Lions Club president Hugh Lintick, left, and Lion Ted Wojtowicz, right, presented Al Gray, chair of the fund-raising committee, with a cheque for $1,000 for the Airport Memorial 80th Anniversary project.

The project aims to commemorate Dauphin’s contribution to the second world war with memorials at Riverside Cemetery and the local airport.

Singer-songwriter Kolby Clunas took to the stage in the Old Fire Hall at the Watson Arts Centre, Friday, performing in front of a small, but appreciative audience.

The next show at the Old Fire Hall will be an Open Mic Night, Thursday, beginning at 7 p.m., with host Gary Procyshyn.

The high school rugby season will begin this weekend with the annual John Keogh Memorial Tournament in Brandon, hitting the pitch, Friday and Saturday.

The Dauphin Clippers will send both teams to Brandon, with the boys playing at 11 a.m. against the Crocus Plains Plainsmen and again at 3 p.m. against the Souris Sabres.

The girls hit the pitch in back-to-back games, facing the Swan Valley Tigers at 1 p.m., and the Rivers Rams at 2 p.m.

The Clippers began practicing about three weeks ago in the gym at the DRCSS with 55 players - 28 boys and 27 girls - between the two teams.

Clippers coach Aaron Miner said that is an all-time high for the high school rugby program.

The youth rugby program is starting to pay dividends for the high school teams. Miner stated he has never seen the teams so well prepared.

“Some of that can be attributed to exchange students who have played the sport since they were three years old. And some of it can be attributed to the program we have been running since these kids have been in Grades 2 and 3,” he said. “All our hard work that we’ve put into the youth program is starting to show and starting to pay off.”

Because the players already know the basics of the sport, the coaching staff, which includes Gerald Lopez, do not have to spend time teaching the sport. Rather they can focus on tactics and strategy instead.

“Even the few newcomers that we do have are being coached by the senior or the veteran players. So just the basic, how to throw a ball and how to catch a ball,” he said. “I often see the veterans standing at the back of the line with the newcomers, showing them how to twist the ball or how to kick and how to tackle safely. So a lot of that coaching is being done by the leaders on the team and it’s just great to have 40 out of 55 players know the game already. It’s been fantastic.”

Based on what he has seen, Miner is full of confidence heading into the season.

“Maybe too much. I’ve never seen a team like this. A youth rugby team that is so large in stature and so skilled and knowledgable of the game,” he said. “It’s going to be a great season no matter what.”

The Clippers girls open the season, Apr. 20, when they host the Swan Valley Stampeders at 5:30 p.m., the boys begin, Apr. 26 in Souris at 6:30 p.m.

The 2024 Manitoba Summer Games powered by Manitoba Hydro are still two years away, but the host committee recently received a $100,000 capital improvement grant from Sport Manitoba.

Dauphin was originally to host the games in 2020, but they were postponed to the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When it became apparent the city would not be able to host the game in 2021, it was agreed Dauphin would instead host the games in 2024.

“But with working with Sport Manitoba we had agreed that they wouldn’t have to put out a bid for the next summer games cycle in 2024 that Dauphin would host. So with that discussion, we had indicated to them that every time there is a new community, there is a community improvement grant that gets granted,” said host committee co-chair Clayton Swanton.

The host committee suggested to Sport Manitoba that Dauphin could benefit from new capital improvements, which resulted in the grant being issued to the host committee. The funding will be used primarily on the track at the local high school, which Swanton said was in okay shape to host in 2020.

“But we knew that it was starting to need a refresh from the 2004 games. When 2024 rolls around four years later (from when the games were originally scheduled) and 20 years since it was built, we knew that to host in 2024, we’re going to have to spend some money there,” he said.

Swanton said the host committee will look at all of the venues over the next couple years to see what has changed since 2020.

“We had everything in pretty good shape and ready to go when we got shut down. So over the next couple of years we’ll re-examine each one of our venues and there may be some other areas that do need a bit of dressing up. We’ll determine that closer to 2024,” he said.

Since the 2020 games were shutdown, the host committee has been on pause, which gave the volunteers a break.

“They were all ramping up and gearing up for 2020. We put a bunch of work in. We’re going to need those same volunteers or new ones to step up and be ready to go in 2024 and we don’t want to overwhelm them with too much preplanning,” Swanton said. “So we’re all just taking a bit of a breather right now, waiting until it gets closer.”

Planning for the summer games is expected to get underway again in early 2023. The city is already seeing some of the legacy benefits of hosting the games, with the North Gate Trail system, which would not have happened without the games on the horizon. And Dauphin Recreation Services has set up a pair of pickle ball courts in the curling rink.

“That wouldn’t have been possible without those two sport courts that the 2020 games had purchased in order to host volleyball,” Swanton said. “So even though we didn’t host, we still have a lot of legacy items coming out of the planning we had done in order to host in 2020.”

The Dauphin Kings are moving on to the Manitoba Junior Hockey League semifinals after surviving a late surge by the Swan Valley Stampeders in the quarterfinals.

After taking a three-games-to-none lead, the Kings dropped two straight games, 6-3 in game four, Apr. 4 in Swan River, and 5-4 in double overtime, Friday in Dauphin.

But Kaden Bryant’s goal 13:15 into double overtime of game six, Sunday in Swan River, put an end to Swan Valley’s season, propelling Dauphin into a semifinal series with the Winkler Flyers.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley felt Swan Valley’s record was not a good indication of how good the Stampeders really are.

“I don’t think they performed up to their capabilities all season. I think they under achieved all year. They’re a good hockey club,” he said. “They’re an older team. They’ve got as many 19 and 20 year olds as anybody.”

Hedley cited Swan Valley’s two-game sweep over the league-leading Steinbach Pistons in Steinbach in mid-January as an indication of how good the Stampeders really were.

“Wolfie (Swan Valley head coach Barry Wolfe) got the best out of them and they played hard. They showed flashes of this in the regular season,” Hedley said. “We knew they were a good hockey club. The standings sure didn’t reflect how good they could be. It was a good series.”

Stampeders goaltender Kobe Grant was the difference in Swan Valley’s two wins. He made 47 saves in game four and 52 in the game five double overtime win.

“Goaltending in any playoffs in huge and the kid played very well. He kept them in a few games. He played very well. Credit to him. He was outstanding. Kept them in every game they played and it came down to two games back-to-back in double overtime,” Hedley said.

When the Kings got up 3-0 in the series, they got away from paying attention to the little details, Hedley said.

“You’re not as good away from the puck. You don’t work hard to get back on top of the pucks or right sides of battles. And I think it cost us in the end. We started going back and forth and we lost some attention to our rush defence and they scored a couple big goals off the rush, especially in game five in Dauphin,” he said, adding the defensive awareness wasn’t as good as it had been earlier in the series.

“And I thought we got back to it in Swan (in game six) and played very well away from the puck. We limited their rushing chances. And I thought that was one of Carson Cherepak’s best games he played in the series.”

Hedley feels the adversity the team faced against the Stampeders will benefit them heading into the series with Winkler.

“When you get through it, I think it does make you a bit stronger down the road. It challenges your dressing room. It challenges guys to work harder. It challenges guys to stay together and stick to what makes us successful,” he said. “So I do think it creates a bit more strength and a little more comradery in the dressing room. Hopefully it continues on against Winkler.”

The Flyers finished second in the East Division with a 33-16-3-2 record, 12 points behind the Kings. But Winkler won both games against the Kings in the regular season, 6-4 in Dauphin, Jan. 7, and 4-3 in overtime the following day. Cherepak was pulled after 40 minutes of the game in Dauphin and missed the rest of the month with an injury before returning to the lineup in early February. Led by league scoring champion Justin Svenson, the Flyers will present a tough challenge for the Kings.

“It’s going to be a good series,” Hedley said. “Obviously, Svenson and (Jaden) McCarthy and (Troy) Hamilton are all good players. Their top line can score goals. Their backend has (Trent) Sambrook, so anytime you put him into the mix, they’re tough. He’s a very good player. We’re hoping our guys can step up.”

The series is expected to begin this weekend. Tickets for game one in Dauphin are expected to go on sale Wednesday.

The 33rd annual gun and hobby show was held at the Ukrainian Orthodox Auditorium, Saturday and Sunday.

Featuring about 85 tables full of displays, there was something of interest for everyone who walked through the doors.

The Watson Arts Centre hosted a Hello Spring Market, Saturday.

The market saw more than 25 home-based businesses and makers offering their wares to interested patrons.

The Dauphin Kings hosted their annual spring prospects camp, this weekend, with about 65 players hitting the ice, hoping to make an impression.

Most of the 2005 players in camp are on the Kings 50-man protected list, but 2006 players had a chance to show what they can do ahead of the upcoming draft in June, as did the 2007-born players for next year’s draft.

“It’s been very good and definitely worth it, for sure,” said head coach and general manager Doug Hedley.

From left, Can Bennet, public relations chair for Mountain View Teachers Association, and MVTA president Chance Henderson recently presented a cheque for $1,500 to Ukrainian Folk Arts Centre and Museum president Jim Perchaluk and Selo Ukraine board member Larry Hrytsay, as Don Tarrant, owner of Reit-Syd Equipment looks on.

MVTA issued a challenge to local service groups and organizations to make a donation to the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund in support of the permanent placing of Ukrainian refugee families in the Parkland.

Perchaluk noted 100 per cent of all donations will go to the families who relocate to the Parkland.