The Parkland Rangers are slowly falling out of the playoff race in the Manitoba U18 AAA Hockey League after a pair of losses over the weekend.

The Rangers dropped a 5-3 decision to the Winnipeg Wild, Saturday in Winnipeg, before losing 7-1 to the Interlake Lightning, Sunday in Teulon.

As a result, Parkland’s record falls to 10-15-2-1 for 23 points, five back of the eighth-place Norman North Stars.

Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot was pleased with the team’s play against Winnipeg.

“I thought, for the most part, we were in that game right from pretty much start to end,” he said.

Twice the Rangers trailed by three goals, but they pulled to within one with 2:41 remaining.

“We didn’t quit. We had good structure. We had good work ethic and we found a way to keep the game close,” Carefoot stated, adding he wondered to himself whether to pull the goalie or not. “One of my veteran players heard that and said, ‘what have we got to lose?’ So we did (pull the goalie) and tried to make a push and in the end, they got the empty netter to make it 5-3. But overall, it was a good game,” he said.

Sunday’s game was a result of a lack of self-discipline on the part of some of the Parkland players, who had a late night despite getting back to their hotel by 10 p.m.

As a result, one player slept in and missed the team breakfast at 9 a.m., which did not please the coaching staff, while others were not attentive during a video session prior to leaving for Teulon.

During the pregame warmup, the Rangers did not leave the ice in time, resulting in a delay of game penalty to start the contest. Interlake, subsequently, opened the scoring on that power play to start the game and things went down hill from there.

“Everybody was off. Guys that we lean on to perform really well, those guys were all off. We didn’t have our routine. Everything about our routine was off,” he said. “And it goes back to the night before and it goes back to the morning. And then we can’t expect these players, you can’t sleep in and then go on the ice and be a high-performance athlete and perform at a high level when you’ve only been up for three hours.”

Carefoot admitted to being angry at the situation and felt it was a lack of self-discipline that resulted in Sunday’s loss.

“At some point there has to be some self-accountability,” he said, adding the Rangers have proven they can play with any team in the league, with the exception of the Brandon Wheat Kings. “But in order to do that, our structure has to be good and our work ethic has to be good. It’s just all those little things that we talk about. We have the capabilities of doing all that,” Carefoot said. “But the moment we choose to either take a shift off or a game off, or in this case, some guys chose to basically not want to show up at all, it’s very frustrating.”

Having said that, Carefoot recognizes that Interlake is one of the top teams in the league, currently sitting in third place.

“Interlake is for real. They’ve got a nice roster there. It’s not a fluke or an accident that they’re a top four team this year. I think that’s great to see. The last several years, they’ve been battling at the bottom end, so I think that’s great for their program,” he said.

The Rangers will look to right the ship this weekend when they face the second-place Southwest Cougars in a home-and-home, beginning, Friday in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m., with the rematch in Souris on Saturday.

The teams split a home-and-home, Jan. 6 and 7.

Southwest is another team the Rangers can compete with.

“They’re very structured. They don’t have any flashy players that pull you out of your seats, but they have non-negotiables that play within their structure. Hopefully, we can match that and we can be ready, because every point now going forward is just so important,” Carefoot said. “The game results over the weekend, the teams that we’re battling with, they either split or they found a way to get four points. So we need points. And so we need to be ready to execute and, hopefully, that’s the case.”

The Dauphin Kings were busy at the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s (CJHL) trade deadline, with five deals made.

The deals started, Jan. 5, with the Kings sending forward Blake Boudreau, 20, to the Carleton Place Canadians of the Central Canada Hockey League for a player development fee (PDF).

Boudreau had 10 goals and 16 points in 25 games for Dauphin this season.

In a move that surprised many Kings fans, 20-year-old defenceman Anthony Bax, who led the team in scoring with 32 points, including 13 goals, was shipped to the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Flin Flon Bombers, the top team in the CJHL.

In exchange the Kings get forward Ashton Paul, 19, and future considerations.

In 28 games this season, Paul had four goals and 19 points.

Last season, playing with OCN, Paul tallied 26 goals and 56 points in 57 games.

Defenceman Nolan Wickham, 20, was sent to the Winkler Flyers for defenceman Ty Pratte, 18, and a second round draft pick in this year’s draft.

Wickham had two goals and 10 points in 29 games this season, while Pratte had a goal and an assist in 15 contests for Winkler.

Defenceman Aidan Brook, 20, along with forward Rhett Perrin were traded to the Portage Terriers in exchange for defenceman Brett Magarrell, 18, as well as a third and fifth round pick in this year’s draft.

Brook played 31 games this season, tallying four goals and 13 points, while Perrin had a goal and three points in 17 games.

Magarrell played 30 games with the Terriers and recorded a goal and six points.

Another deal saw the Kings send the list rights of forward Kai Clayton to the Swan Valley Stampeders for a PDF.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the trade landscape has changed with advisors now representing players.

Players, Hedley said, now have to consent to trades, which he understands when they are sent to a different league. But giving consent when being traded within the same league makes no sense to him.

“I think it’s going to have to be looked at,” he said.

Hedley tried to improve the team’s offence, but the deals he was working on fell through.

“Our original plan was to add some offence, some experienced guys that could score,” he said.

When those deals didn’t work out, Hedley gave the team’s 20-year-olds a choice to stay with the Kings or be moved to another team.

“We wanted to be fair to the 20-year-olds,” he said.

Only Logan Walker and Alex Senf chose to stay.

“They didn’t even hesitate. They came back in and said they wanted to be Kings, they wanted to wear the crest. They felt we had a good young group and we could challenge,” Hedley said.

Dealing away Brook and Wickham is particular was hard with both players being in their third year with the team, as well as being part of the championship squad that won the league in 2022.

“There’s all kinds of respect on our end for those kids. We just felt that they deserved a chance, they made the decision and we accommodated them,” Hedley said.

Hedley likes the return he got in the various deals.

“We think that we got some good young players back in return with Ty Pratte from Winkler and Brett Magarrell from Portage. Both are 18-year-olds that are going to be good D-men in the league,” he said. “In fact, if you look at our back end now, I really think we got younger, but we got more mobile and we’ve got real good speed, real good attitudes and real good work ethics.”

The Kings won their third straight game the day before the deadline, beating the Neepawa Titans, 3-0, with Cole Sheffield making 29 saves to record his second shutout in three games.

Hedley said the team played with a renewed energy and emotion in that game.

“We’re looking forward to working with this group and the work ethic and compete. Kyan Grouette has really helped us out as far as work ethic. He’s a real good addition,” he said.

Fans will get their first chance to see the new players in the lineup tonight when the Kings host the Stampeders at 7:30 p.m.

The Kings then visit the division-leading Virden Oil Capitals, Friday, before hosting the Niverville Nighthawks, Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

After all of the delays getting started, progress on the reconstruction Main Street South has been substantial.

The mild weather the area experienced up to last week allowed for excellent conditions for the contractor to construct several segments of the service road alignments along the eastern and western sides of the highway.

“Progress has been great thus far,” director of Public Works and Operations Mike VanAlstyne said. “We’re probably right on schedule. It was always intended that they would work on that, but the efficiency of the weather helped greatly with getting that in as quick as they did.”

As well as part of the drainage plan for the area, the majority of the western retention pond has been dug and the access to the eastern retention pond has been constructed off of Whitmore Avenue.

VanAlstyne expects work on the eastern pond itself to begin this week, leading to progress on another exciting project.

“The contractor will be hauling material from the east pond to Maamawi Park to begin the construction of the toboggan hill,” he said. “The plan is to start hauling material there Tuesday.”

Looking back to the drainage system, VanAlstyne expects work to begin on the construction of some of the storm sewer piping required over the next few weeks.

But, he added, things will be slowing down a bit when it comes to the highway work itself.

“Work along the highway corridor is temporarily on hold until the gas main relocation work takes place, which is expected to begin near the end of January,” VanAlstyne said, adding the gas main currently runs along the west side of the highway. “Until then there can’t be a lot of work done on the road alignments. It’s going to be slow for a couple weeks, from what we can see, but there’s lots of excavation work happening on the east pond.”

With 20 plus centimetres of snow falling across the area over the space of a few hours last week and temperatures plummeting to below normal values, the Parkland is now firmly in the grips of winter.

And for the City of Dauphin, winter means one very important thing. Snow clearing is the main function of the Public Works Department throughout the season and with last week’s weather event, crews jumped on the task of clearing the community’s roadways and sidewalks.

When major snowfalls occur the focus of clearing efforts fall on priority areas, such as the downtown core and clearing of urban highways.

“And the life and safety stuff. The hospital and that sort of stuff,” director of Public Works and Operations Mike VanAlstyne said. “Once we finished priority routes and the highway stuff, then we are doing streets so that the furthest anyone would have to go to get to a plowed road would be about 75 metres.”

Where that clearing of residential streets begins is dependent, VanAlstyne added.

“It just depends on what day of the week it is. If it’s garbage day somewhere, we try to go elsewhere so that we’re not moving around bins and whatever else,” he said. “And then we methodically go throughout the city.”

The city has been running clearing operations around the clock on 12 hour shifts and will continue to do so until the all streets are cleared, VanAlstyne said. When it comes to an event of this magnitude, cleanup should take around 72 hours, he added, assuming everything goes smoothly in terms of staff staying healthy and equipment not breaking down.

And in many cases, other city operations draw staff away from snow clearing.

“We still have to operate our landfill and we need an operator there who is trained to be compliant with our regulations and our license.” VanAlstyne said. “So we’re kind of juggling staff to make it work.”

In the end, VanAlstyne expects the price tag for that 72 hours of work to be average for a citywide cleanup, somewhere between $40,000 and $50,000.

“It really depends on what we end up with and what day of the week, because when you go into Saturday and Sunday all a sudden we’re paying double time on everything,” he said.

“It’ll be 50,000 by the time we remove extra snow because of how much we’ve had to pile.”

Prior to the weekend, all streets had been plowed and work shifted to clearing avenues, as well as removing the windrows from Main Street and the city centre. After plowing is finished and crews have had some time to recover from the long hours, they will finish off the cleanup by lowering some of the big snowbanks throughout the city to improve visibility.

The priority, VanAlstyne said is getting the snow off the streets and people need to be patient while public works crews put the finishing touches on the clean up.

“It’s all a matter of trying to do the best we can with what we’ve got,” he said, adding many city residents do not realize how good they have it when it comes to snow clearing. “We provide a higher level of service - a level of service that’s just outrageously high for the citizens of the city,” VanAlstyne said. “And it would be a lot worse if they were anywhere else I can almost guarantee that.”

Physician and nurse shortages, as well as closed ERs, are issues that aren’t going to be solved any time soon, especially for rural and northern Manitoba communities, but there is another option.

The online service Q-Doc has had a successful year in providing patients with virtual appointments with physicians and nurse practitioners, to help people who don’t have access to immediate healthcare in their community and to prevent unnecessary visits to the ER.

More in this week’s issue.

January is a month known for the promotion of mental health wellness and the Mental Wellness and Suicide Prevention Committee of Prairie Mountain Health has come up with a new venture for people to express the state of their mental health through a creative process.

The committee, formed during the pandemic to promote mental wellness and help eliminate the stigma associated with mental health illness, has put a call out for art submissions to be part of a travelling art exhibit called “Creative Reflections” to express feelings related to peoples’ mental health.

Check out the rest of the story in this week’s Review.

Having something stolen is more than a disheartening experience, but when it’s something that has sentimental value, the loss that is felt is that much more. On the evening of Boxing Day, 2023 Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival Fur Queen Gloria Ballantyne-Packo had the unfortunate experience of having her family’s vehicle broken into while in Winnipeg, and amongst the valuables stolen was her 2023 Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival Fur Queen parka.
This parka is a one-of-a-kind article of clothing that each of the Fur Queen Court receives. It’s tailored made for each person and has a unique design that reflects the theme for the Trappers’ Festival. Each parka also has the name of the Fur Queen court member embroidered on it.
“The Fur Queen jacket is so special to me because it represents the hard work and dedication that I have put into the fur queen competition and Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival,” said Ballantyne-Packo. “It also reminds me of the experiences I have had with my fellow reigning court. We decided on every detail about the jackets including the colour, embroidery, and fur.

Although January brings the start of a new year, it can also be a difficult time of the year for people in terms of managing mental health. The aftermath of the Christmas holidays and excitement, combined with the winter months can take a toll on people, as they try to keep their mental health in check.
“The winter months in general, and the month of January in particular, can be very difficult for many people in terms of how it affects their mood, energy, and general sense of mental health and well-being,” said Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Swan Valley Branch Peer Support and Public Education Coordinator Rod Seib. “Of course, the shorter daylight hours have a real impact on mood, as light exposure has long been known to have an impact on mental health.

If you did your round of online shopping or were receiving a gift from someone through the mail for this past Christmas, you may have encountered longer wait times than what is the industry standard when it comes to mail delivery services in Canada. Many residents of The Pas and area vented on social media during the month of December about parcels being held in Flin Flon, due to insufficient space at The Pas Post Office.
The longest wait time that residents shared on the post, was over 11 days, that their parcel was sitting at the Flin Flon Post Office, waiting to come to The Pas.
The Opasquia Times reached out to Canada Post to ask why the continued delay to deliver parcels around this time of year and when this issue will be addressed.
“The Pas Post Office has been very busy this year,” said Canada Post Media Relations Lisa Liu. “Our staff has been working hard to process and move all mail and parcels to ensure customers receive their items during the holidays.

One of the changes in the automotive landscape in recent years is the increasing prevalence and push to convert to Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs), Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEVs) and Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs).
While vehicles designed to move from electric power instead of an Internal Combustion Engine come with many benefits, there are new challenges as well, one of which being the large battery often holding 10s of kilowatts-hours made out of components like lithium metal that pose a unique fire hazard, especially for emergency responders who are having to learn how to deal with new dangerous situations.
On Dec. 10, several Swan Valley Fire Department (SVFD) firefighters along with firefighters from Benito, Minitonas, Birch River, Barrows, Winnipegosis and The Pas attended an Electric Vehicle (EV) extrication and fire suppression information session hosted by the Swan Valley Mutual Aid District.
“Kevin Patterson, from the Banff Fire Department, presented the most current information on how to extricate occupants safely and effectively from EVs, along with several extinguishing methods for EV battery fires,” said SVFD Captain Kurt Rewerts. “He also helped dispel many common misconceptions about working with EVs.
“As part of the presentation, Patterson presented both in class and utilized a cutaway Tesla Model X car, split down the middle, showing what a normal EV looks like on one side and the unique electrical components, safety systems and major potential risks of EVs on the other side.
“This hands-on presentation gave firefighters an excellent vantage point to view some of the additional reinforcements located in the A-posts that would be undetectable behind the vehicle’s interior trim. It also served as an excellent reminder to firefighters providing vehicle extrication to disable the power system and ‘peel and peek’ before cutting into a vehicle. There are many safety airbags discretely located in many spots within the vehicle, all of which pose a significant risk during extrication operations for both the vehicle occupants and first responders.”
Rewerts noted how it came as a surprise to himself and others that the battery packs in these vehicles are made of several thousand – between 7,100 and 8,500 – lithium-ion batteries not much larger than a household AA. The pack of batteries is located deep within the floor of the vehicle and surrounded with a highly reinforced frame and skid plate to prevent damage from normal daily usage.
“The issue for firefighters in the event of a battery fire comes from a motor vehicle collision or hitting the ditch filled with large stones that may potentially damage the cell pack,” said Rewerts. “Even if one of the battery cells becomes compromised, it may self-ignite and start a chain reaction within the battery cell pack. During the fire suppression portion of the presentation, it quickly became clear that a battery fire in an EV will be a major event, involving significant amounts of water and time on scene.”
The last 10 years has had a dramatic rise of EVs in North America. In 2021, roughly 86,000 were registered in Canada alone.
“There are many advances in tools and methods to assist in extrication and fire suppression involving EVs,” said Rewerts. “However, currently there is no one new tool or method that a department has to quickly extinguish a battery fire. The SVFD and surrounding fire departments are very capable in conducting extrication and fire suppression on all vehicles. This course was another incredible tool for the firefighters to use on scene.”
SVFD Fire Chief Darren Fedorchuk added that the member municipalities of the Town of Swan River and the Municipality of Swan Valley West have been very supportive of their local fire departments.
“The SVFD is a very well equipped and highly trained department, and we continue to be proactive in advancing our tools and skills to ensure we provide the most efficient and effective service to the Valley and to support our surrounding fire departments,” he said.
“EVs are new and require special considerations such as the location of the battery cell and requiring large amounts of water. The water supply on two pumper trucks currently may not be adequate to provide complete extinguishment, especially if the incident originates outside of Town limits (with no fire hydrant accessible). The SVFD does have supports in place from Mutual Aid and local water suppliers to assist in the event additional water is required. There may come a time when a water tanker truck may be required to assist with these specialized fires and other events where large amounts of water are needed.”
How can firefighters work with Electric Vehicles
The first issue firefighters have to do when arriving at a scene of a vehicle incident is determining whether a vehicle is gas/diesel, hybrid or electric, as many manufacturers use very similar chassis/body with just different internals.
“On the side of the road, there are only a few different ways to tell if you’re dealing with an EV and that is an electrical port on the front corner, whether or not there is a gas door, or unique decals,” said Rewerts.
Due to the battery pack being located on the underside of the vehicle, fire crews have limited access to get water to the cells to cool and extinguish, and using foam to cool and smother isn’t effective on lithium-ion batteries fires either.
“Even once the fire is out, fire crews will need to provide a fire watch for several hours after the incident to ensure no other batteries have been compromised and no re-ignition of fire,” said Rewerts.
“Typically, an EV fire burns at roughly 5,000F – or 2,760C – while a gasoline engine vehicle fire burns at 1,500F or 815C. There is also a much more highly toxic, carcinogenic smoke as a result of off-gassing from a battery cell.”
Rewerts added that the danger of a battery fire means that procedure of controlling the scene would be adjusted.
Often the ultimate solution to control an EV battery fire is to either let itself burn out if there are no other exposure risks, or constantly apply water for several hours. Either method comes with the risk of air pollution or water pollution as well.
Fire crews would also need to work with secondary responders such as tow trucks to ensure that batteries do no re-ignite after they are removed from the scene, stored securely and monitored.
“The big question for many firefighters from this course is ‘How can I cut up the car without electrocuting myself?’,” said Rewerts. “To date, no firefighter has been electrocuted while conducting extrication or fire suppression of an EV. Extrication of occupants is similar to gas engine vehicles, but emergency staff must be extra vigilant isolating the battery and drive system of an EV and ensure proper extrication practices are used.
“Manufacturers of EVs have added several safety features to allow emergency crews to quickly disable batteries and drive systems of their vehicles. This in turn allows first responders to quickly extricate occupants. Manufacturers are also providing First Responder Rescue sheets for EVs which can be found on their website or emergency responder apps.”
The SVFD has not yet dealt with an EV fire directly, but expect they will account for a very small percentage of the car fires in the Swan Valley.
“EV technology is advancing at a light speed pace and first responders have the daunting task of continually upgrading their education and skills to ensure up-to-date, safe, efficient and effective services are provided to the public and themselves,” Rewerts concluded.