AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Why the Southeast Event Centre must remove the U.S. flag

Steinbachers and people from around southeastern Manitoba are still rightly basking in the high praise the Southeast Event Centre (SEC) received after recently hosting a super successful Grand Slam of Curling event.

That all the medal winners in Olympic curling were playing at the SEC just a few weeks earlier, is beyond cool.

SEC looked fantastic on the national and international stage, with one eye-popping, egregious exception: The U.S. flag hanging below the Canadian flag. Having flags from all the nations at the Player’s Championship would have made perfect sense. But just the U.S. flag? Promoting a nation whose president enjoys causing us economic pain and suffering, who has launched an unprovoked war of aggression that has already harmed the global economy and could lead to WWIII, makes no sense.

There are many more, but here are four baseline reasons why the SEC must immediately take down the U.S. flag.

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: A heartening PWHL game in Winnipeg

A couple weeks ago I wrote about how Canada’s loss in the Olympic men’s hockey gold medal game was so important to me as a sports fan.

Last week I had another emotional moment watching sports, but this time it was more as a sportswriter and less as a fan.

The Professional Women’s Hockey League Takeover Tour game in Winnipeg was impressive in so many ways.

On the ice, seeing the physicality the league allows women to play with is a breath of fresh air the game at the highest level needed.

Macdonald Swarm claim HTJHL championship with OT victory

The Macdonald Swarm capped off an excellent season in style, claiming the Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League championship after a 5-4 overtime win in game five to defeat the Springfield Xtreme March 27.

Affiliated player Cooper Rodewald, who played the regular season with the Sanford Sabres in the Winnipeg High School Hockey League, was the hero as he net the overtime winner for his second of the game. Rodewald had 40 points across 24 regular season games for the Sabres.

He kept up that pace with the Swarm, chipping in 14 points across the team’s 12-game playoff run.

Austin Spicer was named the league’s playoff most valuable player, scoring 20 points across 12 games to lead the scoring race.

Steinbach Pistons back in MJHL semi-finals, ready for Virden Oil Capitals

After a year away, the Steinbach Pistons are back in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League semi-finals. The Pistons bounced back after a game one loss, winning four consecutive games to advance past the Portage Terriers, the team that eliminated them last season.

The 4-1 finish may have masked a closer series, with the league’s two active leaders in all-time coaching wins bringing solid teams to the post-season. The clinching game had just one non-empty net goal scored, with captain Sam Noad popping home a goal during a four-on-three powerplay to clinch the series.

“It just gets more difficult as we move forward,” Steinbach head coach Paul Dyck said, emphasizing how hard it is to win the clinching game of a series.

“You knew (Portage) wasn’t going to go away. There’s a lot of pride in that room, they’re extremely well prepared with their coaching staff and they battled.”

Pair of sweeps end West playoffs early in MJHL

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s quarterfinals may have lacked drama on the ice, but certainly delivered in terms of storylines.

The Virden Oil Capitals and Waywayseecappo Wolverines made short work of the Neepawa Titans and Dauphin Kings respectively, advancing in four-game sweeps.

For Waywayseecappo, it’s the franchise’s first playoff series victory since joining the league nearly three decades ago. The Wolverines will face fellow first-time series winners Niverville in the semi-finals. The lower-seeded team took out Dauphin in dramatic fashion, winning game one and three in overtime on the road.

St Jean’s Sebastien Hicks continued his strong play into the playoffs, nabbing the winner in game three. It looked like a Wolverines three-on-two rush had fizzled out, but Hicks stayed alert, banking in a shot from below the goal-line off Dauphin goaltender Bryson Yaschyshyn.

Niverville Nighthawks sweep Winkler for franchise’s 1st playoff series victory

The Niverville Nighthawks made some franchise history, as they swept past the Winkler Flyers for their first playoff series win as a team.

The Nighthawks were the best team in the MJHL this regular season, and showed it in the playoffs, making short work of a Winkler team which was considered by many one of the better teams in the league.

With divisional-based playoffs in the first round, the fourth-seeded Winkler, the second hottest team in the league, was taken out in convincing fashion by the Nighthawks.

“It bodes well for us to get that tough first round match-up,” head coach Dwight Hirst said, noting he was enjoying a rare relaxing weekend after the Nighthawks took care of business on Friday night.

CARILLON SPORTS SECOND SHOTS: March 26th edition

Featuring game two of the SEMHL finals in Ile des Chenes March 18, a U17 AAA championship game in Beausejour March 19, Games one and three of the MJHL series between Steinbach and Portage March 20/24, CRJHL semi-final a U15 AAA championship game in Landmark March 21, a U18 Manitoba Female Hockey League game in Niverville March 22.

Hockey Manitoba announces initial Program of Excellence roster

The initial roster for Hockey Manitoba’s U16 Program of Excellence spring selection camp was announced March 20, with 12 players from the Eastman region named to the camp.

The spring selection camp will take place in Winnipeg at the Hockey for All Centre April 10-12. The Program of Excellence will once again be in Steinbach this May, as the province’s top-40 camp will be hosted at the Southeast Event Centre.

Brad Purdie, who is the director of operations and the U15 prep head coach at the Rink Hockey Academy will be heading up the U16 team this year. Two players from the region who suit up for Rink HA made the selection camp roster. They will be joined by 10 players from the Eastman Selects U15 team, which lost in the league finals 3-1 to Brandon this season.

This year’s final roster will be Team Manitoba at the 2027 Canada Winter Games, which will take place next year in Quebec City.

Carrière commits to University of Moncton

Another Eastman Selects player has committed to play USports hockey.

Isabella Carrière will continue her hockey career in New Brunswick, with the Université de Moncton. Carrière tallied 22 points this season with the Selects U18 AAA team, as they posted a 25-2-2 record this season.

Carrière played for the Selects last season as well, chipping in four goals during the team’s championship-winning playoff run.

The Moncton Aigles Bleus play in the Atlantic University Sport conference.

Niverville Force MMSL team folds

After five years of rising through the ranks of amateur soccer in Manitoba, the Niverville Force are no more.

The team, founded in 2021, started in Division 4 of the Manitoba Major Soccer League and got all the way to Division 1, just one step below the Premier Division, the top level of soccer in Manitoba.

“After five enjoyable seasons, our men’s soccer team has decided to conclude our journey,” a statement from team management reads.

“Together, we created a community of friendship, teamwork and passion for the game. It’s been a wonderful experience, and now it’s time for everyone to pursue new opportunities. We appreciate all the support from our players, families, and fans throughout the years.”

Steinbach Pistons forward Paronuzzi commits to Windsor

Connor Paronuzzi has announced his commitment to play hockey at the collegiate level.

The Steinbach Pistons forward will suit up for the University of Windsor Lancers at the USports level.

Paronuzzi had a historic season in Steinbach last year, setting new all-time single season records and becoming the first Piston to be recognized as the league’s most valuable player. He scored 93 points in 58 games last season, setting the single-season assists record for Steinbach.

Paronuzzi started the season with the Brooks Bandits in the B.C. Hockey League, returning to Steinbach just before the January roster freeze.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 2011: Wrestling club makes its mark

Competing in just its third year, the Niverville Wrestling Club has made quite a name for itself, not only provincially, but nationally as well.

Under the guidance of founder and head instructor Adrian Bruce, the wrestling club has grown from six students in its first year to 22 the next year and then mushroomed to 53 students this year.

The younger wrestlers, as young as five, train twice a week, while the older club members train three times a week.

In addition to attracting some elite young athletes from Niverville and beyond,who have come to train with Bruce, the club is producing some of its own elite wrestlers. One of these is 15-year-old Rachel Alder of Oakbank, who won a silver medal at the recent Cadet/Juvenile National Wrestling Championships at Windsor, Ontario.

AS I SEE IT COLUMN: PWHL delivers pure joy, along with societal change

I hope you were one of the 15,000 plus fans that got to experience the PWHL game last Sunday in person.

Not only was it a rare opportunity to welcome home local legend Jocelyn Larocque, sporting fans in attendance got to experience, first-hand, a completely different kind of hockey game.

When you watch a PWHL game on TV and see young girls, many of them wearing jerseys from the hockey teams they play for, you get a sense that what you are watching is completely unique, but when you are in the building, you can actually feel it.

Call it vibes or atmosphere, a PWHL hockey game is unlike any men’s hockey game.

Tabin, Larocque relish in Manitoba PWHL game

The eyes of the Professional Women’s Hockey League were on Manitoba last weekend, and the Keystone province didn’t disappoint.

The Canada Life Centre in downtown Winnipeg was completely sold out for a PWHL Takeover Tour game between the Ottawa Charge and Montreal Victoire. While Ottawa may have come out with a 2-1 win thanks to a Rebecca Leslie tally just 12 seconds into overtime, after the game both teams were impressed by Winnipeg.

The PWHL is in the middle of their third year, expanding to eight teams this season. The league started their “Takeover Tour,” series of games last season, bringing top women’s hockey action to markets that don’t yet have a PWHL team.

“There were line-ups of people on a Saturday afternoon just to watch us practice,” Leslie said after the game.