The Dauphin Multi-purpose Senior Centre hosted a fund-raising perogy dinner, Mar. 24, with proceeds going to the Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund.

About 135 people, split into two sittings, enjoyed a meal of six perogies, kolbasa, coleslaw, dessert and tea or coffee for $25.

The steel girders for the new strip mall between the Super 8 Motel and Dauphin Co-op Gas Bar arrived and were unloaded, Mar. 21.

Construction of the mall, which is expected to open in the fall, will continue all spring and summer.

Doc Walker headlined Dauphin’s Countryfest Return to the Hill Celebration tour in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd, Friday at the Watson Arts Centre.

With Don Amero opening the show, the tour included stops in Portage, Dauphin, Brandon, Neepawa and Yorkton.

A young Dauphin resident is about to get the chance of a lifetime when the Winnipeg Jets host the Arizona Coyotes on Sunday at Canada Life Centre.

Dauphin’s Mitchell Rauliuk, 13, entered the Next Gen Takeover contest and was recently selected to participate as the JetsTV reporter, where he will be mentored by and work alongside former Dauphin resident Mitchell Clinton.

Rauliuk learned of the contest through an email the team sent to his parents.

“I think my parents have a Visa card through the Winnipeg Jets and they ended up getting Jets mail. One Jets game they just gave their email to them and they send out daily news of the Jets. And it ended up coming up as the Next Gen Takeover,” he explained.

Rauliuk has an interest in broadcasting, having done the Hockey TV play-by-play for the Dauphin Kings and Parkland Rangers.

“That’s what gave me the boost to enter into the contest, because I’ve had a lot of interest in the broadcasting and all that through Dauphin and the Parkland Rangers,” he said.

While Rauliuk will be on JetsTV for the game, other winners will work in other departments, such as PA announcer, TSN 2 host and radio commentator on CJOB. Rauliuk is looking forward to opportunity even though he is not a Jets fan.

“I’m still glad I’m going. I’m pretty excited about it and I hope to go further into that industry,” he said. “What I want to get out of it is just how the main guys do it like Dennis Beyak from Winnipegosis. Just to see how they really do it. It’s not that easy, I know that, for sure,” he said.

“But I want to see just how they work it, because we think TV is just simply just usually putting a tape on and putting it on a TV channel. But there’s way more that goes on behind the stages of that. So it should be fun.”

It was not the start the Parkland Rangers were looking for when they hit the ice for game one of their best-of-five semifinal series with the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Brandon grabbed a 2-0 lead, 1:09 into the game and skated to an 8-1 win.

Callum Halls scored three times and Braden Keeble scored twice and added two assists to lead Brandon to the win.

Nolan Chastko chipped in with a goal and two assists, while Dylan Schrader and Nolan Roberts also scored. Mason Lobreau made 22 saves in the win.

Carter Zalischuk had Parkland’s only goal, which came on a power play. Brenden Birch-Hayden made 28 saves through two periods and Kyler Swanton stopped seven in the third.

Rangers coach Tyler Carefoot said the Rangers failed to minimize their turnovers, which led to the Wheat Kings scoring two goals early.

“We just simply turned the puck over at the blueline, they go down on a two-on-one and we can’t give that team those kinds of chances,” he said, adding the early two-goal deficit took the wind out of Parkland’s sails. “We just couldn’t seem to get right back into it. We lost our intensity, we lost our sandpaper and grit and we were just kind of holding on the rest of the way,” he said.

Brandon, he added, is a team that will capitalize on turnovers and game one was evident of that.

Entering the series, Carefoot talked about the need to say out of the penalty box, something the Rangers failed to do as Brandon scored three times on eight chances with the man advantage.

Twice the Rangers were called for four-minute penalties, which they managed to kill off.

“There were a couple of penalties I didn’t like. There’s two four-minute penalties. When you give a team like that four minutes on the power play, they’re capitalizing,” Carefoot said.

There were parts of the game where the Rangers played well.

“We had some cycles going, getting pucks to the net. It’s just minimizing turnovers and that’s something we’ve got to do a better job of,” Carefoot said.

For game two, the Rangers need to focus on moving the puck a little faster in the offensive zone.

“If you see a guy open, you can’t hesitate. You’ve got to get the puck to the open man and get pucks on net quicker,” Carefoot said. “One of the things I thought they did well was they’re were just so relentless in front of the net, just poking and prodding. Just keep competing until the whistle goes. And I think they scored, for sure, two or three goals that way.”

Despite the game one loss, Carefoot remains confident in his team and feels they can still make a series of it.

“That game for either team, there was no grit or sandpaper. It was like a November game. Both teams were just playing it out,” he said. “Ultimately, we need to tighten up on our turnovers and add far more grit and sandpaper like we had the last series. Factor in not giving them two four-minute power plays.”

Game two is in Dauphin, Friday at 7:30 p.m., with game three in Brandon at 1:30 p.m.

The Dauphin Ladies Bonspiel took place over the weekend at the Dauphin Recreation Complex curling rink, with 24 teams competing.

Melissa MacQuarrie, curling with Kaylee Robinson, Shannon Demeria, Jolene Showdra and Allison Barsewsky, won the first event over Chantel Jersak. Leanne Urbanovitch was third and Leanne Fedak was fourth.

The Tina Toews rink, with Carol Sime, Suzette Crandall, and Candace Devos won the second event, beating Lindsey Kyle. Tiffany Armstrong was third and Courtney VanAlstyne was fourth.

In the third event, Janelle Lach, Hayley Lamb and Camille Lough finished first, beating Betty Caruk. Avery Scott was third and Lois Roazk was fourth.

The Northwest Métis Council (NWMC) Inc., in partnership with the Dauphin RCMP Detachment, hosted the first-ever Family Violence Initiative Nature Walk at the Northgate Trails, Sunday afternoon.

After the opening prayer, the event included speeches from Elders talking about their life experiences, a performance by the D-Town Steppers junior dancers and musical entertainment.

Brenda Winters, NWMC housing first co-ordinator, said there are different initiatives put out in conjunction with the RCMP.

“So when we had seen the ask go out there, we put together a plan. We originally wanted to do this in the fall. It would have been gorgeous. But due to COVID restrictions, we just kept postponing it and postponing it,” she said. “But it was an initiative that we thought that we could have whole families come and take part.”

To hold the event, NWMC had to meet certain criteria, such as providing printed material and speakers to give advice to family members.

“We wanted to keep it really casual, so we did ask our Elders to share family experiences. And, of course, with the Métis culture, we want the dancers and the fiddlers, so we have entertainment,” Winters said, adding there were also speakers on behalf of the RCMP.

Winters would like to see the nature walk become an annual event, noting there are a lot of initiatives available.

“It’s just for people to take action and act on them,” she said.

Winters would like to see the event go back to the original plan of being held in the fall.

“Because it’s gorgeous up here. It’s a nice place to showcase. It’s something we’re trying to get moving in the community of Dauphin for more people to use it. So I just really wanted people to see what all there is to offer up here,” she said, adding a shuttle service was available for those who needed it.

Winters noted the nature walk is open to everyone.

“It’s not just a Métis function. It’s for the whole public,” she said, adding she was pleased with the turnout of more than 100 people.

Watson Arts Centre (WAC) co-ordinator Peter Nadolny, admires a painting by Winnipeg artist Kathleen Shellrude being exhibited at the WAC’s art gallery.

The theme of the exhibit is Forest Royalty and Shellrude’s work will be on display until the end of March.

Sylvie Telfer, 11, uses a broom to push melted snow towards a storm drain on Edward Ave., Saturday afternoon.

With the rapid melting of all the snow the city received over the winter, some streets are experiencing a build up of water, but city crews have been out opening drains to help alleviate the situation.