The Parkland Rangers find themselves struggling to find consistency early in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League.

Facing the Interlake Lightning in Teulon, Friday and Saturday, the Rangers did not play well in a 7-2 loss on Friday, but improved their play to record a 4-3 win on Saturday, their first of the season.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot was not pleased with the team’s play Friday, which was a result of not being prepared.

“It started from the moment we got on the bus and it really carried on to, basically, Saturday morning when we had our pregame meeting,” he said. “At the end of the day, we need to be better prepared, not necessarily when we’re on the road, but also when we’re at home.”

Carefoot noted it was Interlake’s home opener and they were excited to play.

Read more about the Rangers in this week's Herald!

The Dauphin Mavericks ended their season with an exhibition game against the Brandon Barbarians, Saturday in Dauphin, in the annual King of the Hill.

The game is usually played in the spring, but circumstances did not allowed it to be played then, so it was scheduled for Saturday, with the Barbarians taking home a 29-15 win.

Wilson Van Alstyne, Sam Marshall and Riley Keith had Dauphin’s tries.

With Brandon playing in Rugby Manitoba’s premiere league and the Mavericks in the M League, the two teams never play each other, so the King of the Hill contest was established to maintain relations between the two clubs.

“It’s a chance to see where we rank against a Div. 1 team. These two clubs are really great together. We always support each other,” he said.

Harrigan feels the Mavericks played well, but they were missing key players.

Get the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald. 

It took a while, but the Dauphin Kings have found their scoring touch.

After scoring just 12 goals in their first six games, the Kings nearly doubled that total in a weekend split with the Winnipeg Blues.

Following a 4-1 loss to the Neepawa Titans, Sept. 27 in Neepawa, the Kings dropped a 7-5 decision to the Blues, Friday in Dauphin.

The Kings held a 2-0 lead after the first period on goals from Matthew Gough and Dauphin native Rylan Gibbs.

Kai Elkie pulled Winnipeg to within a goal 1:11 into the second period, then took advantage of a five-minute power play when Kings forward Carter Zalischuk was assessed a major penalty for boarding, scoring four times on the man advantage, with Jack Kaiser scoring twice and Luke Janus and Garett Zasitko bending the twine.

Zasitko would add another later in the frame to take a 6-2 lead, before Tyson Pauze and Jovan Malay scored before the period break to cut into the lead.

The teams traded goals in the third with Winnipeg’s Ryland Kuczek and Dauphin’s Alex Senf finding the back of the net.

Brock Moroz made 33 saves in the win, while Keaton Woolsey had 25 saves in taking the loss.

The two teams met for a rematch, Sunday in Winnipeg, with the Kings skating away with a 6-4 victory.

Jayden Harris for the King and Zasitko for the Blues tallied in the first period.

The Kings broke the game open with three in the second off the sticks of Gough, Mason Smith and Gibbs.

Kuczek and Pearce Gare pulled Winnipeg to within a goal, but Thomas Stewart put the Kings up by two with just under eight minutes remaining.

Matthew McLeod again made it a one-goal game with 49 seconds left in regulation, but Senf sealed the Dauphin victory just 14 seconds later.

Cole Sheffield earned his first win of the season after stopping 17 shots. River Leslie-Toogood made 29 saves in a losing cause.

The Kings will look to keep the momentum going when they face the Steinbach Pistons in a home-and-home this weekend, beginning, Friday in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m.

The rematch goes, Sunday in Steinbach at 2:30 p.m.

The Dauphin Clippers football team suffered its first loss of the Rural Manitoba Football League season, Saturday, dropping a 28-0 decision to the Moosomin Generals.

Clippers assistant manager Jeff Michasew said the Generals have a good defence, which shut the Clippers down offensively.

And Dauphin’s offence was hampered by the loss of running back Scott Gower in the first 10 minutes of the game.

“He’s a wrecking ball that you can depend on. He can take it to a defence, especially over an entire game. So when he went down, it changed our game plan a bit and it got away from us,” he said.

Moosomin, Michasew added, runs its offence, basically through one player.

“They’re a well coached team and they run their plays right. We just couldn’t stop them,” he said.

This was a game the Clippers could learn from, Michasew said.

“We talked about it on the ride home. Every position has their responsibilities and we just have to focus on that and I think we’ll be okay,” he said.

The Clippers will look to get back in the win column, Thursday, when they host the Virden Golden Bears at 4:30 p.m.

The Parkland Rangers opened the 2022-23 Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League season with a pair of home-ice losses to the defending league champion Winnipeg Wild.

After a strong start by the Rangers, which saw them take an early 1-0 lead, the Wild took control of game one, which resulted in a 10-3 Winnipeg victory, Saturday.

Tavyn Boychuk tallied the first goal of the season for Parkland, 2:08 into the first period. Madden Murray added a pair in the third period to round out the scoring for Parkland.

Ty Genik led the Wild with three goals, while Cole Robertson had a goal and two assists. Also scoring for Winnipeg were Marlen Edwards with two, Brenden Espenell, Gino Controneo, Aaron Krestanowich and Campbell Epp with singles.

Get the full weekend recap in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The Dauphin Kings snapped a three-game losing streak with a dramatic come-from-behind overtime win over the visiting Swan Valley Stampeders, Saturday.

Dauphin’s week began with a sloppy 8-4 loss to the OCN Blizzard, Tuesday in OCN, followed by a 3-0 loss to the Stampeders, Friday in Swan River.

On Saturday, the Kings trailed midway through the third period, but tied the game with 1:40 left in regulation on a goal from Mason Smith.

Garrett Hrechka then gave the Kings the win when Nicholas Hatton sent him in all alone and the Dauphin native beat Swan Valley’s Loic Mainguy-Crepault.

Dauphin’s record sits at 2-2-1-0 through the first five games.

The game against OCN was one where the entire team did not play well, according to Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley.

“It wasn’t just the goaltender. It wasn’t just the d-men and it wasn’t just the forwards. It was everybody. It was a team effort. We didn’t compete. We didn’t stick battle,” he said. “It’s a tough place to play in if you’re not used to it. Whatever energy you have in that building, you have to feed off of it. And we didn’t.”

Get a full recap and more in this week's Dauphin Herald. 

Volunteers Tanya Love and Jennifer Balchen decorate cookies for the Smile Cookie campaign at the local Tim Horton’s store.

The week-long event was a success with Dauphin in the running for most cookies sold nationwide.

Several local businesses matched daily sales throughout the week, with all proceeds going to the Maamawi Park Family Toboggan Run.

A group of mostly American tourists visited Fort Dauphin Museum, Sunday, as part of their tour through Manitoba.

Fantasy RV Tours booked the excursion through the province which takes the tourists north to Churchill to view polar bears.

On top of Dauphin, stops during the 15-day trip will include The Pas, Thompson, Churchill, Fairford and Winnipeg.

Even though it is closed, the museum will book tours for interested groups. To book a tour, call 204-638-6630.

When the Rural Manitoba Football League season kicked off in Dauphin, earlier this month, there was a notable presence missing form the field.

Longtime referee Ken Smaluck has retired after more than 35 years of patrolling the gridiron.

Smaluck began refereeing in the mid-1980s out of necessity, due to a shortage of referees at the time.

“They needed refs and I just (stepped up). That’s basically it,” he said.

After getting his initial certification, Smaluck kept getting recertified over the years.

The game has pretty much been the same since he started.

“Every year, there seemed to be a lot of good athletes going out (to play). I’ve been nine-man throughout, so it’s been pretty consistent,” Smaluck said, adding there were not many rule changes over the years.
As a fan of the sport, Smaluck had to be careful not to get caught up watching the game.

“You’ve got basically the best seat in the house. You’ve got to be careful you’re not watching the game. You have to watch what’s going on. But still, I’ve enjoyed the football atmosphere,” he said.
While he couldn’t pin down any specific moments as his favourite, Smaluck enjoyed meeting and working with other referees.

It's just another great local story from the Dauphin Herald, and you can get the full rundown in this week's paper!

The Kick off Your Roots tour wrapped up with a show at the Watson Arts Centre, Sept. 14.

The show featured Desiree Dorion, Emma Peterson and Quinton Blair telling the stories behind their songs in an intimate setting.

More than 100 people took in the show. The next performance at the WAC will be, Sept. 24, when Route 10 Collective offers the Music of George Harrison with the show starting at 7:30 p.m.