Progress is being made in regards to the proposed toboggan hill on the DMCC grounds.

The organizing committee has entered into agreements with the Northwest Métis Council, Dauphin Friendship Centre and the Government of Treaty 2 Territory, who will all have representation on the committee.

Committee member Stacey Penner was at home watching YouTube videos with her children on National Reconciliation Day, last year, explaining what the day was about.

“And there was a common theme that circulated through those YouTube videos, that non-Indigenous people need to do the work to educate themselves and understand better what happened,” she said. “And the idea of putting this together as a collaboration is me doing my work as a way to honour the land which this sits on, the history of our large Indigenous population that is in Dauphin and within the Parkland.”

To the best of the committee’s knowledge, the three Indigenous organizations have never worked together before this. So the committee talked about how getting those three groups involved in the project could help to grow the park as an Indigenous tribute.

“Because they’re the experts. So what would they like to possibly see come from this idea of ours,” Penner said. “And again, that’s a piece that’s been snowballing, as well, talking about having language signs from the Indigenous culture. The name of the park might be reflective of the Indigenous language, having Indigenous artists and art pieces represented there. So we’re in the works, figuring out what we want to do to reflect that.”

The committee has also worked with the Dauphin Agricultural Society, which has the rights to the land.

“We knew in order to tap into that land we needed to work with them to not impede on their activities and festivities when the ag. fair comes around, but how we can compliment what they do and add to it,” Penner said. “It could be a draw for the ag society, as well.”\

The park, which will ultimately be an all-season facility, will be located on the senior baseball diamond on the DMCC grounds.

One of the committee’s goals in regards to the facility is to provide no-cost recreation, which will allow all families to enjoy it regardless of their financial situation.

“We want people outside, gaining the mental and physical benefits of fresh air and the outdoors and finding community spirit again,” Penner said, adding they have also partnered with Northgate Trails to promote Dauphin as a recreation hub of tourism and exploration within Manitoba.

Penner said there have been discussions surrounding other organizations utilizing the space, as well.

“Whether there’s pow wows or physical education classes or field trips within Mountain View School Division coming and using the space. That’s our hope, that other organizations will come on over and utilize the space,” she said.

The City of Dauphin has also partnered with the committee, granting them the land and agreeing to maintain it.

Something the committee is currently working on is a way to get businesses and individuals involved through financial contributions, which Penner said will take place soon.

“And that contribution can be large. That contribution can be five or 10 dollars,” Penner said, adding they hope to create a way to recognize everyone who contributes towards the project.

“There will be a donor wall, where we will have a gold, silver and bronze donor sponsor wall. The major donors, as well, will have the proper signage. And we’ve also talked about having ‘Friends of the Park’ for the smaller donees,” she said.

There are also plans to make the facility accessible for all.

“We want our project to be exemplary with regard to making recreation opportunities accessible,” Penner said, adding Scatliff+Miller+Murray, the company hired to design the facility, told the committee it was important to find ways to make the project as accessible as possible, which they wholeheartedly agreed with.

“So we had talked about making an accessible path that has an appropriate slope for somebody in a wheelchair or somebody who has a physical disability. So it won’t be a super steep incline, unless they want to take the direct approach. But we are building an accessible path that will be maintained on a regular basis,” she said.

A tender package has been put together and will be released soon. Once a company is hired, construction is expected to begin once the snow melts.

“As soon the ground starts to thaw and the snow melts, we’re ready to get building,” Penner said, adding Vermillion Growers has agreed to donate the fill, an in-kind donation Penner estimates to be worth about $150,000.

The committee, Penner said, anticipates the project will span a few different phases over the course of as many of five years.

“Phase one is the hill, the accessible path, the summer slide and winter sliding,” she said, adding phase two will be gradual. "As soon as we continue to have money roll in, we’ll decide in order of sequence what’s important to us and we’ll go from there. But right now we’re focused on phase one,” she said, adding the number of phases will depend on funding.

To make the facility all-season, the committee has discussed various options, such as a climbing wall, a playground, greenery, landscaping, picnic tables and a fire pit.

“We also talked about a skating oval in the winter at some point and a retention pond. All possibilities, but again, things are going to be unfolding in phases for us,” Penner said.

Penner, and committee member Larry Budzinski, have been working on some grant options. They have received a $40,000 from the Fusion Full Circle Fund, as well as other grants.

The project has also secured $272,000 from the federal government and there is a pending provincial grant for as much as $300,000.

The first phase of the facility is expected to be in the neighbourhood of $500,000.

“But we have major goals that we want to do above and beyond the hill,” Penner said.

Dauphin and District Community Foundation (DDCF) has donated $20,000 to the project and Penner said there is a second application they are waiting on from DDCF. The Thomas Sill Foundation of Winnipeg has donated $20,000, specifically for a pump track for cycling.

While there are those who do not believe climate change is real, there are others who deal with the changing climate every year, such as those in the agriculture industry.

Young farmers such as Steven Cruise, 38, have been dealing with it for a number of years.

When Cruise, who farms with his father Jim at Cruise Farms, thinks of climate change, he goes back to 2010, when he and his father had just finished seeding their wheat crop.

“That was the year Dauphin hosted the RBC Cup. So we spent the next couple days in the rink waiting for things to warm up enough to continue on with our oil seeds such as canolas and whatnot. And it just started to rain and it would not stop,” he said.

That year saw record rainfalls and Cruise remembers some saying they would never see rainfall like that again.

“And then, here we are, in 2011, it was just as bad. So I think that really opened my eyes as a young farmer to maybe the potential of some sort of climate change,” he said.

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The Dauphin Clippers ended the Westman High School Hockey League regular season in seventh place after winning two of three over the weekend.

The Clippers began the weekend with a 12-0 route over the Deloraine/Hartney Colts, Thursday in Dauphin.

Matthew Zurba led the way with two goals and two assists and Cole Delamare also had a four-point effort with a goal and three assists. Logan Chapman, Jaymen Fee and Linden Smigelsky also scored twice, while Austyn Roos, Liam Chartrand and Jake Kuzmiak added singles.

Owen Chubka stopped all 12 shots he faced to record the shutout. Colts goalie Ethan Williams was a bit busier, finishing with 52 saves.

On Friday in Minnedosa, Zurba and Braydyn Paskaruk each scored once and added an assist to lead the Clippers to a 3-1 win over the Chancellors.

Landon Brown had the other Dauphin goal, while Victor Lamb scored for Minnedosa. Cody Coombs stopped 25 shots to record the win, while Minnedosa’s Daylan Hunter made 37 saves.

On Sunday in Brandon, the Vincent Massey Vikings scored a 2-1 win in the season finale for both teams.

Porter Ewert and Hudson Brosseau scored for the Vikings, while Logan Chapman tallied for Dauphin. Matt Stephens had 38 saves for Vincent Massey and Chubka made 28 saves for Dauphin.

The Clippers finish the regular season with a 20-10-2-2 record for 44 points, good for seventh place.

Clippers manager Jason Alf was pleased with the team’s season. He admits he and the coaching staff did not realize until the last few days that the Clippers had a chance to finish with the fewest goals allowed.

“We only had a couple games that we lost by more than a goal. All in all, I’m pretty pleased with how things went,” he said, adding he did not realize how young the Clippers are with only two Grade 12 players. “I like how things have gone this year and I really like how we’re set up for the next couple of years.”

Dauphin will face Russell’s Major Pratt Trojans in the quarterfinals, which will begin, Mar 14, in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m., with game two in Russell, Mar. 16. Game three, if necessary, has yet to be scheduled.

The Clippers will have their work cut out for them. The Trojans finished with a league-high 233 goals, led by Luke Decorby’s 53 goals and 109 points.

Major Pratt had eight players finish at more than a point-per-game pace and had six players with more than 20 goals and three with more than 30.

“We’ve got to keep playing our defensive game. But we’ve got to try and convert some more offence. If we had a point that we need to work on it’s offence,” Alf said. “We’ve outshot a lot of teams. Even last night in Vincent Massey, against that high-powered team, we outshot them and lost 2-1. But we’re going to have to play well defensively and really limit mistakes, because they’re a team that can really take advantage of your mistakes.”

The Parkland Rangers and Yellowhead Chiefs are even in their best-of-five quarterfinal series.

Parkland scored three times in the second period en route to a 3-1 win in game one, Thursday in Shoal Lake.

Dru Mushumanski, Rylan Gibbs and Will Munro tallied for the Rangers, while Max Collyer put Yellowhead on the board in the third period.

Parkland’s Brenden Birch-Hayden and Yellowhead’s Jase Wareham both finished the night with 37 saves.

The Chiefs evened the series with a 4-2 win in game two, Sunday in Dauphin.

Ben Roulette scored twice for Yellowhead, with Cole Topham and Foxx McColl adding singles. Kyan Grouette and Carter Zalischuk scored for Parkland.

Nathan Braun had 23 saves in the win, while Birch-Hayden stopped 32 shots.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said both teams began the series with some jitters in game one.

“But we just wanted to find a way to either tie that period or get out of it not being down and we did that,” he said. “I liked our energy in the first period. A little bit sloppy through the neutral zone. The puck was a little bit of a grenade. We knew Thursday the first goal was going to be very important and we found a way to get it. From there, we didn’t really look back. The momentum was on our side.”

The Rangers also killed off a two-man Chiefs power play in the first period and a four-minute power play in the third.

On Sunday, the Rangers came out flat, allowing the game’s first two goals by the 10:35 mark of the first period. Grouette tallied just seven seconds later and the teams traded goals in the second. Roulette’s second of the game midway through the third iced it for Yellowhead.

Carefoot said Yellowhead is a team that will beat you on hard work.

“That’s their biggest asset. And we knew we had to match that. We had to match their will. We had to match their compete. And tonight we didn’t do that. It was evident. They were all over us,” he said.

After the slow start, the Rangers did make a push in the latter half of the first, but it was not enough.

“We just didn’t have enough guys skating and too many guys were watching. We weren’t tough on pucks. Those scrums inside the blueline, those things have got to get out,” he said, adding the Rangers were not tough enough to play against. “They simply out hustled us and were grittier than us. So we have to hit the reset and it’s a best-of-three now,” he said.

Birch-Hayden gave the Rangers a chance to win in game two, with several big stops.

But the Rangers could not capitalize on their chances when the opportunity presented itself.

“We generated minimal scoring chances. Without those, it’s no recipe for a win,” Carefoot said.

Game three is back in Shoal Lake on Friday at 7:30 p.m. Game four, if needed, will be in Dauphin, Sunday, also at 7:30 p.m.

Dauphin’s J.J. Sutherland grabs a loose puck during the consolation final at the U11 provincials, Sunday morning.

For the first time in two years, Hockey Manitoba is hosting minor hockey provincials across the province, with Dauphin hosting the U11 Rural A Provincials, this past weekend.

Ile Des Chenes won the gold medal with a 9-3 win over Brandon, while Swan River won the bronze thanks to a 9-1 win over Thompson. The host Dauphin Kings beat Carman, 6-4 to win the consolation.

Portage and Stony Mountain also competed in the tournament.

Gary Procyshyn performs during open mic night in the Old Fire Hall at the Watson Art Centre, Friday evening.

With the easing of COVID restrictions, WAC will return to hosting more events.

The next such event will take place this Friday when Clifton and Chris of the Chris Barker Band hit the stage in the Old Fire Hall at 8 p.m.

Regional Connections Immigrant Services hosted a fun in the snow afternoon at Barker School playground, Mar. 5, with sledding and snowshoeing available for interested parties.

For information on other recreation and learning events, check the Dauphin Regional Connections Facebook page or call at 204-647-0693. 

The Dauphin Clippers hockey team won two of three games this past weekend.

Dauphin’s weekend began with an 8-2 win over the Neepawa Tigers, Friday afternoon in Dauphin.

Cole Delamare had a goal and three assists and Logan Chapman chipped in with two goals and one assist to lead the Clippers to the victory.

Austyn Roos also scored twice and Liam Chartrand, Matthew Zurba and Trayden Guiboche added singles. Cody Coombs made 35 saves to record the win.

Lance Murray and Riley Davie scored for Neepawa. Gatlyn Plett was in goal for Neepawa for the first two periods, stopping 18 shots before giving way to Ryder Phinney, who made five saves in the final frame.

On Saturday, Reed Houle scored six times to lead the Sandy Bay Badgers to a 10-6 win over the Clippers in Dauphin.

Bobby Orr-Roulette had a goal and three assists and Riley McBride had four helpers for Sandy Bay, while Everette Beaulieu, Liam Winters and Brayson Richard had the other goals. Keecan Beaulieu earned the win after making 40 saves.

Zurba led the Clippers with two goals and an assist, while Guiboche contributed three assists. Other goals came from Braydyn Paskaruk, Delamare, Jaymen Fee and William Miner. Owen Chubka stopped 10 of 15 shots before he was lifted in favour of Cody Coombs, who made 21 saves the rest of the way.

On Sunday, the Clippers traveled north to Swan River to battle the Tigers, scoring a 3-1 victory.

Allee Hrechka, Landon Brown and Jake Kuzmiak provided the offence in support of Chubka, who made 26 saves to record the win.

Kash Henkelman had the Swan Valley goal and Kristin Moshenko made 27 saves in taking the loss.

Dauphin’s record sits at 18-9-2-2 for 40 points, good for seventh place in the Westman High School Hockey League.

Twenty teams hit the ice for the Royal Canadian Legion Mixed Bonspiel, this past weekend at the Parkland Recreation Complex.

Chris Todoruk and his team of Mark Graham, Brandi Graham and Kelli Gancher won the first event over Nick Ogryzlo. Tom Vanbuekenhout was third and Dan Scott was fourth.

In the second event, Jim Todoruk, Doug Fisher, Carla Mayuk and Terri Todoruk took top spot, beating Keith Pottle in the final. Steven Michaleski was third and Tom Messinbird was fourth.

Darcy Todoruk, Janelle Todoruk, Jamie Hogue and Brett Crowe won the third event, defeating Norma Johnson in the final. Third place went to Mike VanAlstyne and in fourth place was Glenn Rozak.