Rosenort claim AA boys varsity volleyball banner

The Rosenort Redhawks rode a hot serving hand to nab the AA boys varsity volleyball provincial championship in hostile territory Nov. 30.

The Redhawks matched up against the host and fellow Zone 4 school Morris/St Jean Mavericks in the final and managed to overcome the crowd for a three-set (25-16, 22-25, 15-3) victory.

Their wins in the first and third sets were powered by AJ Peters, whose booming serves to start each set gave Rosenort nearly insurmountable leads in both sets. Peters was named a tournament all-star.

Mavericks Nicolas Leflar and Tanner Manning were named tournament all-stars as well, with Redhawk Tristan Manning nabbing tournament most valuable player honours.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 1981: Super League Trophy is back in Steinbach

It was no surprise that Carman’s Bill North and St Jean’s Jim Dewart were battling it out in the final draw of the 1981 Thompson Brooms Super League season in Winkler, Saturday. The surprise was that they were deciding third and fourth place. while a sheet over, Wilf Peters and Don Brown were settling the league’s championship.

Don Brown and his Citizen State Bank rink, from Cavalier, North Dakota, added an international flavor to this season’s Super League playoffs, but after reaching the final he ran out of shots and Wilf Peters and his East-Man Feeds foursome chalked up a 12-3 victory in six ends, to bring the Super League trophy back to Steinbach.

Peters set the tone in the final, when he drew for four in the first end. In the second, Brown needed a head-on hit to count one and cut Peters out of three. The third end was another disaster for Brown, and Peters built his lead to 8-1.

Peters and his rink of Hans Epp, Norm Krysko and Danny Lipinski made the playoffs by virtue of a four-way tie for the final three playoff spots and defeated Abe Friesen’s Steinbach rink in a special playoff Friday.

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: The joy of diving into a new sport

When interviewing volleyball coaches for the first time this season, I needed to give them a warning — “I am going to be a menace this year.”

It didn’t have anything to do with changes in my personality or philosophy of sports reporting, or changes in the teams I was covering, it was all about how my own knowledge base had expanded last summer when it comes to volleyball.

Watching Eric Loeppky play in the Italian Superlega finals was an absolute treat, and gave me a much greater appreciation for volleyball as a whole, thanks to an outstanding English broadcast which was able to share insights.

Of course, I’m a long way away from calling myself a volleyball expert, but the process of gaining a new understanding of a sport was such a rewarding experience.

Niverville Nighthawks trade for Winnipeg Blues’ goalie

The Niverville Nighthawks turned to the trade block to help fill their vacancy at goaltender.

The team traded 2006-born defenseman Brock Assailly to get the Winnipeg Blues’ Connor Graham.

The Nighthawks were forced to make a move after 2006-born goalie Raiden LeGall moved to Everett in the Western Hockey League following the NCAA rule change allowing major junior players into top tier American colleges.

Graham is a 2004-born goalie from Fort Wayne, Indiana. In 15 games with Winnipeg this season, he had a 0.909 save percentage, playing in front of a struggling Blues squad.

Pistons’ Green named MJHL goalie of the month

Any worries the Steinbach Pistons would be stung by the off-season loss of goaltender Beck Liden have already been erased.

While the Minnesota-born Liden looks to impress with the St Cloud Norsemen in the North American Hockey League, another American is thriving this season for Steinbach.

Christian Green was named the Manitoba Junior Hockey League’s goaltender of the month for November. The Pennsylvania-born Green leads the league for qualified goalies in games played (18), save percentage (0.944) and goals against average (1.53).

He’s posted a 15-3 record with three shutouts. In his player-of-the-month performance in November, he racked up an 8-2 record.

Providence Pilots picking up early season basketball wins

After a tough exhibition season which saw the Providence Pilots test themselves against higher-level competition and come up short, the college’s men’s and women’s basketball teams have gotten off to good starts in their league schedule.

The Pilots went a combined 4-0 against Turtle Mountain Community College to kick off their home Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (NIAC) schedule Nov. 22/23.

The NIAC is one of three leagues the Providence basketball teams play in, including the three-team Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference (MCAC) and American-wide National Christian Colleges Athletic Conference.

The women’s Pilots basketball team is in the third year of a completely new system, which sees unorthodox hockey-style line changes throughout a game. With energy to spare, Providence is able to aggressively press on defense and run on offense, attempting to wear down any team that tries to play a traditional basketball rotation with star players getting heavy minutes.

Gabrielle Roy, Steinbach Regional fall in AAAA volleyball semi-finals

The hopes of schools to snag the top high school varsity volleyball banner in the province were dashed in the semi-finals, as Steinbach Regional Secondary School’s girls team and Gabrielle-Roy’s boys team were both defeated at the University of Manitoba.

On the boys side, the clock struck midnight for the normally AA Les Roys.

The Ile des Chenes-based French Language school with under 300 students decided to compete at the AAAA level this season and made the provincial final four, but fell in four sets to the St Paul’s Crusaders.

“We did (have them on the run) but you’ve gotta do that for the entire three sets that you want to win,” Les Roys head coach Michel Lavergne told the Winnipeg Free Press.

MJHL players earn world junior A camp invites

Editor's Note: This story was written for the Dec. 5th edition of The Carillon

Three players who play in the MJHL for Niverville/Steinbach could soon be wearing a Team Canada jersey.

Reece Gault and Jackson Kostiuk from Steinbach and Avery Laliberte from Niverville earned invites to the Team Canada West selection camp for the upcoming World Junior A championship.

“This is the first time since 2022 we are taking the opportunity to hold a camp before naming our teams for the Junior A World Challenge,” Scott Salmond, Hockey Canada’s senior vice-president of high performance and hockey operations said in a news release.

Carillon Sports Second Shots from Nov. 28th edition

Featuring photos from the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association AAAA varsity boys playoffs Nov. 21, Providence basketball games Nov. 22/23, a Niverville/Steinbach MJHL game Nov. 22, an Eastman Selects Female U18 game Nov. 23 and the Dekalb Superspiel finals in Morris Nov. 24.

Niverville’s LeGall 1st MJHL player to move after NCAA rule change

Goaltender Raiden LeGall became the first Manitoba Junior Hockey League (MJHL) player to forgo playing for his junior A club to play major junior after the NCAA changed their eligibility rules.

The Morden product moved to the Western Hockey League’s Everett Silvertips Nov. 20.

LeGall was outstanding in his rookie season with the Niverville Nighthawks, posting a 0.920 save percentage while recording a 20-14-0 record. Those numbers had him named to the league’s all-rookie team,. drafted by the Muskegon Lumberjacks in the USHL and committed to NCAA division one program Bemidji State University.

Before the NCAA changed their rules this month, any player who played with a Western Hockey League team was no longer eligible to play American College Hockey.

Pembina Valley Twisters hire new general manager

The Pembina Valley Twisters added to their staff earlier this month, appointing John Mintenko as the team’s general manager.

“John brings a wealth of experience and leadership to the Twisters, and we are confident that his vision will guide our team to new heights,” a team news release reads.

“With a deep-rooted passion for the game, John’s strategic approach aligns perfectly with our goals of fostering talent, building team unity, and achieving excellence on and off the ice.”

The Twisters have gotten off to a rough start to the 2024/2025 Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League Season. They’re at the bottom of the league’s standings with a minus-58 goal difference and only three wins.

Howden signs 5-year extension with Vegas Golden Knights

Brett Howden has taken advantage of a hot start to the season to ink a five-year contract extension with the Vegas Golden Knights, worth $2.5 million per year. The contract runs until the end of the 2030 season.

In a video posted on the Golden Knights’ social media, Howden shared the two sides had been going back and forth on an extension for to start the season, and was happy to get the deal done, signing immediately after a game against Ottawa Nov. 21.

Howden notched the team’s second goal in a 3-2 Vegas victory. The Oakbank product entered the zone behind Ivan Barbashev on a three-on-three rush and was unaccounted for by Senators’ defenders, one-timing a drop pass that just squeaked through Linus Ullmark and trickled over the goal line.

“It was pretty crazy, I didn’t really realize it was going to happen right after the game,” Howden said on the contract, noting general manager Kelly McCrimmon was waiting for him immediately following the game.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 1981: Steinbach wrestlers do well in debut at River East meet

Three members of Steinbach Collegiate wrestling team competed in the River East Junior Olympic Wrestling Tournament, Saturday and performed extremely well for first-year wrestlers.

The three wrestlers in the competition were Deidrich Enns in the 131-pound class, Ken Klassen in the 151-pound class and Gerald Goertzen in the 123-pound class.

Klassen took first place in his weight class, with victories over much more experienced wrestlers, while Goertzen was awarded second place in the 123-pound class.

Enns, after winning his first three matches, had a tough match with University of Manitoba wrestler, Mitch Ostberg, who was a member of last year’s provincial junior wrestling team.

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: PWHL team could be great fit for new Steinbach arena

Media got an inside look at the Southeast Events Centre via a guided tour Nov. 22, and I was lucky enough to be included.

While there still is clearly a lot of work left to do before opening night, the hockey rink looks on track to become one of the nicest facilities to watch a game not only in Manitoba, but across the country. (Selfishly, the lighting setup seems outstanding for photographers.)

The tour has me thinking big about the future of Steinbach sports, and wondering what prominent events and leagues could come to the new barn.

While the entire ecosystem of men’s junior hockey in North America is in complete flux thanks to the recent NCAA rule change, there’s one league unquestionably on the rise which might just be a perfect fit for not only Steinbach, but Manitoba as a whole.