The Dauphin Kings and Steinbach Pistons are coming to Dauphin for game three of their best-of-seven championship series tied one game apiece after a split of the first two games in Steinbach.

The Pistons grabbed the early series lead with a 5-1 win, Friday night, but the Kings rebounded with a 5-1 victory of their own to even the series on Saturday.

Steinbach jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period of game one and increased it to 3-1 after 40 minutes before putting the game away in the third.

In game two, it was the Kings who took the early 1-0 lead in the first period and they carried a 2-1 advantage into the third where they scored twice on the power play to ice the game.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley said Steinbach was able to take advantage of their opportunities in game one, while the Kings were stymied.

“I thought the game was pretty even, except for some of the breaks they got around the net. We just couldn’t get any. We hit two or three posts and a couple crossbars. It was one of those things,” he said. “It was a good game both ways. It was really tough in that arena, just adjusting to the small ice surface. The way the puck bounces in the last eight to 10 minutes of every period was an experience.”

Both teams struggled on the power play in game one with the Kings going scoreless in six tries, while Steinbach missed out on four tries. Hedley said both teams brought a lot of energy and were aggressive on the penalty kill.

“There’s not a lot of space in the offensive zone, so any time the puck is on the wall, there’s pressure and three or four guys overloading. It makes it tough. You really have to have some quick puck movement. And, obviously, with the puck bouncing, it makes it tough to handle the puck real well,” he said.

Hedley was pleased with the way the Kings rebounded in game two. They were hard on pucks, he said, and were on the right side of the puck in battles all night.

“And we got some breaks. I think we could have had a few more goals in the first period, but (Steinbach goalie Simon) Harkness played real well,” he said.

Hedley felt the Kings got off to a good start in the first period of Friday’s game, but the defensive coverage was lacking at times, which allowed the Pistons some odd man rushes.

“Our D zone coverage is usually pretty solid, in the corners and net front. But we did give up a couple things there that we talked about and definitely cleaned up the second game,” he said.

The series now shifts to Dauphin for games three and four, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.

Hedley noted the Pistons had a great atmosphere and large crowds in the first two games.

“A lot of noise and a lot of emotion. And I think it will be great for the guys to get home and get a little of that fan appreciation back here,” he said.

The Second Story Players presentation of the musical “Ranchers and Rustlers” was a resounding success.

The musical, featuring local actors, played to near capacity crowds, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, while Sunday’s show was sold out.

In its recently released budget, the Province committed $1.5 billion for a three-year highways strategy that invests in infrastructure across the province and Premier Heather Stefanson and Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Doyle Piwniuk were in Dauphin yesterday to announce how the City fits into those plans.

Specifically, Stefanson announced the $13.5 million redevelopment of Main Street South has been fast tracked and will be completed this year.

“Manitobans have told us they want safe roads and reliable infrastructure and we are listening and we are acting,” Stefanson said. “Collaboration with the City of Dauphin over the past several years has been instrumental in realizing this project. Resurfacing and dividing the road along with upgrading service roads and installing traffic signals will ensure that Dauphin can continue to expand its economic activity and host future celebrations which we look forward to attending in person.
“We are excited for this important work to begin this year.”

PTH 5A serves as the main access into the City of Dauphin from the south. Expanded commercial development along the route has resulted in increased traffic volumes and higher collision rates. Improvements and restorations to the road will benefit the community and the region by enhancing safety and traffic flows along the high-volume, main thoroughfare that is an integral trade route to economic development in the area, Stefanson said. The 1.7-km project covers a section of PTH 5A from Whitmore Ave., south to Triangle Road, and includes surface reconstruction with the creation of a divided highway. The plans call to improve safety in the commercial area by having all local accesses connect to service roads, and service roads connecting to PTH 5A at upgraded intersections. Those service roads will be constructed along both the east and west sides of highway from their existing points south to Triangle Road.

As well, a new intersection allowing access to Dauphin Market Place Mall will be developed, complete with traffic signals.

“Manitoba Transportation and Infrastructure has been working in collaboration with the City of Dauphin and its officials for several years to finalize the design concept and details to ensure the project meets the needs of the community,” Piwniuk said, adding the $1.5 billion for highways was part of an overall $2.4 billion in infrastructure funding announced in the budget. “We look forward to strengthening our partnerships with communities across the province by investing in long-term strategic goals to build the foundation of Manitoba’s economic growth through trade and commerce infrastructure.”

With the work originally being slated for 2023, Piwniuk said the province found itself in a position to be able to move the Dauphin project up the schedule and jumped at the opportunity.

“In our infrastructure investing we want to make sure we do it right across the province. And so we moved it up to make sure the work gets done now that we have a larger budget to work with,” he said. “We have a 10-year plan and we want to make sure we can move this project forward.”

For mayor Christian Laughland, having the project completed a year early just means all the benefits will be enjoyed sooner.

“This is great and exciting news for our city. The improvements made to PTH 5A will help improve the flow of traffic in the south end and make things safer for not only pedestrians who work in the area, but drivers going to and from our local businesses,” Laughland said. “We also look forward to the impact these changes have when it comes to economic development in our community.”

Those benefits are extremely important for the community and will help drive economic success well into the future, Dauphin MLA Brad Michaleski added.

“This is a project that is important for Dauphin and it has been on the radar for a long time to get done,” Michaleski said. “We appreciate the premier and minister Piwniuk for attending here today.”

The province will advertise the tender for the project by the end of May. The work is anticipated to be completed before 2023, in advance of Dauphin serving as host community for the 2024 Manitoba Summer Games.

After two years of consecutive decreases Dauphin ratepayers will see a modest increase in the mill rate charged against their properties this year as city council approved its 2022 budget Monday evening.

As it did last year, council used the funds remaining from a federal restart grant received in 2020 to lower the amount raised by taxation by $200,000. That amount still represents a 1.6 per cent increase over last year’s numbers.

In the end the increase in the mill rate from 18.039 in 2021 to 18.332 in 2022 will raise $6,382,457. That increase means a residential property will pay $9.58 more per $100,000 of assessed value while commercial properties will pay $6.99 more per $100,000 of assessed value.

When income from other sources such transfers from reserves. taxes added, business licenses, the provincial municipal operating grant, provincial public safety grant and other federal and provincial grants are factored in, the City will have just under $12.5 million to support its operations this year.

In presenting the financial plan, city manager Sharla Griffths said the budget supports a continued level of spending on municipal infrastructure such as roads, sidewalks, and water distribution and no program cuts.

“This year’s budget was very tough to set, as council’s directive was to hold the line at the 2020 tax level and then reduce it by $200,000 and take that money from reserves that we got from the federal government. However, there are many expenditures in 2022 that were unforeseen and unavoidable. Some of them are higher than anticipated RCMP retro pay and wages. very high snowfall in 2022 already and we don’t know what is coming in the fall. There is a reduction in our taxes added in 2022 due to a slowdown in development. There is an increase in the requirement for airport funding this year and, as everybody is feeling, there is a significant increase in the cost of fuel and natural gas,” Griffiths said. “We are very fortunate that council’s directive could be met by drawing from our reserve funds. That being said, council is drawing wisely and responsibly from the reserves to ensure financial stability and security into the future.”

In the general fund most budget areas will see increases, Griffiths said.

General Government Services has been set at $1,426,030, an increase of 7.5 per cent, while Protective Services is set at $3,564,549, an increase of 14 per cent and Transportation Services is set at $1,865,058, an increase of 5.51 per cent. Environmental Health has a budget of $1,013,638, an increase of 0.25 per cent, Environmental Development Services is set at $293,981, an increase of 32.61 per cent, Recreation Cultural Services increases 1.1 per cent to $2,005,800 and Public Health and Welfare Services remains unchanged at $33,749.

Economic Development Services – was the one budget area to decrease, dropping 19.07 per cent to $413,192.

Planned General Fund capital expenditures and reserve transfers $4,478,506, an almost $1 million increase in capital projects and reserve transfers over 2021.

In the Utility Fund water revenue has been budgeted at $2,383,737 and wastewater revenue is estimated at $647,608.

Operating expenditures on the water side has been set at $2,025,101, an increase of 8.45 per cent. The increase is due mainly to due to wage increases, routine water system assessment report, work on the agreement with RMNP with regards to the Edwards Lake water source, and water main breaks.

Operating expenditures on the wastewater side have been set at $398,675, a decrease of 4.46 per cent due to less required maintenance this year.

Planned capital expenditures in the Utility Fund total just over $2.3 million.

More information on the budget can be found in next week’s Dauphin Herald.

It was the small team that could. 

The Predators 14U girls’ volleyball team, consisting of eight players and two coaches, have spent the last four months honing skills, learning rotations and promoting team cohesion to end their first club volleyball season with success. 

More in this week's Roblin Review!

The Sixties Scoop is another part of Canada’s disgraceful history when in comes to the treatment of Indigenous people.

The Sixties Scoop happened from around 1960 to the mid ‘80s, when Indigenous children were removed from their homes and families and adopted or fostered to predominantly non-Indigenous families across Canada and into the U.S.

During that time frame, the provincial governments felt this was the best way of addressing Indigenous child welfare issues.

Read the full story in this week's Roblin Review!

The Roblin and District Cemetery committee held its annual general meeting for 2021 March 14 in the meeting room of the Community Centre.

The AGMs for years 2019 and 2020 were also recapped at this meeting as both were respectfully cancelled at their due dates because of Covid-19 restrictions.

Find out more in this week's Roblin Review. 

It was supposed to be all about the budget. But Thursday’s public meeting to discuss the Municipality of Roblin’s 2022 Financial Plan gave both council and ratepayers in attendance the opportunity to ask ‘What’s going on with Prairie Mountain Health?’.

And what, if anything, we can do about it.

Get all the details in this week's Roblin Review. 

There’s a lot of buzz surrounding the loss of the number of bees across Manitoba.

Every year apiaries lose a certain number of bees over the winter months.

Many attributed it to poor weather conditions, pests and it just being part of the nature of things, but there’s also a more politicized angle to this.

“This happens every year with bee numbers,” said Wendell Estate Honey Owner Tim Wendell. “There are some people that lose a lot of hive numbers and there’s different reasons for those losses, as well as some politics behind what’s going on. One of the most notable arguments has been about bringing in packaged bees across the U.S. border and it’s been an issue for over 35 years. The Canadian U.S. Border was closed in 1987 to the importation of packaged bees for sanitary reasons.”

The pandemic has played a slight role in all of this, with beekeepers not being able to access packaged bees from other countries. The delay in flights, shipping and the fact that bees are a perishable item to transport, have impacted honey production overall. Bringing in packaged bees, also presents a variety of different challenges as well.

Read the full story in this week's Russell Banner!

“You know it’s time to travel when you start to look like the person on your driver’s license…” This is the quote that Minitonas residents Bill and Tanya Oakes use as their mantra when it comes to their travels. They started a travel blog called 6 Tires and a Dog that documents their journey from Minitonas to Aransas, Texas.
“We wanted a place for family and friends to follow along on our adventure and thought the perfect place to do this would be on our Facebook page, but we quickly realized that a lot of our family didn't have access to Facebook, so I did some research and came up with the idea of a blog,” said Tanya Oakes. “Having some sort of platform would keep everyone in the loop on where we were and what we were doing, without having to make multiple phone calls repeating the same stories. I later found out that the two could be tied together with the click of a button so we had a Facebook page and then a web page and people could choose which one they preferred to follow along with.
“We started getting messages from people we didn't know asking if we minded if they followed us so we put a subscribe option in and next thing we knew we had hundreds of people following along. I also got a message from a lady in Nova Scotia who was writing to let me know that she had just lost her husband and they loved to travel together.
The blog reminded her of their adventures and she felt it was helping her deal with the loss of him. It was so nice to hear comments and shares like that.”
The Oakes' made several stops along the way to Aransas. Each stop had an adventure all its own and allowed them to take in the sights and some good food along the way.
“We left Minitonas and headed as far as Minot, N.D., for the first night,” said Oakes. “The next day we headed south to Sioux Falls, S.D., where we spent the night with plans to take in Mount Rushmore the next morning. After we completed touring Mount Rushmore, we headed out to Kansas City, Miss., where we stayed at our first RV resort.
The next day we left Kansas City and headed to Mount Vernon, Ill., where we spent the night at another RV Park. The next morning, we headed to our first planned long stay in Nashville, Tenn. where we spent eight days. From Nashville we travelled to New Orleans, La., where we stayed for four days. From New Orleans we went to Galveston Island, Texas, where we spent 10 days before heading west down the Texas coast to Mustang Island, Texas in the Corpus Christi area. We spent a week there and decided that we really liked Galveston Island, so we headed back and spent the next two months there.”
Their plans were a little altered and the Oakes' found themselves rushing against the clock to get back, only to be met with an unexpected surprise.
“Our original plan was to head up the west coast to Abbotsford, B.C., where Billy does his spring training, but when he received his schedule, we found that we wouldn't have the time we needed to get back in time so we made a quick and direct drive back to Canada,” said Oakes. “After 51 hours, nine states, two nights in truck stops and a whopping six hours total sleep, we made it back to the border only to be told that it had been closed by protestors early that morning.”
Despite the change in plans and rush to get back to Canada, the Oakes' still enjoyed their trip and made many memories along the way. Oakes fell in love with the history and culture in New Orleans, for it wasn’t like anything she had experienced before.
“There were so many memorable things, but some of them include camping right next to the ocean,” said Oakes.
“Then seeing things that you’ve only previously read about or seen in pictures like the 38.5 km long bridge when driving into New Orleans or Mount Rushmore, seeing ZZ top in Nashville, everything about New Orleans in general. The ability to be in shorts and a tank top, sitting outside enjoying a cold beer in +26 weather in December; that is a hard one to top.
“I love listening to stories, especially in regards to a place’s history, therefore my favourite place on the trip was New Orleans. I’ve never seen one place have such a vast variety of history attached to it. Not just history, but the types of things that it actually has going on today is so interesting. An example of this would be the two types of vampires that are known and practicing in New Orleans as we speak. The guided ghost tour of the French quarter at night in New Orleans was my favourite thing on the trip.
“My next favourite place was the ocean and being able to walk across the road outside our RV resort and it was right there,” said Oakes. “Being so close that even at night with the windows closed, you could still hear the sound of the waves hitting the shore. It was so soothing. The RV resort we were at on Galveston Island had a diversion of the ocean right behind our RV, full of fish and crab, so we bought some crab traps and were able to eat as much crab as we liked.”
With the ups of travelling also come the challenges too. Looking back, the Oakes' were met with some challenges during their travels that may seem comical now, but at the time were less than amusing.
“Some of the challenges included driving through major cities in an RV and having it breakdown. Finding out that the range on the electric bikes wasn't as long as told by the manufacturer, that was a hard lesson to learn when you’re 13 kilometres from the RV resort and the battery dies. It made for a long and difficult bike ride without the pedal assist. Then it was trying to find RV resorts that weren't for 55+ or full of people, such as us escaping for the winter. Then there was infamous steel height restriction bar at the entrance to an open-air parking lot at Wal-Mart. The one we never expected, but realised was there when it began to drag on the roof tearing off vent covers, satellite cover, denting the ladder and etc. All we could do was slowly keep going forward cringing at the sounds of the bar dragging and destroying the roof and the things on it.”
“It was so interesting to see the weather, scenery and even people's accents changing every day the further south we went. There’s always something to look at and so much to explore. One of the biggest lessons we learnt this winter was that having a vehicle to travel around to explore is the most important asset to have. We lost out on a lot of sightseeing opportunities because we didn't have access to get to them. There are very few things that can be accessed when you are driving a 40 foot RV and don't have a lot of experience doing it and electric bikes can only get you so far.”
The Oakes' sampled some of the best dining they’ve ever eaten in New Orleans. The food had an abundance of flavour unlike anything in Manitoba.
“Hands down, the best food was New Orleans,” said Oakes. “We tried Muffuletta's, Crawfish Etouffee, Cajun Chicken and Andouille Jambalaya, Gumbo, crab, oysters, and Chicken Andouille Gumbo. They were all amazing. We both agreed that we have never tasted such flavourful food in our lives, to date.”
Along with amazing food, the scenery they took was breathtaking as well. They witnessed a variety of different things from the mountains, ocean, bright lights of the Grand Ole Opry and more.
“For amazing views, Mount Rushmore was definitely a favourite of ours,” said Oakes. “It’s one of those places that takes on a whole new meaning when you are standing right there in its presence. The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville; The French Quarter in New Orleans; the ocean at Galveston Island with the beach houses standing on their stilts to allow water to flow under and through without damaging them; crossing to Galveston Island on the Ferry and having Dolphins swimming alongside the ferry are just a few others.”
The Oakes' started their trek on Nov. 14, and arrived home on Feb. 11. This allowed them to spend Christmas away from home. They are already thinking of how they will make next year’s trip different and better.
“It was difficult to be away for the holidays, because I love Christmas and usually have my house fully decorated,” said Oakes. “It was the first time that we had Christmas without our kids and family. It was the quietist and loneliest Christmas ever and we both agreed that we wouldn't do it again. We will be travelling back for Christmas or making arrangements to have family join us for Christmas going forward.
“The way things stand right now, we are thinking we will try Arizona out next winter and make sure that this time we get the west coast tour in. We learnt so much from our travels this past winter, good and bad, that the next one will hopefully go a lot smoother and we will definitely be more prepared.”
To check out the Oakes’ blog, go to www.6tiresandadog.com or follow their page on Facebook.