Dauphin Minor Baseball Association is hosting baseball training sessions, Sundays at the Parkland Crossing gymnasium.

Teams in the U13 (pictured here) and U15 are hitting the gym every second Sunday to work on their skills in preparation for the upcoming season.

The U11 age group will begin its workouts in March.

They didn’t come away with any victories, but the Parkland Rangers arguably played their best games of the season, this past weekend in Winnipeg.

Kyler Swanton made 36 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Wild on Saturday, then stopped another 32 shots in a 6-5 overtime loss, Sunday afternoon.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said it was arguably the most successful weekend the team has had as a group this season.

“It just came down to commitment to team defence, some guts and just competing. That’s the expectation. And after the second game, I straight up said, that’s what we’ve been looking for all season,” he said. “If we keep playing like this, as hard as it is, we’ll be a tough out, but I also think we’ll probably win a few games, too. Hopefully this can end up being the turning point for this group.”

Swanton had his best games of the season, which Carefoot said was nice to see.

“It’s safe to say, he’d be the first guy to tell you that he’s been a little off throughout the season. But for him to come back, especially after nursing an injury the week before, he was just solid,” he said.

Luke Myhre had a strong weekend, netting three goals and an assist in the two games. Carefoot said he was the best player on the ice for both teams.

“For a 15-year-old, he plays a 200-foot game. He’s a power forward who takes key faceoffs matched up against the opponent’s best. He not only produced on the game sheet, but more importantly, he had an impact everywhere in both games,” he said. “To get two points versus a championship caliber program feels great for everyone, players, coaches and parents.”

Havryil Simchuk, the Ukrainian-born player, had another strong weekend, scoring a goal in each game. He now has points in all four games he has played.

“He adds some more depth and he was good. He’s responsible and you can count on him to make the right play and moving the puck around, too,” Carefoot said. “It’s just exciting. It’s nice to be in a meaningful game and it’s nice, as a coach, to pull strings, to get the right pieces on the ice in certain times. And the players themselves, they were in a battle and I think they all felt good about it.”

Carefoot hopes the team can keep the momentum going when they host the Brandon Wheat Kings, tonight at 7:30 p.m., and the Eastman Selects, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

“If we can just keep battling, I think we’ll be alright,” he said.

The Parkland Chamber of Commerce kicked off its 2023 luncheon series with Jordan Pernarowski of MNP LLP speaking on Business Adaptations, as well as an update from Dauphin Economic Development Manager Martijn van Luijn.

The next luncheon will take place, Feb. 14.

It was a tough start to the new year for the Parkland Rangers.

The regional U18 AAA hockey team dropped a pair of games to the Winnipeg Bruins, 10-4 on Saturday, and 6-2 on Sunday.

Both games were in Swan River.

With the addition of Ukrainian-born center Havryil Simchuk, Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot had hoped the team would have an increased energy level and new-found excitement.

“And the first period of the first game, I thought we performed really well. I liked our energy. I liked our pace. There were a lot of good things to like,” he said. “But when they have a team that deep, you almost have to have a pretty much perfect game. And our management was below average.”
Winnipeg scored five times in the opening period and added a pair in the second.

“It was one of those games that just got off the rails for us,” Carefoot said.

Carefoot felt Sunday’s score flattered the Bruins as he didn’t feel it was a 6-2 game.

The difference in the game was a stretch in the second period where the Bruins scored three times in a span of 1:06.

“One of the things we’re trying to focus on is trying to have better team defence. I thought in the first game, we were just too easy to play against. Overall, there was a lack of being good defenders,” Carefoot said. “That was something for the second game I thought we needed to do a better job of and just focus on going forward, having that mindset of just being really good defenders. And I thought we did a much better job of that in the second game.”

Carefoot added it was a much better effort overall in Sunday’s game. Things don’t get any easier for Parkland this weekend as they travel to Winnipeg for games against the Wild, Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re going through a tough stretch here. Somehow if we can weather this storm, maybe focus on the process instead of the results,” he said.

Simchuk, Carefoot said, adds some depth to the lineup. He had been practicing with the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s Dauphin Kings prior to joining the Rangers and had an assist in each game against the Bruins.

He is on a line with Dru Mushumanski and Cash Clarkson.

In moving Mushumanski to the wing, Carefoot hopes he can focus on finding some holes.

“And Simchuk has the ability to move the puck around. He’s got that awareness. He’s a very high skilled player,” Carefoot added. “But he was out of shape. He wasn’t in game shape. He didn’t have the stamina. But that will come.”

Alex Senf’s goal 2:29 into overtime lifted the Dauphin Kings to a come-from-behind 6-5 win over the Winnipeg Blues, Saturday, salvaging a split for the local junior A hockey club.

The Blues had scored a 6-4 victory, Friday in Winnipeg, spurred by a three-goal outburst in a span of 3:05, early in the second period.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the Kings were a better team on Saturday.

“They got a point out of it, but I don’t think they deserved it. I thought we had so many chances in the second period,” he said.

Three power-play goals kept the Blues in the game and allowed them to take a 5-3 lead early in the third period. Both goals came on a five-on-three advantage.

“The fact that we got down 5-3 in the third period and found a way to come back and get two points out of it is huge for the guys’ confidence. I really think we have a good group in there,” Hedley said. “We’ve got size, we’ve got speed, we’ve got talent, we’ve got skill. We’ve just got to learn how to work and work smart.”

The Kings enter the week in third place with 41 points, two back of the Waywayseecappo Wolverines and one behind the OCN Blizzard. Dauphin is also one point ahead of the Swan Valley Stampeders.

Virden swept OCN in a pair of games over the weekend and sit in last place, but only 10 points behind the Wolverines.

Having the division so close will make for an exciting stretch drive.

“Especially right now. We’ve got some big games. We’ve got Swan. We’ve got OCN. We’ve got Wayway. So it’s all in our division now. It’s going to be playoff hockey from here on in,” Hedley said.

Teams will be looking to solidify their rosters with the Jan. 10 trading deadline.

Hedley said it would be great to find a top six forward to help the team offensively.

“Having said that, I really liked (Carter) Zalischuk tonight. He was outstanding. You know that kid is always going to give you hard work,” he said, adding the trio of Rylan Gibbs, Logan Walker and Ethan Williment was the best line on Friday. “They practiced all week that way,” Hedley said. “We’re starting to finally get those three guys that can come out there and get a big goal at the right time.”

Hedley tinkered with the power play, using defenceman Aidan Brook as a forward to plant himself in front of the net.

Most of the Kings moves, Hedley said, were made at the Dec. 1 deadline.

“But a puck moving right handed D-man would be great. A top three forward, left handed shot would be ideal,” he added.

Given how tight things are in the West Division, Hedley doesn’t see much movement from among the six teams.

The break allowed the Kings to bring back a healthy lineup, but goaltender Cole Sheffield left Saturday’s game after he was hit in the head in a collision at the side of the net. Hedley said he will be day-to-day.

Hedley planned to talk to Sheffield and fellow tender Marko Belak about the team carrying three goaltenders with the addition of Dmytro Kubritskyi.

The 20-year-old has been playing with the Ukraine national team against Canadian university squads in a series of exhibition contests and has shone in his outings.

Hedley said Kubritskyi has the capability to provide the kind of goaltending Carson Cherepak gave the Kings last season.

“We’re hoping Dmytro can come in here and really solidify (the goaltending),” he said, adding Sheffield and Belak’s numbers are almost identical. “We’ll see what happens,” Hedley said.

The Kings have just one game this week, traveling to Swan Valley on Wednesday to face the Stampeders.

Dauphin and District Community Foundation members Sherrie Volk, left, and Rita Dupley, right, were on hand when fellow board member Darren Eddie marked another milestone on the foundation’s thermometre, last week.

DDCF recently hit the $4.75 million mark.

The Parkland Rangers missed a chance to close the gap on a playoff spot with a pair of losses to the Eastman Selects over the weekend.

The Rangers couldn’t overcome a 3-0 first-period deficit, Saturday, dropping a 4-2 decision, before falling 4-3 on Sunday.

Parkland (6-17-3-0) now trails the eighth-place Selects by 10 points. Eastman (12-11-1-0) is one point ahead of Interlake (11-14-1-1) and seven up on Kenora (8-17-2-0).

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said the Rangers deserved a better fate in both games.

Parkland, he said, ran into penalty problems right off the bat in Saturday’s game, which resulted in two Eastman power-play goals.

“I thought we did a pretty job of trying to get back into the game. We hit a couple of posts and might have had an opportunity to make it a little bit closer,” he said.

The Rangers wanted to play a strong third period to build momentum for Sunday’s game, which they did. The Rangers could have pulled the goalie, Carefoot said, but they decided to focus on winning the period.

“Sunday, we were the better team. I think we hit two cross bars and then, with 10 seconds left to tie it, we hit a post,” he said. “I thought we played five solid periods of hockey this weekend. For the most part, I’m pretty happy.”

There are games where teams have to contend with questionable calls by the officiating and that was the case on Sunday, according to Carefoot.

“We had to persevere, not only through the Eastman Selects, but we had to beat the stripes. I just didn’t like some of the calls,” he said. “I just thought some of the calls were far too soft.”

It didn’t help that the Rangers were shorthanded with some players out of action due to injuries.

“So I was proud of how everybody competed and just didn’t quit,” he said.

The Rangers have just one game this week, Sunday on the road in Souris against the Southwest Cougars. Then they play the Yellowhead Chiefs, Dec. 20, in Shoal Lake.

Carefoot hopes the team can enter the Christmas break on a high note.

“We always say that the rural teams are the teams we’re supposed to compete well against and we beat both of them this year. So I feel that the guys will be up for it. If we can find a way to get four points going into the holidays, everybody will be feeling good about themselves,” he said, adding the Rangers will face the league power houses in the new year.

Defenceman Bo Eisner had a tremendous weekend for the Rangers.

“He’s one of those guys who, not only does he produce offensively, but he’s a tremendous defender,” Carefoot said. “He logs a lot of minutes and he does a tremendous job in the O zone and defensive zone. He’s a quiet leader. He just goes out and does his job. He’s a low-maintenance kind of guy. For him the journey is just starting and he’s got lots of recognition throughout, not just the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, but also going west, as well. I just feel he’s a guy that goes under the radar.”