The Parkland Rangers ended the 2022-23 season with wins in five of their last seven games.

The week began with an 11-0 loss to the league-leading Brandon Wheat Kings, Wednesday in Brandon.

Luke Lepper recorded five assists for Brandon in their win, while Ethan Stewart had two goals and an assist.

Nine other players recorded two points each, including Kaeson Fisher, Keenan Skrupa and Cole Temple who had two goals each. Brady Turko, Declan Hoad and Skylar Ramsey added singles.

K.C. Couckuyt made 26 saves to post the shutout. Kyler Swanton and Chase Glover combined to stop 31 shots in goal for Parkland.

The Rangers rebounded in a big way in their season finale, Saturday in Swan River.

Cash Clarkson scored three times and added a pair of assists to lead Parkland to a 12-4 win over the Norman North Stars.

Tavyn Boychuk and Dru Mushumanski each had a goal and three assists and AP callup Trace Langan had two goals and an assist, while Connor McKay chipped in with a goal and two helpers.

Andrew Pidskalny, Havryil Simchuk, Hayden Seib and Wesley Gryba-Smith added singles and Swanton made 31 saves in recording the win.

Daylin Monias scored three times for Norman, with Logan Marr adding a single. Paxton Moore made 39 saves in the loss.

Parkland finishes the season with a 12-25-7-0 record for 31 points, 11 points out of a playoff spot

Five players - Gryba-Smith, Bo Eisner, Madden Murray, Skyler Carriere and Swanton - graduate from the Rangers program.

The Dauphin Kings and Steinbach Pistons split a home-and-home weekend with each team winning on home ice.

On Friday in front of 770 fans at Credit Union Place, the Kings scored a 6-4 victory, sparked by a two-goal performance from captain Owen Wareham.

Hunter Degelman opened the scoring 2:36 into the game, giving Steinbach an early lead.

It didn’t last long however, as the Kings scored three straight off the sticks of Wareham, with his fourth of the season on a power play, Myles Yearwood with his ninth and Blake Boudreau with his 12th.

Landon Roberts made it a one-goal game just 13 seconds after Boudreau gave the Kings a 3-1 lead.

Dauphin then increased its lead in the second period with Jakob Brook netting his seventh and Deepkaran Hans finding the back of the net for his 13th of the campaign.

Travis Hensrud and Dawson Milliken scored 40 seconds apart in the first five minutes of the third to make it interesting, but the Kings kept the Pistons at bay the rest of the way with Wareham netting his second of the game and fifth of the season into an empty net with 55 seconds left to seal the Kings victory.

Cole Sheffield made 26 saves for the Kings, which chased Pistons starter Dominik Wasik with their fifth goal of the game in the second period. He was credited with 17 saves, before giving way to Cole Plowman, who stopped all 14 shots he faced.

On Saturday in Steinbach, the Pistons scored four goals in the third period, including three in a span of 1:36 to escape with a 5-4 win.

The teams traded goals in the first period, with Mathew Gough scoring his 21st of the season for Dauphin, while Davin Griffin replied for Steinbach.

Alex Senf’s 15th of the season with 15 seconds left in the second gave the Kings a 2-1 lead entering the third period, where Nolan Wickham’s power play goal, his seventh of the season, increased Dauphin’s lead to 3-1.

The Pistons began their comeback at 6:13 when Ian Amsbaugh scored to make it a one-goal game. Brett Kaiser tied the game at 7:02 and Steinbach took the lead at 7:49 when Warren Clark beat Kings netminder Dmytro Kubrytskyi.

Dauphin’s Marco Bodnarski’s second of the season tied the game at four at the 12:01 mark, but Steinbach scored what proved to be the winner 24 seconds later when Hensrud scored.

Wasik earned the win in goal with 22 saves, while Kubrytskyi stopped 29 shots in taking the loss.

The Kings have another home-and-home weekend ahead of them, this time with division rivals, the Virden Oil Capitals.

The two teams hook up, Friday in Dauphin, with the rematch, Saturday in Virden. Both games begin at 7:30 p.m.

The Kings enter the week tied for fourth place with Virden in the MGEU West Division with 57 points each.

The OCN Blizzard hold down top spot with 61 points, followed by the Waywayseecappo Wolverines with 59 and the Swan Valley Stampeders with 58. The Neepawa Titans are still alive, but fading as they are sixth with 49 points.

The temperatures were cool but the skies were bright as large crowds gathered at Fort Dauphin Museum to celebrate Louis Riel Day, Monday.

Sponsored by the Northwest Metis Council, the day featured all sorts of fun such as dog sled rides, an opportunity to try out fat bikes and snowshoes courtesy of Northgate Trails, roasting bannock over an open fire, tug-of-war, hotdogs and hot chocolate and much more.

All of the museum buildings were also open for everyone to enjoy.

Dauphin will receive the lion’s share of 1,670 new child-care spaces in the two phases of the ready-to-move child-care project, a $94-million total investment from the governments of Canada and Manitoba.

A total of 148 child-care spaces - the only ones announced for the Parkland - will be created in a brand new facility in the city as part of Phase 2 of the program.

The new daycare will be constructed on a piece of city-owned land which lies along Whitmore Avenue East between Lorray Manor and the Manitoba Hydro office.

When we submitted an expression of interest with the province we had to commit to two things. We had to commit to offering a piece of land and we had to commit to maintaining the building for 15 years,” Economic Development manager Martijn van Luijn said, adding a daycare operator will also have to be selected.

“I’ve since learned that we’re also responsible for the process, what we call the RFP process where we select the organization that is going to be running the facility.” van Luijn said the City is still waiting for clarification on a few points before it goes looking for a provider.

“Most likely our first invitation to apply would go out in existing daycares. We have four major daycares right now and they could all be very good candidates, but we haven’t talked to them about it,” van Luijn said. “We’re hoping to be able to appoint the organization very early in the process, because they need to be involved in the design. Because as you know, every daycare has their own way of doing things.”

Based on the success of the first phase of the project, the second phase was expanded to increase to an additional 1,004 spaces in 14 facilities for a project total of 1,670 new spaces, and total of 23 new centres as a whole.

The 148 spaces planned for Dauphin are much needed as the city, while preparing its application for the program, estimated the local day care shortage at approximately 240 spaces.

“That’s the number I submitted when they asked us what is your shortage. I don’t think that we were looking for that, but as a result of that we did get the highest allocated spaces from all the selected sites,” he said. “I think that’s going solve a big issue.”

New facilities approved in the second phase of the project will be built as ready-to-move structures by a builder selected by the province and are expected to be operational before the end of this year. van Luijn believes those timelines might be a little tight.

“I don’t know how quickly they’re going to be able to build all these units. We’re not in that much of a hurry. I understand this is a very urgent problem that we would like to solve right away, but we want to do it in the right way,” van Luijn said. “So if that means that we’re later on the list we’re okay with that. We just would rather do this right.”

The ready-to-move child-care project is a partnership between the governments of Canada and Manitoba, municipal governments and First Nation communities to develop new child-care facilities in less than a year in areas with a demonstrated need for child-care spaces.

The child-care spaces being developed with this investment are part of the Manitoba government’s commitment to develop 23,000 new, regulated not-for-profit child-care spaces for children under age seven across the province by 2026.

For more information about the Canada-Manitoba Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child-Care Agreement, early learning and child-care development supports, and child-care services in Manitoba, visit gov.mb.ca/education/childcare/.

Roblin’s Senior Curling Club and the Municipality of Roblin’s Rec Department hosted the community’s first ever Two Person Stick Bonspiel Wednesday at the curling rink, attracting 16 rinks to town. The game features two curlers per rink who stay at one end of the sheet and throw three rocks each per end. Sweeping is only allowed after a rock reaches the hog line and the games go for six ends.

Points are awarded at the end of each end of play and at the end of a game and the rink with the most wins wins the bonspiel.

Find out who won in this week’s Rec Report

The Municipality of Roblin is proceeding with a borrowing by-law to cover the costs of four new graders and the construction of a new cell at the Roblin WDG (Waste Disposal Ground).

Council gave first reading to the bylaw at its regular Jan. 24 meeting after holding a public hearing.

Find out what council’s been up to in this week’s Council Briefs.

Manitoba has historically had higher levels of radon than the national averages. Health Canada has estimated about seven per cent of Canadians are living in homes above the radon guidelines, while about 19 per cent of Manitobans are facing that same challenge.

Radon is a colourless, odourless radioactive gas found naturally in the environment and comes from uranium, as it breaks down in soil and rocks. Radon can enter homes through cracks in basements or foundations and poses a health risk when people are exposed to it long-term, especially when the levels are greater than 200 bq/m3.

Read the rest of the story in this week’s Review.

Every year at the Grammy Awards there are always highlights that are featured, usually of mega-famed super star artists, but this year some of the attendees in the crowd were highlighted as well. Opaskwayak Cree Nation (OCN) singer, Rhonda Head, attended the 2023 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 5.
“This is my third time attending the Grammy Awards,” said Head. “It’s a great event to network and meet musicians from all over the work. It’s fun, and awesome to watch the show, with one amazing performance after another. Also, it’s very inspirational.
“I go to represent Indigenous musicians. It’s important that we are recognized and that they make space for Indigenous musicians.”
Whether one is watching the Grammy Awards from home or in the audience, each viewer walks away with a highlight from each awards show. For Head, this year’s awards had many different highlights for her.

The times are changing and we’re starting to see more and more women embarking upon trades than ever before. The demand for carpenters, electricians and plumbers is high, so there are countless opportunities for women to get into this line of work. In a joint partnership, Opaskwayak Cree Nation Education Department and University College of the North (UCN) offered a nine-month OCN Home Builders Course for Indigenous women to pick up on the carpentry trade.
“The OCN Home Builders Program started on May 18, 2022, with Pre-employment Trades Communication skills a week prior to the start date,” said Red Seal Vocational Education Carpenter Annette R. Head. “There were 12 women that enrolled in the program and all were Indigenous. They had some carpentry experience and this was new to the rest of the ladies.

Local musher Donny Poulin recently competed in the Pedigree Stage Stop Race in Wyoming this past month. Poulin grew up with dog sled racing and has been in the sport since he was a young boy.
“I was born into this sport,” said Poulin. “My dad had dogs since he was 15 years old and was into dog sled racing, which led to me getting into it as well. He taught me everything from a very early age.
“I ran junior races when I was eight years old and been racing for over 40 years now.”
When it comes to sled dogs, many people have the misconception that the ideal breed are the huskies that have long hair and distinct markings. Poulin has a type of husky that is bred typically for racing. Although he participates in the sport, to him, his sled dogs are like members of the family.
“Pretty much every dog we have, we’ve raised ourselves,” said Poulin. “We have some that we’ve purchased from different kennels over the years, but for the most part, we breed and raise our own dogs.
“We mostly have Alaskan Huskies and they’re not the type of dog that people like to associate in the movies. These dogs have short hair and are more of a race type looking dog. A lot of people think the dogs would be massively huge dogs, but that’s not the case. These dogs are known for speed and endurance.