Doug Zywina
Belting out the tunes
Jason McCoy and Chris Byrne, sing one of McCoy’s hit songs at the Backroads to Countryfest show, Saturday, at the Watson Arts Centre.
The show was part of a tour, which included stops in Virden, Swan River and Minnedosa and also featured performers Nelson Little and Emma Peterson of Winnipegosis.
All three performers will be appearing at this year’s Dauphin’s Countryfest.
State of the City
Dauphin Mayor David Bosiak spoke to a capacity crowd at the State of the City address, May 14, in the Aspen Lodge at the Dauphin Recreation Complex.
Bosiak spoke on six key items he feels are important to the future of the city - community and innovation, climate action and leadership, housing and neighborhoods, truth and reconciliation, public health and wellbeing, and local tourism.
Hosted by the Parkland Chamber of Commerce, other speakers included Marisa Philippe of Fusion Credit Union, Chuck Davidson, president and CEO of Manitoba Chamber of Commerce and Darren Eddie of the Dauphin and District Community Foundation.
Clippers dominate on the pitch
The Dauphin Clippers rugby teams are off to dominating starts in the Westman High School Rugby.
The Clippers girls started the season with a 55-0 win over the Swan Valley Tigers, May 2, before hammering the Vincent Massey Vikings, 77-0, last Thursday.
Felicity Sahulka led the Clippers with two tries against Swan Valley, while Tanya Devos, Brooke Miner, Emma Fox, Chloe Fletcher, Bree Walker, Rhoda Evans and Ruth Evan added singles. Miner added five converts.
On Thursday against the Vikings, Fox, Fletcher, Victoria Carter, Jana Manzano each had two tries, with Allee Hrechka, Miner, Mai Maguet, Evans and Saje Marohn adding singles. Miner also chipped in with six converts.
“You can see they’ve been putting the work in at practice,” said Clippers coach Shawn Sarkonak. “And especially the ones that had the opportunity to travel to Ireland. You can really tell that experienced paid off and we’re rolling in the season right now.”
As well as the girls played, there are areas of the game Sarkonak would like to see improved upon.
“You want to improve every game and every practice. Our key themes that we’re really focusing on is playing an expansive game, going sideline to sideline, playing with flow. Which means moving the ball and not getting tunnell vision and playing as individuals,” he said. “I’ve been preaching to the girls all year that the higher level coaches, they don’t really key in and focus on who is scoring the tries or kicking the converts. They’re looking at what led to the try being scored. The commitment of the defender, drawing and passing, skipping a pass or essentially, just creating space and putting the ball in the space.”
The girls were in Brandon, Monday for a game against Crocus Plains, followed by a date with the Rivers Rams on Thursday.
Sarkonak hopes to see the girls continue their momentum.
“I’ve been talking to the coaches around the league and keeping an eye on the standings and we’re looking forward to this,” he said, adding Crocus Plains won their first game over Souris, while Rivers will be Dauphin’s toughest test as the league champion for the last few years. “We’ve had that one circled all year and we’re really looking forward to it,” he said.
While dominating wins are great, Sarkonak also pointed out they can lead to bad habits forming.
“Or individuals wanting to pad the stats a little bit. The coaching staff is staying on them just to keep the team-game mindset and just to move the ball and work together and good things will happen,” he said.
The Clippers boys also swept their two games, beating the Crocus Plains Plainsmen, 47-5, on Tuesday and Vincent Massey, 42-5, on Thursday.
Guzman Garcia had two tries to lead the Clippers against the Plainsmen. Scott Gower, Lars Gudbjartson, William Miner, Landyn Garton and Louis Prevot added singles and Prevot also recorded six tries.
Against the Vikings, Miner had two tries, while singles were added by Garcia, Joseph Lopez, Julien Lopez and Alex Thompson. Garcia added three converts and Prevot had one.
Clippers coach Aaron Miner said the Clippers are already in midseason stride after they started practicing in early January.
“We’re where we expected to be,” he said.
Miner has seen an improvement in the play of those players who were part of the trip to Ireland. Those who weren’t, he added, are working hard to catch up.
“They’re putting in a lot of extra time and effort at the gym and running at the track. It’s just been amazing to see them catch to the 15 that did go to Ireland,” Miner said.
The team’s experience, Miner said, was a key to the two victories to open the season.
“We’re playing against some strong teams that have great athletes, as well. But with our two exchange students having ample experience, it just put us over the edge,” he said. “They’re doing things that other teams don’t expect Canadian teams to be able to do at this age.”
The ability shown by those students - Prevot and Garcia - is showing other teams how good they can be if they work hard enough.
Most of the Clippers players were in Brandon for a U17 rugby camp, with coaches from Team Canada and Team Manitoba, featuring three days of practices.
“Those players got an extreme amount of practice and good coaching. Those that are in Grade 12 know we haven’t had a lot of chances to practice. We are playing so frequently now, that we’re not getting a chance to get some practice time in,” Miner said.
The Clippers boys joined the girls team in Brandon for a rematch with the Plainsmen on Monday.
Honouring the missing and murdered
The Northwest Métis Council and the Dauphin Friendship Centre held a Red Dress Walk in honour of murdered and missing Indigenous women.
Participants were encouraged to wear red for the walk, which began near the courthouse and ended at the council office on Main Street.
Smile cookies a hit
Colleen Talbot, Martijn van Luijn and Lana Davidson put some smiles on cookies baked at the local Tim Horton’s as the annual Smile Cookie campaign took place last week.
At last report, Dauphin was the number one seller of the special delicacies across Canada.
Proceeds of the campaign will go to the Parkland Crisis Centre and Women’s Shelter.
Clippers set to hit the diamond as season begins this week
After a month of indoor practices, the Dauphin Clippers baseball team finally got some outdoor workouts in before starting the season later this week.
Clippers coach Don Sheldon said training sessions began in early April, with about 12 players showing up.
Although he would have liked to see more players tryout for the team, Sheldon feels the Clippers will be a committed squad once the season begins.
“I think it will be a good team in terms of commitment level once we get going,” he said, adding there are a lot of returning players from last year’s squad. “And there’s a few new up and comers that I’m excited to see what they can do,” he said.
Sheldon feels the team will be competitive in the Prairie West High School Baseball League and will have a good chance to win their zone and advance to provincials.
Dauphin’s season begins, Wednesday in Brandon against the Neelin Spartans, followed by a doubleheader on Sunday, with game one in Roblin at noon, and the night cap at 4 p.m. in Swan River.
The schedule will see the Clippers play seven games in 14 days, with the first four games on the road, followed by three home dates.
“We’re kind of stuck to just pretty much Monday practices and then playing on Wednesdays and Sundays. We’ve got seven games in 14 days, so it’s going to be a stretch where we’ll be asking a lot from our pitchers,” he said. “But that’s the nature of high school baseball. It’s a quick season. They want everything wrapped up by the start of June.”
Starting with four games on the road will benefit the Clippers, Sheldon said.
“That will actually serve our team pretty well, I think. It will give us a chance to practice on our diamond a little bit before we have to play a game on it,” he said. adding last season the Clippers weren’t able to get on the diamond until their first game of the season. “So this year, hopefully, we’ll have a few practices under our belt and know the field a little bit better so home field advantage will actually feel like home field advantage.”
Dauphin’s first home game is, May 14, against Russell at noon.
Tournament hosts
The Dauphin branch of Kang’s Taekwondo Academy hosted the academy’s annual inter-club championships, Saturday at the Watson Arts Centre.
Athletes from across the province competed in the tournament, which featured patterns, sparring and breaking, with a maximum of two boards for each division.
Look at me, coach
The Dauphin Kings hosted their annual spring development camp over the weekend, with 125 players hoping to get noticed by the team’s coaching and scouting staff.
The team is currently offering early bird season tickets for next season.
Adult season tickets are $249, senior tickets are $219, student ages 13 to 17 are $119 and children ages six to 12 are $59.
Flex tickets are also available with a 30-game flex pack going for $295 and a 10-game flex pack is $105.
Living the traditions
Kozak Siromaha performed in front of about 60 people, Sunday at the Ukrainian Orthodox Auditorium.
The Ukrainian artist shared with the audience the traditions and customs of the Cossack lifestyle, while performing on the harmonium.
All proceeds from the event will be used to support operations of the Ukraine Armed Forces.
Community groups pitch possibilities to potential volunteers
Twenty local groups and organizations looking for volunteers had the chance to take part in a volunteer market at the Dauphin Active Living Centre, Saturday afternoon.
The market included a presentation from Volunteer Manitoba, as well as Martijn van Luijn, economic development manager for the City of Dauphin, and Jerry Joss, who spoke about his own volunteerism.
Deborah Slonowsky, Dauphin and Area Welcoming Communities Coalition co-ordinator with Regional Connections, said there is no limit to the number of volunteers they can use.
“Because we need volunteers sometimes just to work at an event, which will be a two-hour commitment. And sometimes volunteers will want to commit to a longer term like being a language buddy, which might take place over several months, sometimes years. And those flourish sometimes into a friendships that becomes a lifelong thing,” she said, adding they will go with whatever the volunteer is looking for.
Check this week's Herald for more!