Doug Zywina
RM of Dauphin’s new reeve looking forward to working with council
Ernie Sirski is the new Reeve for the Rural Municipality of Dauphin.
Sirski beat Tom Gibbs in last Wednesday’s election, with 458 votes, compared to 383 for Gibbs. In terms of percentages, Sirski won with 54.46 per cent to 45.54 for Gibbs.
Sirski admitted he is both excited and apprehensive about his election win.
“As most people know, I’ve never been involved in municipal politics, but I’ve been involved in a lot of organizations over my somewhat long tenure in farm politics,” he said. “So I’m excited. I’m looking forward to dealing with our residents.”
Sirski is also looking forward to working with the new council.
“I’m excited to dealing with our new council. We have a great council going forward. We’ve got youth. We’ve got experience. We’ve got incumbents. And they’ve got a leader who’s probably older than most of them put together,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being part of this rural municipality and, hopefully, contributing something in a positive manner.”
It does not matter if you win by one vote or 100, Sirski said, winning an election makes you feel good about yourself. And he was expecting a close race with Gibbs.
“I’ve known Tom a long time. I’ve known Tom for probably 30 years. I have a great deal of respect for him. He’s put his time in on the rural council. So I wasn’t the least bit surprised that it was this close,” he said.
Running in this year’s election was a good learning experience, Sirski said, adding he is looking forward to dealing with surrounding municipalities and the City of Dauphin, as well.
“So that we have mutual benefit for all our citizens,” he said.
Sirski expects he and the new council will be sworn in within the next couple of weeks.
Elected to council were Tammy Koshowski (596 votes), Todd Boguski (546), Midge Sametz (540), Ron Ryz (516), Ken Shewchuk (431) and Ken Plustwa (426). Also running, but not elected were Jack Bremner (413), David Johnson, (349), Darrell Inkster (134) and Wilf Kachurowski (130).
Church of Christ affordable housing project underway
Dauphin Church of Christ is doing its part to help with affordable housing in the city, with the construction of the first of four four-plexes at Parkland Crossing.
Even though it is a small church, Pastor Wayne Olson said they love the community and want to see it do better.
One of the issues they hope to deal with involves food poverty for children. According to Olson, Dauphin is fifth worst in Canada for food poverty for children.
“Our church helps with some of the schools in doing meals and helping support some of the programs at Whitmore and the middle school. That’s a big concern in our community,” he said.
Another issue, Olson said, is affordable housing.
“We haven’t built affordable housing. So we’ve been thinking about doing affordable housing for a long, long time. It’s probably been on our hearts for 10 years. But to build anything, everything takes a lot of money,” he said.
Last year, the Church received a grant from the City, which got the money from Manitoba Housing.
Get the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald!
Haunting the streets
The streets of Dauphin were invaded by a group of ghouls, goblins and other strange creatures, early Friday evening as the Dauphin Friendship Centre hosted its annual zombie walk.
All participants received a treat bag and prizes were awarded for youth dressed in a costume.
Hitting the stage
Petric took to the stage at the Watson Arts Centre, Saturday, as part of their Turn the Night Up tour.
Jerry Sereda and Jason Kirkness opened the show for the Winnipeg band in front of a small, but appreciative audience.
Opening Night
The SVRSS Tigers opened their season with a trip to Dauphin to face the Clippers, which would eventually become a 4-1 loss on the road.
Clippers sail to victory to open WHSHL regular season
The Dauphin Clippers opened the Westman High School Hockey League with a pair of home ice wins this past weekend.
Ethan Carnegie scored twice to lead Dauphin to a 4-1 win over the Swan Valley Tigers, Friday.
Norman Lacquette and Trayden Guiboche had the other Dauphin goals, while Brady Burghart scored for the Tigers on a penalty shot.
Cody Coombs earned the win in goal, with 24 saves, while Swan Valley’s Nate Immerkar stopped 31 shots.
On Sunday, William Miner’s two goals and three assists led the Clippers to a convincing 7-1 victory over Brandon’s Vincent Massey Vikings, breaking the game open with five goals in the third period.
Matthew Zurba also scored twice, with Dixon Flett, Liam Chartrand and Carnegie adding singles. Josh Romanik had the Vikings’ only goal.
You can find a full recap and more in this week's Dauphin Herald!
Clippers host Interlake in semifinal
A 42-28 win over the Neepawa Tigers, Saturday in Neepawa clinched second place for the Dauphin Clippers football team in the Rural Manitoba Football League standings.
Scott Gower led the offence with 142 yards rushing, which included touchdowns of five, 17 and 30 yards.
Kyle Lunsted had 90 yards rushing on 12 carries.
Kade Glennie scored on a 20-yard interception return and Matt Zurba scored twice on quarterback keepers.
Louis Prevot was a perfect six-for-six in converts.
Joseph Lopez led the defence with eight tackles and one knockdown, while Declan Warrener had one interception.
Clippers manager Cam Bennet said it was one of the Clippers better games of the season.
“Great defence to begin with. Kade Glennie got an interception for a touchdown, I’d say in the first five minutes, which really set the tone,” he said. “And our offence moved the ball extremely well. So that was nice to see, because we’ve struggled a little bit in moving the ball and scoring.”
Gower had an impact on all aspects of the game, Bennet added, and Kyle Lunsted had another great game offensively, as well.
The Clippers improved to 6-1 on the season and finished tied with the Moosomin Generals, which was awarded first place thanks to their win over the Clippers earlier in the season.
So Dauphin will host the 5-2 Interlake Thunder in a semifinal contest, Saturday at 2 p.m.
Interlake led the league with 353 points, while Dauphin had the stingiest defence, allowing just 114 points.
Dauphin won the only meeting between the two teams, 23-20, Sept. 17, in Dauphin.
Bennet, who feels the top five teams are all competitive, expects a tough game.
“We’re going to have to be sharp and we expect them to be sharp, as well. We’re very thankful that we’re playing at home and not of the road. That definitely is an advantage,” he said. “It will be a battle of the juggernauts. We’re looking forward to a big crowd, it will be helpful. And some good weather, too.”
Rangers find consistent work ethic in battle with the Bruins
The Parkland Rangers had a tough challenge ahead of them when they traveled to Winnipeg to face the undefeated Bruins this past weekend.
Winnipeg entered the two-game set at 6-1, with the only loss coming as a result of a forfeit because of an ineligible player used in a game, Oct. 12, against the Pembina Valley Hawks.
Parkland, meanwhile, was 2-5, and, while the favoured Bruins did sweep the two games, they had to work for the four points.
Winnipeg scored a 6-2 victory, Friday night and a 6-1 win on Saturday.
But the score, according to Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot, was not indicative of the play in either contest.
The Bruins, he said, may not be as skilled as the 8-0 Brandon Wheat Kings, but they play a playoff brand of hockey.
“They’re good. They’re very disciplined in their structure and their systems and they come at you with lots of speed. And they have skill, as well. They’re a tough out, for sure,” he said.
The teams were tied 1-1 in the second period of Friday’s game when Winnipeg broke the game open with three goals in a 43 second span. That was the difference as the Bruins added a pair in the third period to put the game away.
On Saturday, the Rangers trailed 2-1 going into the final frame, but again, Winnipeg’s offence put the game away with four goals in the period.
Despite the seemingly lopsided results, Carefoot was pleased with the Rangers play, noting they matched Winnipeg’s work ethic, physicality and drive.
“I was proud of the fellas after Friday. That was the message after. I said, ‘guys, this is the work ethic that we’ve been looking for. That’s the compete we’ve been looking for.’ So if we play like that then we add in the little things that help a team be efficient and that’s just the details,” he said.
The Rangers had some time to kill before Saturday’s game, which was a 4 p.m. start, so rather than spend time at a mall or arcade, the team hit the diamond for a quick four-inning game of baseball.
Read the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald!
Kings pull into tie for second
With five wins in their last seven games, the Dauphin Kings are in the middle of the fight for playoff positioning in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s West Division.
The Kings could not build on a 3-0 lead first-period lead on Friday in Virden, falling 6-5 in overtime. It was a different story, Saturday in Dauphin as Marko Belak made his Kings debut a successful one, with 21 saves in a 2-1 victory.
As a result, the two teams are tied for second place with 16 points each and trail the first-place OCN Blizzard by seven, while maintaining a two-point advantage over the Waywayseecappo Wolverines and Swan Valley Stampeders.
Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the Kings were real good in the first period of Friday’s game.
“We outplayed them. We were the better team and had a 3-0 lead. We were driving the net. Two goals were in the paint, so obviously, we were getting to the net. (In the second), we backed off a little bit,” he said. “Give Virden credit. They came at us hard, had some good opportunities and got some lucky bounces.”
The disappointing part of it, Hedley said, was the Kings getting away from the D-side of battles and being above pucks, but they improved that aspect in Saturday’s victory.
Dauphin native Carter Zalischuk had given the Kings a 5-4 lead with 7:32 remaining, his first career goal in the MJHL.
“It should have been locked. We still played as individuals and not as a team. We were still thinking offence when we didn’t need to,” Hedley said. “At that time of the game, it’s got to be locked up. It’s what you leave rather than what you create and we didn’t need more offence, we just had to shut down like we did tonight.”
Both teams played much better defensively, which each team recording just 22 shots.
Hedley was impressed with Belak’s play in his debut.
“He was solid. He’s a big kid and really moves quick. He made great save on the power play in the first period,” he said.
The Kings will look to close the gap on the Blizzard when the two teams faceoff in OCN, tonight.
“That’s going to be a big match. That’s a good team. They’re in first place for a reason. Doug Johnson has them playing real well,” Hedley said.
The Kings have two games on home ice this weekend, beginning Friday against the Neepawa Titans, followed by the first meeting of the season against the Wolverines. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.
A few players are battling the injury bug.
Defencemen Thomas Stewart is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, while forward Garrett Hrechka is out with a shoulder injury and Riley Borody is expected back this week after suffering a fractured rib. Defenceman Marco Bodnarski is out with bursitis in his elbow.
Kings court:
Prior to announcing the full rosters for the upcoming Top Prospects Showcase, Nov. 15 and 16 in Portage, the MJHL announced three players from each team who will play at the event. The three players named from the Kings are defencemen Owen Wareham and Anthony Bax and forward Jayden Harris. The event will feature six teams selected from MJHL rosters (two 18U and four 20U) who are considered top prospects for the NHL, NCAA, major junior and U Sports as selected by MJHL coaches along with input from external scouting networks. Each team will partake in a practice and play two full games during this high-performance event in front of scouts from higher levels expected to be in attendance.
Roznowsky surprised with Stanley Knowles award at NDP convention
Dauphin’s Stephen Roznowsky was the recipient of the Stanley Knowles Solidarity Award at the Manitoba NDP convention, Oct. 14.
The award, Roznowsky explained, is presented through the Manitoba Federation of Labour at each Manitoba NDP convention to a trade unionist who has shown a deep commitment to working people and the achievement of social justice through recognized contributions to the union movement and the Manitoba NDP.
Receiving the award was humbling, he said, because previous recipients were quite involved and high in the structure of organized labour.
“I almost didn’t believe that I was bestowed that, because I didn’t figure that I had that kind of breadth and depth,” Roznowsky said. “But after 53 years of being in public service and 41 of it as an organized labour leader and activist in the Manitoba Government Employees Union.”
Roznowsky has volunteered for many years in different events and organizations, including the Winnipeg Folk Festival, the Dauphin RIDE program and is the local organizer of the annual Terry Fox Run.
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