MJHL NOTES: Neepawa Titans extend head coach/GM Pearson

The Neepawa Titans have stability behind the bench, as the Manitoba Junior Hockey League franchise announced they were extending the contract of current head coach/general manager Ken Pearson.

Pearson is from Neepawa and jumped straight from playing for his hometown team to assistant coach in 1994/1995.

“Neepawa is a special place, and I’m grateful for the trust the organization and community have placed in me,” Pearson said in a Titans news release.

“We’ve made great strides, and there’s still so much potential here. I’m excited to continue building a program our town can be proud of.”

Flin Flon Bombers look to salvage Centennial Cup with playoff charge

Half a second isn't exactly a long time in a hockey game, but that was the difference the Flin Flon Bombers needed as they defeated the Greater Sudbury Cubs for their first win of the Centennial Cup May 11.

After Flin Flon took a 4-1 first period lead, the Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League champion Cubs battled back to tie the game in the second. In the closing moments of the frame Reid Arberry led a three-on-two rush up the ice, wristing a shot from the top of the face-off circle that hit the back of the net just before the final buzzer sounded.

Arberry's marker would hold up as the game-winner in a 6-4 victory for the Bombers, their first at the 2026 Centennial Cup in Summerside, P.E.I.

"I heard (head coach Mike Reagan) yelling from the bench, I think I heard 'three,' when I crossed the blue line area and decided to take one more step and fire it on net and found it far side," Arberry said.

Niverville’s Dubinsky named finalist for CJHL top goalie award

Austin Dubinsky has a chance to add yet more hardware to his trophy case.

The Niverville Nighthawks goaltender was named the league’s top regular season goaltender and playoff most valuable player as he backstopped his club to a Turnbull Cup championship. He’s now up for the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s top goaltender award, competing against other to goalies from the nine other junior A CJHL leagues across Canada.

Dubinsky lost just five games this season, with a 34-3-1 record in the regular season and a 12-1 record in the playoffs.

He’s up against Flin Flon’s Charlie Tritt (SJHL), who was traded from Humboldt this season, Leamington’s Tre Altiman (OJHL), Kemptville’s Rylan Donovan (CCHL) and Longueuil’s Mathis Lacroix-Goulet (LHJAAAQ).

Cannabis advocates launch Steinbach petition for retail cannabis vote

A group of Manitoba cannabis retailers have launched a petition to put retail cannabis sales on the Steinbach ballot during the municipal election.

Tobagrown, a cannabis producer and advocacy group, and Winnipeg-based retailer Flamingo Plus launched the petition on April 20 to garner signatures to hold a citywide plebiscite during the Oct. 28 municipal elections.

Since the campaign’s start, the petition has garnered 1,204 signatures, almost half of the required 3,300 or 20 percent of Steinbach’s population. An identical plebiscite petition has also been launched in Winker, after the city council previously voted down the initial resolution for the vote.

When speaking with residents, Jessie Lavoie, founder of Tobagrown, said the petition is about voters’ rights because many people want the chance to vote on having cannabis retailers, regardless of their support.

1946 – 2026 Watching Steinbach Grow: Community supports efforts to create a very special school

During the third week of September in 1957 people in Steinbach and the surrounding area received a circular in the mail seeking support for an organization hoping to provide a school for the training of children with an intellectual disability.

In case anyone was tempted to classify the letter as “just another appeal for your money,” an editorial in The Carillon News urged people to speak to Bert Friesen, before they tossed the circular into the waste basket.

Bert Friesen was president of the Steinbach Branch of CAMR, and the driving force of a committee of six people responsible for building a modern two-classroom school for the training of intectually disabled children.

Although work on the building was still incomplete, the new Kindale School on Creek Road, across from the Kinsmen swimming pool, opened for classes Tuesday, Sept. 3, 1957.

Feasibility study on Sundown Ridge project deems project not worth the money

A recently completed feasibility study regarding the construction of a water drainage project in the RM of Stuartburn has determined that the project is not worth the cost of construction, yet municplaities are still considering the initative.

The feasibility study for the Sundown Ridge project was conducted by the Seine Rat Roseau Watershed District (SRRWD), who submitted its findings to the RMs of Stuartburn and Piney (who are partners on the project), ultimately deeming “the projected benefits (of the Sundown Ridge Project) do not justify the estimated $3 million capital cost,” according to a press release from the SRRWD.

Pankiw said the Sundown Ridge project is not a water retention pond or reservoir as it will not permanently hold water, rather it is a dry dam that will hold water temporarily and then slowly release it when conditions deem it possible. The dam will have two L berms to the north and south with a spillway at each berm that will slowly release water when it hits a certain elevation.

SRRWD manager Joey Pankiw told The Carillon that the cost is a very conservative amount if the project were to proceed.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 1996: Sproule shows stuff at Goldeyes spring camp

He’s big. Very big. At six-feet, four-inches and 220 pounds, Giroux native Dean Sproule is the largest pitcher at the Winnipeg Goldeyes 1996 spring training camp.

The 22-year-old hurler is one of 13 pitchers at the main camp trying to earn a spot with the defending Northern League champions. Sproule knows it’s a long shot, but is thrilled with the opportunity to show his stuff to manager Hal Lanier and pitching coach Bob Kipper.

Lanier is the former National League Manager of the Year with the Houston Astros, and Kipper had an eight-year pitching career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Eleven of the pitchers in camp received previous invitations to attend spring training. The other two, Sproule and 19-year-old Rodney Spek of Gladstone caught Lanier’s attention at a one-day open camp on May 11 at Winnipeg Stadium, the Goldeyes home field. These two were picked out of seven pitchers to attend the two-week main camp.

Carillon Sports Second Shots: Centennial Cup May 9

Featuring photos from three games at the Centennial Cup at Summerside, P.E.I., including Niverville vs Thunder Bay, Flin Flon vs Toronto and Summerside vs Rockland.

Shared Health not posting all vacant paramedic jobs: union

The Manitoba union representing rural paramedics is raising concerns that Shared Health isn’t posting all available jobs and some haven’t been made public for more than a year, despite recording vacancies on the rise throughout the province.

The Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals provided Shared Health data, accessed through freedom of information requests, showing vacant paramedic positions across Manitoba increased from 90 in 2023 to 162 in 2025. In Southern Health, vacant jobs rose from 25 in 2023 to 30 in 2025.

Of that number, 12 positions, nearly half of Southern Health’s vacant positions, haven’t been posted for 90 days or longer, with the longest lasting 432 days. Four of those positions are located in Steinbach.

Filled Manitoba paramedic jobs also decreased from 519 in 2023 to 485 in 2025.

AS I SEE IT COLUMN: We’re all Habs fans now

Thanks to the outstanding goaltending of Montréal’s Jakub Dobeš – who did what has never been said of Winnipeg’s Connor Hellebuyck, which is singlehandedly stealing a series-deciding playoff game that his team had no right winning – the Canadiens advanced to the second-round of the NHL playoffs as the only hope to end Canada’s 33-year Stanley Cup drought.

The Habs were the last Canadian-based NHL team to win Lord Stanley’s cup, back in 1993 when Whitney Houston topped the music charts and the X-Files ruled TV.

The Habs are an interesting franchise. When they visit the Jets – and any other Canadian city – local hockey fans are sometimes irked by all the Canadiens jerseys in the stands. Locals want everyone to support their NHL team but the Habs are an original six team and the winningest hockey club in league history.

They are a storied, fabled franchise. They do pre-game ceremonies with more emotion and heart than any pro sports franchise on earth. In North American team sports, only the New York Yankees (27) have more league championships than Montréal (24).

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: CFL’s new playoff system does have positives

When I first read about the CFL’s new playoff format, I didn’t know what to think.

Starting in 2027, the top two teams in both conferences will play a page playoff game, with the winner advancing to a semi-final and the loser playing the winner of a 3 vs 4 qualification game, setting up the semi-finals. The system is similar to the Brier and Scotties curling tournaments.

There’s certainly been a strong reaction across fans of the league to the change, as should have been expected, but my reaction was a lot different than the rule changes announced late last year.

There are certainly negatives to the new plan. Eight of the nine teams in the league will make the post-season in the new system, which is way too many. But I think most years having six teams make the playoffs, as is the case in the CFL currently, is probably too many to begin with.