AS I SEE IT COLUMN: This could be the best year in Canadian hockey history

Remember the euphoria you felt when Connor McDavid scored the game winning goal in the 4 Nations tournament?

If certain things fall into place, that elation might just be the tip of the emotional iceberg for Canadians, for what could end up being - by orders of magnitude - the greatest year in Canadian hockey history.

Political tensions with our neighbours to the south hasn’t just suffused hockey games with meaning that goes well beyond sports, it’s also led to an enormous rise in patriotic pride in Canada. The combination of bruising tariffs costing jobs in Canada, insults to our Prime Minister and threats to make our beautiful, sovereign nation America’s 51st state, have crystalized a sense of collective Canadian pride this nation hasn’t felt since World War II.

The fans feel it and so do Canadian hockey players.

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Looking back on a busy hockey season

The first thing I do when the Manitoba Junior Hockey League announces their schedule for the year is to combine the Niverville Nighthawks and Steinbach Pistons schedules into one combined calendar and print them out.

Those pages make up the print portion of my event tracker for the year, and let me tell you, it was a busy hockey season for me. I break down my year into two sections. Hockey season begins with the first Manitoba Junior Hockey League regular season game of the year and baseball season begins when I cover my first baseball game of the year.

I attended or watched 174 events this hockey season, the most in my three years working as The Carillon’s sports editor. A massive number which was a little overkill, especially as hockey playoffs ramped up in February/March this year. In those two months combined, I attended 65 different events, averaging more than one per day.

That 174 even understates the total games I attended, with Providence Pilots double-headers counted as a single event in my yearly tracker.

Curling Grand Slam will be ‘Neil Armstrong moment’ for SEC

The countdown is officially on for Steinbach to host the Grand Slam of Curling’s Players’ Championship.

Organizers, politicians and curling stars were in attendance at the newly built Southeast Event Centre (SEC) in May 13 to promote and officially kick off the event, which will take place Jan. 6-11 in 2026.

Manitoba hasn’t hosted a Grand Slam since 2018.

The Centre’s general manager, Jeff Bannon, said the Players’ Championship will be the SEC’s chance to make a strong first impression on the national stage.

Countdown is on for 55+ Games in Steinbach

The Pat Porter Centre is preparing to welcome the province, as the Manitoba 55+ Games are only a few weeks away.

Athletes from across Manitoba will be in Steinbach to compete in events as different as cribbage and beach volleyball, this year’s demo event. Opening ceremonies for the games will be June 2 at 6 p.m.

Audrey Harder is the executive director of the Pat Porter Active Living Centre and leader in Steinbach for the games. She said everything is on track for a smoothly run event.

“We feel things are just falling into place as they should,” Harder said.

Carillon Sports Second Shots: May 1/7 edition

Featuring photos from the Niverville Nighthawks and Steinbach Pistons spring camp, games inside the Southeast Event Centre and High School Baseball games in Mitchell May 1.

MJHL teams tweak spring camp structures

The junior hockey landscape has changed massively this season.

If the elimination of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League draft or rule changes related to NCAA college eligibility aren’t convincing on their own, fans only need to look at how the local teams are running their spring camps to see a difference.

Both the Steinbach Pistons and Niverville Nighthawks held their camps in the past two weeks, with both teams general managers tweaking how they run the annual event.

For Niverville general manager Mike McAulay, just crafting the 144-player camp roster was different for the Nighthawks this season.

Steinbach Regional DB to play at high-profile prospects event

Juddah Wohlgemuth will get a chance to impress on one of the biggest stages a Canadian football prospect can play in.

The Steinbach Regional Secondary School defensive back was named to the CanadaFootballChat.com’s fifth annual prospect game.

TSN analysts Davis Sanchez and Milt Stegall are set to return as coaches for the event, which is broadcast on the network. The game is moving from Ottawa to Hamilton this season.

To be selected, players were invited to one of eight “professional combine settings,” with events like the 40-yard dash, shuttle, vertical and broad jump.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 2000: Whiteshell windsurfers are all-weather sailors

Some might call them enthusiasts; others may suggest they are diehards or even fanatics. At any rate, Steinbach’s Mitch Toews, 44, and Jack Schellenberg, 51, have found their niche, sailing the waters of the Whiteshell on their state-of-the-art windsurfing boards.

Toews owns a cottage on Jessica Lake and Schellenberg has a seasonal trailer at neighboring Brereton Lake. Depending on wind directions, they will be sailing together on either lake most weekends during the spring, summer and fall. Or, especially for Toews, just about any time there is open water.

Toews also briefly toyed with the idea of adding a kit with wheels to his windsurfer, so he could sail on ice.

“I abandoned that notion, deciding that falling into water is one thing, but crashing on ice is quite another.”

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Thoughts on a crazy end to the MJHL season

While attention this week went to game seven of the Winnipeg Jets and St Louis Blues, there was another overtime game seven that was required viewing for fans of junior hockey in the province.

The NorMan Blizzard are back on top of Manitoba hockey, beating the Dauphin Kings to claim the Turnbull Cup, awarded to the champions of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

While my predictions on the MJHL this season in the post-season were pretty bad, my pre-season prediction of NorMan being the team to watch out of the West Division did come true, in the most spectacular way.

Congrats to the new ownership and Eric Labrosse for working to revive the Blizzard back to premier status in the league.

AS I SEE IT COLUMN: A franchise-defining win for the Jets

In 1970 when there was talk of professional hockey coming to Manitoba in the form of the WHA, my forward-thinking dad got season tickets because he thought one day the WHA might merge with the NHL.

Fast forward 55 years to the Jets squeaking out a game 7 win against the St Louis Blues, and it was the kind of hockey he dreamed about, the kind of magical moments we had so many of in the WHA and which have been so hard to come by in the NHL.

Let’s face reality. Other than some exceptions in the Dale Hawerchuk and Teemu Selanne eras, the experience of Jets fans in the NHL era has been largely disappointing and often frustrating.

That changed with the Jets’ gutsy performance in game seven.

Grey Cup tour will be familiar sight in region this summer

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are hoping to inspire an entire province as the organization gets set to host the Grey Cup this fall.

The team announced a 40-stop tour across all of Manitoba during a Grey Cup Festival kick-off event in Winnipeg May 1. The Grey Cup includes a week-long festival in the host city, making it one of the biggest sporting events in the country.

“Everyone will get to experience what a Grey Cup Festival is like in our province,” Bombers president Wade Miller said.

“Our team is so excited to get out through the province and get the Grey Cup Festival kicked off.”

NorMan take Turnbull Cup with triple-overtime winner

It took until nearly the next day, but the NorMan Blizzard took the Manitoba Junior Hockey League championship in the most dramatic possible fashion May 1.

Quincy Supprien broke a 1-1 deadlock in the third overtime of game seven to claim the Blizzard’s first title since 2003. Supprien took advantage right after a face-off, crashing towards the dot and immediately shooting a loose puck past Cole Sheffield, setting off incredible celebrations.

“It’s amazing, unbelievable,” Supprien said in a video posted to the MJHL’s social media.

“It’s like a dream coming true.”

Paronuzzi nominated for CJHL awards

Connor Paronuzzi’s historic season could come with even more hardware, as the Steinbach forward is one of five finalists for the Canadian Junior Hockey League top forward and player of the year awards.

Already named the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s most valuable player, Paronuzzi re-wrote the Steinbach Pistons’ single-season record book, setting new highs for assists (64) and points (93). He was the first Piston to be named the league’s most valuable player for a season.

The news release noted Paronuzzi “is a player that can simply turn a nothing play into offense.”

The CJHL organizes junior A hockey leagues across the country.

‘We just want to play,’ — Aces booted from SEMHL

The South East Manitoba Hockey League sent shockwaves across senior hockey in the province May 4, deciding to kick out the Ste Anne Aces.

The Aces won the league championship the past three seasons after joining the SEMHL following the COVID-19 pandemic. Kevin Lansard, the team’s president and head coach, said the league’s previously established six teams teams asked all of the newer teams to leave the room during a meeting in Carman May 4 before calling them back in and letting them know the Aces were no longer welcome to play in their league.

“It’s going to take some time to sink in,” Lansard said.

“The players are pretty disappointed, the community is pretty angry and I don’t really have answers for why.”

Steinbach Regional players nab WHSHL awards

Area hockey players were well represented at the 2025 Winnipeg High School Hockey League year-end awards.

Steinbach Regional Secondary School’s (SRSS) Ryder Chabot was given the Gerry Varnes Sportsmanship Award for the Platinum Promotions division, the top tier of high school hockey in the province.

The grade 12 forward nabbed 20 points in 22 games, and played for the Steinbach Huskies as an affiliated player after the Sabres were eliminated from contention.

“Ryder has represented the SRSS and our program very well over the past two seasons by competing hard and respecting teammates, opponents and officials,” SRSS head coach John Laninga said.