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The Dauphin Kings were a part of one of the longest series in MJHL history.
They, unfortunately; however, finished on the wrong side. After staying alive with a quintuple overtime win on Monday night, the Kings saw their season end with a heartbreaking 2-1 triple overtime loss to the Blizzard.
Logan Walker gave Dauphin a 1-0 lead in the second before Sebastian Hamming tied it for the Blizzard. The Blizzard then finished it very late into the triple overtime session.
Once again, Cole Sheffield put on a show for Dauphin as he finished with 53 saves.
The Blizzard will now play the Pistons and the Kings will turn their focus to the 2024-25 season.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
Riese Gaber has signed on the dotted line.
Gaber, who finished with more career points at the University of North Dakota (UND) than anyone in the last decade, has signed a two-year, one-way deal with the Charlotte Checkers of the American Hockey League. The Checkers are the top minor-league affiliate of the Florida Panthers.
Gaber's contract will begin for the 2024-25 season, his plans the rest of this season are still to be determined. Riese of Gilbert Plains is the first player from the 2023-24 UND team to sign a professional deal.
Across 142 games with UND, Gaber had 64 goals and 129 points and he had three consecutive 30-point seasons to finish his career.
Serving as UND's captain this year, Gaber helped the Fighting Hawks to a sixth Penrose Cup as National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) champions. He won the Penrose in three of his four years at UND.
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It was an outstanding weekend for the Layne Stars hockey team.
In Winnipeg at the Hockey for All Centre, the Stars came together to dominate their competition en route to a Tribal Days championship. The Stars downed the Dakota Warriors in the championship final. They also beat the Warriors on one other occasion which was paired with wins against Pikangikum and Cross Lake Islanders.
Layne Stars outscored their opponents in the tournament, 24-5. The team is a perfect 9-0 this season, scoring 52 goals and giving up just 11. Next up for the team is the Manito Ahbee Cup in Winnipeg from May 16 to 19.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
They knew before the season even started that they had something special.
After heartbreakingly falling to the Winnipeg Wild in the playoffs the previous year, the Brandon U18 Wheat Kings had one thing on their mind and that was to win a championship. As the 2023-24 regular season went on, the Wheat Kings continued to prove night after night that they were in a class of their own.
The team's only defeat all season was an overtime affair when they came up short against the Southwest Cougars. Besides that, Brandon ran the table as they finished the regular season at 43-0-1. This year's team included a duo from the Parkland and they played a massive factor in the team winning a championship.
Brady Turko of McCreary scored 41 goals while finishing the regular season with 90 points and Easton Odut of Dauphin finished with 63 points. 153 points combined by the Parkland stars helped Brandon achieve a historic season and one that may never be matched again.
"It was crazy how we went the entire season without a loss," offered Odut. "We love the feeling of winning and we wanted to win every time we hit the ice. It was pretty awesome that we broke so many records along the way."
Finishing 29 points ahead of Southwest for first place overall, the Wheat Kings entered the playoffs as heavy favourites and they opened their first best-of-three series by scoring 26 times in a three-game sweep of the Eastman Selects. They followed that up by posting another 14 goals in sweeping the Pembina Valley Hawks. Then just one team stood in the way of Brandon capturing Manitoba's glory.
The final just so happened to be against the Winnipeg Wild, a team that broke the hearts of the Wheat Kings in the previous playoffs. Holding a two-games to one lead over the Wild last year, the Wheat Kings had two chances to advance to the league final; however, the Wild stormed back winning two straight to send Brandon home packing.
With a great memory of what happened, Odut says that fuelled the team to not let that happen again. Then Colten Worthington scored the game-winning goal 1:23 into overtime as the Wheat Kings completed a three-game sweep in the league final. It brought the team's record to 52-0-1 on the season and with it, they were named Manitoba champions.
"Brandon hasn't won in a long time, so it's pretty incredible to get the job done with our amazing group," said Odut. "The Wheat Kings have historically not done very well against the Wild in the playoffs, so for us to be able to get the job done and break so many records along the way, it's awesome."
Along the way this year, Easton also had the chance to play seven games in the Western Hockey League with the team that drafted him 34th overall in the U15 Draft in 2022. He had one assist across those contests.
"I enjoyed my time, it was a lot of fun and more competitive," said Odut. "I'm happy that I got some playing time so I am used to that pace and level of play moving forward."
While he continues to keep his eye on how the big club is doing as their playoff series against Moose Jaw has now begun, Odut is preparing for the Telus Cup West Regionals that begin on Thursday in Winnipeg.
Brandon will be joined at the four-team event by the Thunder Bay Kings, Winnipeg WIld, and Saskatoon Blazers. Playing a round-robin, the top-ranked team will go up against the second-ranked team after the first three days of round-robin play.
The winner of that championship game advances to the Telus Cup National Championship in Nova Scotia later this month.
For Easton, getting the chance to play in a national championship would be a dream come true and the Wheat Kings are entering the regional event confident and ready to go.
"We all work together, and we all work hard," ended Odut. "We trust each other and we believe that we can do it. If we play our systems and stick with the process, we know that we can do some damage."
All games will be played at the Hockey for All Centre.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
It was the longest game in Manitoba Junior Hockey League history.
The Dauphin Kings were apart of it and they are heading to The Pas on Wednesday. Cayden Glover scored with 9:14 left in the fifth overtime in a 3-2 victory for the home team. It was a game that went back and forth and it was a game that both goaltenders stood on their heads.
Cole Sheffield made 71 saves in the victory while Tomas Anderson made 61 saves for the Blizzard in the defeat.
Dauphin's season was less than a minute from ending before Alex Senf scored with just 54 seconds left in the game. Brett Magarrel also scored for the Kings in the victory on a historic night in Dauphin.
Game seven will now be played Wednesday night and Darnell Duff will broadcast the game beginning at 6:45.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
He dominated his opponents last season when he was a member of the Neepawa Titans of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.
Now, he's terrorizing his opponents at the next level. In 39 games last season with the Titans, Briley Wood scored 19 times and had 57 points. Right after Neepawa did not qualify for the playoffs last year, Wood was re-called by the then-Winnipeg ICE of the Western Hockey League. Wood went on to help the team advance to the league final posting three goals and four points across 19 games.
Now an assistant captain with the Wenatchee Wild of the WHL, Wood averaged more than a point per game in the regular season with 62 in 60 games. Then come playoff time over the weekend, Briley took his game to the next level.
In game one of the team's series against Kelowna, the former Titan scored four goals and had two assists in an 8-6 win in game one. Then in game two, he had one more goal to go along with three assists as the Rivers native had four goals and three assists across two playoff games.
The Wild will look to take the series lead back on Tuesday when they play game three in Kelowna while game four will also be in Kelowna on Wednesday evening.
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Mark Liwiski is getting another chance to show what he can do in the American Hockey League.
Playing 54 games with the Norfolk Admirals in the ECHL this year, Liwiski was called back up by the Manitoba Moose. Liwiski previously played one game with the AHL squad.
After a great junior career with the Everett Silvertips, Blizzard, and Kelowna Rockets, the Dauphin star opened up his professional career last year with the Wichita Thunder where he posted 17 points in 67 games. This year with Norfolk, Mark has 11 goals and 14 assists to go along with 310 penalty minutes and he has a plus-14 rating.
The Moose are currently 29-31-2-1 which has them in fifth place in the Central Division.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The Predators 14U volleyball team is putting together a season to remember.
They played the Bandits tournament over the weekend against some of the top teams in the province and they're back home in the Parkland with a championship.
After going a perfect 6-0 in the round-robin, the Predators earned a bye to the quarterfinals which saw them beat Dynamo White in three sets.
They then beat Selkirk Black and in the finals against Vision Black, the Predators won in straight sets, 25-22 and 26-24, to claim gold in the 12-team tournament.
Next up for the team is an exhibition game against the Vipers on Wednesday in Grandview before heading to Minot, North Dakota in a couple of weeks.
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Penalties have haunted the Dauphin Kings all series against the Blizzard.
On Saturday, they once again did. The Blizzard scored two power play goals and held on late as they downed the Kings, 3-2, in game 5 of their first-round Turnbull Cup playoffs series.
In penalty trouble in the first, Sebastian Hamming and Ethan Bibeau scored, both of which came on the man advantage as the Blizzard opened up a 2-0 lead. Sheldon Shyiak would respond for the Kings with his first of the playoffs with just less than seven minutes left in the first to trim the deficit to one.
After a scoreless second period, Adam Belzil batted in a rebound early in the third to give the Blizzard a 3-1 lead. Naaman Hofer would backhand a rebound in to cut Dauphin's deficit to 3-2; however, they would not get any closer.
A late penalty from Ashton Paul with just more than two minutes left would seal this game as the Blizzard won a third straight game to take a three games to two series lead.
Dauphin is now on the brink of elimination as they get set to host game 6 at Credit Union Place on Monday evening at 7:30. You can listen to the game with Darnell Duff and Jeff Henson, opening with the pregame show at 7:10.
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They were the top-ranked team for 15 weeks. They were the class of not only the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League but the Canadian Junior Hockey League as well.
It was smooth sailing from game one to game 54 for the Flin Flon Bombers. They were dominating teams and it seemed as if no one would be able to touch them in their pursuit of the organization's first league title since 1993.
They had already long clinched home-ice advantage for the entirety of their playoff run and other than more regular season wins, the Bombers did not have a whole lot to play for. Struggles came along with that as Flin Flon won just four of their last 11 games and in their final two regular-season games against the Humboldt Broncos, the Bombers were outscored 10-3 in two defeats.
Rob Hart is the voice of the team and as he says, there was some panic amongst team fans.
"Some of the fans were a little concerned and I was as well," said Hart. "Mike Reagan, our team's coach believed everything would be fine, the team really didn't have anything to play for quite a while after the great start."
Struggling heading into the playoffs, Flin Flon quickly put the brakes on any of the negative emotions surrounding the club after a poor start to the 56-game campaign. The Bombers opened their playoffs against Kindersley and scored 12 times in the first two games and then won two straight games in Kindersley to win the series in four games.
Battlefords were the other team in the league to finish off a first-round sweet as they beat Melville on Wednesday.
"The Klippers were the easiest out in the first round, Flin Flon looked pretty good," said Hart. "There's some pretty good depth on this team which is always important in the playoffs."
2023 SJHL Finals Rematch?
Two teams have reached the Final 4, while the wait for two more continues. The Weyburn Red Wings won both games on home ice to tie up their first-round series with the Humboldt Broncos who entered the series as clear favourites. The Melfort Mustangs responded from a game three loss to beat the Bruins in game four to take a three games to one series lead.
If all pans out according to regular season standings, Humboldt will fend off the Red Wings to advance while the Mustangs will finish off the Bruins. If so, Flin Flon will play the North Stars in the second round if that is the case.
The two storied organizations met in the league final last year when Battlefords beat Flin Flon in four games. Flin Flon beat the North Stars in three of four games during this regular season and finished 14 points ahead of them in the standings.
Battlefords won their final three regular season games and have now won seven games in a row. They're led by Kian Bell who won the league regular season's scoring race and he posted 10 points in five games against Melville in the first round.
Round two of the playoffs will not begin until next weekend.
"The nice thing for Flin Flon is they get a rest after winning in four games," said Hart. "The last thing they wanted was to go six or seven games in the first round. This break will do them good. Battlefords will also be very fresh after beating Melville in four games. That is a very good hockey club in Battlefords with some guys who are outstanding offensively."
Now back at the Whitney Forum preparing for the next round, the Bombers will host games one and two, next Friday and Saturday. With crowds of more than 1100 packing the Forum for both home games against Kindersley in the first round, a trip to Flin Flon could make for a great weekend if you're looking to make some plans over the next little bit.
Bax Watch:
Kings fans were happy to see Jordan Bax back in the lineup in game two of their series against the Blizzard and he scored four goals in his first two appearances in that series.
When it comes to his older brother Anthony, he's enjoying his new life in Flin Flon. Bax had one goal and three assists in the first round, but it hasn't been all great for Bax as he struggled a bit over the past few weeks. With a run-and-gun style, Anthony has had to change how he plays because the Bombers are already lethal offensively.
But, good players adapt and that's the case for Anthony as he looks to help the Maroon + White win their first title in 31 years
"Defence is what wins championships and he has to alter his game a little bit, which he has done," ended Hart. "He's playing physical and he is really focusing on play in his own end, which he needs to. He's doing very well and is a cruical piece of this team."
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
Overtime was friendly to the Dauphin Kings on Sunday when Joshua Schmidt scored to put the Kings up two games to nothing in their best-of-seven series against the Blizzard.
The Kings dropped game three and on Thursday night, it was double overtime heartbreak for the home team. The Kings turned over the puck behind their own net just more than four minutes into double overtime and Miguel Bouvier made the Kings pay dearly as he beat Cole Sheffield over the glove to give the Blizzard a 2-1 win.
In another outstanding game between these two West Division rivals, it was the Kings who opened up the scoring as Logan Walker scored his first of the playoffs 7:45 into the second period. Riley See would bat in a loose puck in front of the net early in the third to tie the game at one and overtime was needed.
Ultimately, double overtime was needed and Bouvier was able to seal this game. With the win, the Blizzard tied the series at two games apiece.
Game five will be Saturday night in The Pas and Darnell Duff will have the call.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
