Both U11 Swan Valley Stampeders teams hosted the Canora Cobra’s this past weekend (Dec. 20), managing to dispatch their visitors in both contests by dominant scores...

The Swan Valley U9 Colts and Broncos hosted games against the Ste. Rose U9 Royals this past Saturday (Dec. 13). Both local squads were able to secure victories on home ice in dominant fashion. Burton Hanson works his way through a Royals defender...

The annual Mistletoe Magic kick-off event was in full effect this past weekend (Dec. 6) with hotdogs and hot chocolate available, a meeting with Santa, and checking out the beautiful lights at the Swan Valley Historical Museum...

The U7 Swan Valley Stampeders hosted their home tournament this past Saturday (Dec. 6), welcoming teams from Flin Flon, Roblin, and Minegoziibe.

Local Swan River product Riley McKay has spent the last two seasons with the American Hockey League’s Laval Rocket, but now, after entering the free agency process, has opted to move on from the Rocket to head south. Joining the Henderson Silver Knights, AHL affiliate of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights.
“Henderson had shown interest in me and the General Manager of Henderson, Tim Speltz, was my GM in Spokane, said McKay.
He actually came to Swan River to meet my family when I signed with Spokane so there was a connection there.”
McKay spent parts of two seasons going up and down from AHL to the ECHL’s Trois-Rivieres Lions and Indy Fuel. Now he tests Henderson, who is the newest franchise to join the AHL, and a team that has hardly any experience in the playoffs, as the team has only made the playoffs twice in their four years of existence.
“Laval played a big part in helping me improve and give me the opportunity to play in the AHL. It was a great organization to play for and the rink and atmosphere are definitely one of the best in the league. I will cheirsh the memories and relationships I made there.”
McKay is headed into his fifth season as a pro, in his 168 games, he has scored 28 goals, 27 assists for 55 points, and he has totaled up to 563 penalty minutes.
“I will be sticking to the style of game that I’ve played my whole career. I hope to have a role on the penalty kill and provide some more offence this year. My goal this year is to help the team make playoffs anyway possible.”
McKay played some of his best hockey in Laval, being a part of their playoff push last season, to being one of the players that brought life to the game for the Rocket to get them back in it. A true momentum shifter who scored big goals, laid big hits, fought for the swing in momentum in this year’s playoff push only to come up just short of the ultimate goal.
“I think I will transition just fine. The Pacific Division suits my style of play and I can’t complain about living in a beautiful state like Nevada. It will definitely be different than I’m used to but it’s going to be a great experience and I’m excited to get down there.”
Henderson opens their season on Oct. 11 when they head down to Texas to face the Texas Stars before heading back to Henderson on Oct. 18 to face the Calgary Wranglers for their home opener.

Crystal Zamzow continued her season this past weekend (July 5-7) in Minnedosa at the Manitoba Women’s Golf Championships, finishing in the top three, which propels her for Team Manitoba for the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship from July 30 to Aug. 2 at Royal Colwood Golf Club in Victoria, BC.
“I shot 74-74-80 for a +12 finish and good enough for third place,” said Zamzow. “I made a birdie on the 17th hole of the final round to have a stroke lead over the competitor in fourth, who was Cala Korman. It was probably the biggest putt and highlight of the weekend to maintain the top three in the tournament.”
Zamzow had been playing some good golf prior to the abrupt lightning delay that happened on Saturday. This led to the tournament carrying onto Sunday morning into the afternoon, which affected the many golfers having to play 27 holes in the same day. However, it didn’t seem to falter the Swan River product.
“My competitive spirit definitely comes out when it comes down to the wire,” said Zamzow. “I need to find that throughout a whole round going forward. My next tournament will be in Winnipeg for the Manitoba Junior Championship July 10-12 at Niakwa Golf and Country Club.”

The Munro Smashball League continued their season schedule by hosting Festival Du Spikageur in Legion Park on June 23, where eight teams battled for the ultimate prize in the second tournament of season four.
With original partners absent, some players were playing with teammates they have never played with before. The least surprising of the bunch, was Will Munro moving on from ex-partner Kash Henkelman, replacing him with Andrew Pidskalny, making it his fourth new partner in a span of the last two seasons. Another shocker was the brother duo Kieran and Aidan Maksymchuk teaming up, due to the usually heated rivalry between the siblings.
Round Robin got underway with a ton of upsets, for example, heavyweight contenders Tyan Mykula and Ali Kujanpaa were knocked off the rails after a hot 3-0 start by the sibling duo of Alex and Hannah Campbell, falling 11-2 in a match that seemed like the shortest in Munro Smashball history, or when Munro and Pidskalny were defeated by Mykula and Kujanpaa. The round-robin ended with a four-way tie for last, in which the teams collaborated for about 10 minutes before making a decision on how to figure things out, but once they found out, playoffs were well underway.
Ethan Campbell and Chad Brightnose finished in first, facing the eight-seeded Nate Immerkar and Wyatt Rose; Mykula and Kujanpaa finished second and faced the Campbells; Munro and Pidskalny faced the Maksymchuk brothers; while the Eisners faced off against Rylee Cockburn and Jada Kujanpaa.
The playoffs got well underway with teams ready to put their bodies on the line. The higher seeds all took care of their matchups with some struggle but not like Munro and Pidskalny faced with the Maksymchuk duo. They battled to the end and held the lead at one point against the heavily favoured Golden Arrows, but Munro and Pidskalny pulled through to move on, facing up against former teammate of Munro’s, Tyan Mykula and his partner Ali Kujanpaa, while the Boombastics faced the Eisner Brothers.
The semi-finals got hot underway and left no shortage of controversy, while the Campbell, Brightnose and Eisners matchup was civil, the Mykula versus Munro battle was one for the ages. A ton of arguing and controversial calls went through the game but Mykula beat his former teammate in all fairness, after an apparent missed call happened on the field.
Leading to some fresh new faces in the finals, with the matchup being Mykula and Kujanpaa, versus the Eisner brothers. A final that had spectators happy with some new competitors rather than having a Munro win once again. The finals were an absolute dogfight, with both teams having their ups and downs while competing. But the duo of Mykula and Kujanpaa came out on top.
Next up on the schedule for Munro Smashball is the Spike Series in July 16 in Legion Park.

The Veterans Community Hall in Swan River was home to a Christmas Farmers Market this past Friday (Nov. 28) with many vendors opened up for community members to start Black Friday shopping.Gylfa (left), Anna (second from left), Jack (second from right) and Rodimus (right) Machan have their sweet treat station full of cookies, cupcakes, rice crispy and puffed wheat cake, and sugar cookies for guests. 

The SVRSS Tigers Boys’ Basketball team practiced at ESRSS last week (Nov. 27) in preperation of their 2025-26 season. Here, Xyrus Macapugay goes wide on a defender.