DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Way too early MJHL season predictions

Just over 100 days after the Niverville Nighthawks lifted the Centennial Cup in Summerside, P.E.I., the Manitoba Junior Hockey League pre-season will kick off.

The media survey asking for picks went out already, so here are some of my pre-training camp thoughts based on last year’s rosters.

(I do reserve the right to change these opinions after seeing a few weeks of training camp.)

Last season all it took was to look at Niverville’s roster of returning players to realize they were due for a historic season. There likely won’t be a Niverville this season, but I do like what Virden could bring.

COLUMN: Tales from the Gravel Ridge – The laughter of August from a fresh perspective

To my mind there is something slightly melancholic about the month of August when it rolls around in our part of the world. According to The Song My Paddle Sings, the poem written by E. Pauline Johnson, “…August is laughing across the sky”. To my mind the very meaning of laughter doesn’t necessarily negate a sense of melancholy. Indeed we may have valid reasons for sadness, but that doesn’t exclude laughter. And in any event, we know that as we approach the month of September we may well have to cover especially delicate plants that still remain outdoors, but which we want to bring back indoors before freezing temperatures set in. Or quite possibly, there is produce that we still hope to harvest.

Memories of summertime in my childhood invariably include the great outdoors of our subsistence farm in Rosengard. To my mind it could impossibly be otherwise. Gradually the plants in the garden are beginning to look tired, and appear more or less ready to call it a day. The potatoes in the other garden are less vulnerable to frost, but those too will have to be dug up and gathered into the cellar for winter storage.

Our farmyard included a home for our family along with a summer kitchen. In addition to these structures, there were barns for livestock and chickens, and some older structures that still served as overflow for various activities. And in addition to all of these designated areas, there was a fairly large yard where family, friends and neighbours could enter for visits or for business purposes. And most importantly, it was where children could play, and in due time, learn to ride a bicycle.

In addition to a vegetable garden and a potato patch, some parts of our farm property were less cultivated. These untilled and uncultivated areas however had their own rules and means of production and survival. For me personally the woods and meadows of this unpretentious subsistence farm hold a treasure trove of memories from my childhood.

Former Piston Amsbaugh signs pro deal in ECHL

Ian Amsbaugh has turned a late-season stint in the ECHL into a full-time contract.

The 23-year-old forward joined the Tulsa Oilers after the end of his final collegiate season, recording a plus-five victory while scoring his first professional goal with the franchise.

The Oilers picked up Amsbaugh after the end of the Adrian College season, where Amsbaugh finished with 108 career points.

“It is always great for players to get a taste of the pro game at the end of the season,” head coach Rob Murray said in a Tulsa news release.

Stuartburn holds information session on Sundown Ridge, Caliento Bog projects

It was almost a full house at the Vita Hall last Wednesday night as Stuartburn residents and municipal politicians came to hear what drainage solutions engineers had to protect homes and farmland from overland flooding.

“Since this council took office in 2022, water and drainage have been amongst the biggest concerns and challenges facing the RM,” said Reeve Michelle Gawronsky.

“Rather than looking at isolated trouble spots, we wanted to understand the whole system,” she noted.

The engineers from Strategic Solutions Engineering (SSE) shared the results from the drainage survey they conducted earlier this year and recommended retention sites at Sundown Ridge and, if there is funding, Caliento Bog.

Opera and a Pint comes to The Public Brewhouse for a sip of highbrow fun

Whether your taste runs to specialty craft beer or specialty craft music, it’s not necessary to go the big city anymore as the Flip Side Opera and Art Circle Collective is making the rounds of several rural communities this summer to bring “outside-the-box, inspiring musical experiences to Manitobans.”

Selecting the Public Brewhouse and Gallery as its venue for an inclusive and community-based performance, Aug. 21, marked the continuation of the company’s bringing opera to rural communities such as Steinbach and to building an audience with a thirst for something out of the ordinary.

“We have been doing this in Winnipeg; this is our ninth season doing it in Winnipeg at Little Brown Jug. And last year, we took it to Minnedosa for the first time,” said Lisa Rumpel, co-artistic director of Flipside Opera.

“Because we, Judy (Oatway, co-artistic director) and I who run Flipside, are both from rural areas and most of the people on our board are from rural areas as well, we didn’t have exposure to this type of stuff when we were growing up. It’s important to us to go out to those people … and some of the feedback we got in Minnedosa was they said it’s so nice they didn’t have to drive to see this,” said Rumpel.

PHOTO GALLERY: Light up the night, light up someone’s life

MJHL prospects hit the ice in Niverville and Steinbach

The region’s two Manitoba Junior Hockey League teams were hard at work last weekend, hosting their annual prospects camp.

The Niverville Nighthawks combined skates with their main camp as four teams of 18 2011-born players took to the ice alongside four teams of returning veterans and potential rookies for a total of 144 players.

Returning stars like Marlen Edwards played alongside up-and-coming locals like William Mateychuk on a team.

In Steinbach, the Pistons took a different track, putting together two teams of 20 players between the 2010s and 2011s. The scrimmage between the two teams the morning of Aug. 22 had plenty of competitiveness, with players battling both during play and after whistles.

COLUMN: Village News – Thank you to our summer staff

Is it really time to say goodbye already? This week is the last week of summer employment for some of our seasonal staff. They are off to university or college, and we will miss them!

Our summer staff have played an important role in enabling Mennonite Heritage Village (MHV) to offer engaging school programming, fun-filled summer day camps, well-cared-for grounds and farmyard, a welcoming greeting at reception, and delicious traditional meals at the Livery Barn Restaurant.

MHV, as a museum, is open year-round and we maintain a core staff throughout the year, but in spring and summer, our visitation increases and our corresponding programming increases. For this season, we rely on extra staffing to carry out the activities that highlight the museum and the stories that each artifact tells.

I remember how important it was to have a summer job when I was a university student. Not only did I earn income that would assist with paying for tuition and books for the next year of studies, but a summer job was my first experience with having an employer who was not my dad. Learning new skills, finding new ways of doing things, and interacting with colleagues and managers, prepared me for future roles, occupations, and careers.

RM of Stuartburn site of drug arrest in 19-month weapons, drug trafficking investigation

The RM of Stuartburn was the site of a drug and weapons bust of a 47-year-old man as part of a 19-month investigation.

Project Dolor, had nine policing and justice agencies in Manitoba and the United States, working to end a drug and weapons trafficking network in several southern Manitoba communities. The investigation resulted in 15 people being arrested and the seizure of 10 kilograms of illegal drugs and numerous weapons.

“The efforts of officers working on Project Dolor have been successful in dismantling a criminal network and disrupting the local drug trade in several communities,” said Assistant Commissioner Scott McMurchy, the RCMP’s commanding officer in Manitoba.

One of the people arrested by the RCMP is RM of Stuartburn resident David Penner, 47, who has been charged with trafficking cocaine; possession for the purposes of trafficking cocaine; possession for the purpose of trafficking psilocybin; unlawful possession of a firearm; and unsafe storage of a firearm.

Steinbach’s Band of Colours and Heartberry Café host makeup and wig workshop

A makeup and wig workshop was hosted in Steinbach thanks to Band of Colours, a 2SLGBTQ+ resource centre and the Heartberry Café on Aug. 21.

Just days before the Heartberry Café had its formal commercial opening, Band of Colours facilitated the workshop, the first of its kind in Steinbach, led by 25-year-old Salem Scythe, who goes under the name “Pretty Boy” when in drag, as the leader of the tutorial.

“It’s such a fun art form to do. The shape shifting of it all, the transformation. You use so many skills from traditional art and painting and apply them onto your face. It’s very fun,” said Scythe.

The art form of drag has a long history, and one marked by several distinct phases ranging from the theatres of ancient Greece to Vaudeville to its present Pride invocation, along with the fame brought by actors like Marlene Dietrich which has moved the art ever closer to the mainstream.