A season doesn't go by without the Dauphin Clippers being contenders to win a championship in the Westman High School Hockey League.
Being one of the top programs on a year-by-year basis in the league, the Clippers are once again championship contenders this year after a great start to the season, a regular season that will see the team play just one more league game.
Sitting in a tie for first place in the league, Dauphin is 21-6-2 on the campaign. That currently has them tied with the Vincent Massey Vikings for the top spot. While Dauphin is in a tie for first, Vincent Massey along with a few teams below them all have games in hand.
Jason Alf is proud of how the team has come together this year.
"I have been very happy with how things have gone this year, you never know what to expect at the start of the season," said Alf. "I am not sure if we thought we would be in this position at this time of the year, but the guys have been playing very well."
Dauphin's final league game comes on home ice when the Clippers welcome Crocus Plains to town on February 23. In a game that Dauphin will enter as the favourite, the Clippers can finish the regular season with a maximum of 46 points.
Vincent Massey, with three regular-season games left, can finish with 50 points while Neepawa can finish the season with 53 points if they win out. The Huskies can finish with 48 and those are the three teams that can catch or surpass Dauphin in the standings.
Dauphin is in an excellent spot to finish in the top four in the standings heading into the playoffs and as Alf says, it's been a complete team effort.
"We definitely would not be anywhere close to where we are without the play of Owen Chubka, he has been excellent," offered Alf. "Our defensive play has been fairly strong and we're getting some timely goals from every line. We don't have anyone near the top 10, but we're scoring by committee and getting the goals that we need when we need them."
Chubka has 12 wins this season with a 3.10 goals-against average to go along with a .903 save percentage. Tyron Sweetman leads the way offensively for Dauphin with 20 goals and 24 assists.
As Dauphin now prepares for their regular season finale next Friday, they will do so by playing against some American teams in Las Vegas. The Clippers will make their way to Las Vegas Presidents Day Tournament which opens this weekend. The Clippers will play four games and the finals are set for Monday afternoon.
"The guys are looking forward to getting on the road and doing something different," said Alf. "It's a good opportunity for the guys to bond and really spend a ton of time together, it's a good chance to get away and not think about league play for a bit."
When it comes to expectations, Dauphin has faired very well in the past when they went down south for tournaments.
"We look at it as a chance to get some players in positions that they maybe haven't been in before," ended Alf. "When it comes down to it, we're always trying to win. We just want to play some good hockey and we'll see how it goes."
