The Dauphin Clippers hockey team remain in first place in the Westman High School Hockey League, winning two of three games, last week.

The week began, Tuesday, with a 9-0 home ice win over the defending Westman High School Hockey League champion Major Pratt Trojans of Russell.

Norman Lacquette and William Miner each scored twice to lead the Clippers, while Logan Chapman, Jaxon Bodnar, Boston Karlson, Dixon Flett and Ethan Carnegie added singles.

Owen Chubka made 30 saves to record the shutout. Josh Chipelski made 21 saves in the loss.

On Friday, the Clippers fell 8-3 to the Birtle/Shoal Lake/Rossburn Falcons in Birtle.

Ethan Hunter led the Falcons with two goals and three assists, while Colby Asselstine scored three times and added on assist. Noah Street also scored twice and Dylan Couvier had a single.

Tyron Sweetman, Liam Chartrand and Chapman replied for Dauphin.

Dane Pearson had 26 saves to his credit in picking up the win, while Cody Coombs had 27 stops in the loss.

On Sunday in Souris, Chubka stopped all 19 shots he faced in backstopping the Clippers to a 2-0 win over the Boissevain/Souris Broncos.

Miner netted the only goal Dauphin would need when he tallied a shorthanded marker with 3:10 left in the opening period. Jaymen Fee netted an insurance goal with 5:36 remaining in the third.

Colten Challner took the loss after making 33 saves.

Dauphin will look to improve their 8-2-0-0 record when they host the Minnedosa/Erickson Chancellors, Thursday at 7:30 p.m.

On Sunday, they travel to Brandon where they will faceoff against the Crocus Plains Plainsmen at 7:15 p.m.

The Parkland Rangers earned a point over the weekend in Kenora.

Parkland’s week began with a heart-breaking 3-2 loss to the Southwest Cougars, Tuesday in Dauphin.

The Rangers carried a 2-1 lead into the third period on goals from Bo Eisner and Luke Myhre, while Nate Robson replied for Southwest.

The Cougars pulled even when Regan Anderson scored 8:27 into the third. Then, with 5.6 seconds left to play, the Rangers were called for icing. Off the ensuing faceoff, the Cougars won it back to the point and a shot eluded Parkland goalie Kyler Swanton with 0.1 left on the clock. Nicholas Cullen was credited with the goal.

Evan Svoboda made 44 saves for Southwest, while Swanton stopped 24 shots for Parkland.

On Saturday in Kenora, Landon Lowes scored with 30 seconds left in overtime to lift the Thistles to a 5-4 win. The goal came one second after a Rangers penalty expired.

Nickolas Fagnilli scored twice for Kenora, with Lane Van De Wetering and Carson Maffey adding singles. Cade Legaarden scored twice for Parkland and Dru Mushumanski and Eisner had singles.

James Sinclair made 20 saves for Kenora and Chase Glover stopped 32 for Parkland.

Van De Wetering scored twice to lead Kenora to a 6-3 win over the Rangers, Sunday.

Reidar Paquette, Lowes, Emerson Evans and Fagnilli also scored for the Thistles, while Madden Murray with two and Myhre replied for the Rangers. Patrick Forsythe had 34 saves to his credit for Kenora. Swanton made 36 stops for Parkland.

The Rangers will face the Yellowhead Chiefs in a home-and-home this weekend, beginning, Friday in Shoal Lake with the rematch Saturday in Dauphin at 7:30 p.m.

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division is getting tighter with each passing week.

The Dauphin Kings find themselves in a tie for second place with the Swan Valley Stampeders, with 26 points each, five behind the division-leading OCN Blizzard, one ahead of the Waywayseecappo Wolverines and two up on the Virden Oil Capitals. The Neepawa Titans bring up the rear with 18 points, six back of Virden.

The Kings earned a split in a pair of home games over the weekend, dropping a 5-2 decision to Virden on Saturday, before scoring a 3-2 overtime victory over the Winkler Flyers, Sunday.

Virden led 1-0 entering the third period and scored four times to break the game open.

On Sunday, after killing off a Winkler power play in overtime, Owen Wareham scored on a Kings power play to lift Dauphin to the victory.

Considering Saturday’s contest was a four-point game against a divisional opponent, it was a disappointing result, said Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley.

Since a 5-0 win over the Wolverines, Oct. 31, Hedley feels the Kings have gotten away from their game.

“And started doing more individual stuff and it carried over into Virden’s game. I don’t think we had the jump. We might have thought it was going to be easier than it was. We didn’t really play fast,” he said.

The Flyers are a big club and have some speed, Hedley stated.

“They can play,” he said.

The Kings were set back on their heels in the first period, thanks in part to four minor penalties. The Flyers controlled the second period, but the Kings, Hedley said, didn’t break.

Get the full rundown in this week's Dauphin Herald!

The Dauphin Kings agriculture project proved to be another success this year.

Project co-ordinator Rae Csversko said a field of 78 acres in the Keld area was donated to the project last year, but because of the wet spring, it could not be seeded this year, leaving the local junior A hockey club with only the land rented in the Industrial Park.

“We just got in the field in the Industrial Park area at the very last date you can to seed land. But it was unfortunate, because we did really well with that land in the Keld area last year,” he said. “So we just had the roughly 126 acres that we leased from the RM and City of Dauphin.”

The canola crop was harvested, Oct. 3, with the help of the three local farm equipment dealerships.

The ag. project, Csversko said, is a group effort with everything that goes into it being donated so the club can maximize its profits.

“Gary and Cory Sydor are the key players with respect to getting things going, as well as Jeremy Knutson,” he added. “These people do an immense amount of work and the input. It’s one thing to harvest the crop, but there’s a lot of people involved in getting the crop in.”

Csversko reported about five to 10 acres were lost due to wet field conditions, but they still managed to harvest 4,606 bushels, which were hauled straight to Cargill elevators. Because of the high commodity prices, the Kings were able to raise about $83,000 through the project this year.

“And that’s because of the extraordinarily high commodity prices and the fact that it costs nothing. All the seed, all the chemical that we use, it’s all donated. And that really makes a difference. It really does,” he said.

With the Kings paying off its debt last season, this money will go a long way to keeping the team financially viable.

Csversko credits all the volunteers and local businesses who contribute their products, time and effort to making the project a success year after year.

“If it wasn’t for them, we wouldn’t be doing it,” he said.

The Dauphin and District Allied Arts Council presented its annual Christmas craft sale at the Watson Arts Centre, Saturday.

Various vendors offered their wares to those getting a little early Christmas shopping done.

The Tea Room also offered warm beverages, as well as soup and desserts.

The Parkland Rangers snapped a five-game losing skid with a 4-3 win over the Pembina Valley Hawks, Saturday in Dauphin.

The Hawks grabbed an early 2-0 lead four minutes into the contest, but the Rangers tied the game before the first intermission on goals form Tavyn Boychuk and Luke Myhre.

Madden Murray gave Parkland the lead early in the second and extended it to 4-2 midway through the third with his second of the game. The Hawks added a late goal with 3:21 left to play to make it interesting, but Chase Glover shut the door the rest of the way. He finished with 27 saves.

On Sunday, Pembina Valley netted the winner with 1:15 left in regulation to escape with a 3-2 win.

The Rangers trailed 1-0 and 2-1 at the period breaks, with Murray netting Parkland’s goal. They tied the game when Dru Mushumanski scored with 2:24 left on the clock, but a turnover led to the winning goal just 1:09 later.

After falling behind early on Saturday, Rangers head coach Tyler Carefoot said the Rangers rebounded to find a way to get the win.

“They kept fighting and rebounded. And you’ve got to give them credit. We found a way to get the two points, which was huge,” he said. “We did a lot of good things, all the things that we’ve sort of been focusing on. Things are coming together, but the process of it all is a little bit slower than probably we all wanted.”

On Sunday, the message in the third period was to get pucks to the net, which they did leading to the tying goal.

But a turnover at the blueline ended up with the Hawks netting the winning goal with 1:15 left.

After a tough schedule where the Rangers played a lot of the top teams in the league, Parkland now begins to face opponents closer to their skill level, which will, hopefully, lead to better results.

“Guys are starting to feel a little bit better about themselves. And it’s hard. You go 0-6 and players aren’t feeling happy about themselves. Parents aren’t feeling happy about themselves. It feels like we’re in quicksand,” he said. “Overall, I feel like we’re starting to come together. But it’s just we’ve got to find a way to lock some points down.”

The Rangers will look to get back into the win column, Tuesday, when they host the Southwest Cougars at 7:30 p.m., The Dauphin Herald is the game sponsor. 

Southwest, Carefoot said, is well coached, are patient and play with a sound structure.

“So I think if we bring our work ethic and the mindset of trying to execute the little things that help bring the team success, I think we’re going to have success,” he said, adding both goaltenders played well over the weekend. “Both goalies right now have found some confidence, which is good,” Carefoot said.

“It’s exciting. We’re in games right now and so, we just hope to everyday to get a little bit better and that’s the plan.”

The Dauphin Kings remain in second place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s MGEU West Division after splitting as pair of games with the Selkirk Steelers, this past weekend.

Deepkaran Hans scored twice and Cole Sheffield made 32 saves to lead the Kings to a 5-2 win, Friday in Dauphin.

The next night in Selkirk, the Steelers scored a 2-1 win, netting the winning goal midway through the third period.

Kings head coach and general manager Doug Hedley thought the Kings played well in two of the six periods.

“We played okay the third periods of both games. I didn’t think our push in the second periods was real good in either game. We had a great first period on Friday night,” he said. “It was one of the fastest periods we played with puck movement, with good support, guys attacking the net. And just really tough defence and awareness away from the puck.”

The Steelers are 2-11-3-1 after the split, but Hedley feels they are better than their record indicates.

“They’re a good hockey club. They’ve got speed. They’ve got one line that’s probably as good as any line in the league,” he said. “We got some timely goals on Friday and had a lot of chances on Saturday. We just made some mistakes they took advantage of. You’ve got to give them credit. They out worked us in Selkirk.”

Dauphin’s record sits at 11-7-2-0 for 24 points, seven back of the OCN Blizzard and just two up on the Swan Valley Stampeders, three ahead of the Waywayseecappo Wolverines and four up on the Virden Oil Capitals.

The Kings will host Virden, Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and the Winkler Flyers will pay their first visit to Credit Union Place, Sunday at 4 p.m.

Since the beginning of October, Dauphin is 9-3-1-0 and Hedley hopes to continue that winning trend on the weekend.

Kings court:

Doug Hedley passed former Kings head coach Marlin Murray on Friday to become the alltime leader for games coached in team history. Murray was behind the bench for 556 games. After the two games against Selkirk this past weekend, Hedley sits at 558.

This tree on Eighth Avenue SW couldn’t handle the wet and heavy snow on Sunday, the first snowfall of the season, breaking off and blocking part of the street, adding to the hazardous driving conditions.

Cold temperatures are expected to move in this week.

The Dauphin and District Allied Arts Council (DDAAC) celebrated its milestone 50th anniversary with an afternoon event, Sunday at the Watson Arts Centre.

The event included exhibits and guest speakers talking about what the DDAAC means to them.

DDAAC chairperson Adrienne Luke said planning for the event began a few months ago.

“And it just sort of came to be. We’ve got a few great volunteers. We had information from the 45th celebration and we just embellished on it,” she said.

Lasting for 50 years, Luke said, is a win for the organization.

“I think it’s very positive. Our mission statement is to foster the arts in the Parkland and surrounding area and I think we’re accomplishing that. And all I can hope for is that we continue on for another 50 years,” she said.

DDAAC works with different groups and partners who operate within the Watson Arts Centre.

“We work with the community. We work with partnering with other entities in the community and rural area. We try to partner with as many people as we can,” Luke stated. “This facility is for the people. It’s for the people of Dauphin, for the surrounding area. If you have a talent, if you paint, if you do pottery, if you quilt, if you sing, play an instrument, have a band, you talk to the centre’s co-ordinator Peter (Nadolny) and we will try to work with you and get a room for you and have an evening for you. So we’re here to promote you, the public.”

Given the weather on Sunday, Luke was pleased with the turnout for the event.

“The turnout is impressive,” she said.