Comets Win, Advance To Championship

The Grandview Comets are off to the Championship series in the NCHL.

They beat the Swan Valley Axemen last night, 5-4 at the GACC.

Once again Luke Stokotelny led the Comets with two goals for the second straight game.

Regan Hedley, Chris Porter, and Jason Shaw each added one apiece.

The Comets will now take on the Miniota-Elkhorn C-Hawks in the final.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 10, 2018 - 6:47 am

The Swan River Tigers are getting all set up for the start of their Championship series tomorrow.

The Tigers will battle with the Crocus Plains Plainsmen in the Consolation Side Final in the WHSHL.

"I think we have a very good chance at winning this series," said Cory Grandfield, Assistant Coach/Manager for the Tigers. "We know Crocus is going to come hard at us, but our guys are definitely excited for the challenge. They're playing good, but so are we."

It's already been a highlight year for the Tigers who are in their first year in the league and based on when they entered they are the newest team.

"It's uncharted territory for us for sure," said Grandfield. "I think everyone thought they were going to beat us. Our guys and ladies work extremely hard every single game. We're super excited for the chance to win the Consolation Championship."

Game one is set for 1:00 tomorrow in Swan River, and game two will be played in Brandon on Sunday.

"We're hoping to wrap it up in two games obviously," said Grandfield. "It's been a long playoff battle in each round going three so we'll just see what this round brings."

Game three if necessary will go on Monday in Brandon.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 9, 2018 - 2:22 pm

Several teams in the Parkland are taking part in Provincial Championships this weekend, and here's the schedule.

Swan Valley Atom - A in Ste. Anne

Friday - 4:00 p.m. (Tied 5-5), Saturday - 9:45 a.m.

Dauphin Atom - A1 in Steinbach

Friday - 3:30 p.m. (Loss 3-2) , Saturday - 11:45 a.m.

Dauphin Atom - AA in Morden

Friday - 1:45 p.m. (Win 15-2), Saturday - 10:30 a.m., 3:15 p.m.

Grand Plains Atom - C in Grandview/Gilbert Plains

Friday - 11:00 a.m. (Won 10-1), 7:00 p.m. (Won 14-3)

Swan Valley Bantam - A in Virden

Friday - 12:30 p.m. (Win 7-3), 6:30 p.m. (Win 5-0)

Dauphin Bantam - AA in the Pas

Friday - 4:00 p.m. (Win 12-1), Saturday - 2:00 p.m.

Neepawa Bantam - B in Teulon

Friday - 3:30 p.m. (Win 9-4), Saturday - 11:30 a.m., 5:30 p.m.

McCreary Bantam - C in McCreary

Friday - 8:30 a.m. (Won 9-1), 4:30 p.m. (Win 11-1).

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 9, 2018 - 1:37 pm

The Bantam AA Dauphin Kings are off to the Pas for the Provincial Championships.

"The Provincials is always the biggest tournament of the year," said Jason Gibbs, Assistant Coach/Manager. "It's the Stanley Cup for the boys, and it's been our goal since September."

The team kicks off their action this afternoon at 4:00 against Cross Lake.

"The kids are all super excited," said Gibbs. "Even last night in Minnedosa, they were talking about getting this tournament going."

The Kings will be coming into the game with some momentum after they advanced to the final in the Parkissimo League last night with a win against Minnedosa.

"Our team has worked really hard all year long," said Gibbs. "To quote our coach Tyler Carefoot "We all need to pull on the rope at the same time, and play our game."

After today the Kings will finish their round-robin with a 12:00 p.m. game tomorrow against Peguis.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 9, 2018 - 11:15 am

Game three was the closest game of the series so far as Swan Valley won, 6-5.

So now the Grandview Comets have another chance to win their semi-final series against the Axemen tonight.

A four-goal period in the second from the Axemen proved to be the difference in the game on Wednesday despite a three-goal period from Grandview in the third.

Both teams struggled on the man advantage, going 0-11 combined with Grandview going 0-7.

Luke Stokotelny led the Comets with two goals in the game, while Regan Hedley had four assists, and Jason Shaw had three.

The puck drops at the GACC tonight at 9.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 9, 2018 - 9:23 am

It's the biggest weekend of the season for the Grand Plains Atom Hawks as they will host the Provincial Championships today through Sunday.

The Championships will be played in both Gilbert Plains and Grandview.

"All the players are so excited," said Cary Fillion, Board Member/Coach in Grand Plains Minor Hockey Association. "Even though they're only nine and ten-year-olds, they know there's something special about this weekend. This teams been together for about three years now, and they've been practicing really hard lately for it."

Grand Plains play their first game of the Championships this morning at 11:00 a.m. against Brandon at the GACC. They then play their second game of the day at 7 tonight, also at the GACC.

The atmosphere is going to be amazing because it's going to be jam-packed in the arena," said Fillion. "If you like hockey, and you want to see a bunch of nine and ten-year-olds give everything they have, you definitely want to come down to watch the games."

For the full schedule, and up to date statistics, you can head to Atom C Provincial Championships.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 9, 2018 - 9:12 am

It couldn’t have been much better of a day for Dauphin’s Mia Zamrykut.

She picked up not one, not two, but three medals at the Manitoba Winter Games on Thursday.

Her first medal came in the 50m freestyle race where she claimed bronze.

Mia picked up another bronze in the 100m backstroke race, and did one better in the 100m butterfly to win a silver medal.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 8, 2018 - 11:26 pm

The Dauphin AA Bantam Kings are heading to the Championship.

The Kings beat Minnedosa, 6-2 to sweep the best of three series against them.

Kyan Grouette scored two times for the Kings, while Carson Sokolan, Parker Bogusky, Johna Goodine, and Rylan Gibbs scored one each.

The Kings will now meet Swan River in the finals, and that starts next week.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 8, 2018 - 10:46 pm

A recent commit has Dauphin's Marley Quesnel preparing for college hockey as she will be suiting up for the Assiniboine Community College (ACC) Cougars next season.

The Cougars play in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), which will give Marley an opportunity to play against teams from all across North America.

"It's definitely really exciting," said Quesnel. "I'll be able to compete against better teams and players from a lot of different places, which I can't wait for."

When Marley begins playing for the Cougars in the fall, she knows she will have some challenges adapting to college hockey, but she's ready for them.

"I'm a smaller goalie so I'm going to have to find a way to fill the net faster," said Quesnel. "I just have to keep working hard so I can make those big saves when needed."

Despite being a smaller goalie, Marley knew when she was a kid that she wanted to play hockey at the next level, and her work ethic is a big reason she's getting the chance too.

"It's been really hard," said Quesnel. "I've always tried putting in my best effort no matter what's happening. Even if we're losing games and things aren't going great, it's all about sticking with it and working hard."

Marley says one of the most exciting parts about playing for the Cougars will be playing with new players, and travelling around a lot more then she normally does.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 8, 2018 - 9:42 am

The Grandview Comets scored five times last night, but it wasn’t quite enough as they gave up six against Swan Valley.

The loss means the two teams will head back to Grandview for game four tomorrow night with the Comets leading the series, 2-1.

Luke Stokotelny led the team with two goals, while Regan Hedley, Jerron Kyle, and Steegan Stoski had one each.

Details: Contributed by Darnell Duff; Published: Mar 7, 2018 - 11:57 pm

Several Parkland Rangers players were just 12.7 seconds away from a gold medal this morning at the Manitoba Winter Games but will have to settle for second.

The Rangers that were a part of Team West White held lead a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes and were tied after 40 minutes.

In the third, the team took a 4-3 lead, but Team South White scored with just over 12 seconds left to tie it up.

In the extra frame, Team West White had a great chance on a breakaway, but couldn't score and just over seven minutes into the extra period South White scored to pick up the gold medal.

"It was super tough losing this game," said Parkland Ranger DJ Taylor-Luke. "We were feeling pretty confident going into the second, a little less confident going into the third, but we felt we still had it. But, not every game goes your way. Not everyone gets to play at the Manitoba Winter Games, so it was more of a blessing than a disappointment."

Luke ended up with one assist in the game, while other Parkland Ranger Tyson Zimmer had one goal and one assist.

Other Parkland Rangers that picked up a point in the game included Josh Thompson (one assist), Aidan Brook (one assist), and Wyatt Tweet (one assist), and Jayden Jubenvill (one assist).

Trey Sauder and Ryder Thompson from the Rangers also suited up for the team but didn't register a point.