The Swan Valley entered the polar vortex last weekend, with temperatures getting as cold as -35.7C on Sunday (Jan. 29). Forecasts indicate that the cold snap is short lived, with weather returning to single digit temperatures by the upcoming weekend.

Dauphin Kings captain Owen Wareham, left, and OCN Blizzard captain Riley Zimmerman took part in the traditional Ukrainian greeting featuring the presentation of bread, salt and wheat prior to the game, Friday, during the annual Ukrainian Night.

A crowd of 1,994 fans took in the festivities, which included dance recitals by local Ukrainian dance groups, Boris Nowasad and the Melody Kings greeting fans as they entered Credit Union Place and the ever popular kielbasa toss and mattress races.

Fans were sent home happy after the Kings won the game, 5-2.

No team has been able to pull away in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s tight MGEU West Division.

With four straight wins, the Dauphin Kings are tied with the Waywayseecappo Wolverines and Swan Valley Stampeders atop the division with 51 points each, while the OCN Blizzard are just two points back and the Virden Oil Capitals are creeping up, sitting two back of OCN for the final playoff spot and only four points out of first place.

The Kings swept a weekend twinbill over the Blizzard, winning Friday’s Ukrainian Night game, 5-2, before scoring a 2-1 win, Sunday.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley pointed out the Kings have the most wins of any team in the division with 24.

“How crazy is that. Three at 51. One at 49. One at 47. Four points between first and out of the playoffs,” he said.

Friday’s Ukrainian Night contest provided the best atmosphere Hedley has ever seen at a Kings game.

“Sold out seats and standing room. It was really good,” he said.

After the first 10 minutes of Friday’s game, Hedley felt the Kings started using their speed to get pucks up ice.

“Before that, we were trying to beat somebody, carrying the puck instead of moving it up ice and then using our speed. After the (media) timeout, we settled in and got on our toes,” he said. “We were first to pucks a lot on the forecheck. And then created some great chances. Our power play was good on Friday. We had some net-front presence, unlike tonight (Sunday).”

Hedley was pleased with the patience the team showed in Sunday’s win.

“We weren’t giving up many chances. Our power play could have stepped up a little bit, especially in the second period, but they did in the third and we found a way to get it done,” he said.

Twenty-year-old goalie Dmytro Kubritskyi made his Kings debut, Friday, making 30 saves in the victory. Sunday’s starter, Cole Sheffield, picked up his third straight win in which he only allowed one goal.

“He’s definitely a guy that we’re happy with. And then what can you say about (Kubritskyi’s) first start. He was outstanding. He made some good saves and made it look easy,” Hedley said.

The Kings will face the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s newest franchise, the Niverville Nighthawks, Friday in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday in Niverville at 3 p.m.

“They’re fighting for a playoff spot, as well. They’re seven ahead of the Blues,” Hedley said. “I know they’re a hard working team. They play very well, with good structure. They’re well coached. And we know they’re going to come at us hard. They’ve got some good talent there. It’s going to be a hard weekend.”

With so much video now available, teams are familiar with their opponents even without playing each other. So the Kings will familiarize themselves with Niverville and how they play.

“The biggest thing for us is to focus on what we do well. When we play fast, use our speed and separate guys from pucks and our back pressure with guys standing up, and just focusing on transition and using our speed to go on two-on-ones and odd man rushes, if we stay structured through the neutral zone, we’re a tough team to beat,” Hedley said.

In partnership with the Manitoba Health Care Providers Network (MHCPN) and Max Rady College of Medicine, Faculty of Sciences, Prairie Mountain Health (PMH) hosted the University of Manitoba medical student Rural Interest Group (RIG) in Brandon, last week.

The RIG weekend promotes the benefits of practicing medicine in rural communities and available lifestyle opportunities. Some 34 first and second-year medical students participated.

PMH has advocated for the initiative as it provides the health region with additional opportunities to engage medical students early in their training.

Clinical workstations were set up at Brandon Regional Health Centre to allow the students to put their skills to the test by undertaking tasks like suturing, casting and airway management.

Prior to the two days, tudent RIG co-president Sydney McLaughlin says participants looked forward to the event after a brief pause due to the state of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“On behalf of both the Rural Interest Group and the University of Manitoba medical classes of 2025 and 2026, I would like to extend a huge thank you to PMH for the preparations and for welcoming us again this year,” McLaughlin said. “These events are so important for our education as they expose students to what it is like to work in rural medicine, provide opportunities for students to network with doctors and residents, and give us an idea of what it is like to work within the health region.”

Some minor changes are being made to the structure of policing in the city with an officer currently assigned to the Crime Reduction Enforcement Support Team (CREST) being reassigned to general policing duties.

City council approved the plan at its Jan. 13 regular meeting and will officially be making the request under the Municipal Policing Agreement.

In 2019, the City increased its compliment of officers from 14 to 15 in order to support a newly-created Investigative Support Team, which was tasked with combatting drugs and gang activity in the communities of Dauphin, Winnipegosis and Ste. Rose.

In 2020, the IST evolved into CREST, which is provincially funded and does the same type of work, but on a provincewide basis.

The City continued to fund the CREST position - the only municipality on the hook for funding - after the provincial government indicated that removing City dollars would result in that position being removed from CREST, a reduction the City did not want to see at the time.

“Council at the time said, ‘okay we’ll let it play out and see how it goes, right, wrong or otherwise,’” city manager Sharla Griffiths said. “This council is looking at more of a community policing. We want more boots on the ground in our community. We want to have that 15th officer in our community.”

The move, she said should not affect the service the City receives from the CREST.

“Each district has its own, and when other areas of the province need them, they go," Griffiths said. "So the process should be if Dauphin needs something, they’ll come from other parts of the province.”

The time was right to make the move, Griffiths said, as the city is preparing for the development and implementation of a Community Safety and Wellbeing Plan later this year.

The world of community service has evolved and Dauphin’s new mayor is hopeful that not only will his council be open to new possibilities, but that other community organizations will take a critical look at their operations.

From a City perspective, David Bosiak would like to see councillors spend their time on projects they are passionate about and that they actually add value to a group or organization with which they are working.

“I don’t want councillors to grudgingly have to go to inefficient or ineffectively operated meetings, to sit through meetings that information could have been shared in a different way,” Bosiak said. “Councillors’ time is valuable and we have lots of things on our plates. I want the time they spend engaging with groups to be as effective and efficient as possible.”

Like any municipality, the City of Dauphin has to make decisions based on available resources, Bosiak said, adding he wants to ensure those resources are properly targeted.

“So I want to ensure that council and staff time is spent very effectively, but also those organizations which we fund, whether it’s with operating grants or special grants, even things like letters of support, I want to ensure that it’s all legitimate,” he said. “That the organizations are running as effectively as they possibly can to meet their mandate. Not to bow down to the City, but to meet their desired mandate.”

As part of that, Bosiak is hoping all community organizations take an open and honest look at their operations to ensure the time they spend in meetings and the time spent engaging with volunteers is effective. Volunteers are a valuable resource, Bosiak said, and organizations across the board are struggling to attract and retain them.

“In my work history of dealing with organizations who are functional and dysfunctional there’s a common thread. Many of the dysfunctional organizations have an inefficient and ineffective use of their resources, be that people or time or money ,” he said. “So I’m just trying to get organizations to take an honest look to see if there are more efficient ways of being. I want groups to willingly, not forced, but willingly look at themselves and determine are we being as effective as we possibly can be? Because resources are tight. That’s people, money, time, it’s all tight.”

Bosiak added he did not undertake this exercise presupposing any outcomes and whether those reviews will result in any changes is unclear.

“That’s the irony or the uniqueness of this. I have no motive . . . not to reduce funding or to reduce the number of meetings or the length of meetings, if that’s not necessary. My real goal is to determine what is necessary and to spend as much time and energy on those things and not the distractions,” he said. “I’ve had meetings with all of the councillors to discuss their roles on the various committees they’re on and (encourage them) to work towards making them efficient. And efficient doesn’t mean less, necessarily, because a lot of people get scared. ‘oh you’re going to cut our funding.’ No it’s about making you be as good as you can possibly be.”

Like all charitable events, the Trojans annual Stick it to Cancer is truly a community event where people from around the area donated their time, their money and their goods and services for the rainbow and silent auction tables in order to make the Expanding Community Cancer Care benefit game the rousing success - and such a heartwarming evening for nine years.

Almost every year since 2014, the Major Pratt Trojans have held a benefit game at the Russell Memorial Multiplex in aid of the expansion project.

Get all the details in this week's Russell Banner!

Last Friday, the Russell and District Regional Library joined hundreds of other learning establishments right across the country to celebrate Family Literacy Day.

Family Literacy Day takes place every January 27th to raise awareness about the importance of reading and engaging in other literacy-related activities as a family. Taking time every day to read or do a learning activity with children is crucial to a child’s development, improving a child’s literacy skills dramatically, and can help a parent improve their skills as well. Since 1999, thousands of schools, libraries, literacy organizations and other community groups have taken part in the initiative.

The theme of this year’s Family Literacy Day was “Celebrate Your Heritage”. Canada is a great diverse country full of different cultures.

The goal of the theme of “Heritage” was to see that parents take the time to explore and learn about the historical stories and connection involving researching and learning about their shared heritage as a family. A few years ago the Russell and District Regional Library underwent an addition to the west end of the building.

The new space allows for a wealth of new activities and a chance to partner and spotlight other important community groups.

Check the full story out in this week's Russell Banner!

A new study in Manitoba shows how the great grey owl,” a common sight, either soaring over the plains or perching and nesting in the Boreal forests of the eastern Canadian prairies, overcomes many obstacles to find its prey.

The bird is able to “punch” through as much as 50 cms (20 inches) of hard, crusty snow – enough to hold a person’s weight – to catch a vole hiding beneath.

Details in this issue.

As part of the Manitoba government’s ongoing effort to help Manitobans make ends meet, Premier Heather Stefanson on Thusday unveiled a $200-million Carbon Tax Relief Fund aimed at helping 700,000 Manitobans cope with the negative impacts of rising winter costs, from food to fuel.

The 2023 Carbon Tax Relief Fund will provide help for all Manitobans including seniors, singles and couples with or without children who lived in the province on Dec. 31, 2021, and whose family net income that year was less than $175,000.

More in this issue.