jason) Gibbs and just sorting out a few details. There’s a few things behind the scenes that I needed to sort out that, in the end, the board was very accommodating. So I’m happy to be back,” he said.

One of the things Carefoot had to take care of was ensuring the rest of the coaching staff would return, as well.

“And then even manager Gibbs. Behind the scenes, he’s a very important piece of the pie, so to speak, with all the little things that he does and doesn’t get enough credit for,” he added.

Although they played well at times, last season, the Rangers struggled to put together a winning streak until the end of the season, when they won five of the last seven games, including four straight wins.

Carefoot and company hope to build off that late-season success.

“We were a younger group last year. We lacked some experience at the start of the season, but I think our second half proved that we can compete in this league and, hopefully, we’re going to be able to get a few more wins next season,” he said.

Carefoot plans to reach out to all of the players eligible to return next season, as well as meeting with some new recruits.

Carefoot pointed out there will be no team in Central Plains this year, so players from that region are basically free agents, able to play where they want.

“You think that it’s the offseason, but even at our level of play, there’s always something going on, so we’ve just got to keep stoking the fire and trying to make our team as competitive as we can,” Carefoot said.

The Rangers have 15 players eligible to return next season, but some of those players may end up within the junior ranks, whether it be the Manitoba Junior Hockey League or Western Hockey League.

“If everybody comes back, optimistically, there’s a lot to be excited for,” Carefoot said, pointing out the Rangers missed the playoffs by 11 points and had 15 one-goal losses during the season. “Even if you only get half of those back, you’ve got a playoff spot,” he said.

In the last three years, Carefoot said, 15 players came through the Rangers program and are now playing major junior or junior A.

“I would challenge any rural program as far as developing players. That can all be done right here. You don’t have to move away or spend the big bucks to get the development. I think its right here,” he said.

With a solid nucleus to build around, Carefoot is optimistic the Rangers will have a good season next year.

“I like what I see on paper and how that shakes out in the fall, that will be determined. But I really like the guys coming in and the guys that are coming back are, most importantly, they’re all good guys and guys that I want to cheer for and help make them, not only good hockey players, but good people. I think that’s what it’s all about,” he said.

The Dauphin Clippers rugby teams will host the Westman High School Rugby semifinals, Wednesday, after both teams finished the regular season undefeated.

The Clippers girls will host the Souris Sabres, at 5:30 p.m., while the Clippers boys will host the Vincent Massey Vikings at 6:30 p.m.

The finals will be played on Saturday.

Both Dauphin teams ended the regular season with wins over Souris, with the girls scoring a 45-7 win and the boys triumphing, 52-10.

Megan Thompson led the girls with two tries, with Tanya Devos, Brooke Miner, Emma Fox, Chloe Fletcher and Felicity Sahulka adding singles. Miner had five converts.

Because the Clippers were able to jump out to an early lead, Clippers coach Shawn Sarkonak said, they were able to do some load management with some of the team’s veterans, who were banged up a bit in a win over Rivers, May 11.

“With that being the last game of the regular season and us not having our playoff semifinal game until Wednesday, that extra time for them to heal all those bumps and bruises will do well for us,” he said.

The Clippers are a confident group, Sarkonak said, but they will not take any other team lightly.

“Every game starts at 0-0 and it’s a half at a time and we make adjustments accordingly,” he said.

The other semifinal will see Rivers host Crocus Plains on Tuesday.

William Miner paced the boys with three tries, while Joseph Lopez had two. Damon Nepinak, Oliver Dandeneau and Guzman Garcia added singles and Garcia converted six of the tries.

Clippers coach Aaron Miner felt the Clippers played down to their opponent’s level.

“It was definitely not our best outing of the season. I know the score doesn’t reflect that, but in a game that could have been a learning experience turned out to be players missing their assignments, not running onto the ball,” he said.

“Just the little things that we’ve worked on for so long weren’t being executed, because we were able to get away with things against Souris. But we won’t be able to get away with them against teams like Crocus or St. Paul’s.”

Given that the Clippers beat Vincent Massey, 42-5, in the regular season, Miner likes his team’s chances in the semifinals.

“We need to execute those finer details and use this game to build on. Not saying that Massey is going to be a walkover, but they are a weaker team. They are the fourth ranked team and we are the first. So my goal is to use that game to lead into the finals on Saturday,” he said.

Souris will face Crocus Plains in the other semifinal.

Provincials will be held, June 2 and 3 in Winnipeg, hosted by the St. Paul’s Crusaders.

The Dauphin and District Handivan Association (DDHA) hosted its annual general meeting, May 16.

President Sharon Zeiler said it was a productive meeting, during which the audited financial statement was presented by Jason Zamrykut.

The board also welcomed two new members, Debra Robertson and Shannon Prokopowich, who will join remaining board members, Zeiler, vice-president Marge Beyette, Lavonne Tyschinski, Rodney Juba and Sharon Paziuk, as well as RM representative Ken Shewchuk and city representative Steven Sobering.

“We worked through our subcommittees that we set up for 2023-24. We also have a work place health and safety committee that we work with every month,” Zeiler said.

The DDHA received a $7,500 grant from the Dauphin and District Community Foundation that will be used to assist with the conversion costs of a van to accommodate a ramp allowing larger wheelchairs.

“And then we were also fortunate to get a large grant from the Building Sustainable Communities Fund, which was more than $71,000. That will go towards a new van. That was a wonderful thing to receive, because it certainly helped out the handivan,” Zeiler added.

When it comes to finances, there are some grants DDHA is eligible for and some they are not. But they also do some fund-raising, such as assisting with the Lion’s Club Bingo, June 3.

“We will be offering free rides for anybody that wants to go to the bingo with the handivan between 3:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. I believe that’s when it will be wrapped up,” Zeiler said. “We just want to do positive things for the community and give back to the community. We’ll take volunteers, not a problem. Because we’re a small board, we do have spouses helping out with our fund-raisers or we have friends of the board members that come and help out. So anybody that is wanting to help out the handivan with volunteering, we will greatly appreciate their help.”

DDHA still has trip cards for sale for $30, which allows the card holder six trips, working out to $5 per trip. Zeiler said they are on sale until Sept. 30, adding they do not have an expiry date.

There is also a like and share contest on their Facebook page for a card, with the draw for a winner at the end of the month.

Handivan drivers include Floyd, Darrell, Mike, Glen, Ken and Grant and Lori is the office administrator.

City staff Bradyn Smeski, Ron Paziuk and Barry Bloomfield work on filling some of the potholes on First Street Northeast, May 16.

The City has been busy getting things spruced up ahead of the busy tourist season expected this summer.

The Parkland Crisis Centre and Women’s Shelter and The Hub Dauphin hosted renowned Canadian psychologist Dr. Jody Carrington, May 16, at the Ukrainian Orthodox Auditorium.

The sold out crowd received a free copy of Dr. Carrington’s book, Feeling Seen, followed by a 90-minute keynote address where she focused much of her talk around reconnection, which is the key to healthy relationships and productive teams.

Eight-year-old Cohen Campbell takes aim at the target during a round of disc golf with his uncle Craig, Sunday afternoon.

The 18-hole disc golf course can be found in Vermillion Park.

It’s been a tough season for the Dauphin Clippers baseball team.

The Clippers entered a doubleheader on their home field on Sunday looking for their first win of the season, but instead, came away with a pair of lopsided losses, dropping their record to 0-5.

After Wednesday’s game in Ste. Rose was postponed due to a thunderstorm that made its way through the Parkland, Dauphin hit the diamond against Russell’s Major Pratt Trojans in game one of the twinbill, falling 23-4.

It didn’t get any better in the nightcap against the Birtle Falcons as the Clippers dropped a 25-3 decision to the visitors.

One area where the Clippers is lacking, said coach Don Sheldon, is resiliency.

“We’re booting the ball a fair amount. When we’re facing adversity, we’re not doing a great job of pushing through it,” he said. “Every baseball team is going to face some adversity at some point in their season or during a game. The good teams, the teams that succeed push through that adversity. We’re not there, yet. We’re working our way there. These are a couple of good teams that we played today. They hit the ball well and they had some good pitching.”

The Clippers did hit the ball well at times, Sheldon said, noting Nathan Klippenstein in particular was impressive going four-for-six in the two games with three singles and a double.

“We were on the bats a little bit better than we have in previous games. We had some, hard-hit balls,” he said.

After practicing on Monday, the Clippers will host the Hamiota Huskies on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., before heading east to Ste. Rose for a makeup game with the Celtics.

Prior to the start of the season, Sheldon said the league play was just reps for zone playoffs, as well as provincials.

“I’m hoping that some of those reps, even the ones where we struggled, are going to lead to some positive results at zones,” he said.

Brittney Stratuliak and Payton Dudar played badminton together for the first time in Grade 6 at Ethelbert School.

Due to the pandemic, they did not get the chance to play together again until Grade 9. They worked hard to hone their skills and keep each other positive when they went up against difficult teams.

Last year, their hard work paid off and Stratuliak and Dudar were given the opportunity to travel to Winnipeg for the provincial championships, where they battled hard and ended up securing a fourth place finish.

This year, Stratuliak and Dudar set an even higher goal, top two. They challenged themselves throughout the competitive season in various competitions where they played up in the senior category. When they qualified for provincials, they were excited that they were given the opportunity to reach their goal. They were on their way back to Winnipeg, May 4 to 6, and they knew they were going to be up against some tough teams. Being an A school, at times it was daunting being matched up against AA, AAA and AAAA teams, but they kept their heads held high, finishing second in their pool after the round-robin.

Entering playoffs, Stratuliak and Dudar were determined to try their best and enjoy the experience.

The final game against Reston was a true battle for first. Losing the first set, Stratuliak and Dudar were determined to give them a tough game and worked hard to win the second set. By the third set, both teams could see that first-place finish.

The girls from Ethelbert played hard and secured silver, the first provincial finalists for Ethelbert badminton since 1978.

Patrick Paul, an Ojibwe artist of the woodland style, discusses his art which will be on display outside the Dauphin Public Library, May 9.

The artwork is expected to go up in mid-June.

Following Paul’s presentation, the Rotary Club of Dauphin presented a literacy grant in the amount of $1,670 to the library to advance Truth and Reconciliation for the community.

The proceeds are from the club’s bi-annual book sale.

The Dauphin and District Community Foundation (DDCF) announced 13 grant recipients at the State of the City address, hosted by the Parkland Chamber of Commerce, May 9.

DDCF’s spring intake allowed them to hand out $73,738 in grants to 13 groups and organizations.

Here is a list of the grant recipients.

• Almost New Store - $15,000 for front door repair, including replacing cement footing;
• City of Dauphin -$2,500 for a digital kiosk to provide customers with accessible and low barrier tools;
• Dauphin and District Handivan - $7,500 to assist with the conversion costs of a van to accommodate a ramp allowing larger wheelchairs;
• Dauphin Church of Christ - $6,687 for the Whitmore School food program for the weeks before and after the Food for Thought program is running;
• Dauphin junior recreation hockey - $2,116 for goalie equipment;
• Dauphin Neighbourhood Renewal - $10,000 toward the repair of the DNRC auditorium roof;
• Dauphin Pickle Ball Club - $1,500 toward the purchase of nets, equipment and school rental;
• Dauphin Pottery and Ceramics Club - $4,083 to replace two 50-year-old potter’s wheels;
• Loray Manor (Parkland assisted living) - $7,000 for security panel repair;
• Mackenzie Middle School - $4,352 to replace disposable dishes and cutlery with sustainable products;
• Mountain View School Division - $3,000 toward rent for the alternative education program;
• Maamawii Park - $5,000 part of DDCF’s $30,000 commitment over three years; and
• South Parkland Healthy Child Coalition - $5,000 to establish an indoor playground and family room at Parkland Crossing for child programs, family resources and parent education.

For more info, check this week's Herald!