AS I SEE IT COLUMN: What the Hellebuyck? Connor gives breathtaking analysis of his playoff performance

After writing about sports here for 40 years there isn’t much that surprises me, but I was beyond gob smacked when I saw Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck assess his play after the Jets once again failed to make it past the first round of the playoffs.

Here’s his verbatim quote at his end of season press availability: “You’re probably not going to believe when I say I was playing the best hockey of my career.”

Now it’s one thing to think that (as detached from reality as it is), but it’s entirely another to say it out loud, with TV cameras rolling.

By any hockey metric or standard, it is simply impossible that Hellebuyck played the best hockey of his career when Colorado dispatched the Jets in overwhelming fashion in five games.

Cops seize drugs, cash and firearm in Steinbach

An ongoing drug investigation reaped benefits for the Steinbach RCMP GIS (General Investigative Section) and the East District Crime Reduction Enforcement Support team as they executed a search warrant at a Steinbach residence on May 1.

Police say they seized methamphetamine, crack cocaine, psilocybin (magic mushrooms), 6 kg of illegal cannabis, 45,000 illegal cigarettes, a conducted energy weapon, a firearm and over $140,000 in cash.

That good day for local investigators turned out to be a very bad day for a 50-year-old female who was arrested at the scene and is facing a number of charges under the Criminal Code, Cannabis Act and the Tax Administration and Miscellaneous Taxes Act.

She was released from custody pending an upcoming court date.

Richer to host high school rodeo finals

Richer has only hosted a pair of high school rodeo events, but they’ve been tapped to host this year’s MHRSA (Manitoba High School Rodeo Association) finals.

Richer High School Committee President Mark Lanouette made the announcement in a press release, saying the association was impressed by the local park and facility and the dedicated hard work put in by volunteers over the last two years.

“We were able to successfully meet their criteria, and even plan for some added fun for the kids and their families,” he said.

While high school rodeo events are somewhat new to Richer, the association boasts 25 years of rodeo competition for both senior and junior high school students.

Taking out the trash

There were 850 volunteers at Steinbach’s Pick Up and Walk May 4. Families, members of 19 churches, and other small unaffiliated groups collected 10.6 tonnes of garbage. That is the equivalent of one very full day of Steinbach waste on the garbage day cycle according to city manager of solid waste Eldon Wallman.

HSD chair glad to have met with minister

Hanover School Division board chair Brad Unger said meeting with the minister of education last week was a good opportunity to have a listening ear.

Last Wednesday, Minister of Education Nello Altomare called the school board to his office for a discussion after he received a letter from the Hanover Parent Alliance for Diversity (HPAD) claiming the board was implementing discriminatory practices.

In the letter to the minister, dated April 2, HPAD calls for the resignation of board chair Brad Unger and vice-chair Jeff Friesen and trustees Dallas Wiebe, Shayne Barkman, Lynn Barkman, and Cheryl Froese. All five of the trustees, except for Unger, voted to hire music and phys-ed teachers through the superintendent and board members, effectively canceling out principals in the decision making process. The board also voted on, and rejected, motions by Shayne Barkman for the board to have a list of candidates for principal and vice-principal and to separate Grade 7 students based on gender when talking about sensitive topics, such as gender issues or sex education.

HPAD also was alarmed that the board allowed a parent to share his concerns about a non-binary girl changing in the boys changeroom, which made his 14-year-old son uncomfortable. The parent asked for gender neutral bathrooms to be installed at Steinbach Regional Secondary School where non-binary and trans kids can change.

Steinbach players announce university commitments

The end of the Steinbach Pistons season means players are beginning to announce the next steps of their hockey careers.

Kirk Mullen and Cole Plowman both committed to collegiate hockey in the days following Steinbach’s defeat in the Turnbull Cup finals to the Winkler Flyers.

Plowman will be heading to the NCAA’s University of Alaska Fairbanks. The 2003-born goaltender posted 95 starts across his career in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL), split between the Selkirk Steelers and Pistons.

Plowman has been outstanding for Steinbach since moving franchises during the 2022 off-season, racking up an impressive 47-12 record in the regular season.

Three Southeast residents honoured at TOPS event

Three TOPS (Taking Off Pounds Sensibly) divisional winners in Manitoba come from the Southeast. The non-profit weight loss organization held its conference on May 3 and 4 at the Mennonite Heritage Village where it crowned its provincial queen and gave ribbons to its divisional winners.

“My weight journey has been a lifelong struggle,” said Ste Anne division winner Emily Friesen. “I’ve always had a weight problem as far back as I can remember. As an adult I tried all the weight loss clubs that it gave. I often did quite well and managed to keep off at least 50 pounds. But in the end, I struggled with my last 25-30 pounds. I was like a yoyo.”

Freisen lost a total of 28.6 pounds since last January, when she joined TOPS. She said she came from a family history of poor circulation and diabetes.

“My mom and two siblings have lost limbs, and so I became very intentional. I also wanted to do outdoor projects with my husband, and often found myself not being able to keep up, and getting winded,” she said.

Event explores accessing gender affirming care

An event hosted by Steinbach Neighbours for Community will offer information on how to access gender affirming care in Manitoba.

Set for Saturday at the Steinbach Curling Club, it will be presented by Winnipeg based Klinic Community Health and sponsored by Southern Health and Healthy Together Now.

The session will be a homecoming of sorts for presenter Parker Morran, a trans health social worker with Klinic Community Health, a charitable, not-for-profit health-care centre.

They grew up in the area, calling Kleefeld home.

COLUMN: Tales from the Gravel Ridge – The unique geography of Rosengard

Geography is the study of the lands of the earth, including its various features as well as its inhabitants.

The geography of Rosengard, the community that was home to me for the first two decades of my life, was, in my opinion, truly unique. Every community doubtless has its own distinctive features. However, long before recorded history had expounded on the uniqueness of Rosengard’s geography, glacial Lake Agassiz, that immense body of water that covered so much of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario, as well as parts of the northern United States, was slowly but surely melting. In its wake beach ridges developed, and bit by bit, Rosengard’s all-weather roadway came into being.

The staff at the Winnipeg Land Titles Office was most accommodating when I indicated to them a while back that I wished to search the title for a somewhat complicated legal description. Back then a certain relaxed atmosphere prevailed at the Land Titles Office. Perhaps it is so to this day. However, I am quite certain that the very large, heavy binders that held the titles containing the legal descriptions of land located within the jurisdiction of that office, are no longer readily available to those wishing to do a legal search of a certain parcel of land.

The legal description that was of particular interest to me on the occasion of my visit to the Land Titles Office was one I had copied from the agreement entered into on September 28, 1938 between Julius Block, who owned the property in question, and my father, Cornelius H. Falk who was in the process of purchasing it. The description was indeed complex, but the Land Titles staff, being familiar with such terminology, had no difficulty making the necessary calculations and sketches. They informed me that a plan had been registered for the property, and that I could visit the Surveys section to take a look at it. I immediately did that, and then purchased a copy of the plan. I had no need or purpose for this acquisition, but it held particular meaning for me. It was the place where I was born, and that was home for us for many years.