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Riese Gaber was named to the league's First All-Star Team along with being the Forward of the Year, his 34 goals were the most of any player and he was named the league's Player of the Year.
The 2019-20 season with the Dubuque Fighting Saints of the United States Hockey League (USHL) was one that the star from Gilbert Plains will never forget. At that point in his career, Riese had already won a gold medal with Team Canada at the World Junior A Challenge and a Turnbull Cup with the Steinbach Pistons of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL). Everyone knew that Gaber was destined for big things and his journey took him to the University of North Dakota (UND), one of the best programs in the NCAA Division 1 ranks.
In his first year with the program, Gaber had 11 goals and 10 assists and was a plus-10. He was named to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference's (NCHC) All-Rookie team and helped the team win a regular-season championship. He was also named the conference tournament's most valuable player.
The accolades continued to pile on for Riese, who had dominated everywhere he played since he was a kid growing up in the Grand Plains Minor Hockey Association. During his four-year run at UND, Gaber finished with 129 points, was named a nominee for the Hobey Baker Award (2023-24), which is given out annually to the top player in the country and was named the team's captain for the 2023-24 season.
Riese was cherished by every member of the community, both on and off the ice. He always reciprocated their love by contributing to the team's victories on the ice and dedicating his time to connecting with fans off the ice.
"They prepare you very well for the next step, all of our coaches have played in or around the NHL," said Gaber. "The details in our game and how to prepare on and off the ice for the next level."
Riese competed in a development camp with the Florida Panthers and then the team's NHL Rookie Showcase after signing with the Charlotte Checkers in April. Gaber then took part in Charlotte Checkers training camp before being assigned to the Savannah Ghost Pirates of the ECHL. Regarded as a Premier "AA" Hockey League, Gaber was ready to seize the moment and after making the move to Savannah, he was in the lineup as the team opened their campaign at the Enmarket Arena on October 18 against the Indy Fuel.
Scoreless just more than three minutes into the game, Gaber made a statement as he scored his first professional goal and the Ghost Pirates never looked back in a 4-1 win.
"It felt really good, I was able to get it out of the way pretty early," offered Gaber. "It's always a good feeling when you score so I was happy to see that one go in."
Riese then added an assist on the team's fourth goal of the game. The star from Gilbert Plains was named the game's second star as he put on a show in his professional debut in front of nearly 7500 fans.
Savannah's season continues on Wednesday; however, Gaber won't be there when the team plays the Orlando Solar Bears. Riese has completed the 253-mile trek from Savannah, Georgia to Charlotte, North Carolina. For the first time in his professional career and after just one game, Gaber was called up by the Checkers, the AHL affiliate of the Florida Panthers.
The call-up puts Riese one step closer to his ultimate goal of making it to the National Hockey League (NHL).
"It feels great, I was kind of down when I got sent down originally, that wasn't in the plans, I wanted to start my pro career in Charlotte. It sucked but I went down with a good attitude, said I was going to make the most of it and enjoy every day," offered Gaber. "I went down and put in the work knowing that If I did the right things, I'd get my opportunity. My goal is to make my mark with the Checkers, very exciting for me."
With wins in three of four games this season, Charlotte returns to game action on Friday, October 25 when they open a two-game home set against the Bridgeport Islanders.
While he is nearly 3,000 kilometres from his hometown of Gilbert Plains, Riese always remembers his roots, and where he came from and wants to thank everyone for their incredible support.
"I have been feeling the love for a long time, the community and support has been awesome," continued Gaber.
Gaber also wanted to give a big shoutout to Scott McCallum who has made several trips to watch Riese and joined forces with him to win the men's scramble at the Tamarack Tournament this past summer.
"He has been a massive role model for me, I always refer to Scotty as like a second dad to me, I'm very close to him and the entire family, they're special people," ended Gaber. "He has taught me many things, on and off the ice. Very fortunate to be so close with him and his family."
It was a perfect start to his professional career and now, all of Riese's supporters are eagerly waiting to see him make his debut in the AHL, something that could happen as early as this Friday.
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They're the third-ranked team in the province and took down the top team in Manitoba in the 'A' classification.
Competing in the Hamiota Huskies tournament, the Gilbert Plains Trojans varsity girls' volleyball team beat the top-ranked Reston Tigers in straight sets to win the championship.
The team lost just a single set throughout the tournament while winning seven in the round-robin against Shoal Lake, Miami, Reston, and Strathclair. They moved forward to beat the host Huskies and Rivers in the playoffs before their dominating straight-set win against Reston in the final.
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Cole Sheffield cooked up a gourmet meal as the Dauphin Kings wrapped up a busy weekend with a huge win on Sunday.
In Winkler to play Jayce Legaarden and the Flyers, Dauphin played an incredible third period and skated away with a 3-1 win, their eighth of the season.
Sheffield, who struggled in his last two starts, turned away 33 shots to guide Dauphin to the win.
Cayden Glover (12), Gavin Nemis (2) and Rylan Gage (2) scored for Dauphin in the win.
Dauphin (8-4) pull within two points of the Blizzard with a game in hand. They'll be back on the ice Friday when the Blues come to town.
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The weekend did not start off how they were hoping but it was a perfect ending.
The Parkland U-18 Rangers called the Swan River Centennial Arena their home for the past two days and earned two big victories over the Norman Northstars. After dropping their game on Friday against Southwest, the Rangers responded in a big way.
On Saturday, Quinten Fisk led the way with two goals and three assists as Parkland won 7-3. Forrest Karlson, Dayson Martin, Noah Smigelsky all scored a goal apiece for the Rangers while Trace Langan scored twice in his hometown. Kyle Pelletier made 33 saves in net.
Then on Sunday afternoon, Piet Mierau turned away 29 shots and Langan scored the overtime winner as Parkland won a thriller, 3-2. Quinten Fisk continued his red-hot play with two more goals and now has 11 on the season.
The Rangers are on top of the league with 14 points and they're off to Winnipeg next weekend to play the Thrashers and Bruins.
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The Dauphin Clippers football team wrapped up their regular season with another dominating performance.
The team beat the Virden Golden Bears, 34-0, and will now head into the playoffs riding high.
With home field advantage throughout the playoffs, Dauphin's first opponent will be the Moosomin Generals next Sunday at the Myles Haverluck Athletics Facility. Kick-off is to be determined and we will be joined by Robbie Tomkins later this week.
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The rink was packed, it was for a great cause and although they came up short, it is still a night to remember.
Hosting Hockey Fights Cancer Night against Southwest on Friday, the Rangers dropped a 5-1 decision against the Cougars. Ryder Gardner scored Parkland's lone goal in the contest.
Piet Mierau made 25 saves on 30 shots in the defeat. The Rangers (5-2) will now head to Swan River to host Norman for a pair of games on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.
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The Dauphin Kings modest three-game winning streak has been snapped.
Opening up a busy weekend that will see the team play three games in as many days, the 10-win Selkirk Steelers battled back on two occasions and downed the Dauphin Kings, 5-3. Dauphin led the game two different times but could not hold that lead as they lost their third game of the season.
Cayden Glover scored his 10th goal of the season just 30 seconds into the contest as Dauphin came out flying with that goal and a few big hits from Glover and Aiden Murray. Just before the 10 minute mark in the first frame, Landon Jamieson tied up the game. Then just 78 seconds into the second period, Gabriel Bugeaud scored to give Dauphin a 2-1 lead. Rohan Guevarra and Griffin Krone would score for Selkirk to take a 3-2 lead before Matthew Thomas (3) scored with just seven seconds left in the second as the game was tied at three after 40 minutes.
Owen Branson scored the game winner 92 seconds into the third and Owen Warnick iced the game with one second left.
Dauphin (7-3) will head to Winnipeg to play the Freeze on Saturday while Selkirk (11-2) will welcome the Northern Manitoba Blizzard on Saturday evening. Darnell Duff will broadcast Sunday's game from Winkler.
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Some breaking news out of Swan River as Barry Wolff is no longer with the Swan Valley Stampeders.
The organization announced they have parted ways with Wolff after a 1-9 start to the season.
Dating back to last year, Swan Valley is 12-53-3 in their last 68 games.
“We would like to thank Barry for his dedication to the Stampeders over the past six years,” said Stampeders President Evan Morden. “He has led the team through some difficult times and proven his dedication and commitment to the organization over and over again. We wish him nothing but the best going forward.”
Wolff also made a comment prior to his departure.
“Thank you to the Swan Valley community, the Stampeders Hockey Club, all the players, the minor hockey organization and for the corporate and community support,” he said. “It was truly an amazing time and I wish you all the best.”
Assistant Coach Darren Webster has stepped into the role of Interim General Manager while Assistant Coach Brad Fox is now acting as Interim Head Coach.
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They were down by two goals against a winless Winnipeg Freeze team more than three minutes into the second period.
At the 6:23 mark of the second period last Saturday against the Freeze, Madden Murray scored his second goal of the season.
They scored six more times in the period and had 53 shots in a 9-4 win against the Freeze.
Dauphin was back on the ice the following afternoon with Cayden Glover and Nathan Lenoski scoring a pair of goals as Dauphin thumped Waywayseecappo, 8-0. It was an afternoon of milestones as Daniel Helary scored the first goal of his junior career. Cole Sheffield made 30 saves and Dauphin finished the weekend with 17 goals in just two games.
That led the team to the Arena Complex in Waywayseecappo on Tuesday night and just like Saturday, Dauphin found themselves down a pair of goals in the second period. They battled back to score three in a row to secure their third straight win with a 5-4 nailbiter over the Wolverines. The victory pushed Dauphin's record to 7-2 which has them in second place in the MGEU West Division and while they're two points back of the Northern Manitoba Blizzard, Dauphin has two games in hand.
Dauphin played just one game between October 4-12 and beginning Tuesday, a stretch of four games in six nights began for Dauphin. Game one was a success and the team is now preparing for three games in three nights beginning Friday night in Selkirk.
Thanks to their recent success up front, Dauphin is now second in the league with 38 goals while they are tied for the second-fewest against with 17.
Dauphin has been impressive on the power play scoring nine times across 35 chances for 25.7% and the team's penalty kill is at 85.3%.
vs Selkirk Steelers - Friday, October 18 at Selkirk Recreational Complex:
The Steelers have been one of the surprises of the young season. After starting 3-9-1 last year only to miss the playoffs by four points, they won their first 10 games of the season and opened many eyes in the process.
As of late, the Steel Town Boys have faltered with back-to-back losses with their most recent defeat being 9-0 against Winkler earlier this week. Despite this, the Steelers are still seven points ahead of Steinbach for first place in the East Division and possess six of the top eight scorers in the league, led by Luke McCarthy who has six goals and 12 assists.
Like Dauphin, Selkirk has one of the top goalies in the league as Noel Olsonawski is 6-2 with a .930 save percentage and a 1.97 goals-against average.
It will be a great test for the Kings to open the weekend and you can hear the game with Darnell Duff on 730CKDM opening with the Parkland Source for Sports pregame show at 7:20.
vs Winnipeg Freeze - Saturday, October 19 at Hockey For All Centre:
Winnipeg showed signs of solid play throughout the first 23 minutes last weekend when they were in Dauphin.
The Kings fired it up and scored eight times in the final 34 minutes. The two teams will clash once again with Winnipeg hosting this time and the Freeze will still be in search of their first win as they're winless in eight tries this year.
Winnipeg works hard, but lack of experience and costly mistakes hold them back. This isn't a game that Dauphin can afford to take lightly and you can expect an extremely hungry Winnipeg team to hit the ice.
Vs Winkler Flyers - Sunday, October 20 @ Winkler ICON Arena
It's the second time these two teams will go up against each other. The first one favoured the Flyers as Liam Ernst turned away 39 shots.
This game will be even tougher than normal as it is Dauphin's third in as many nights but that certainly isn't an excuse for the team, it just means rest whenever the team can get it throughout the weekend will be that much more key.
They're the reigning MJHL champions and after a slow start, the Flyers are sizzling as of late with five straight wins and 28 goals in the process. Winkler has also been brilliant defensively during their win streak with just seven goals against. With six wins in eight games, Winkler has allowed the fewest goals in the league (16) while their 37 scored are third-most.
They've scored at a similar rate and have allowed their opponents very little. Fans should be in for a treat in Winkler and you can hear this game on 730CKDM with Darnell Duff.
Kings Firing Up:
Cayden Glover: The former Western Hockey League forward from Brandon has been on a heater as of late with five goals and two assists in his last three games. Glover, who led the team with 50 points in 48 regular season games last year, is tied for the team lead this year with 11 points. His shot is one of the best in the league and fans can expect more snipes from 71 moving forward.
Naaman Hofer: One year removed from a 45-point campaign with the Kings, Hofer has picked up where he left off. With seven points in his last three games, the star defenseman has 11 points in nine games this year. Hofer is one of the smoothest skaters you'll come across and on top of his precision in the offensive zone, he's a lockdown defender that strives for greatness.
Matt Thomas: Can't ask for much more from the newest member of the team. After an all-star season last year in the Ontario Junior Hockey League (OJHL) with the Leamington Flyers which saw Thomas help the team advance to the Western Conference Final, he's made an immediate impact on his new team. He has two goals and four assists for six points in three games and was recently named an MJHL Star of the Week.
Nathan Lenoski: He was the hero on Tuesday when he scored the game-winning goal against the Waywayseecappo Wolverines. He's played just three games and like Thomas, Nathan has six points. He's extremely crafty in the offensive zone and can take over a shift with ease. He was acquired in a trade with the Portage Terriers and as long as Nathan can stay healthy, he will be a dangerous force this year.
Cole Sheffield: He remains near the top of the league in every major statistical category with a .942 save percentage and a 1.63 goals-against average. His 479 minutes played are the most in the league and his two shutouts are tied for the most league-wide.
The Kings' 58-game schedule continues on Friday in Selkirk.
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The Parkland U-18 Rangers are in somewhat unfamiliar territory to start the season.
Just months removed from posting a 13-win season and missing the playoffs by 13 points, the Rangers are tied atop the Manitoba U-18 AAA Hockey League with wins in five of their six contests. Parkland has scored 27 goals while giving up 18 with the team's power play being a driving factor at 27.3%. Dauphin has scored six goals on the man advantage across 22 chances. The Rangers are also elite on the penalty kill at 89.2%.
Josh Tripp is the team's head coach and his staff includes Matt Kustra and Tom White.
"I am very pleased, it's been a great start to the season," said Tripp. "The guys have been great, they're putting in the work. Everyone has bought in and it's paying off for us."
The Rangers lost their first game of the season last Saturday when they saw a 3-1 lead evaporate in the third period in a 4-3 defeat against Central Plains. Going up against a very talented Interlake Lightning team the following afternoon, the Rangers responded. Alex Campbell scored his third of the season with just 11 seconds left in regulation to force extra time. Brayden Budolowski was the lone scorer in the shootout as the Rangers boarded their bus with an extra point.
"I was very pleased with the response on Sunday against Interlake," added Tripp. "They came out and worked as hard as they could. I think we deserved to win that game in regulation but we ended up getting it done regardless and that's what matters."
It's time for some home cooking for the Rangers as they play three games this weekend. They play Friday at Credit Union Place before playing at the Swan River Centennial Arena on Saturday night and Sunday afternoon against the Norman Northstars.
Friday night's game will be 'Hockey Fights Cancer' Night at the rink. The team will be decked out in their pink jerseys with pink tape, raising money for cancer wards throughout the Parkland region.
The Southwest Cougars will be Parkland's opposition and they enter with four wins in their first seven games.
Tripp talks about the importance of the game.
"It's an awesome event that we have, it's bigger than the game," commented Tripp. "Cancer affects so many amazing people. I think it's great that we put on this night to talk about it, raise awareness and funds, it's very important."
Quinten Fisk will enter the game as Parkland's leader. The Dauphin star is tied for second in league scoring with 10 points and his seven goals are the second-most. Fisk posted 17 points last year and with a year of experience under his belt, the 16-year-old has taken his game to the next level.
"He has been awesome, he works every shift and is one of those guys that leads by example," ended Tripp. "Even if he doesn't score a goal or get a point, he's hitting guys and making a difference. He is showing the younger guys how to play the right way."
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Breken Brezden is back for another exciting year on the ice and the Dauphinite is off to an incredible start.
Representing Skate Dauphin and living in Ontario, Brezden has had three great performances to date. Starting with a Skate Ontario competition, Brezden earned a bronze medal in her short program before stepping up in her free program. She beat her nearest competitor by more than 13 points to win her first gold medal of the season.
Brezden then made the trip to compete in an event in Montreal. Going up against many of the top skaters across the country, Brezden rose above with an outstanding free program. She was in fifth after scoring 54.05 points in her short program, two shy of the leader. Brezden then scored 118.59 points in her free program, the most of any, as she locked up another gold medal with 172.64 points.
Most recently, Breken nabbed another bronze medal at Skate Ontario Sectionals. Sitting in second after her short program of 53.45 points, Brezden scored 109.10 points in her free program to finish third. To date this year, the star figure skater from Dauphin has two gold and two bronze medals to her name.
"I think the season has gone very well, I'm very proud of myself and all of the hard work I have put in," said Brezden. "It set me up to feel very good about myself moving forward into the winter months."
Before resuming her competition schedule in Ontario, Brezden is ready for the opportunity of a lifetime. Qualifying through points earned, Brezden is the first Manitoban in 40 years selected to represent Canada at the Challenger Series Trophy Metropole Nice Cote d'Azur in Nice, France. It will be Breken's first time on the international stage.
"I'm very excited, France is an incredible place to make my international debut," offered Brezden. "I'm looking forward to making a ton of memories and going through the entire experience."
Regarding results, Breken will push herself harder than ever as she represents the country.
"Going into these competitions, you never really think about what your score will be, you almost want to put the results on the back burner," said Brezden. "I'm focusing on doing what I can do and doing it as well as I can and from there, you can see the results."
Now let's put all of Breken's great results this year on the back burner for a moment. While winning medals is always the goal, it's how Brezden got to where she is that keeps her going daily.
"I love the process of it all. Of course, the results are awesome and important, but they're not everything," ended Brezden. "To be able to come to the rink every day and spend as much time on the ice as I do, it's a privilege. I get to build on my skills and refine my programs to make sure all of the details are there and to me, that's extremely satisfying."
The competition will begin Wednesday and run through Sunday.
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