The season is over for the Dauphin Clippers hockey team.

The Clippers were swept in their best-of-three Westman High School Hockey League semifinal series by the Swan Valley Tigers.

Swan Valley scored a 2-1 victory in game one, Mar. 7 in Dauphin.

Eli Betcher and Bailey Hunt scored for the Tigers, while Jake Kuzmiak replied for Dauphin.

Owen Martyniuk started in goal for the Tigers and made seven saves before leaving with an injury. Nate Immerkar stopped 33 shots in relief.

Owen Chubka made 28 saves in the loss.

Swan Valley completed the sweep with a 4-1 win in game two, Sunday in Swan River.

Jackson Buchanan gave the Clippers a 1-0 lead after the first period, but that was all the offence they could muster.

Hunt and Tucker Thompson put Swan Valley in front after 40 minutes and Trace Langan and Kash Henkelman scored to seal the win in the third period.

Immerkar made 30 saves for the Tigers, while Chubka finished with 17 saves.

Swan Valley will play the winner of the series between the Neepawa Tigers and Killarney/Wawanesa Raiders. That series is tied 1-1, with game three tonight in Killarney.

In between those games, the Clippers traveled to Winnipeg, Friday, for provincials.

The Clippers came up against the top ranked Garden City Gophers in their opening game, with the Gophers scoring three times in the third period to snap a 2-2 tie and skating to a 5-2 victory.

William Miner and Buchanan had Dauphin’s goals.

The second game of the day, saw the Clippers fall to the fourth-ranked team in the province, the Steinbach Regional Sabres.

Playing their second game in a matter of hours, the Clippers ran out of gas, falling 5-1, with Kuzmiak scoring Dauphin’s lone goal.

Any time you don’t win your final game when you’re in the playoffs, it is a disappointing way to end the season, according to Clippers manager Jason Alf.

“But I can’t fault the guys for the way they played in the last series. They worked hard. I think we were the better team for most of those two games. We just, for whatever reason, we found a bad time to go into a scoring drought,” he said.
As for provincials, Dauphin ran into penalty problems against Garden City, which took advantage, scoring four power-play goals.

“There was quite a few, what I like to call phantom calls in that one. We played them twice and gave up nine goals, seven of which were power plays,” Alf said. “We put all our gas into that one and it left us a little empty.”

That was expected given the quick turn around from their first game. The Clippers gave it their all against the Gophers, then had a brief respite while another game took place, before they hit the ice against Steinbach.

“So not much time to rest. We didn’t have time to go anywhere to eat and Steinbach came in fresh and they looked like a team that was well rested,” Alf said.

Looking back on the season, Alf feels it was a success following a second-place finish in the league standings.

“I don’t think any of us really expected that going into the season to be second place with the five losses and overtime loss and the second lowest goals against, which was another bonus,” he said. “We weren’t sure how the scoring was going to work, because we didn’t have a lot of scoring stars, per se, but we had a lot of hard workers and we spread it around.”

The Clippers will lose about half of their team to graduation, so next season is expected to be a rebuilding year.

“But there’s lots of good players in the area and, as usual, we’ll see what’s coming in the fall. But we hope to be back there in the top eight,” Alf said.

The Dauphin Aspen Insurance U13 Gold team, in action against Rivers, hosted provincials, this past weekend.

After recording a 3-3 tie with Rivers and a 4-1 win over Mitchell in the round-robin, the local hosts were eliminated from the tournament with a 5-4 loss to Rivers.

St. Claude won the gold medal with a 6-0 win over Rat River, while Swan Valley scored a 9-6 win over Rivers to win the bronze medal.

The Dauphin Fusion Credit Union U13 Silver team won bronze at their provincials in St. Adolphe.

After losing their opening game to Morden, 3-2, Dauphin rebounded to beat Stonewall, 5-2.

In the quarterfinals, Dauphin defeated Morden 5-3, then lost to Virden, 8-5 in the semifinals. The bronze medal game saw Dauphin beat Springfield, 7-4.

Emma Jensen won the Dauphin Ladies Bonspiel over the weekend.

Jensen and her team of Lane Prokopowich and Becky Friesen, beat Tiffany Armstrong in the final of the first event, sponsored by Eastside Furniture.

Pam Scott was third and Janelle Lach was fourth.

Theresa Payette won the second event, sponsored by Love and Persson Group. Payette and her team of Kaitlyn Payette, Paige Sahulka and Lisa Sahulka, beat Melissa MacQuarrie in the second event final.

Third place went to Bev Hess and in fourth place was Dawn Steiner.

Norma Johnson and her team of Pearl Maksymetz, Kayla Gillis and Terri Todoruk won the third event, sponsored by Fusion Credit Union. They defeated Kelli Zeiler in the final. Kerri Wieler was third and Leanne Fedak was four

The City and Rural Municipality of Dauphin hosted the annual Firefighters Appreciation Dinner, Mar. 8.

The evening included several presentations, including, from left, Devin Kiesman, Chris Davidson, Jordan Steiner and Mitchell Kanton, who all received their five-year service medal.

Also recognized were Conrad Demeria for 10 years of service, Cameron Popiel and Sabrina Anderson for five years of service.

David Clark was recognized for 34 years of service prior to retiring and will receive his award at a later date.

Also at a later date, Wayne Wells will receive the Manitoba Association of Fire Chiefs Long Service Award, and Alvin Bogoslowski will receive the Governor General’s Exemplary Service Bar for 40 years of service.

Fabien Carriere was also recognized for completing his Level 2 exam prior to resigning from the department.

The Dauphin Clippers advanced to the Westman High School Hockey League semifinals with a two-game sweep over the Glenboro/Carberry/Baldur Wildcats in their best-of-three quarterfinal series.

Tyron Sweetman scored twice to lead Dauphin to a 5-3 win in game one, Feb. 28 in Dauphin.

Jake Kuzmiak, Trayden Guiboche and Braydyn Paskaruk each had a goal and an assist, while Owen Chubka made 23 saves in the victory.

Preston Shearer, Nathan Dyck and Carter Elliott had the Wildcats’ goals and Sawyer Wiebe had 29 saves to his credit.

In game two, Wednesday in Glenboro, Ethan Carnegie scored the winning goal 14 seconds into overtime to lift the Clippers to a 4-3 win and the series sweep.

Logan Chapman scored twice in regulation for Dauphin, with Kuzmiak adding a single.

Chubka had a busier night in game two, making 35 saves.

Griffin Anderson, Trey Dickson and Shearer scored for the Wildcats, while Wiebe made 28 saves.

Clippers manager Jason Alf said the Wildcats came out with a lot of pride after allowing six goals in each of the two games between the two teams in the regular season.

“They wanted to redeem themselves. They’re a very hard working team and we knew they weren’t just going to lay over. Playoffs are a new season, so they came out like we thought they would and gave us a good run,” he said.

Alf feels the team was able to stay disciplined, which was a factor in the series win.

“And we really tried to make an adjustment to the way they came out in game two. They didn’t give us a lot of room to do things and their barn is a little bit smaller than ours, so that made it a little more difficult,” he added. “But we never gave up. We never got down. We had three one-goal leads in that game. And really, we just put the pressure on in overtime and didn’t try to do anything fancy. Just kind of muck around and play that gritty hockey and try and score that way. And that’s what worked.”

The Clippers will now face the Swan Valley Tigers in the best-of-three semifinals, with game one tonight at 7:30 p.m. at Credit Union Place.

Game two will be in Swan River, Sunday at 5:30 p.m. Game three, if necessary, will be back in Dauphin, Mar. 14, at 7:30 p.m.

The other semifinal will see the Killarney/Wawanesa Raiders take on the Neepawa Tigers.

On Friday, the Clippers will be in Winnipeg for the AAAA high school hockey provincials.

Their first game is at 11 a.m., against Garden City, followed by a game at 3 p.m. against Steinbach.

The semifinals will be played Saturday, with the championship, Monday at 6:30 p.m.

Several Parkland minor hockey teams won medals at provincials this past weekend.

The host Grand Plains Hawks won gold at the Female U13 Rural B Provincials in Grandview, Sunday, scoring a 4-0 victory over Stonewall, with every goal coming in the third period.

Connelly McDonald scored twice, while Tori Luhowy and Brookelynn Hess added singles. Hess also had three assists.

The Dauphin U15 Kings won the gold at the U15 Rural A Provincials in Morden, beating Brandon in the final, 3-2.

Landyn Garton scored twice, including the winner with less than two minutes remaining, to lead Dauphin to the win.

Ethan Zalischuk had Dauphin’s other goal.

The U15 Kings also won gold at the U15 Rural C Provincials in Melita.

Zak Fillion scored twice, with Kingston Stirling and Ayden Bradley adding singles. Xander Perih picked up the shutout in goal.

Dauphin brought home a silver medal from the U11A Provincials in Swan River.

The Kings fell in the gold medal game to the host Swan Valley Stampeders, 9-3, with Zayne Guiboche, Jaxon Casavant and Emmett Murray scoring for Dauphin.

Grand Plains won the bronze medal at the Female U11C Provincials in Teulon, beating Neepawa, 4-1. No online game summary was provided.

McCreary scored a 10-2 win over Elm Creek to win the bronze medal at the U11C Provincials in Hartney. No online game summary was provided.

Dauphin hosts the U13 Rural A Provincials, this weekend.

The Dauphin Kings moved back into a playoff position following a split of a home-and-home with the first-year Niverville Nighthawks.

Niverville scored a controversial 3-2 shootout win, Friday in Dauphin.

In the five-minute overtime, the Kings thought they had scored the winning goal, but the referee had blown the play dead before the puck crossed the line.

In the shootout, Josh Paulhus, Niverville’s second shooter, skated in and made a shooting motion, missing the puck. He made another shooting motion and scored on the second try, which the on-ice officials counted, giving the Nighthawks the victory.

According to Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley, the referees stated Paulhus faked a shot, before he scored.

“He shot twice. There’s no doubt about it,” he said. “We asked if we could appeal a shootout decision, but we can’t. The league has no process in line to appeal a referee’s decision on a shootout goal. There’s nothing else, it’s just a judgement call.”

Dauphin got a measure of revenge two days later with a 7-4 win in Niverville.

“I’ve been really proud of the guys and the way they’ve been playing, because since we beat Steinbach on the Friday at home, we’ve had that urgency, that compete level. Sure we’ve gotten some tough breaks, but we played well enough,” he said. “We stuck to the process in Niverville and we bent a little bit, but found a way to get it done. So that’s the biggest thing, is finding that resolve, that rebound ability and that push back that makes a team tough to beat in playoffs.”

Sunday’s win was the 349th of Doug Hedley career as Kings head coach, moving him one ahead of his former assistant, Marlin Murray.

For Hedley, it is just a number. What is more important to him is the people and players he has worked with over the years.

“Obviously, it’s been an honour and priviledge to coach them. But it’s just a number to me. What it does make you do, is reflect on the players and coaches I’ve worked with in Dauphin,” he said. “It’s more about who I’ve worked with and what they’ve gone on to do later.”

One of the things Hedley has focused on over the years is developing players to get to the next level.

“Hockey is such a great sport. There’s so many life skills to learn in a team sport like hockey, whether it’s being a teammate, whether it’s getting a long with guys, whether it’s learning how to commit to getting better every day,” he said. “All those things are life lessons and a lot of players that I coached have gone on to have successful careers. That means the most to me.”

While he is grateful for the opportunities to coach the Kings on three different occasions, winning, Hedley said, is about more than the success of players and coaches on the ice, noting the board of directors and scouts put in a lot of work, as well, making it a true team effort in building a winning culture.

With three points over the weekend, the Kings improved to 28-21-2-2 for 60 points, moving into the fourth and final playoff spot, one point ahead of the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.

The Kings can widen the spread from the Wolverines tonight when the two teams meet in Waywayseecappo at 7:30 p.m.

On the weekend, Dauphin faces the Centennial Cup host Portage Terriers, Friday in Portage and Saturday in Dauphin. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.

Hedley feels the younger players will benefit from playing such tightly contested games this late in the season, adding the Kings have beaten Portage in both games they’ve played this season.

“They’re rolling right now, so it’s going to be a great test for us, a good challenge. That’s the kind of team you want to be playing down the stretch because you don’t want to be taking anything for granted,” he said.

Kings court:

Defenceman Aidan Brook was a finalist for the Brian Kozak Memorial Award as Top Defenceman, which went to Winkler’s Trent Sambrook.

Selkirk’s Lucas Brennan won the Steve “Boomer” Hawrysh Memorial Award as Most Valuable Player.

The Ed Belfour Top Goaltender Award went to Swan Valley’s Kobe Grant, while Carter Cormier of Selkirk won the Kim Davis Rookie of the Year Award.

Ryan Botterill of Portage won the Frank McKinnon Award for hockey ability and sportsmanship and Virden’s Tyson Ramsey won the Muzz McPherson Memorial Award as Coach of the Year.

The Northwest Métis Region hosted a consultation meeting with its citizens regarding the Red River Métis Self-government Recognition and Implementation Treaty, Saturday in Dauphin.

The meeting gave Métis citizens as chance to add their input to the coming changes as a result of the Treaty, which was agreed to in July, 2021.

Manitoba Métis Federation (MMF) vice-president and Health and Early Learning Child Care Minister Frances Chartrand said commitment made by the government of Canada will give the Red River Métis their inherent rights back.

“We’ll have access to our harvesting rights. We’ll have access to housing, education, economic development,” she said. “The commitment that was made with the federal government when they first fought. And we then we went to the Supreme Court with our land claims. In 2013, we won our land claims.”

Minister Chartrand said the treaty is for the next generation, adding it is history in the making.

“This will be the first time that the Métis are recognized and we have the new land treaty entitlement. So with the Red River Métis government, our citizens tell us what they want. They pave the path,” she said. “It’s our jobs as politicians to go out there and make it happen.”

About 200 people attended the meeting, which included a team of lawyers, one of whom is a Red River Métis citizen.

MMF president David Chartrand spoke about what the treaty means and the change for the next generation.

“And the impact it will have for the future and where we should have been 153 years ago,” he added.

The treaty, president Chartrand said, will truly change the essence for the next generation.

“It will set the foundation of assuring that there is not a doubt of the Red River Métis, of all the northwest. The agreement we signed in 2021, of July 6, removed the boundary lines. There are no provincial boundary lines that apply to us anymore. The northwest is ours,” he said. “So our citizens can join us no matter where they live in the world. And we have an obligation to protect our people’s rights as a government.”

It also sets the foundation for the future, Chartrand said, of where Métis fit in when it comes to a relationship with Canada.

“And Canada has the legal obligation that they’ve been avoiding for over 100 years. And it’s time that they come to the table and this will lead them to the table, force them to the table,” he said.

Chartrand hopes the treaty will help change the way people look at the Red River Métis.

“It’s to change the ideology of the people in the way they look at you. If they look at you as a corporation, as an organization, then they will treat you like that. But if they look at you, as you would hope they would look at, for example, the respect they have for municipalities, the respect they have for the premier, the respect they have for the prime minister,” he said. “So we’re a government. And we’re expecting that people will start to see that, within that respect, within that whole phraseology of reconciliation, comes a pattern or a modern change in this country where they will look at us as a government representing our people.”

That change, Chartrand hopes, will change the very fabric of the relationship between the Métis and Canada.

“It will really change the essence of clarity, without question. And that should have been done many, many, many moons ago,” he said.

Parts of the treaty are still being negotiated, such as child welfare, health legislation and land claims.

“So all these things that are happening are really a transition,” Chartrand said. “It’s not something that has come up overnight. This is decades and decades of struggles. A century of struggles. And it’s really setting us on a pathway to where we should have been. I look forward to a change where our people can really now know that they matter and that no one can step on them ever again.”

A three-game losing skid has the Dauphin Kings on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoff race in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division.

Dauphin lost both ends of a home-and-home with the Virden Oil Capitals, beginning with a 4-1 setback at Credit Union Place on Friday.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said Virden outworked his team.

“And it’s something to learn from. But we’re going to be okay,” he said.

On Saturday, Virden carried a 2-0 lead into the third period, when goals from Owen Wareham and Mason Smith 59 seconds apart pulled the Kings even with 3:22 left to play.

But the Oil Capitals ended up netting the winner with 1:11 left and sealed the win with an empty-net marker with 32 ticks left on the clock.

Despite the loss, Hedley liked what he saw from the Kings in that game.

“Basically, the game was decided in about two minutes. I thought we played really well. We did a lot of real good things. We started focusing on the task at hand and every shift guys got better,” he said. “After fighting back and making it 2-2 and then getting scored on with just over a minute left, it was really tough. But I think it’s going to make us stronger. I think we’re going to learn from it and move on from here.”

The Kings have a tough stretch to close out the season and it begins, Wednesday, when they face the Swan Valley Stampeders at 12:30 p.m., where a lot of school children will be in attendance.

The early start will not have an effect on the Kings, however.

“At this time of year, I don’t think it will bother us at all. We practice every day at that time anyway. So we should be fine,” Hedley said.

The Kings will face the Niverville Nighthawks in another home-and-home on the weekend.

Niverville will make the trek north to Dauphin, Friday for a 7:30 p.m. date with the Kings. Then Dauphin will head south, Sunday, for a 3 p.m. game.

With eight games left and the Kings sitting in fifth place, Hedley said they have to start finding points somewhere.

“We need to find a way to get some points,” he said, adding the disappointing thing about Saturday’s loss to Virden was the Kings had a point wrapped up until letting it slip away late. “It’s still right there for us. There’s a couple other teams in our division have real tough schedules, too. So it’s a matter of us focusing. It’s all in our own hands. We don’t have to rely on anybody. We just have to make sure we go out and play and try and get as many points as we can,” he said.

Kings court:

Dauphin sits in fifth place with 57 points. OCN is in first with 63 points, followed by Swan Valley with 62, Virden with 61 and Waywayseecappo with 59. Neepawa is in sixth place with 49 points.

Kings coach and general manager Doug Hedley still needs just one win to surpass Marlin Murray as the winningest coach in Kings history.