If you're a sports fan and you live in the Parkland, 2020 is set to be an exciting year for you with a few huge events coming to the region. From January 1-5, the Telus Junior Curling Provincial Championships will take over Credit Union Place and the Dauphin Curling Club.

From August 9-15, Dauphin will host the 2020 Manitoba Summer Games. Prior to the Manitoba Summer Games, the best Rural Bantam AAA players in the province will be heading to Swan River as the Parkland Bantam Rangers will host the 2020 Rural AAA Provincial Championships at the Swan River Centennial Arena.

The event will take place from March 13-15. The event will feature Parkland, Yellowhead, Pembina Valley, Southwest, Brandon, Norman, Central Plains, Eastman, and Interlake. The winner will play the champion of the city teams for a berth in the Western Canadian Championships.

"It's pretty exciting. I don't know if the AAA program has hosted this kind of tournament in the Parkland area," said Tom White, head coach. "It's a really exciting time moving forward."

"I have a feeling that the players are going to be super excited, they'll have an extra jump to their step," he continued. "They'll have a little fun with it and they'll be ready to go."

Entering the tournament, all of the competing teams will be ranked based on their regular-season standings. Eastman is currently 10-2-1 which means they would be the top-ranked team if the championships were to begin today. Right behind them with 18 points is the Rangers and they would be the second-ranked team. The Yellowhead Chiefs would be ranked third.

The Rangers are back at it this weekend as they continue to work on improving ahead of the big event. They're playing in the Winnipeg Jets AAA Classic in Winnipeg. First up is the Vancouver NE Chiefs this afternoon at 2:30. They will then play the Winnipeg Warriors and Minot Wolves tomorrow as they wrap up their round-robin. 

Leading up to the tournament, the Rangers have several exceptional offensive talents. Leading the way is Brayden Dube. In just 14 regular-season games, the Roblin native already has 54 points, 32 of which are goals. That is 18 more points than Jayden Perron who is second in AAA scoring. 

"Brayden's a special player, he's pretty electric on the ice," concluded White. "Every time he has the puck, he's really tough to defend. He loves to shoot the puck and he's been pretty successful so far."