The Manitoba U18 AAA League Board of Directors formed a Competition Committee in December 2022 to look at restructuring the league.

Last July, the committee provided four recommendations to the board of directors. On Aug. 27, those concepts were voted on for the committee to pursue.

Read more in this week’s issue.

This year’s Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival (NMTF) Queen Trapper has come from a long line of competitors. She has competed against her sister who was last year’s Queen Trapper in hopes of winning the title and this has been her year.
“I have been competing in the NMTF’s Queen Trapper events since I was 13 years old, and I'm 36 now, however, I did take a break in between than to have my four children Marcus, Myles, Kacey and Kylie,” said NMTF 2024 Queen Trapper Kristen Burns. “It’s been almost 20 years that I've been competing and I owe it to my family who has always been supportive of me.

With the wrap up of the Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival (NMTF) also comes the introduction of a new Fur Queen and reigning court. This year’s Fur Queen and reigning court are looking forward to embodied the tri-community spirit and representing the community at events.
For the new Fur Queen, being crowned as such was something that seemed to be a once in a lifetime experience that she always dreamed of.
“Growing up as a young girl, I always looked forward to seeing the beautiful ladies who were part of our NMTF Fur Queen competition,” said NMFT 2024 Fur Queen Lynelle Bon. “Their excitement, happiness, dedication, positivity and more truly showed how much they enjoyed the competition. Seeing the ladies enjoying their once in a lifetime experience always influenced me on wanting to run for Fur Queen.

The Pas Handi-Van is preparing for their annual radio pledgee show to help raise money for their operations this year. Along with raising operating funds, they are looking at raising money to purchase a new handi-van unit.
“We have our radio pledge show coming up on March 7 and 8,” said The Pas Handi-Van Office Manager Val Miron. “The community has always been beyond generous with their donations to support The Pas Handi-van; it simply amazing. The radio pledge show provides more ongoing operational support to The Pas Handi-van. Anything over that will go to the costs of a new van.

Canada Post is still struggling to provide consistent service to residents in the tri-community area. A letter of complaint was sent to Canada Post by a long-term resident of the area, who is beyond frustrated at the delays and lack of service.
In a letter written to the Churchill-Keewatinook Aski MP Niki Ashton and Manitoba NDP MLA Amanda Lathlin the following was stated, “I’m a long-time resident of The Pas with a considerable concern about the abysmal service from Canada Post in our community. I ask as elected representatives for the people in The Pas and surrounding area that you look into this matter and advocate for us for immediate improvement.
“Aside from the lack of access to the wickets in the post office during business hours, to the lack of timely delivery of parcels and mail that as a community we hear is due to staff shortages and inadequate space at the local post office; this has led to unreliability and limited access to a service we used to trust.

The Thunderhill Ski Area was opened up on Friday evening (Feb. 23) for Kinsmen Night Skiing, with more than 120 people enjoying the hill and the new Co-op Chalet...

The onset of heavy snowfall on Monday morning (Feb. 26) resulted in dangerous driving conditions, evidenced by an apparent low-speed, head-on, two-vehicle collision on Main Street in Swan River in front of the Swan Valley Health Centre. No reports were available at press time as to whether there were any injuries.

A five-game winning streak has propelled the Dauphin Kings into the playoffs.

Dauphin scored a 7-1 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders, Feb. 20 in Dauphin, before blanking the Portage Terriers, 2-0, Friday in Portage.

On Saturday, back in Dauphin, the Kings beat the Niverville Nighthawks, 4-1 clinching a playoff spot.

At 32-14-1-1 for 66 points, the Kings remain in third place, two points back of the Blizzard Jr. A Hockey Club, with two games in hand.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said the team has had a busy stretch lately, which resulted in the players being a bit mentally tired against Niverville, Saturday.

“We found a way to win. That’s the biggest thing. We got patient. We got tough on pucks when we had to,” he said. “And what can you say about Sheff (goalie Cole Sheffield). He’s been rock solid for us. He’s been the guy, that’s for sure. No doubt.”

Hedley felt the Kings played a great road game, Friday in Portage, where Sheffield made 25 saves to record his fourth shutout of the season.

“We were more on our toes (Friday) night. We had some good speed. We were relentless on pucks. Hunted pucks, hunted rebounds. We had a good road game,” he said. “But Sheff made some big saves when he had to toward the end of the game to keep that a 1-0 game.”

After taking an early lead, the Kings took a couple of penalties which put them back on their heels.

“And we weren’t really jumping. They were beating us to pucks. But at the same time, we did keep them to the outside a lot of the times. Didn’t give them a lot of quality chances. But we killed some big penalties and the only goal they got was a turnover,” Hedley said. “We had a lot more than we wanted to tonight and if they had taken advantage of them, we would have been in trouble. But we found a way to get it done.”

In just their second season in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League, Niverville has been struggling since the start of the new year, resulting in the firing of their head coach and general manager Kelvin Cech.

With Dwight Hirst taking over as head coach and Mike McAulay the interim general manager, the Nighthawks are hoping the change will turn things around.

Hedley has seen a difference in their play from earlier in the season.

“I think they were a hungry hockey club. They were working hard. They’re in a fight for their life in a playoff spot,” he said. “I thought they might come in with a little bit more urgency. I think they had a pretty good second period. We weren’t very good in the second period and they definitely out worked us. But in the third period, we got better.”

The Kings will have a busy week, beginning tonight when they travel north to face the Blizzard in The Pas at 7 p.m.

On Wednesday, they will be in Swan River for a game at 12:30 p.m.

On Friday, the Winnipeg Freeze are in town for a 7:30 p.m. date, and on Sunday, Dauphin travels back to The Pas to play the Blizzard at 7 p.m.

The Parkland Humane Society was recently forced to take care of six kittens that were in a box that fell off a truck within the city limits.

Denise Penrose, PHS statistics director, explained a female resident was on her way to the city’s waste disposal site and was following a white truck filled with garbage bags, when a box fell out of the truck. When she stopped to pick up the crate to take it to the disposal site, she found six kittens inside.

The resident contacted the city and was told they could not take custody of the animals because the city’s pound is closed.

“She went to Dauphin Vet Clinic, too, and they said they couldn’t help her. And then she came here (to the Parkland Humane Society),” Penrose said. “We really had no foster homes or no room left. But it just so happens that our quarantine room was empty. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to bring them in.”

Of the six kittens, there were four which were about three months old, while the other two were a bit older form a different litter.

Taking in the six kittens put a great strain on PHS’s resources, Penrose said.

“We do have a budget. So for every cat that we take in, or kitten, we have to do everything for them. We have to get them vaccinated. We have to get them spayed and neutered, of course. But it’s just finding space for them, because now we have six cats,” she said. “It’s finding the space, but we did take them in.”

Stories such as this are becoming more and more common, because, as Penrose explains, people think they can just dispose of the animals in their care when they become too much to handle.

The day this happened was a chilly day and, because the kittens were so small, Penrose said they likely would have died if they had not been found.

Penrose advises people who have pets to keep an eye on them and have them spayed or neutered, keeping the population under control so things like this do not happen again.

“It’s so important. Actually with dogs now, we cannot find any shelters to take dogs. So if we take any dogs from the pound, or any dog period, we can’t find a place for them to go to keep on taking more dogs. So once we have dogs in our program, we can’t find anywhere for them to go,” she said. “And it’s getting really bad, because before, we could always find places for them to go and now we can’t. And we have about 30 dogs right now, between puppies and dogs.”

So the question now, Penrose said, is what do people do with the strays that are found when the city pound is closed and PHS cannot take them in because they simply don’t have the space?

“It’s pretty sad. And it seems to be getting worse. People just don’t care,” she said.

The kittens are now ready for adoption.

Obsolete Brewing Company has been in business for less than a year, but it is already making a name for itself in the industry.

Case in point, brewer Marcos Bardelli was recently named Brewer of the Year by the Brewers Journal Canada.

“It was awesome. It was really good. Being new to the brewing scene here in Canada and being in a start-up brewery and everything happening so fast, everything was amazing,” he said.

Bardelli began his brewing career in his home country of Brazil, starting with home brewing in 2009. He opened a contract brewery in 2012 and began selling his products in 2014.

“And I used to work for a big brewery in Brazil called Bastards Brewery. I started managing their operations and brewing for them in 2015,” he said.

Moving to Canada to work in a brewery was a big adjustment for Bardelli and his family. It was always the goal of Bardelli and his wife to raise their children in a foreign country such as Canada.

The family was initially planning to move to New Zealand, but then the COVID-19 pandemic hit and they had to change their plans.

“So I kept looking for opportunities abroad. I did some interviews with other breweries in Europe and the U.S., and eventually found out about these guys that had this cool project, which I was looking for,” he said, adding he was looking for a start-up project such as Obsolete Brewing Company, where he could create the recipes. Everything worked out. It took us 10 months to do the whole process from start to finish. Everything worked out good,” he said.

Bardelli is pleased with his decision to move to Canada and be part of the community.

“We are more than happy to be here, to be part of the community. We live close to the brewery. My kids are going to day care. My wife works here at the brewery, too. So we are integrated into the community now. It feels good. We like Dauphin,” he said.

When traveling to Toronto to receive his award, the traffic jams in Canada’s largest city brought back bad memories of his home country.

“I didn’t miss them at all,” he laughed.

Bardelli appreciates the support the fledgling company has received from the community.

“We are a start-up brewery, so the support from the community is something that we really appreciate. So thank you all,” he said.