The Dauphin Mavericks are back on the pitch, playing in Rugby Manitoba’s M League.

The league features seven teams, most based in Winnipeg.

On Saturday, Dauphin scored an impressive 55-10 win over the Winnipeg Assassins.

The win was Dauphin’s second straight victory, coming off the heels of a 20-0 win over the Winnipeg Wanderers, July 16 in Winnipeg.

The Mavericks started the season with four straight losses, but have improved with each game.

Mavericks president Codi Harrigan said the M League is a bit more flexible in that teams don’t have to commit to 15 players on the pitch.

Read the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The Battle of the Belts has new champions, while a Stonewall golfer went home $1,000 richer at the Gilbert Plains Country Club, Sunday.

The highlight of the tournament came when Shane Saunders of Stonewall sank his tee shot for a hole-in-one on no. 4.

Dale Murray and Boston Karlson combined to shoot a 63 to win the third annual tournament, finishing one shot ahead of runners-up Dave Campbell and Ted Rea, who were awarded second place on a countback over Jake Wiens and Jackson Delaurier, in third.

Countbacks were needed to determine the placing in each of the six flights.

First place in the first flight went to Shawn Pangman and Earl Thompson, with a 66. Mark Odut and Danny Scott were second on a countback over Regan Hedley and Jerron Kyle after both teams shot a 68.

Peyton Lepla and Nelson Lepla were the beneficiaries of a countback to win the second flight. Darnell Duff and Sam Brownell were second and Dave Sigvaldason and Sandy Hafenbrak were third, with all three teams shooting a 71.

Dean Murray Bob Murray won the third flight with a 74. In second place, one shot back was the team of Brad Sigurdson and Clayton Mychalchuk, while in third place was Neil Kichuk and Ryan Bettesworth, who were also one shot back of the winners.

Shawn Sarkonak and Errol Karlson won the fourth flight over Karl Messinbird and A.J. Zachenbiak after both teams scored a 77. Cash McCallum and Max Clemmenson were third with a 78.

In the fifth flight, Wayne Bazylo and Florence Burdeny took top honours after carding a 79. Troy Caruk and Jeff Zeiler were second and Jeff Campbell and Jordan Campbell were third, with each team scoring an 80.

Ron Paziuk and Sharon Paziuk topped the sixth flight over runners-up Dustin Dawson and Jodi Gancher, while Charlie McKay and Brennan Burns were third. They all finished with an 83.

Rea was the closest-to-the-hole on no. 9, while Ryan Rauliuk was closest on no. 14 and Brent Stykalo won the same contest in no. 17.

He’s been without a job since early May, but Dauphin’s Barry Trotz has had a busy summer.

After losing his job as head coach of the New York Islanders, May 9, Trotz talked with several National Hockey League teams about their coaching positions, but in the end, he made the difficult decision to take a year off for personal reasons.

The situation with the Islanders did come as a bit of a surprise, but Trotz also kind of expected it.

The season, he said, was a bizarre one, which saw the Isles miss the playoffs after reaching the conference finals each of the two previous seasons.

“Lou (Lamoriello, Islanders general manager) has a really good pulse for what he wants with the team,” Trotz said, adding he left on good terms with Lamoriello, who he still talks with once a week. “There’s nothing personal. I think there’s a number of reasons. I can’t give you exact reasons, but we didn’t make the playoffs. We weren’t good enough and he felt maybe just to jar it up."

“I also know this, that Lane Lambert (Trotz’s replacement and former assistant coach) is a hell of a coach and he was going to get some play. And if (Lamoriello) was going to make a play, I’m glad he put Lane there.”

Lamoriello, Trotz said, liked a lot of things he and his staff were doing and if not for the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Islanders may very well have won the Stanley Cup.

Get the full story in this week's Dauphin Herald, or watch the intimate interview on the Dauphin Herald's Facebook Page!

The Parkland Ukrainian Family Fund held a special get together, July 19, with its many volunteers and sponsored families to celebrate the success of the endeavour and express its appreciation for all of the efforts that were made to ensure that success.

The barbecue, held at Selo Ukraina that evening, honoured the many committee members, drivers, hosts and others who gave generously to ease the families’ transition into the community.

In a recap of the project Ukrainian Folk Arts Centre and Museum president Jim Perchaluk said the initiative raised more than $200,000 in cash along with immeasurable donations of materials and in-kind support, adding 100 per cent of donations were used to support the families which arrived in Dauphin from Ukraine.

The 2022 Gilbert Plains Senior Mixed Scramble took place at the Gilbert Plains Golf and Country Club, July 11.

In the championship flight, the twosome of Dennis Lukey and John Kalechyn took first place, shooting a 65

Second place went to D. Graves and Mel Graves with 66 on a count back over W. Olson and Mark Olson.

The first flight was topped by the team of Scott Lynxleg and Merv Lynxleg, who shot a 75 total, on a count back over S Mancheese and Wayne Catcheway. The twosome of Brad Sawyer and Marie Sawyer finished third, shooting 76.

The second flight saw the team of Mel Green and B Michalski finish in first , shooting a 79. Second place went to D. Cook and J. Kulchycki on a count back over Lloyd Campbell and Donna Campbell. Both teams shot 82.

The afternoon also featured closest to the hole competitions on the par 3s with Kent Wieb earning the title on no. 4 at 11 feet even. Doug Cooke was closest on no. 9 at 12 inches while Freddie Todoruk was closest on No. 14 at eight feet, one inch and Mike Pernarowski was was closest on no. 17, also oat eight feet, one inch.

A little more than a year after he first had the idea to develop a memorial honouring Dauphin’s participation in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan and the thousands of airmen who trained at two bases in the community, Al Gray is preparing to unveil the fruits of his efforts.

Set for Aug. 27, the Airport Memorial 80 unveiling will take place in two parts, Gray said.

“We’ll be meeting at the cemetery at about 10:30 in the morning and we will be unveiling a commemorative plaque listing the names of the 15 airmen that lie at rest at Riverside Cemetery. They are 15 of the 49 that were killed here while training,” Gray said “As well, at the cemetery we will be dedicating two granite benches, one in the old veterans section where the airmen are buried and one in the new veterans section.”

Later in the day people will gather at the airport for a ceremony which will begin at 1 p.m., last for approximately 30 minutes and will culminate with the unveiling of the monuments.

“We are flanking the Barker Monument with two five-foot-by-three-foot pieces of granite. They will give the history of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan, they will give the history of the two air schools. And on the rear of both is going to be a list of the 29 airmen that were killed in service at the south airport at the service flight training school, and the 20 airmen that were killed at the bombing and gunnery school,” Gray said, adding the two schools trained 9,000 of the 131,000 airmen trained as part of the plan.

“That’s what we are doing to commemorate and memorialize Dauphin’s and Paulson’s role in the air training plan.”

Following the dedication, Gray has a special treat planned as three vintage military aircraft will be on hand courtesy of the Commonwealth Air Training Plan Museum in Brandon.

The Harvard, Tiger Moth and Cornell aircraft will sit on the apron for the public to inspect and will offer rides to those wanting the complete historic experience.

The cost of the flight for the Harvard is $400 while the Tiger Moth and Cornell are each $280, Gray said, adding those flying must also purchase a $30 museum membership which covers the flight insurance.

The fees are simply cost recovery and a tax deductible receipt will be issued, Gray said.

“These flights have to be pre-booked. They want at least four flights per aircraft booked and I’ve currently got four of the 12 flights a booked,” he said, adding he hopes to further include the aircraft in the days events by way of a low level flyover during the morning dedication at the cemetery. “These pilots are seasoned, well-practiced pilots. What they do is they fly these as the dedicated pilots and they fly these aircraft around to all sorts of air shows throughout the summer.”

The flights will begin at 10 a.m., however, the planes will remain on the ground during the airport ceremony.

Anyone interested in booking a flight can email Gray at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

“We’re going to encourage people to bring their lawn chairs because there’s only going to be a finite amount of seating available. If they want to bring their lawn chairs and set them up on the grass that’s fine,” Gray said, adding he is hoping for good weather. “It’s a mist or shine event. If there’s a torrential rainfall we do not have an alternate day. It’s going to be that day or not at all. The monuments are going to be there they may end up going without an official unveiling.

“This is definitely something that we’re really hoping is going to fly.”

Dauphin residents should start sprucing up properties in preparation for a visit from the Communities in Bloom (CIB) judges at the end of the month.

CIB judges Susan Ellis from Pembroke, Ont., and Alex Pearl from Centreville, Ohio, will evaluate the city, July 27 to 29.

This year marks the 28th edition of CIB and the city of Dauphin is participating in the International Challenge Small category, along with Sussex, NB, Ingria, Italy, Glaslough, Ireland, Lewisburg, WV, and Velika Polana, Slovenia.

The communities will be rated from 1 to 5 Blooms, based on the scoring obtained. Also, they will aim to obtain Bronze, Silver or Gold levels in their 5-Bloom rating.

The national and international results will be announced in Victoria, B.C., between Oct. 20 and 23, as part of the National Symposium on Parks and Grounds and the National and International Awards celebrating “Year of the Garden.”

The event will be the first in-person Symposium for CIB since 2019, following two years of virtual awards ceremonies, virtual judging consultations and virtual webinars.

Communities in Bloom is a Canadian non-profit volunteer and partnership-driven organization that uses a multi-tiered competitive evaluation process to foster community strength, involvement, and continuous improvement. This is accomplished by nurturing environmental sustainability, enhancements of green spaces, and heritage conservation in cultural and natural environments encompassing municipal, residential, commercial, and institutional spaces.

The vision is to inspire all communities to enhance their quality of life and environment through people and plants to create community pride.

Visitors to the local Tim Horton’s last Wednesday had the opportunity to help send some youths from underserved communities to a Tims Camp.

On that day 100 per cent of proceeds from the sale of hot and iced coffee supported the initiative.

As well, the public had and opportunity to support Tim Hortons Foundation Camps by purchasing a Camp Day bracelet for $2 or a pair of red and white camp-themed socks for $5.

The local restaurant also maximized its fund-raising efforts by selling raffle tickets and offering to wash the windshields of vehicles in the drive-through lane.

Camp Day has raised over $225 million in its 30-year history and has helped Tim Hortons Foundation Camps support more than 300,000 youth between the ages of 12 to 16 through a multi-year camp-based program.

 A total of $7,000 in proceeds were raised from the Swan Valley Credit Union Beef-on-a-Bun fundraiser, held on Friday (July 8). The proceeds were evenly split between the Swan Valley Health Centre for a CT Scanner and the CMHA Enhanced Community Mobilization Program/Meet off Main. Kate Church and Lance Jacobson accepted the $3,500 donation on behalf of the Swan Valley Health Facilities Foundation. Stacy Grindleand Barb Lewis accepted the $3,500 donation on behalf of the Canadian Mental Health Association and Enhanced Community Mobilization Program’s Meet Off Main project.

The Gilmour House held a very successful open house over the weekend, showcasing all the hard work of the RAHAC board members in restoring the oldest home in Russell.

More details can be found in the July 19th edition of The Russell Banner!