Carillon Sultans perfect week gives team breathing room in MJBL

Four wins in four days has the Carillon Sultans sitting in a great position heading into the home stretch of games in the Manitoba Junior Baseball League.

The Sultans took down Winnipeg South 4-1 in a mid-week contest June 18, defeated Interlake at the league’s annual showcase event in Steinbach June 20 before back-to-back wins over Elmwood June 21.

Interlake and Elmwood had been part of the group nipping at the Sultans heels in the standings, but after the weekend’s action both teams were 5.5 games behind league-leading Carillon.

“The team is in a really good place right now,” head coach Don Meilleur said after the weekend’s action, adding the team has faced some good pitchers during their current seven-game win streak.

Carillon Sports Second Shots: June 18th edition

Featuring a Hanover Soccer Scrimmage and Jamboree June 11 and a Carillon Sultans Manitoba Junior Baseball League double-header June 14.

Reimer jumps to gold at MHSAA track provincials

A pair of Steinbach Regional Secondary School athletes came away with gold medals at the Manitoba High School Athletics Association track and field provincial championships last weekend.

Lief Reimer jumped 1.92 meters to top the varsity boys high jump event, out-leaping Windsor Park’s Tobi Oladapo, who could only clear 1.90 meters.

In the boys para 100 meter, Joseph Bloomfield finished first, adding on a silver in the shot put.

Springfield’s Wyatt Berman won the junior varsity discus event. Other medalists included a silver for Aiden Bremner-Larocque (Niverville, boys JV shot put) and bronzes for Avianna Braun (Steinbach Christian, girls JV high jump) and Elliott Adamus-Larson (Gabrielle Roy, boys V shot put).

Hanover Soccer Club’s MMSL seasons off to slow start

The Hanover Kickers haven’t had much luck to start their Manitoba Major Soccer League Division 1 season.

Home games on June 2 and 9 were both cancelled due to lightning, with a 1-0 lead against Bonivital 2 eliminated due to the weather.

“Better that it happens early in the season so you have chances to re-schedule than late in the season when everybody is wanting to move on with life,” Kickers manager Brian Froese said, noting the make-up games have already been set.

“It’s good to see the league is really on top it this year.”

SPORTS FLASHBACK 2002: Vita soccer team beats the odds

There are celebrations this week at Vita’s Shevchenko School as the Sabres claimed the Provincial Rural High School Boys’ Provincial Soccer Championship last weekend at St Laurent.

Shevchenko lost the provincial final to Zone 4 rival Garden Valley of Winkler last fall in Winkler, and went through a so-so regular season this year, compiling a 3-2-3 (W/L/D) record in league play, finishing in sixth place overall.

It was in the zone playoffs the Sabres found their mark. In the quarterfinals, Shevchenko got by Altona 1-0, as Kris Driedger scored the winner in overtime. This set the stage for the semi-final match-up against the defending champions and heavily favored squad from Winkler. With only 125 students from grades 9-12 at Shevchenko, Garden Valley has a decided advantage with 950 students.

Undaunted, Shevchenko battled the powerful Zodiacs from Winkler to a 1-1 draw after regulation, with Tim Thiessen scoring for the Sabres. Fifteen minutes of extra time didn’t settle it and the game was decided on penalty kicks, as Shevchenko outscored Garden Valley 3-2. Penalty kick goal scorers for Vita were Brad Waldner, Jeff Penner and Italian exchange student Alessandro Bondavalli.

AS I SEE IT COLUMN: The Stanley Cup finals were a nightmare for the Jets

For a Winnipeg Jets organization facing a lot of challenges after a really bad season, the recently completed Stanley Cup finals were horrible for the Jets in terms of lost opportunities.

Between seeing all the Manitobans playing high-profile roles with both the Las Vegas Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes, and watching Nikolaj Ehlers’s huge smile after all the playoff goals he scored and realizing we got nothing for him in a trade, Jets fans are left to ponder the agonizing question “what could have been?”

NIKOLAJ EHLERSAfter a season where the Jets struggled mightily to score goals, the loss of Ehlers turned out to be a way bigger issue than most thought when he first signed with the Canes.

Ehlers’ desire to leave calls into question how he was handled during his time with the Jets. He wanted to play on the first line and he wanted to play on the first power play unit. He wanted to play for a team where he would get those opportunities and compete for a cup.

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Charity hockey game a blast

The Premier Portable Buildings vs Lumberzone charity hockey game nearly came out of nowhere for me.

I was looking forward to it to be sure, but until I was sitting in the Southeast Event Centre actually taking it in, it didn’t hit me how cool the event was.

It didn’t really click until I saw Luke Mistelbacher absolutely dominating on a line with South East Manitoba Hockey League stars Brendan Harms and Braden Purtill. As a certified senior hockey aficionado, I didn’t put together the game was basically an SEMHL all-star game with some young gun ringers and former pros.

As soon as I saw that, I was hooked, and realized that hockey had been missing this sort of thing. Reading back in The Carillon archives and talking to Wes Keating (and reading his excellent book on the history of the Hanover-Tache Hockey League), it’s obvious all-star games for leagues were a mainstay when senior hockey was more of a thing.

Local MJHL players announce USports commitments

A pair of local Manitoba Junior Hockey League standouts will continue their playing careers at the USports level.

Lorette’s Thomas Phillips will be heading to York University and St Jean’s Sebastian Hicks will be suiting up for Western University.

The York Lions lost out on Niverville captain Adam Vigfusson after he got the call to go to St Cloud State in the NCAA. The Gimli product had previously committed to York.

It seems the Lions wanted some Niverville flair on their roster no matter what and called up the defenseman following Vigfusson’s departure.

MJHL announces 2026/2027 schedule

The start of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League season is just 91 days away, with the league announcing their full schedule for the year last week.

The defending league champion Niverville Nighthawks will be in action on Sept. 18, the opening night of the season as they host the Winnipeg Monarchs and celebrate their Turnbull Cup and Centennial Cup victories.

Winkler and Steinbach will renew their rivalry on the opening weekend, playing on back-to-back nights, with Steinbach’s home opener Sept. 19. The final regular season game of the year will be March 14.

The Pistons’ promotional schedule will be released in the middle of summer.

Sultans push past Pembina Valley in double-header

The Carillon Sultans managed to erase a shocking stumble last weekend, winning three games in three days to push themselves to the top of the Manitoba Junior Baseball League Standings.

The Altona Bisons put together one of the most shocking results of the MJBL season, defeating the first-place Sultans 11-10 June 10 for their first win of the season.

The Bisons have a minus-92 run difference so far this season, but managed to squeak out a narrow victory over championship favourites Carillon. The Sultans bounced back with a 16-4 victory over Altona June 12, then swept the Pembina Valley Orioles in a double-header at A.D. Penner Park June 14.

Fans were treated to a pair of entertaining games between the Orioles and Sultans. Carillon erased a 4-1 deficit in the late innings of the opening game of the double header, and managed a 1-0 walk-off victory later in the day.

Carillon Sports Second Shots: June 11th edition

Featuring photos from a lightning-cancelled Hanover Kickers game June 2, a Carillon Sultans Winnipeg Senior Baseball League game June 4, action from the MHSAA provincial soccer championships June 5/6 and an MJBL double-header June 7 between Carillon and St Boniface.

Cody Gunderson back in Carillon black

After finishing his division one college career earlier this spring, Gunderson is back in Manitoba and playing for the Carillon Sultans once again. He didn’t play with the Sultans last season as he recovered from an injury.

During the first game of a double-header against St Boniface, Gunderson hammered the first pitch he saw for a single, then in his second at bat he took three consecutive balls before knocking a 3-0 strike over the fence, despite hitting it off the end of his bat.

“I got a fastball down the middle, I figured I should probably swing,” Gunderson said, laughing.

The St Malo product added throughout his time at Charlotte in the NCAA his coaches gave him the green light to swing on 3-0 counts, to great effect.

Commissioner Saurette reflects on historic MJHL season

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League boasted the best junior A hockey team in the country this season, as the Niverville Nighthawks were crowned Centennial Cup champions after winning the league.

After the traditional celebration with players swarming their goaltender, MJHL commissioner Kevin Saurette was on hand, proud as can be to help present the Nighthawks with their gold medals.

“They’ve conducted themselves on and off the ice very positively and it reflects very well on the MJHL,” Saurette said just before the start of the final game.

“We know we have a very strong league… We’ve sent six different champions to this event, every year they make the playoff rounds. It’s really nice to see Niverville get over that hump.”

SPORTS FLASHBACK 2006: Steinbach fans hang out with Grapes at Stanley Cup final in Carolina

Steinbach friends Mark Reimer and Matt Loewen embarked on a whirlwind cross-continent trip to Raleigh, North Carolina, having landed tickets to the deciding game of the 2006 Stanley Cup finals between the host Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers.

Along the way, they hobnobbed with some of the biggest names in hockey, including Don Cherry, Ron MacLean and the NHL commissioner himself, Gary Bettman.

Reimer, 32, and Loewen, 24, are NHL junkies. But unfortunately, there is one big problem. There is no longer an NHL team in Winnipeg, as Reimer lamented in an interview with The Carillon, a few days after returning from their trip to North Carolina where they went for their latest ‘NHL fix’.

Reimer explained how the two hatched this idea to try and get to Game Seven of the Stanley Cup finals.