MJHL champion NorMan Blizzard lose head coach

The reigning Mantioba Junior Hockey League champions will look a lot different next season, as head coach and general manager Eric Labrosse has left the program.

Labrosse and assistant coach PA Deslaurier came to NorMan two years ago, leading them to a pair of strong seasons as the club went through massive changes off the ice, including a name and arena change for The Pas-based team.

“We wish nothing but the best of luck to both Eric & P.A., thank you for your service at a most-critical juncture of our history,” a news release on the Blizzard’s website reads.

“Their hard work and assisting in our laying a strong foundation, has set the groundwork for future success, you shall be missed.”

Sevens rugby growing in Manitoba, at Steinbach Regional

It has been a memorable school year for the Steinbach Regional Secondary School rugby sevens team.

Not only did the season kick off with a trip to B.C. last fall, but the school saw a massive expansion to their annual tournament. Head coach Tahnee Grosskopf said the trip out West was big for the program, as playing competitive games and meeting Canadian Olympians was a great recruiting moment to convince players to give rugby a try this season.

The SRSS tournament, hosted May 23 at A.D. Penner Park, was a massive success. Instead of a one division all-girls battle with only a few teams, this year saw over a dozen teams competing across three separate divisions. Food trucks provided concessions as both the football and rugby fields were kept busy throughout the day.

Sevens is a shorter and faster-paced format than traditional rugby, with seven players per team on the pitch and only seven minutes per half.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 1997:Retiring coach is ‘roasted’ by his friends at Lorette

More than 100 friends, students and co-workers honoured Jude Boulianne at an evening of fun and laughter at Lorette Collegiate, sending the long-time teacher and counsellor off on his retirement in style.

Boulianne, who had announced he would be retiring at the end of the school year, has worked for the Seine River School Division for 26 years, spending the last 11 years at Lorette Collegiate, where he was the physical education instructor and coach of a successful high school hockey program, which saw the Scorpions win the provincial high school title this spring.

Seine River Superintendent Roy Seidler was the first to the microphone to ‘roast’ the guest of honour and was followed by Gord Tumlison, Rod Lindquist and John Gray, who played hockey with Jude, ran summer hockey schools and ‘go back a long way’. The trio, complete with fake mustaches, shared old hockey stories and performed a skit pretending they had always wanted to be ‘just like Jude’.

Rounding off the evening were Jude’s daughter Brigette Davies, Gary Maryniuk, a hockey parent, and Jeff Barron, a Lorette teacher and assistant coach, who all toasted ‘the great Jude Boulianne.’

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Summer senior sports schedule heating up

As summer is fully established, the sports schedule for the year has now transitioned. Players are out of the gym and rinks and into the great outdoors to battle for their respective league championships.

Included in the ranks of those teams are the senior sports. While the massive heydays of fast-pitch and intermediate football may be behind us, there are still plenty of great options for local fans to root for local players.

The busiest sport is certainly soccer. With the Manitoba Major Soccer League boasting seven divisions, there’s a lot of teams. The Niverville Force are the region’s highest ranked squad, playing in division 1, one step below the top-rated premier division. Their home schedule begins June 8.

The Hanover Kickers are looking to rebound after a tough few seasons after COVID-19. They were relegated from division 1 to division 2 last year and are looking to yo-yo right back into the higher division. Other teams fill out the Manitoba soccer pyramid, including Landmark FC in the fifth division.

Grant Park game highlights SRSS spring football camp

It was a gorgeous day for football May 22, as Steinbach Regional Secondary School made the trip into the city to play the Grant Park Pirates for a pair of exhibition games.

The varsity team came out with a 40-26 come from behind victory, powered by a massive performance from Wade Anderson and the offensive line. While exact stats weren’t available immediately after the game, SRSS football program coordinator Jamie Peters estimated Anderson finished with over 400 yards on the ground.

“That offensive line is all returning players,” Peters said, as the Sabres broke open a fifty-plus yard touchdown in the background.

“Coach (Stephen) Fedus is probably the best offensive line coach in the province, probably even going up to university all the way down to amateur. He’s great at what he does and the technique that he puts in. That group is pretty impressive.”

Prince George Kodiaks raid Eastman for football players

A pair of outstanding high school football players from the region will be heading West this year, as the Prince George Kodiaks of the Canadian Junior Football League are stocking up for their upcoming season.

Springfield Collegiate receiver/defensive back Brady Smith and Steinbach Regional Secondary School quarterback Toby Plett both committed to the program in the past couple weeks.

Plett was Steinbach’s starting quarterback last season, finishing with more than 1,200 yards with 12 touchdowns and only seven interceptions.

Smith, who is from Dugald, played both ways for a Springfield team which won its division last year, despite the school’s AAA status.

Ottawa Charge fall in overtime to lose PWHL finals

The Professional Women’s Hockey League certainly had a second championship to remember as the Ottawa Charge and Minnesota Frost battled in four straight 2-1 overtime games in their best-of-five series to decide the winner.

Both teams had no shortage of chances in game four to win the game, with posts and outstanding saves from both teams keeping the game close.

Fourth-line forward Liz Schepers would give the Minnesota Frost back-to-back championships. After a successful forecheck, the puck went from below the goal-line to the slot. While Schepers’ initial shot was partially blocked, she was first on the ensuing rebound and banged the puck home, setting off celebrations in Minneapolis.

More than 11,000 people were in attendance for game four, which was hosted in Minnesota on the American Memorial Day holiday May 26.

SRSS Sabres continue Zone 13 baseball dominance

There will come a year the Steinbach Regional Sabres baseball team are felled at the Zone 13 championships, but 2025 wasn’t it.

The Sabres cruised to their fourth consecutive undefeated run at zones, defeating St Joachim 5-1 in the final. The championship game was the only non-mercy rule win for the Sabres at the tournament, hosted in Mitchell May 20/21.

Jackson Penner pitched a complete game for the Sabres in the finals to power the team to victory. High school baseball took two years off during the COVID-19 pandemic.

For the grade 12 players on the team, they’ve never lost a Zone 13 tournament game in their high school career.

Braves strike early to claim Zone 13 softball title

St-Joachim/Réal-Bérard Braves are the 2025 AA Varsity Girls Softball Zone Champions and will be heading into provincials.

“Let’s not get shut down,” a Landmark player said from their bench before the game started.

The Braves won against the Landmark 96ers 11-1 on Wednesday, May 21.

The Braves have an all-Kihn batter, with sisters Lola (pitcher) and Pascale (catcher) setting the pace early. All three 96ers batters struck out in the first inning.

Carillon Sports Second Shots: May 22/15 edition

Featuring photos from Zone 13 baseball league nights May 8 and 15, Hanover soccer games May 8, an SRSS soccer tournament May 16 and the Carillon Sultans opening day double-header May 18.

WHL standout Mistelbacher back in Manitoba after trade to Brandon Wheat Kings

Fans of major junior hockey will have a much easier time watching the region’s best player next season, as Luke Mistelbacher will be playing in Brandon.

The Steinbach forward was moved to the Western Hockey League’s Brandon Wheat Kings via a trade from the Swift Current Broncos May 7.

The Broncos received five draft picks and a forward prospect in the deal, with defenseman Grayson Burzynski also moving to Brandon in the deal. Both Mistelbacher and Burzynski are 2005-born players, in their final year of eligibility in major junior.

Mistelbacher has been a mainstay in Swift Current since signing for them as an undrafted player in the 2021/2022 season. in three full-time seasons in the WHL, he’s scored 162 points, breaking out in the last half of the 2023/2024 season. That strong play continued into this year, where he posted career highs in goals (42) and assists (51) for Swift Current.

Hanover Soccer Club still seeing growth

Participation at the Hanover Soccer Club continues to rise, club chair Brian Froese reported this week.

Froese is in his second year of running the club after long-time chair Norm Anderson retired last year. The transition includes a newer board than in years previous, but Froese said the new faces have stepped up.

“Last year was an act of trying to keep our heads above water, this year was an act of trying to bolster the numbers on our board,” Froese said.

“Now that the dust can settle on all of the organizational aspects that take place just getting the programming going, as a board we’re looking forward to the summer.”

SPORTS FLASHBACK 2011: A new era for Jets in the NHL

This Sunday will see a new era of professional hockey unfold in Manitoba, one that many people thought they would never see, when the Winnipeg Jets face off against the Montreal Canadiens in the home-opener of the 2011-12 National Hockey League season.

A generation of Winnipeg hockey fans, who fell in love with the Jets of the World Hockey Association in the 1970’s, watched the team move up to the NHL and then leave the city for Arizona in the 1990’s.

For more than a decade Winnipeg hockey fans have had only the Manitoba Moose of the American Hockey League to follow. Now, a dream has come true, and fans will be able to watch NHL hockey, live, again in Winnipeg.

After the Jets left for the Arizona desert in the mid 90’s, few hockey fans in these parts thought the Jets would ever return. Not because the city didn’t want them, but because the Winnipeg market was too small to afford them. When the Jets left for Phoenix, the Jets team salary was $17 million. Today, in 2011, the NHL minimum hovers around the $50 million mark.

AS I SEE IT COLUMN: A Jets season that began with so much promise, ends with so much heartache

“Ah, cruel fate, how swiftly joy and sorrow alternate!”― Raimbaut de Vaqueyras

When the Jets were heading into game seven against the St. Louis Blues, some people – myself included – thought that game would be a defining moment for the Jets franchise.

We were wrong.

The gut-wrenching, impossibly sad game six against the Dallas Stars, was the game that will define the Jets for many, many ears.