Carillon Sports Second Shots: Nov 20th edition

Featuring photos from the South Central Athletic Conference semi-finals at Steinbach Regional Nov. 12, games from the SRSS hockey tournament Nov. 14, a Steinbach Pistons game Nov. 14, Providence Pilots basketball games Nov. 15, a few shots from the Niverville Nighthawks that same night and the Zone 13 AAA boys varsity championship Nov. 17.

St Jean’s Hicks enjoying breakout MJHL season

St Jean’s Sebastian Hicks is in the middle of a breakout Manitoba Junior Hockey League season.

Suiting up for the Waywayseecappo Wolverines, he has 31 points in just 19 games to lead the league. The 2005-born forward is on pace for 95 points, which would crush his previous high of 31, set last season.

Hicks played his minor hockey with the Pembina Valley Hawks, and even appeared in a couple games for the Pembina Valley Twisters during their 22/23 playoff run.

After brief stints with the Winnipeg Freeze, he moved to Waywayseecappo for the start of the 2023 season.

Providence men’s basketball stumble out of the gates

The Providence Pilots men’s basketball team certainly looks a little different to start the 2025/2026 season.

Star centre/power forward Riley Paul has graduated from the program and with fellow big Emmanuel Oleko out of the line-up until the new year, a team that’s strength has been up front for the past few years is struggling to adjust.

The Pilots, who were the Northern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champions last season, but lost the Mantioba Colleges Athletic Conference final to Canadian Mennonite University lost their first two games of the season to those same CMU Blazers.

“The key word for us is consistency, which is nothing new in basketball, nothing new in sports,” head coach Pierre Dubreuil said after dropping a tough game to CMU Nov. 15 in the team’s home opener.

SPORTS FLASHBACKK 1968: SCI Sabrettes climb to top of volleyball ladder

Finishing third in the 1967 Manitoba High School Volleyball provincials, SCI Saberettes’ coach Jake Epp promised the team would be even stronger the next year.

The team lived up to expectations, and after more than a dozen matches, climbed two more rungs up the ladder to claim the first ever high school girls’ volleyball title by a rural Manitoba team.

The Steinbach Collegiate girls’ volleyball team reached the ultimate in provincial volleyball status by defeating Gimli in the 1968 Manitoba Provincial championships, after 12 long hours of volleyball at the University of Manitoba gym.

The SCI girls had played through the gruelling 12-game round-robin with only four losses, and waited anxiously to see if they would make the semi-finals.

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: The change-up – more than just a baseball pitch

In watching both the AA and AAA Zone 13 volleyball finals, I was struck by a pair of similar moments.

In the waning moments of the match, with everything on the line, the winning team’s setter, who had been setting up his outsides and middles all match, seized the moment and took a pass himself for the winning kill.

Both the Grunthal and Niverville players took advantage of their tendencies, set up throughout the entire match leading up to the decisive point, and threw their usual play out the window for their winning moment.

It’s something that I know from experience playing badminton works well. Serving to a different part of the court after short serving the entire game often gets me a point in a key moment.

Kendall Perpall picks up first two wins in debut as Pilots coach

Years of hard work for Kendall Perpall culminated last weekend, as Providence’s new women’s basketball head coach took to the court for his first league games as the team’s bench boss.

A Pilots alumnus, Perpall has been a mainstay as an assistant coach and has now taken the reigns of the school’s women’s team, continuing a system put in place by current athletic director Joel Coursey.

“I couldn’t ask for a better group to start with, with the returners that decided to come back,” Perpall said.

The team plays an aggressive, pressing, style for a full 40 minutes, made possible by complete line-up substitutions, as Providence use hockey-style lines in order to keep up the pace. Perpall said the system can speed up the opponent and force mistakes.

Area schools preparing for volleyball provincials

Volleyball is one of the most played sports in the Manitoba High School Athletic Association and the provincial championships are right around the corner.

The Zone banners have been awarded, the first rounds have been completed and the wildcards have been announced, as the full slate of teams participating across the four levels of varsity high school volleyball in Manitoba have been announced by the association.

AAAAA loss to Glenlawn in the South Central Athletic Association semi-finals on their home court Nov. 12 didn’t stop the Steinbach Regional Secondary School’s boys varsity from getting an automatic spot in the provincial AAAA quarterfinals. The team is ranked second in the heading into provincials.

Glenlawn was the only team to defeat Steinbach in the SCAC league this season, as the Sabres put together an 11-1 league record along with sparkling season of tournament results, including wins in the St Vital Invitational, Royals Spike-Off, St Paul’s VITT and the Daniel McIntyre tournament.

Carillon Sports Second Shots: Nov. 13th edition

Featuring photos from the A/AA varsity boys Zone 13 championships in Ste Anne and Grunthal, a Gabrielle-Roy/Pointe des Chenes hockey game in Ile des Chenes Nov. 7, the Ile des Chenes North Stars home opener later that night and Remembrance Day Nighthawks and Eastman Selects games in Niverville.

Local teams near top of WHSHL standings

Click on any tier of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League and you seem to be guaranteed to see an Eastman team battling near the top of the standings.

In the top Platinum Promotions Division, Steinbach continues their strong start to the season with a 5-2 start to the season.

In the third-tier Price Division, Niverville and Lorette are both undefeated through a combined 11 games this season.

And in the Winnipeg Free Press Division, the Gabrielle-Roy/Pointe des Chenes Caveliers and Springfield Sabres are a combined 10-3 on the season, both in the top three of their division.

Jocelyne Larocque, Charge will ‘takeover’ Winnipeg

For the first time in her Professional Women’s Hockey League career, Jocelyne Larocque will get to suit up in Manitoba.

Ste Anne’s Larocque, who plays for the Ottawa Charge, will be in Winnipeg March 22 as part of the PWHL’s annual “Takeover Tour” series of games.

Winnipeg’s Canada Life Centre will host the Charge and Montreal Victoire for a regular season game, with puck drop at 6 p.m.

“This event reflects our commitment to creating opportunities for young women to see themselves represented on the professional stage, and we are proud to play a small role in creating this moment for our community,” Annie Chipman Stockl, True North Sports and Entertainment vice-president of marketing said in a news release.

Nighthawks continue to make cross-league trades

Owning the best record in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League hasn’t stopped the Niverville Nighthawks from making trades.

The Nighthawks moved Luke Mackenzie to Melfort int he Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League in exchange for 2007-born defenseman Jake Demone and a player development fee.

Mackenzie, who is from Pipestone, joined Niverville after a brief stint with the Virden Oil Capitals mid-way through the 2023/2024 season. In his only full year for the Nighthawks, he had six goals and fourteen assists in 57 games. He had five points through nine games this season.

His play earned him a college commitment to Canisius College, an NCAA Division 1 school based out of Buffalo, New York.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 1975: Sleeper play catches St Laurent napping

The St Laurent Panthers must be wondering what they have to do to defeat the Landmark Dutchmen. They came within three minutes of their first victory in three years Sunday, only to have a 50 yard-sleeper play and a last second field goal turn a sure victory into a defeat in the Rural Manitoba Intermediate Football League semi-final.

The Dutchmen, trailing 14-1 at the half, rallied for one touchdown and a safety touch in the third quarter to make it 14-10.

St Laurent’s Wayne Tremblay returned a blocked punt 15 yards for a touchdown to give St Laurent a 10 point lead early in the fourth, setting the stage for the rally by the Dutchmen.

Landmark gained a first down following the kickoff on a third down gamble and then moved the ball another five yards on a completion to Ken Sonnichsen.

AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Let’s celebrate Grey Cup like never before

Sports fans, with the Grey Cup happening this weekend, we need to embrace and celebrate the CFL’s championship game more than ever.

Given the existential threats to our economy and our sovereignty by the madman south of the border, we need to support Canada in any and every way we can, and the Grey Cup is the quintessential opportunity to treasure our game, our country and our collective national pride.

So, let’s make the most of it.

There isn’t a whole lot that individual Canadians can do to combat punishing tariffs or threats of annexation, but one thing that is totally within our control, one way we can fight back against destructive outside forces, is to uphold and cherish the Grey Cup as the unique aspect of sporting Canadiana that it is.