Trojans' Bonham Achieves All-Star Goal

The best graduating high school volleyball players in the province will be in Winnipeg this weekend to play in an all-star game to wrap up their high school careers.

Three Gilbert Plains Trojans varsity girls will be there, one of which is 17-year-old Grace Bonham. For years, Bonham has been setting up Trojans hitters and now she'll look to set up some of the best from around the province.

"It's really cool that I was invited and it was unexpected," said Bonham. "It's also great that I'll be going with two of my teammates."

Grace will be joined by Paige Gaber and Mackenzie Zatylny who I'll be chatting with tomorrow. The girls have played together their entire high school careers and they'll do so one more time this weekend.

"Yeah, that's really exciting. Playing with them again will be awesome, it's always a blast," continued Bonham.

The game will feature players from the A-AA-AAA ranks. Gilbert Plains is an "A" rank school, but Grace knows they'll be able to compete well.

"It's going to be a good game. We played AAA schools throughout the season and we did well against them," she added.

Grace's time as Trojan came to an end this past weekend and she finished things on top. The team won the "A" provincial championships by beating Strathclair in the finals.

"That was awesome. Just to know we've won it three times, not many people can say they've done that," she added. "I couldn't be happier that it happened with the great group of girls we have."

A special group of girls is exactly what the Trojans' are. Dating back to their junior varsity days, the team won three straight provincials. The process of winning championships began in grade five for the majority of the team as they've been playing together since then.

All those hours of practicing and spending time bonding helped push the team to the top of the province.

"Having all that experience with each other really helped us," she concluded.

Stay tuned to hear from Mackenzie tomorrow.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 4, 2019 - 10:31 am

Grady Hobbs scored three goals and the Dauphin Kings steamrolled the Selkirk Steelers, 9-3, tonight inside of Credit Union Place.

It was Hobbs' first-ever hat-trick during his time in the MJHL.

"It was nice to finally get one. It took 193 games, but it feels good," said Hobbs. "With that said, I'm just happy I was able to help this team win."

The game, however, didn't start off well for Dauphin. Just 4:12 in, Blake Burr scored on the power play to give Selkirk a 1-0 lead. Less than a minute later, Hobbs scored his first goal of the game at the 4:58 mark to tie it up.

With 1:33 left, Parker Fofonoff made it 2-1 Dauphin after 20. Brendan Arnold would make it 3-1 on a breakaway, 8:35 into the second. Cole Wigestrand would cut into the deficit with a goal at 14:32 that saw Dauphin lead 3-2.

From there, the Kings took over. Before the period was over, Grady Hobbs would make it 4-2.

Just 45 seconds into the third, Carter Sawchuk scored his 12th of the season. Less than 1:30 later, Austin Lamotte would make it 6-2 with his seventh of the campaign and Dauphin kept on coming.

7:24 in, Nakodan Greyeyes got in on the parade with his 17th goal. Down 7-2, the Steelers would score with Blake Burr as he made it 7-3, but that's as close as Selkirk would get.

Brayden Pawluk and Grady Hobbs would score later to make it 9-3 and that was the final. In two games at Credit Union Place against Selkirk, Dauphin has outscored them, 20-5.

The Kings will look to make it seven straight on Friday when Winnipeg is in town.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 3, 2019 - 10:43 pm

The McCreary Peewee Mustangs winning streak has been extended to nine games in league play.

Playing against Hamiota, Brady Turko had four points in the third as the club pulled away in a 5-1 win. Playing against Brandon, the Mustangs just continued doing their thing.

Backed by another solid performance in net from Chase Glover, the Mustangs won 4-1.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 3, 2019 - 12:30 pm

Two teams going in the opposite directions will meet tonight inside of Credit Union Place.

The Dauphin Kings, winners of five straight welcome the Selkirk Steelers to town, who have lost six of their last seven games.

During their hot run, the Kings have scored 22 goals. Selkirk, meanwhile, has given up 30 goals in their past seven games and they've scored just 16 times.

A win tonight in regulation would see the Kings jump ahead of Selkirk in the standings. The Kings could also end up just one point behind fourth place in the league with a win and a Waywayseecappo loss.

Tonight's game is the third of six straight home games for the club and they're a perfect 2-0 so far. Leading up to Christmas, Dauphin only has two more road games. They come on December 13 and 14.

In some Kings news yesterday, Austin Lamotte was named a Star of the Week. He had six points last week. Nakodan Greyeyes and Grady Hobbs were honourable mentions for the Player of the Month award and Cole DeKoninck was a runner-up for Defenceman of the Month.

It's also TV Tuesday down at the rink. If you buy a 50/50, you're automatically in a draw for a 43" HDTV. You can also get your Tractor Lotto tickets at the game. The deadline for that is on Saturday night and the draw is after the Kings game on Sunday when Virden is in town.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 3, 2019 - 5:44 am

Dauphin Kings forward Austin Lamotte has been named an MJHL Star of the Week.

Lamotte had two goals and four assists last week for the Kings in just two games.

In other Kings news, a couple of players have been named honourable mentions for the Player of the Month awards.

Nakodan Greyeyes and Grady Hobbs are the first two. Hobbs had 11 and 10 assists last month and Nakodan had eight goals and 13 assists.

Cole Dekoninck was a runner-up for Defenceman of the Month. He had seven goals and eight assists last month.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 2, 2019 - 6:06 pm

Only a select amount of grade 12 volleyball players get invited to the Graduating High School All-Star game every December. The exact number is 30 and the selected are chosen based on their performance with their respective school team throughout the season.

The Gilbert Plains Collegiate will be sending three players to play in the game, one of which is, Paige Gaber. The Gilbert Plains native will call Winnipeg her home this weekend as the banquet and game takes place on Saturday.

"It felt pretty amazing to find out I was chosen. I didn't expect it at all," said Gaber. "I'm really excited; it's going to be an amazing experience for all of us to go."

"I improved on and off the court throughout the season and it's nice to know that my hard work paid off," she added.

Gaber will be joined by her teammates, Mackenzie Zatylny and Grace Bonham. The three have been playing for several years together including the last four at the high school level and now they'll do so one more time among some of the best in the province.

"Yeah, it's going to be pretty amazing. I'm so excited to play with Mackenzie and Grace one more time," she continued.

On top of Gilbert Plains Collegiate, the event will feature players from 14 other schools from the "A" rank to the "AAA" ranks. The list of players also includes Marly Pellerin who helped the Neelin girls win the "AAA" provincials over the weekend.

"I'm kind of anxious. It's going to be good playing with other girls," Gaber added. "I've played with the same girls basically my whole life, so it's going to be a new and fun experience playing with different ones."

Paige found out prior to her provincials that she made the team and that she would head to Winnipeg with the best. However, it wasn't something she was really even thinking about. The only thing over the weekend that was on Paige's mind was winning a provincial title with the Trojans varsity girls’ team.

In the end, that's exactly what Paige and the team did. They went undefeated to win their second straight provincial title and third straight dating back to junior varsity.

Paige was a force on the court as per usual and she was named a game-star during one of the team's games.

"I can't even explain the feeling, it's just so amazing," she continued. "We didn't expect to do it three years in a row. It sure feels good to have those three gold medals."

Paige's high school volleyball days may come to an end this weekend. However, that doesn't mean she won't be playing volleyball at the next level. She was approached by the coach of the Assiniboine Community College Cougars from Brandon at the provincials in Riverton. Paige isn't sure if that's where she will head, but it's a door that has certainly opened for her.

"It feels pretty good. It was pretty great to chat with the coach and to hear him talk about everything," Gaber concluded.

As mentioned above, Grace and Mackenzie are also heading to the banquet and game this weekend and you can stay tuned to hear from them later this week.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 2, 2019 - 1:10 pm

The Johnston & Company Parkland Junior Curling Tour's round-robin came to a close yesterday.

Here are the scores:

Intermountain Contracting LTD (Hunter Dundas)			7
Grandview Pharmacy (Anya Jackson)			6

Johnston & Company (Shayna Benson)			2
Swan Valley Pharmacy (Jess Meyn)			6

Formo Motors (Bailey Mangin)			2
Swan River Key Chevrolet (Presley Sagert)			12

Gilbert Plains CO-OP (Colten Gawryluik)			6	Extra End
River Valley Power Sports (Makenna Hadway)			5


Below are the final standings heading into the playoffs:

	Win	Loss
Swan River Key Chevrolet	6	1
Intermountain Contracting LTD	6	1
Grandview Pharmacy	5	2
Gilbert Plains CO-OP	4	3
River Valley Powersports	4	3
Formo Motors	2	5
Swan Valley Pharmacy	1	6
Johnston & Company	0	7

Stay tuned later this week for the playoff schedule.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 2, 2019 - 12:18 pm

The Manitoba Junior Curling Tour features the best men's and women's teams from around the province, all of which battle for several titles throughout the season, the biggest of which is the season-ending Tour Final.

On the women's side, the 2019 circuit was dominated by Dauphin's Lane Prokopowich and her team. Before this past weekend, the foursome came together to win the Morris MJCT and the Petersfield MJCT. The two titles earned the team the top spot heading into the finale with the biggest prize up for grabs.

Lane and her team would begin the tournament with two straight wins. They would then drop an 8-4 decision against Team Zacharias. After that, the foursome went into cruise mode. They won their final round-robin game, 7-2. They would then win their semifinal, 7-5, which put them up against Team Zacharias in the finals.

Trailing 2-1 through two ends, Team Gray-Withers would steal the show. They scored eight straight points from the third end to the sixth and Team Zacharias would shake after the sixth end as they were trailing 9-2. The win means Lane and the rest of Team Gray-Withers are the 2019 Manitoba Junior Curling Tour women's Champions. It also completed a three-win circuit.

"It felt incredible for all of us. Going into the event, we knew we would have to bring our best game because we were playing the best teams in the province," said Prokopowich. "It was also nice to get some redemption on Team Zacharias because we lost to them last year. It was great to come out on top this year."

"We sort of treated the event like a pre-trial before provincials. We know we're going to see the same faces next month," she added. "We just wanted to have some fun and relax and play as we could."

This bonspiel was the final one for the team before they take part in no doubt their biggest event of the season so far. The team has already qualified for the Telus Junior Men's and Women's Provincial Championships that will take place at Credit Union Place and the Dauphin Curling Club from January 1-5, 2020.

With three wins under their belt, the team knows they have a chance to get it done.

"Winning the MJCT Final gave us a confidence boost heading into the provincials," she added. "We'll most likely be ranked first or second going into the provincials which is amazing. With that said, we know we're going to have to make all of our shots and play our best at all times."

Lane is one of several local athletes that will get the opportunity to shine right at home in front of her family and friends. Dauphin's Lauryn Kuzyk and her team won the provincials last year. It's not often that a rural team has a great opportunity to win the provincials in their hometown, but Prokopowich is ready for the challenge that will await her and Team Gray-Withers from January 1-5.

"It's going to be amazing playing an event in my hometown. It's honestly like a dream come true for me," she concluded. "All of my family and friends will be watching, it honestly means everything to me."

Swan River will host a West 1 Regional this weekend which means the Parkland could clinch a couple of more spots in the event this weekend.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 2, 2019 - 10:35 am

The Grand Plains Peewee Hawks had a great weekend and they’re consolation champions because of it.

Playing in Moosomin, the Hawks beat a team Regina, 3-0 to begin their weekend.

In their next game, they played solid against Virden, but they fell short in a shootout, 3-2.

Grand Plains rebounded quickly and they easily took care of the Beinfait Imperials in the consolation side title game.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Dec 1, 2019 - 9:29 pm

It's been a busy day for Doug Hedley and the rest of the Dauphin Kings organization. Ahead of their next game which comes on Tuesday against the Selkirk Steelers, the club has completed a couple of trades.

One of the deals the team completed was trading Grandview's Koby Morrisseau to the Portage Terriers, who will host the Centennial Cup in May. Morrisseau had 13 points in 10 games this season for Dauphin.

In exchange, Dauphin acquired Bryson Cecconi and future considerations. Bryson started this season with the SJHL's Humboldt Broncos where he had 25 points (11G) in 25 games. He played three games for Portage before the trade today.

"We were trying to get Cecconi from Humboldt before he was traded to Portage. We've had some really good reports on him," said Doug Hedley. "We're trying at this point to get him here. It's not certain if he will for sure be here, but we're definitely working on it."

In other trade, the Kings acquired 20-year-old Kasyn Kruse and Cordell Coleman from Swan Valley. Kruse became a household name with Swan last year when he had 14 points in 17 playoff games as the team advanced to the league final.

Coleman played nine games with Swan Valley so far this season.

"Cordell is a big kid, so we want to get him some minutes. We're hoping he's a late developer and he can get some things going for us," said Hedley. "Kruse is a skilled guy and he's very good when it gets tough. We're hoping he can provide some depth and get some top-six minutes here."

Dauphin also sent Bryson McDonald and Jesse Mistelbacher to the Dryden Ice Dogs of the SIJHL. Dauphin will retain both of their rights come June.

In another trade, the team acquired Luke Seremet from the OCN Blizzard in exchange for 2003-born Ashton Romaniuk and future considerations.

Seremet is from Winnipeg and he's spent time with the Winnipeg Blues and is currently on the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey Leagues Charleswood Hawks where he has six points in eight games.

After the busy day, Hedley reacted to how things went overall.

"We still have some room on our roster for the 10th of January, we still have four cards open," concluded Hedley. "We're better moving forward than we were before today."