The Manitoba Junior Hockey League will crown a new champion after the Dauphin Kings were eliminated from the McMunn and Yates Building Supplies Turnbull Cup Playoffs by the Swan Valley Stampeders.

Swan Valley clinched the series with a 4-1 win in game six, Apr. 4, in Dauphin, winning the series four-games-to-two.

Swan Valley built a 2-1 lead after the opening period and sealed the win with two in the third.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt after the Kings won game five in double overtime in Swan River, Apr. 1, that they would be the team that would come out hungry for victory.

“I thought if anything, after that game in Swan we would be the ones jumping out and they would chase the game. Instead we chased the game right off the hop,” he said. “We weren’t sharp. We weren’t on our toes. We weren’t doing things we’ve done for the previous five. Even in some of those games that we lost in the first five games, we were better.”

The Kings, Hedley said, did not get much of a forecheck going in game six.

“It happens at this time of year. It all comes down to will and fire in the belly. If you start thinking about what you’re doing when the season is over, the focus is lost. Give Swan credit. They did a hell of a job,” he said.

Hedley pointed out the Kings did not win a single game on home ice, with both victories coming in Swan River.

“I really feel bad because the fans deserve better. Our fans here, they didn’t see a win in the playoffs. Of course, we had a lot of people in Swan, but at the same time, you’ve got to protect our home ice. We should be getting breaks. On our ice, we should be getting bounces and breaks because we’re out working the opposition, not getting outworked,” he said. “I give Swan credit. They outworked us tonight.”

Trailing 2-1 in the third period, the Kings could not get anything going offensively, managing just three shots compared to Swan Valley’s 14.

That lack of urgency and desperation proved costly.

“It’s frustrating. Now the 20-year-olds are in there and they’re crying. Their junior A career is over and the rest of the guys in there see that. It’s one of those things when it’s final, it’s ended. It’s just done,” Hedley said. “It comes down to they were hungrier than we were tonight, for some reason. Bottom line is, when you get in the playoffs like that, it’s got to come from the room. You know the little things, the simple things you’ve got to do well. Tonight, I don’t think we were as good as we have been.”

The Kings were inconsistent over the course of the season. Some nights they played like they were the best team in the league. Other nights, they didn’t.

Hedley pointed out the Kings were not counting on losing players from last season such as Nick Braun and Luke Morris, who would have been top six forwards this season.

“Those are guys that we counted on being back and part of that nucleus. When you lose that kind of culture, we ended up putting some bandaids here and there,” he said. “Getting Smitty (Mason Smith), getting Brooksy (Jakob Brooks), Gougher (Mathew Gough), getting Hansy (Deepkaran Hans), I thought Hans was one of our best players in the series. He never stopped working. He cared. And when you care, good things happen. I just don’t know if we had enough guys with the passion and the fire in the belly. And it was like that all year.”

With only a handful of players returning from last year’s championship team, Hedley knew it would be a tough season.

“When you lose that many guys, it’s tough. And it’s sure not an excuse, because we played well. We beat Portage four times this year. So we were capable of being one of the best teams in this league, but you have to do it at the right time,” he said, adding the team could have quit in Swan River in game five, but they didn’t. “They wanted to win. We outplayed them in Swan. We outchanced them and outplayed them. That’s why tonight is so frustrating, because we haven’t won a game on home ice and our fans deserve better,” Hedley said.

Looking ahead to next season, the team looks good on the back end, as they only lose defenceman Owen Wareham and goaltender Dmytri Kubritskyi.

With Cole Sheffield and Marko Belak eligible to return and the signing of two goaltending prospects, there will be quite the battle between the pipes next season.

Up front, the Kings return the likes of local products Rylan Gibbs and Carter Zalischuk, as well as Logan Walker, Aaron Neal, Alex Senf, Myles Yearwood, Blake Boudreau and Ethan Williment.

Connor Picard and Riley Borody, both of whom were traded early in the season, will also return to the fold as they were sent out on loan.

“And we’ve got some real good U18 kids coming in. It’s a really exciting future coming up, for sure,” Hedley said. “And probably the next year or two, there will be more Parkland and Dauphin kids on the team than ever been in a while.”

The Kings will host their annual spring prospects camp, Apr. 28 to 30, with more than 120 players already registered.

An identification camp will be held, June 23 to 25, in Minneapolis, Minn., for American-born players.

With the season over, Hedley wishes to thank the fans for their support over the course of the season.

“It’s disappointing when you don’t get it done,” he said.

The Parkland Vipers U14 teams hosted a 12-team tournament over the weekend.

The Vipers Team 1 finished second in its pool, winning four of its five matches, with the only loss coming at the hands of the Westman Wave.

The Vipers began the playoffs with a quarterfinal match against Vipers Team 2, winning by scores of 25-13 and 25-9.

In the semifinals, Team 1 came up against the Swan Valley Smash and advanced to the final with a 25-17 and 25-16 win.

The final was a rematch with the Wave. This time around, the Vipers came out on top, 26-24 and 25-20 to win the tournament title.

Team 1 coach Blair Delamare was most proud of the way the team worked together throughout the tournament.

“Every single person had something positive that they added to the team,” she said. “They really put it together and worked together as a team this weekend.”

The Vipers, Delamare added, improved over the course of the weekend, noting they beat the Wave in the final after losing to them in the round-robin.

“We got a second chance to play them in the final and we learned from our mistakes in the first game and then put it all together for the final,” she said.

The team has improved since the start of the season, Delamare said, adding they played at the 14U level last year as 13-year-olds.

“We had some struggles, but it was definitely a learning experience. They’re right where they need to be. There’s always room for improvement, but they’re doing really good,” she said.

Team 1 won the consolation in its previous tournament, which did not sit well with the girls.

“They didn’t like that. So they worked much harder this weekend and proved that they can be in the finals and even win it. So that was great,” Delamare said.

The Vipers will be in Winnipeg this weekend for a tournament hosted by the Bisons.

Team 2 finished third in its pool after the round-robin, winning two matches, splitting two and losing one.

After the loss to Team 1 in the quarterfinals, Team 2 dropped a match to the Spurs, 20-25 and 9-25.

This left Team 2 to play for seventh place against the Cats Gold 13U team, with the Vipers coming out on top.

Dauphin Kings board member Lindsey Kyle presented the team’s Most Valuable Player Award to defenceman Owen Wareham, Apr. 6.

Wareham also won the Joe Dawson Memorial Award as Best Defenceman Award. Defenceman Anthony Bax was recognized, winning the Dauphin Herald Outstanding Character Award, as well as Most Valuable Playoff Performer Award.

Forward Logan Walker won the Bill and June Atta Boy Award, as well as the Dave Seeley Memorial Award for Community Involvement.

Other award winners were Jakob Brook and Mathew Gough, sharing the Steve “Boomer” Hawrysh Award as Most Gentlemanly Player; Carter Zalischuk, who won the Ernie Hlady Memorial Award as the Most Popular Player On and Off the Ice; Aidan Brook and Aaron Neal, who shared the Barry Trotz Award as Best Defensive Player; Nicholas Hatton, who won the Dauphin Minor Hockey Award as Rookie of the Year; Nolan Wickham and Ethan Williment, who shared the Dave Snitka Memorial Award as Most Improved Player; and Jayden Harris, who won the Johnny Kay Memorial Award as Most Inspirational Player. Gough also won the Dauphin Kings Top Scorer Award, while the Top Three-star Awards went to first star Cole Sheffield, second star Alex Senf and third star Mason Smith.

Josh Yaschyshyn, coach of the Dauphin Clippers hockey team, presented captain Logan Chapman with the Most Valuable Player Award at the team’s banquet, Apr. 5.

Chapman took home three awards as he also won the Top Forward Award and shared the Player’s Choice Award with Oliver Dandeneau, who also won three awards, taking home the Top Defensive Player Award, as well as the Top Defenceman Award.

William Miner was also recognized three times, winning the Top Scorer Award, Most Improved Player Award and the Hardest Working Player Award.

Also winning awards were Cody Coombs, who won the Clipper Commitment Award; Bradyn Paskaruk, who won the Coach’s Choice Award; Ethan Carnegie, who was named Rookie of the Year; Owen Chubka, who won the Top Goaltender Award; and Jake Kuzmiak, who was named the Playoff MVP.

City of Dauphin Bylaw Enforcement Officer Conrad Demeria goes over city bylaws at a bylaw information session with some of the city’s newest residents, Apr. 4.

The session was hosted by Regional Connections.

Costumers of Hippie Mama Gifts now have a store where they can shop in person.

The local business started as an online gift basket company in 2020, featuring Canadian made items from local entrepeneurs.

“Not just in Manitoba, but across Canada,” said owner-operator Jenna Scheller.

About a year-and-a-half later, Scheller started making her own bath and body products, because they proved to be the most popular items in the gift baskets.

“And eventually, I combined the two parts of the company and now opened a store,” she added.

Scheller’s son was born with eczema and when he had a bad rash, they would be given a prescription for a cortisone cream or steroid cream.

“And that’s not a natural alternative. So I decided to start making my own bath and body products to try and help treat his eczema and that’s how it all started,” she explained.

All of Scheller’s products are made from scratch.

“I don’t even use bases. A lot of companies will use a bubble bath base or a base for shampoos, whereas each and every ingredient I put into my products is weighed by me and melted and created,” Scheller said, adding it takes time to make her products. “My whips take 24 hours. It’s just a matter of the heat phase and the cooling phase. There’s items like the lip balms that take about 15 minutes to make 12 of them,” she said.

“So it is time consuming either way, but as my little company has grown, I’ve learned how to batch out larger and larger batches. So I get a lot more on the shelves.”

All of the ingredients Scheller uses for her products are purchased from Canadian companies and her products are available all across Canada on the company’s website, hippiemamagiftshop.com.

The first cross-Canada product she sold went to Nova Scotia, followed by an online order from British Columbia.

“And I thought that was so cool that I had reached either side of Canada. And now I ship all across and a lot of the time, locals will come in and buy my products and ship them across Canada themselves,” Scheller said.

Based on demand, Scheller decided to open a store, which is located at 119 Main Street North, next door to CIBC.

Customers had started appearing at her home and she wanted to keep her home and business separate for privacy.

“And I wanted to open up a store, because I wanted people to be able to come in and actually smell the products and see the products. And I also wanted to be able to have a location where local makers could come in and meet. It would just be a whole vibe, I guess, just like a movement that would support the community,” Scheller said, adding she is also offering coffee, as well, though that is not the main focus of her business.

When Scheller started her company online, one of the gift basket items she featured was Forbidden Flavours coffee from Brandon.

“So for me, getting into coffee was a no-brainer. I also know that this area of town, there’s a lot of people that don’t have vehicles. So it would be nice to have somewhere to walk, just to grab a quick cup,” she said, adding she hopes to get more people into her store to look around while they enjoy a cup of coffee.

While offering her own wares, Scheller is also offering her support to local youth artisans.

Based on her own experience, Scheller knows how difficult it can be to become established, so she is lending a hand to local youth artists and crafters by offering a corner of her store dedicated to selling their products.

“I remember when I got my first product in a store and my heart was just so warm and I felt so special. So I want to be able to provide that feeling to somebody and give it to them at a young enough age that they can figure out who they want to be and what they want to grow into and really experience and explore their artistic side,” she said, adding all proceeds are returned to the youth.

Hippie Mama Gifts can be found on Facebook and Instagram, where she not only promotes her own products, but those of the makers of products that are available in her store, as well.

Scheller plans to recognize a Maker of the Month, featuring someone whose products are in her store and she hopes to host workshops, as well.

For now, Scheller is working on her own, but she eventually hopes to hire someone to help out around the store.

“The dream a year ago was to have a store front. And now that I have the store front, I would love to be able to have somebody working here fulltime eventually, taking over the floor, helping with my creating, and possibly opening up another shop in another town. That’s the next dream,” she said.

Scheller does offer delivery within the city of Dauphin on Thursdays, but anyone ordering products online can pick up their orders at the store.

“There will be a delivery fee of $5 for me to deliver to you in town on a Thursday and it will be between six o’clock and eight o’clock,” she said.

Hippie Mama Gifts is open Wednesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. But come summertime, Scheller may adjust those hours.

Sunday to Tuesday is when she takes time to make her products. But if Tuesdays work best for people and they want to come in themselves, she will take appointments on that day.

Scheller held her grand opening, Mar. 25, and so far the response has been amazing.

“Really, really great. I didn’t expect to get this amount of support from the community. I was super overwhelmed the first day and I thought, ‘okay, the second day will calm down.’ Nope, it’s been the same every day,” she said. “I know it’s a new shop and it has a different vibe to it, so people are very interested. And it’s a lot of customers that have been ordering off of me for the last three years that I’ve never had a chance to meet. It’s really great to put a face to the names in those conversations that I’ve had. So it’s going very, very well. The support is there.”

Scheller credits the support from her customers for getting her to where she is today, the proud owner of her own shop.

“I’m still blown away at the fact that I have a store. I can’t believe that the amount of support in the community in the last three years has got me here. And it is all because of them,” she said.

What started as a hobby has turned into a successful business for a Dauphin woman.

Amy Thompson of Amy Rae Maker, is a watercolour artist, who uses her art to create stationery products such as greeting cards, notebooks and notepads, all with her designs.

“I started in 2020. I’ve got two little kids at home, so I was looking for something just to do as a hobby and to keep myself busy. It started from there,” she said.

Thompson became involved in a program with The Hub, which helped her to get her business off the ground.

Everything she sells is available through her website at amyraemaker.com.

“It’s been really fun. I didn’t realize I’d grow it into a business. It started as a hobby and then it just moved up from there,” Thompson said. “I’ve been really enjoying the business side of it and the marketing side of it. It’s been a real awesome journey.”

Thompson has received a lot of support from the community and The Hub, as well as other businesses in Dauphin and throughout the province.

“So it’s been pretty cool,” she said.

Most of Thompson’s sales are in Manitoba, but she attends a lot of craft shows in the province, as well as in Saskatchewan.

“But I have a wholesale side to the business, as well, so small shops or anybody is able to register through my website on the wholesale page and they can stock my cards in their shop,” she said. “I have some shops in Dauphin here, as well as Roblin, Russell. I’ve got some in Saskatchewan and some in Ontario. So it is spreading. The goal is to, hopefully, get Canada-wide and do more wholesale with other businesses.”

Thompson never imagined having this kind of success selling her work when she started.

“It surprised me in a good way,” she said.

As for future goals, Thompson said she would like to do more work on the wholesale side of the business.

“And stock different places across Canada. Maybe the States eventually. So I’m leaning more towards doing that side of it,” she said, adding she will still have products to sell herself. “I get everything actually printed through the Dauphin Herald. So it’s nice to support (local). And it’s worked really well, having it so close and keeping it within the community, too, which is awesome,” she said.

Thompson credits her success to the support she has received from the community, as well as The Hub.

“I don’t think I would have been where I am without them,” she said, adding she was nominated for the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award at the recent Parkland Chamber of Commerce Awards celebration. “Which was super, super amazing, just for people to recognize that it actually is something,” she said.

“So people believing in me and people supporting me has been the drive and kept things going.”

The Dauphin Kings will look to force a game seven in their best-of-seven quarterfinal series with the Swan Valley Stampeders with a win in game six Tuesday night at Credit Union Place.

After dropping the first two games last weekend, Dauphin got back into the series with a 6-3 triumph in game three, Mar. 28, in Swan River.

The Stampeders took a strangle hold on the series with a 3-2 double overtime victory in game four, Friday in Dauphin, but the Kings stayed alive with a double overtime victory of their own, Saturday in Swan River to bring the series back to Dauphin.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said there is a fine line between wins and losses right now.

“You’ve got to make a break count,” he said. “There was a real good crowd in Swan (in game five) and a good atmosphere and I think the guys responded very well. We worked hard, did some simple things, played well defensively, and, obviously, got a big goal from Deepkaran Hans at a good time to force a game six. We’re fighting and a lot of guys really stepped up and responded very well.”

Friday’s game four loss came after Jakob Brook was called for a questionable boarding penalty early in the second extra period. Swan Valley capitalized on the man advantage when Adam Rajsigl scored his second of the game at 2:18.

Even though they were down three-games-to-one at the time, the Kings were not down for the count yet.

“There’s a lot of clichés you can come up with and reiterate. But at the same time, you haven’t lost a thing until you lose four. So that was the message. We’ve won in that building three times already this year and every game has been so close,” Hedley said. “You just have to keep on fighting. Right now we’re out of second opportunities. It’s just a matter of being focused, being game ready and bringing the best possible effort and compete level that we can.”

With the exception of game three, every contest has been close with four of the first five games decided by one goal. That was the trend established in the regular season where the Kings won four of the six games, with five being decided by just one goal.

“We knew it was going to be real tight, regardless of the standings. When we play Swan, they’re tight games and they go back and forth. It’s nothing different that we expected with the regular season that we played against them. Right now, there are guys on both sides that are stepping up and playing real well,” Hedley said.

The focus for game six, Hedley said, is simple - win.

“Like I said, we don’t have any second chances. The compete level has got to be there,” he said, adding Dmytro Kubritskyi played well in goal in game five after coming into the game to start the second period in relief of Cole Sheffield, who allowed two goals on 15 shots. “Kubritskyi coming in was just to quiet things down, settle things down. He played with the experience that he has and going forward, I think we need to do the same thing. Just go out and do the simple things,” Hedley said.

Defenceman Owen Wareham left game five with a knee injury after a knee-on-knee collision with Swan Valley defenceman Owen Harris.

There was no penalty called on the play, but the Kings have submitted video seeking disciplinary action.

Wareham was to be re-evaluated Monday. If he should be unable to play, Hedley said it is next man up and, hopefully, Wareham can return as soon as possible.

Kings court: The Portage Terriers advanced to the semifinals with a five-game series win over the first-year Niverville Nighthawks. The Virden Oil Capitals, also advanced after beating the OCN Blizzard in six games. The Winkler Flyers, after falling behind three-games-to-one to the Steinbach Pistons, have come back to force a game seven, which takes place tonight in Steinbach.

A new face will be behind the counter at the Dauphin Lake Golf Club (DLGC) pro shop, this season.

Shawn Woods is the new general manager and golf professional at the local golf course, replacing Ray Karlson, who retired at the end of last year.

Woods spent 12 years at the Neepawa golf course until 2010, when he went to Poplar Ridge at Onanole.

“And then a couple of years at Kenosee and after that, I’ve been on the road as a sales rep for many golf companies,” he added.

Woods decided to make the move to Dauphin Lake when the opportunity arose.

“It’s been a while since the shop or ran a golf course, so I thought it was a good chance to get back into it in my later years,” he said, adding he missed interacting with club members. “I’ve always been in sales relatively my whole life, since I was about 12. So it looked like a good opportunity. It’s not too far from home where I can have that job and still reside where I do.”

While it has been a few years since he has been in a shop, Woods expects the challenges of running a golf course will be the same as when he last did it.

“Building your membership. Keeping your membership. Weather is always an indicator of the year, sometimes. I think keeping momentum going for golf in general. The pandemic was hard on everybody, as we know. On the other side of that, it was probably one of the greatest things for golf,” Woods said.

“So keeping that growth of golf that happened during that time to continue. I think everybody in the business realizes that it’s going to level off and I think it has leveled off a little bit. But it’s maintaining the people that did come to golf during that time and, hopefully, building on that and building on new relationships in the game.”

Woods feels there are some untapped markets available to golf courses, such as junior golf, as well as ladies golf.

“I think that’s gotten so much better, but I think we still have a long ways to go,” he said. “I think as it was before, just making people realize that golf is open to everybody. It’s a lifetime sport. You may think it’s silly before you play it, but once you play it, it’s a very addictive and challenging sport like no other, probably.”

At this point, Woods said it is too early to tell what changes may be made. One thing Woods brings to DLGC is that of a golf professional, which the club hasn’t had for a number of years.

“So there will be a better avenue for them learning the game, I would guess. I love to teach the game, so as far as private lessons or group lessons are way more available to them,” he said, adding one change to the pro shop is it will offer more in the way of equipment. “We’ll be carrying all the name brands. So now they don’t have to go to Golf Town to shop,” he said.

“That’s probably one of my biggest goals is to make sure that people give us a chance at the course to serve all their golfing needs and equipment needs and realize that we can get anything that the big stores can get.”

With this being his first year at DLGC, there will be a learning curve as he learns about the members and their needs, as well as the general public.

Woods has been doing some renovations at the pro shop, but it will be open starting Monday from noon to 5 p.m., on most days for anyone wishing to purchase a membership.

“I’ve had lots of people show up, even in my mess of renovations, just to say hi and pay their memberships. It’s always nice to meet people that are as eager as you to get to know some people already. It’s important,” he said.

At this point, it is hard to gauge when the course will be open for business. Woods doesn’t anticipate being open until the first week of May.

“There has to be a lot of melting and then there’s always cleanup and getting things ready. So I would think we’re likely looking at May sometime,” he said.