The Dauphin Kings hosted Ladies Night at their game against the Virden Oil Capitals, Saturday, at Credit Union Place.

The evening featured more than 15 vendors, as well as performances by Emma Peterson and the D-Town Steppers and a fashion show.

Dawson Dyck and Johnny Pacey entertained a small crowd at the Dauphin Public Library’s Third Thursday Music night with some jazzy tunes, Thursday.

The next Third Thursday Music will take place, Nov. 17, be sure to check it out!

Inconsistency continued to plague the Parkland Rangers in their annual trek north to play the Norman North Stars in Thompson.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot was not pleased with the team’s play, in Saturday’s 6-4 loss, a game in which Parkland led three different times.

The Rangers rebounded to score a 5-4 victory on Sunday, improving their record to 2-5-0-0.

The Rangers, Carefoot said, gave themselves time to arrive early enough to properly prepare for Saturday’s game.

“So the first game, we can’t use any excuses that we weren’t prepared. We had three different leads in that game and we just didn’t lock her down,” he said. “We were playing outdoor rink hockey. We’re all a bunch of Hall of Famers on the outdoor rink. There was no buy-in into structure or doing the little things. We just thought we’d run-and-gun them because that’s sort of how they play. And when you do that, you have no structure.”

As a result, Carefoot added, you leave yourself open to mistakes and that is exactly what happened to the Rangers.

Get the full rundown in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The Dauphin Kings are starting to roll with four wins in their last six Manitoba Junior Hockey League contests.

The Kings won both games of a home-and-home with the Selkirk Steelers, this past weekend, scoring a 3-2 win, Friday in Selkirk, before riding a five-goal first period to a 7-3 victory, Saturday in Dauphin.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the Kings got off to a good start in Friday’s game, despite giving up the game’s first goal.

“But at the same time, we pushed back. Found ways to get it done,” he said. “We played well defensively, especially in the second period. We had a really good push back period and got a couple goals and had a 3-1 lead early in the third.”

The Kings sat back a bit in the latter stages of the third period and Selkirk took advantage to make it a one-goal game late and made a push for the equalizer, but the Kings hung on for the two points.

“Sometimes you have to win greasy and ugly and the third period wasn’t our best, but we found a way to get it done,” Hedley said.

The Kings had their biggest offensive output of the season on Saturday, thanks to a five-goal first period. Dauphin had a rapid response on a couple of occasions, scoring twice in 15 and 20 second spans.

That offensive outburst was due, Hedley said, to the Kings getting pucks to the net.

“I thought our first and third tonight were our best, just on puck movement and speed, jumping out of the neutral zone, making some good passes and making some good plays,” he added. “We’re starting to figure out the D-to-D, playing fast and getting pucks up ice. And our low support guy is staying low where he should be instead of roaming the zone all the time. If there’s a turnover, we’re in trouble.”

The win improves Dauphin’s record to 6-5-1-0 for 13 points, good for fourth place in the tight West Division, where only eight points separates first place OCN from last place Neepawa. The Kings trail Waywayseecappo and Virden by just one point and are just six back of the Blizzard.

Special teams are struggling in the early going. The power play is 11th in the league, clicking at 12.5 per cent, while the penalty kill is tied for 10th at 75 per cent.

That is one aspect of the game the Kings have not spent a lot of time practicing, something that will change. Hedley pointed out the penalty kill was successful until the Winnipeg Blues scored four times on a five-minute major, Sept. 30.

“That four goals on one power play kills you,” he said. “It was better tonight. We’re starting to figure it out a bit. But our power play, there’s not a lot of separation between a lot of guys, so we’re trying to figure things out. We’re going to put some more time into it this week.”

Deepkaran Hans had an immediate impact in his first two games with the Kings, registering a goal and an assist on Friday and scoring twice on Saturday. Hedley liked the forward when he played for the Swan Valley Stampeders last season.

“He was always one of their best players. He’s hard on pucks. He’s got great speed, good size. Plays physical, plays with an edge. We had to make sure a couple things lined up, but he’s definitely been a great addition,” he said.

After a tough start to the season, goaltender Keaton Woolsey was sent home. Hedley tried find a place for Woolsey to play in Canada, but could find no takers, so the second-year netminder went home to Eagan, Minn.

His spot on the roster has been filled by another American goalie, Marko Belak, who was one of the top three goaltenders in the state of Minnesota, last season and started this year in the North American Hockey League.

“We’re really happy to have him and Dan (Keeping, Kings goaltender coach) is looking forward to working with him. But we think we’ve got a real good goaltender here,” Hedley said.

The Kings face the Virden Oil Capitals in a home-and-home this weekend.

The two teams meet in Virden, Friday, with the rematch in Dauphin on Saturday. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.

Dauphin’s Breken Brezden travelled to Regina, Oct. 8 and 9, to compete in the Sask Skate 2022 figure skating competition.

Brezden finished first in the short program on Saturday night, then finished first in the free skate program, Sunday, winning overall gold in the Junior Women’s division over the two-day competition.

Brezden then finished third overall at the Ontario Octoberfest 2022 Skate Competition, this past weekend.

She was in fourth place after Saturday’s skate and skated well enough to make it onto the podium on Sunday.

Second Story Players cast members gathered at the Watson Arts Centre for the first-ever live recording of a radio episode of Gunsmoke to be aired on CKDM in November as part of Dauphin’s Culture Days.

Led by director and narrator Peter Nadolny, the cast performed in front of an audience of about 20 people, who were encouraged to join in the festivities with cheers, boos, laughter and applause.

Headline Shaun Martens puts a wrist lock on Hernandez at Canadian Wrestling Elite’s show at the Watson Arts Centre, last Thursday.

Martens went on to beat the former TNA Impact star thanks to outside interference. Other matches on the card saw Travis Cole beating Tyler James, “the Boston Bruiser” Kevin O’Doyle defeated “Cheetah Bear” Jude Dawkins, CWE Canadian Unified Jr. Heavyweight Champion Chad Daniels successfully defended his title against “The Mastermind” Kevin Cannon and in the main event, “Canadian Strong Style” Rob Stardom beat “Hotshot” Danny Duggan in a no disqualification match.

The Dauphin Kings split a home-and-home series with the Steinbach Pistons over the weekend.

The weekend began with the Kings handing the Pistons their first loss of the season, a 5-3 setback at Credit Union Place. Steinbach got their revenge with an 8-1 win on home ice, Sunday afternoon.

After the Pistons took the lead midway through the first period on Friday, the Kings pulled even late in the frame and then took the lead with three in the second.

Steinbach outscored the Kings 2-1 in the third, but it was too little, too late.

Cole Sheffield was outstanding in goal for Dauphin making 49 saves.

On Sunday, the Pistons built a 3-0 lead after the first period and increased it to 6-1 after 40 minutes.

The Kings were outstanding on the penalty kill, Friday, according to head coach and general manager Doug Hedley, after they killed off five of six Steinbach power plays.

“Sheffield was the best penalty killer. When you do that, you’re going to have success,” he said. “And we took advantage of mistakes. But our speed tonight, we skated with them all the time. In fact, we had odd man rushes where we capitalized on mistakes on a couple of two-on-ones and some nice goals.”

Hedley has talked before about how the Kings would have to rely on scoring by committee and that was evident, Friday night. Dauphin scored five goals, but Mason Smith was the only player to register more than one point with two assists.

“I think the line of Gibby (Rylan Gibbs) and (Connor) Picard and (Jackson) Gudz were good. They ate up some minutes for us and Gibby got a big goal. The kid is playing well. He’s earning the trust, that’s for sure,” Hedley said.

After struggling early in the season with 12 goals in the first six games, Dauphin’s offence has hit its stride with 16 in the last three games.

“It’s good to see. We’re getting opportunities. We were getting opportunities before, we just weren’t capitalizing,” Hedley said. “But I think right now, our D zone is getting to a point where we’re really protecting it. We’re pushing battles to corners, we’re winning battles and getting pucks out of our zone.”

A win against the top team in the East Division, which came into the contest undefeated will be huge for the team’s confidence.

“The dressing room is really happy right now. We’ll have a quick skate (Saturday), go back into Steinbach and hopefully, we can play a disciplined game there and keep it tight,” Hedley said.

Kings court:

Forward Blake Boudreau is currently out day-to-day with a knee injury. Forward Carter Zalischuk was handed a two-game suspension for his boarding major against the Winnipeg Blues, Sept. 30.

The Parkland Chamber of Commerce hosted a public forum featuring eight of the 10 candidates running in the Rural Municipality of Dauphin election, as well as the two candidates running for Reeve, Tom Gibbs and Ernie Sirski.

Each of the council and reeve hopefuls had the opportunity to answer submitted questions, while Gibbs and Sirski also had the chance to ask each other a couple of questions.

Check the Dauphin Herald's Election Section this week for more on the upcoming Municipal Election.

The Dauphin Clippers football team improved to 3-1 on the season, thanks to a 31-12 win over the Virden Golden Bears, Thursday in Dauphin.

Joseph Lopez had two carries for 69 yards, including a 70-yard touchdown run. His second run resulted in the loss of one yard. Matthew Zurba ran for 42 yards on six carries.

Will Stinson and Oliver Dandeneau also had rushing TDs, while Jackson Cheater stripped the ball from a Virden player and ran it in from 30 yards out.

Guzman Garcia had three converts and also connected on a 20-yard field goal, as well as a punt single.

Defensively, Lopez recorded seven tackles, forced two fumbles and had one recovery, while Josiah Seale had seven tackles, one assist, one sack, one interception and two knockdowns.

Clippers coach Jason Zurba said the win was a nice way to bounce back from the loss to Moosomin the previous week.

“We played well. We got some young guys in there and gave them some game experience, which was nice to see,” he said.

Playing as a team was key to success. he added.

“Playing as a unit. We didn’t get down on ourselves. We kept pushing forward,” Zurba said.

Getting the younger players game experience is invaluable as injuries always play a role.

“We had a couple of guys go down in Moosomin and some guys stepped up today. So it’s always good to get young guys in to get that experience,” Zurba said.

As well as the Clippers are playing, there are still some areas of the game they can work on.

“Blocking up front on our O line. Our defence played well. We have to be able to push the ball in when we need to. So our offensive line to move that line forward,” Zurba said.

The Clippers will play their next three games on the road, beginning, Friday in Souris against the Southwest Sabres. Zurba hopes the team can maintain its momentum going into that contest.

“It’s going to be a tough battle. They’re a good club and I’m looking forward to it,” he said.

The JV Clippers were in Brandon, Saturday for a game against the Vincent Massey Vikings.

Some of the young players who haven’t seen a lot of playing time, got it in the 34-19 loss to the Vikings.

Alex Thompson led the ground game with 165 yards on nine carries and scored on 75 and 65-yard runs.

Owen Vandepoele had Dauphin’s other touchdown on a 60-yard run.

Declan Waggoner led the defence with 10 tackles and a fumble recovery, while Owen Fjeldsted had four tackles, one assist and one interception and Aiden Sanderson had four tackles.