The Dauphin Kings enter the 2023-24 Manitoba Junior Hockey League playoffs riding a four-game winning streak to end the regular season.

Included in that winning streak is a 2-0 victory over their quarterfinal opponents, the Blizzard Jr. A Hockey Club, Wednesday in The Pas, a game in which the Kings sat their top line of Jordan Bax, Cayden Glover and Ashton Paul, as well as starter Cole Sheffield.

The night before, the Kings scored three late power-play goals en route to a 7-3 win over the Portage Terriers at Credit Union Place.

On Friday, Dauphin snapped a 2-2 tie with three third-period goals in skating to a 5-2 victory over the Winnipeg Blues in Winnipeg.

And in the season finale, Logan Walker scored three times and added an assist to lead the Kings to a 6-3 win over the Selkirk Steelers, Saturday in Selkirk.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley was pleased with how the team played in the final four games.

“I’m really proud of the guys for the way they worked in the last four games. Actually, the last couple weeks. They worked hard. We didn’t get the results all the time, but the compete and being hard on pucks and the speed and playing fast was all back again. I think we’re ready to go for playoffs,” he said. The schedule will begin on Friday in The Pas with the second game of the series in Dauphin on Sunday (4:00pm).

The Kings and Blizzard split the season series with each team winning three games and they each won twice on the road. The Blizzard outscored Dauphin 15-12 in the six games.

Hedley said it will be a tough series.

“We know what they bring. They work hard in five-man units. We have to match their work ethic and compete level. It’s going to come down to two great goaltenders,” he said.

The Kings, he said, have to play fast, get on pucks quickly and move them quickly.

“The longer you hang on to it, the more chance of a turnover with a team that works real hard. We just have to make sure that we’re hard on pucks, we work hard, we protect the middle of the ice and really look after the net front and help Sheff out as much as we can,” Hedley said. “We know he’ll make the first one. We’ve just got to look after rebounds and second shots and make sure we box out.”

But the biggest thing, Hedley said, is it is going to come down to will, hard work and never quitting.

“We’re going to make mistakes, everybody does. It’s just how you rebound, how resilient you are and how many times you’re going to be pushed,” he added. “It’s the best time of year. You find out about the players in your group and the players find out a lot about their teammates. It’s one of those things that is nothing but a positive experience.”

Hedley feels home ice advantage is overrated, noting they won the Turnbull Trophy two years ago in game seven in Steinbach.

“The only difference is the noise factor and a lot of times that gets you pumped up and ready to play, regardless of whether they’re going against you or for you,” he said. “It’s a matter of the focus, where we’re going and not necessarily who we’re playing. Our goal is to win the series and move on to the next one.”

Winning in The Pas twice will give the Kings confidence heading into the series. Because it’s a small ice surface, the key will be moving the puck quick.

“It’s one-touch. You can’t handle it too long. They come at you hard and they work hard. It’s a small building, things happen fast, so the support for your teammates all over the ice has got to be there,” he said. “So short passes, deep pressure and that’s what we’re going to focus on.”

Kings court:

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League recently named its award winners. Winkler Flyers forward Trent Penner was named Most Valuable Player, while Noah Szabo of the Steinbach Pistons won the Top Defenceman Award and his Pistons teammate Grady Hoffman won the Rookie of the Year Award. Blizzard netminder Tomas Anderson won the Top Goaltender Award and Blizzard coach Eric Labrosse was named Coach of the Year. Josh Lehto of the Virden Oil Capitals won the Hockey Ability and Sportsmanship Award. Penner, Szabo and Anderson were all selected to the first all-star team along with Steinbach forward Leo Chambers and forward Dalton Andrews of Winkler. Tayem Gislason of the Portage Terriers was the other defenceman selected. The second all-star team consists of forwards Sean Williams of the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, Lehto and Nolan Chastko of Virden, defencemen Sebastian Hamming of the Blizzard and Kaycee Coyle of the Niverville Nighthawks and Dauphin’s Cole Sheffield in goal. The rookie all-star team includes forwards Hoffman, Marlen Edwards of the Blizzard and, Nathan Brown of Niverville, defencemen Cole Slobodian of Virden and James Edwards of Winkler and goaltender Raiden Legall of Niverville.

With construction of the Maamawi Park now underway, residents are wondering just what will be included in the facility.

Committee member Stacey Penner said they are excited to see construction of the hill begin.

“I know it has garnered a lot of information,” she said.

The park’s name is Ojibwe, meaning together. Penner said when deciding on a name for the park, the committee was excited to celebrate the rich culture of the local Indigenous population.

“And something that really suits us in our community coming together for free physical activity. It’s just very, very fitting philosophically what we’re shooting for in building this park,” she said.

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The Dauphin Agricultural Society (DAS) visited its own history in presenting the annual Ron Brook Memorial Award at its Farm Outlook 2024, Mar 14. For 40 years DAS has been presenting continuing education opportunities for producers, first through the Challenges of Production seminar and in recent years, through the Farm Outlook programming.

To mark that milestone this year’s award was presented to the organizing committee of the first seminar.  That first committee consisted of DAS members Rod Fisher, George Richardson, Bev Prestayko, Brian Damsgaard and Reg Tarrant, who worked in conjunction with Lyle McNichol and Peter Kiez from Manitoba Agriculture and with the help of the local Bank of Nova Scotia branch. In presenting the award, Farm Outlook co-chair Jim Kaleta said in the early days Dauphin hosted one of the very few farm seminars in the province and the program took place over two days, drawing hundreds of producers from the Parkland and beyond to learn from a full slate of agricultural industry professionals. Banquets were regularly standing room only and always offered important keynote speakers - in one instance the federal Minister of Agriculture Eugene Whelan.

The Ron Brook Memorial Award was established in 1990 to honour the long-time DAS director who died during a fair in the late 1980s. It is presented annually to a deserving individual or organization which provides notable contributions to DAS and the agriculture industry. As an added bonus this year, on behalf of award recipients, DAS will offer a one-time only $2,000 scholarship to a student entering a post-secondary agriculture related program.

Pictured above are Reg Tarrant, George Richardson, DAS president Teren Stykalo, Rod Fisher, Farm Outlook co-chair Jim Kaleta and Brian Damsgaard.

Ratepayers living within the boundaries of Mountain View School Division (MVSD) are preparing for an increase in the education portion of their property taxes.

At the division’s 2024-25 public budget forum, Mar. 7, secretary-treasurer Lori Slepicka indicated the mill rate for the special levy will rise to 13.87 in the coming school year, an increase of one mill from the previous year.

Read all about it in this week’s Review.

The weather turned out to be nearly perfect – everyone got plenty of Vitamin D – for the San Clara/Boggy Creek Métis Local’s annual Langan Lake fishing derby held March 9.

The event drew about 150 anglers

Find out who won the top prize in this week’s issue.

Members of the Roblin Skating Club took to the ice at the Centennial Arena Sunday, March 10 to present their season-ending showcase “Under The Sea”.

The show featured a guest performance by Blades Unlimited, a regional synchro team.

Check out some action shots in this week’s Review.

Prairie Mountain Health is taking additional steps to encourage community members to protect their kidneys.

March is kidney awareness month, and PMH encourages everyone to learn more about protecting their ‘beans.’

Check out this week’s issue for some timely information

Last week the world celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8, which is a time to celebrate, acknowledge and showcase the remarkable contributions, efforts and achievements of women. Two women in the tri-community are stepping up to a higher level of community service by being a part of The Pas Fire Department (TPFD).
Brooklyn Mayer is the newest female recruit to join TPFD and has found her place as one of the members.
“What first made me join, was seeing the advertisements for a calling to TPFD in the local newspaper,” said Brooklyn Mayer. “I joined last year in 2023.
“Since I started, there was only one other woman in the department.”

The Northern Manitoba Skills Competition always brings out the best of the best when it comes to high school students demonstrating a certain skill set. Once again, the hairstyling portion of the competition was held in The Pas and showcased many talented students taking hairdressing at Mary Duncan School
“I taught hairstyling part-time between 2017 and 2023, while I went to school to complete my education degree,” said Mary Duncan School Hairstyling Instructor Becki Crozier. “I graduated this past June and am now teaching hairstyling full time at Mary Duncan School.

Cree Nation Tribal Health (CNTH) is presenting their first gathering, known as Weesahkayjak Comes Home, for Indigenous 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals in the tri-community. The event will be held for two days at The Pas Legion.
“This is our first time hosting the event,” said Connie Merasty. “I’m the 2SLGBTQIA+ Program Manager at Cree Nation Tribal Health and this position came up last year, so it’s fairly new. With the funding we were allotted, I decided to try and hold a gathering for 2SLGBTQIA+ people in the north. From that concept, we had an opportunity to host a small gathering here in The Pas.