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Swan River's Riley McKay has started his third season in the WHL, but it's with a new team.

After a couple seasons with the Spokane Chiefs, Riley is now a part of the Saskatoon Blades.

And what a start to the season it's been for McKay and the rest of the Blades. They opened up their campaign with two straight wins which included an 8-0 victory against Swift Current on Saturday night.

"We have a really strong team this year," said McKay. "We have a great group of forwards, strong defence and some solid goaltending. I think we could for sure take a run. I've never been on a team that's been so close because everyone just gets along great."

"It's a really exciting time and it's great to know I'm closer to home," he added. "Now some of my family can come out to games and cheer us on."

It sure didn't take long for Riley's family to make the short trip to Saskatoon. On Saturday as the team played their home opener, Riley got his first chance to play in front of the people closest to him in life.

"It means a lot to me that my family can watch me play," said McKay. "They're the ones who have supported me my entire life and dedicated so much of their time to making sure I was all set up to play."

"There was probably about 20 of my family members that were at the home opener, so that was super special," added McKay. 

On top of the team's success in the first two games, Riley also enjoyed his own success. He scored one goal and peppered the Broncos goaltenders with eight shots overall.

In the past two seasons with Spokane, McKay recorded just seven goals.

"I'm hoping I can have a pretty solid year," added McKay. "The last couple years I was more of an enforcer out there, but I'm hoping this year I can get on the scoresheet more. I don't want to get away from how I played in the past, I'm just looking to contribute more offensively."

"I worked really hard in the off-season to prepare for this season," said McKay. "And it's starting to pay off which is nice."

He was sensational, and he's been recognized because of it. 

Dauphin Kings goaltender Brennan Kitchen has been named a runner-up for the MJHL Player of the Week.

Kitchen was 2-0 with a 1.44 GAA and a .958 save percentage in the team's two wins against Virden.

He turned away 69 of 72 shots his way including 45 in Sunday's game.

Photo Credit - Dauphin Kings.

The Dauphin Clippers girls soccer team went into cruise mode earlier today. 

Nicki Bich continued her incredible season with five goals as the Clippers beat the Gilbert Plains Trojans 10-0.

Mollie Nolan and Jayselyn Nybo also had great games scoring two goals each. 

Toni Koshowski scored the teams other marker.

The ladies will now head to Minnedosa this weekend for a tournament. 

It's officially time to start thinking about curling ladies.

The Dauphin Ladies Curling Club League will be holding their AGM tonight.

It goes down at 7:00 p.m. inside the Curler's Lounge at the Parkland Rec Complex. 

"We're trying to do a few things this year to bring lots of fun to the league," said Lisa Hale. "We're trying to make it more of a social league and just a fun time for all of the ladies to get together and get some exercise."

Even if you don't have a full foursome, you can sign up to play in the league.

"Just bring yourself and we'll do our best to get you on a team," added Hale.

The league itself will start next month.

It's early, but the Dauphin Kings are ranked as one of the best teams in the country.

In their first Top 20 rankings, the CJHL has the 2-0 Kings in the fourth spot. That's behind the Nipawin Hawks (SJHL), Soo Thunderbirds (NOJHL), and Titan de Princeville (LHJAAAQ). 

The Kings busted out of the gates with two straight wins over the Virden Oil Capitals this past weekend. 

A few other MJHL teams have cracked the Top 20 as well this week. 

The Waywayseecappo Wolverines are the next highest at # 7. They beat the defending Anavet Cup Champion Steinbach Pistons to kick off their season. They then whooped Selkirk yesterday.

Coming in at # 9 is the Winkler Flyers who started their season with back to back wins against Neepawa. And at # 10 is the Swan Valley Stampeders. They beat the OCN Blizzard in a home and home.

Photo Credit - Dauphin Kings.

The Dauphin Kings are off to a perfect start this season, and Dauphin's Bradyn Smelski is right in the middle of it all.

The 19-year-old Is in his second full season of junior hockey with the Kings after he played 46 games last season.

"It feels really good to be back with the Kings for sure," said Smelski. "We're going to have a really strong team this year and we're really fast. All of the guys are getting together nicely and it's just really great to be back with the team. I'm looking forward to the rest of the season."

Smelski and the Kings kicked off their season with back to back wins over the Virden Oil Capitals over the weekend. 

Now the squad will have a few days of practice before their regular season continues. They'll be in Selkirk on Friday, Steinbach on Saturday, and Winnipeg on Sunday.

"We're a pretty confident group right now for sure," added Smelski. "We know the league is wide open this season. We just have to play a full 60 minutes every game and we're pretty confident we can make a deep playoff push if we do that."

"We'll work hard at practice here this week and we'll be ready to go on Friday," he added. "It's an exciting time to be a King."

Being a veteran on the team this year, Bradyn will be called upon to be one of the leaders. Especially with the Kings having many very skilled young players on their roster.

"It's just about being fast and not overthinking things," added Smelski. "Everyone just needs to play their own game because that's what got them here."

Bradyn has yet to hit the scoreboard in the team's two games, but he was oh so close on a few occasions. On Saturday, he had multiple golden chances and again last night was the same thing. 

So far in 50 games, the Dauphinite has eight points. 

Brennan Kitchen was a brick wall making 45 saves, the Dauphin Kings battled extremely hard and they were rewarded for it.

They beat the Virden Oil Capitals for the second straight night last night, this time 2-1 in a shootout.

After no goals were scored in the opening frame, Marc-Antoine Couture scored his first as a King at the 13:55 mark.

The Kings then held the lead until Kolten Kanaski tied the game up with just over eight minutes left in the third.

From there, it was the Brennan Kitchen show. The 20-year-old made at least 10 incredible saves in the final part of the third and in overtime.

After 65, the game was tied at one and was shootout bound. Rookie Nakodan Greyeyes scored the lone goal in the shootout to give the Kings a thrilling 2-1 win.

The Kings will now take their 2-0 record on the road. They start a three games in three days road trip on Friday in Selkirk.

Tune into the game beginning with the Parkland Source for Sports pregame show at 7:15.

Photo Credit - Dauphin Kings.

Roblin's Josh Brook has achieved something he's been working towards for a very long time.

Earlier this weekend, the defencemen signed a three year, entry-level contract with the Montreal Canadiens, that's through the 2020-21 season.

In 45 games last season, Brook recorded 32 points with the Moose Jaw Warriors (3 G).

He also chipped in six more points in 14 playoff games. Brook was drafted in the second round, 56th overall by the Canadiens in the 2017 NHL Entry Draft.

Over the weekend in action with the Moose Jaw Warriors, Brook dominated. He had two goals in the contest against Brandon.

The newest team in the league is the hottest team in the league.

And that was bad news for the Dauphin Clippers football team on Sunday afternoon as they played their home opener.

The Interlake Thunder who just entered the league in the off-season came to Dauphin and beat the Clippers 26-14 at the Clipper Dome. Interlake moved to 3-0 on the season.

The Clippers dropped to 1-1 with the loss. They'll return to the field this Friday when they take on Parkwest on the road. 

He's already a Provincial Champion and now he's hoping to bring his skill to the next level.

As a part of the Dauphin Peewee AA Kings last year, Kyan Grouette was one of the team leaders as they won the championship right here in Dauphin at Credit Union Place.

Now the 13-year-old Dauphinite is looking to crack the Parkland Bantam Rangers roster. And, what a season debut he had last weekend.

In the team's first game against the Interlake Lightning, Grouette notched three goals to lead the team to a 5-2 win.

"I think I had a great weekend over there in Portage," said Grouette. "I have to work on my shot for sure because it wasn't the best, but I'm pretty happy with how I performed."

Before this weekend, Kyan had seen minimal action in a AAA bantam game. But, he did experience the bantam pace of play last year when he travelled with the Bantam AA Kings to the Pas for provincials.

When he looks back at that experience, he'll be the first one to say it helped him transition to Bantam AAA.

"That really allowed me to learn the faster pace of the game and it's more physical," said Grouette. "I feel like, after that, I was just confident in myself that I could just jump in and make things happen."

With no pre-season games left on the schedule as of yet for the Rangers, Kyan has his sights set on the big goal. The regular season. That'll begin for the squad in early October.

"I think I can contribute to this team quite a bit this year," added Grouette. "But, I can't do it myself. My teammates and I have all played together for a long time. We have great chemistry and I honestly just love them all."

With no games until the regular season, it'll allow Kyan lots of time to prepare for what's always a tough schedule for the Rangers. When you combine the games the team plays with their travel schedule, it's always taxing. But, his hard work leading up to this season should allow him to fit in nicely.

"I worked out all summer with Doug Hedley," added Grouette. "I also played in the 4-on-4 league. And of course on my own time. I love stick handling in the basement and I worked out quite a bit. I had to make sure I was ready for the season and the grind."

Although he's already a big-time winner with the AA Kings last season, Kyan doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon and he wants winning to be a part of his future.

"My whole life I've wanted to win a championship," said Grouette. "We did that last year and it felt great so all of us including myself want more. I'm hoping I can pitch in like 20 to 30 points and I know the whole team is pushing for the grand prize at the end of the day."

Steven Arp's goal this season is to make the Bantam Parkland Rangers.

And, if this past weekend is any indication, the 14-year-old from Swan River will have no problem doing so.

In a pre-season tournament with the Rangers, Arp scored two goals as the team went 2-2.

"I'm pretty happy with the way I played," said Arp. "I was happy with my playmaking. Going forward though, I definitely have to work on my skating because I'm not the fastest out there and AAA is super high paced."

One of the things that were very promising over the weekend was the team's chemistry. For some teams bringing in players from all over a region, it could take time to find chemistry and play the way that's needed to have success. 

For Arp and the rest of the Rangers, that wasn't a problem.

"We all get along really well out there," said Arp. "We've all played together before quite a bit. We're just really good friends and we enjoy playing with each other."

At this time, the Rangers don't have any more games until the regular season starts up in October. When it does start, Steven has a good feeling the team has what it takes to make some noise.

"We're looking really good out there," said Arp. "We have some really good goaltenders and it's going to be tough to cut one. All of the teams were pretty close this past weekend and we stayed competitive. I think it's all set up to be a pretty exciting season."

Steven will continue to work hard on and off the ice to prepare for the season as he looks to make a difference on last year's Rural Provincial Championship AAA bronze medalists.