PHOTO GALLERY – The Great Easter Egg Hunt

Mennonite Heritage Village and A&W hosted The Great Easter Egg Hunt on April 19.

Jocelyne Larocque reaches 200-game milestone as Team Canada nabs silver

Jocelyne Larocque made some history this week, becoming the first Canadian defender to appear in 200 games for the country’s senior women’s hockey team.

Just four other players (Hayley Wickenheiser, Jayna Hefford, Caroline Ouellette and Marie-Philip Poulin) have played that many games for Team Canada.

Larocque made the 200-game mark in bittersweet fashion, as Team Canada lost 4-3 in overtime of the women’s world championships, with Larocque on the ice during the goal against. An attempted breakout pass late in the first overtime was deflected right to the stick of an American player. With the extra space during the three-on-three overtime, it took a simple pass across the crease to record the winning goal.

The 2025 tournament, hosted in Czechia, set a new all-time attendance record (122,331) as women’s hockey picks up in popularity around the globe. Last year’s tournament was also decided in overtime, with Canada coming out on top at the U.S.-hosted event.

Sprague and District Historical Museum to hold fundraiser to preserve church

The Sprague and District Historical Museum is holding a fundraiser to collect funds for the repair of one its buildings, the Full Gospel Church.

“The siding on it is falling away – it’s brittle and we have birds pecking at them and there’s holes all over and it has to be redone. It was put in there in 1934 when it was built,” said museum chair Doris Hovorka.

The history of the church began in 1933 when evangelist Hjordis Rambo came to Golden Branch to hold Gospel meetings. Golden Branch was about five miles north of Sprague. On March 16, 1934, Rambo’s daughter married Gundro Ludwig Simensen who built a church at Golden Branch and became pastor. In 1955, his wife became his assistant pastor. When Simensen died, his wife became pastor. Over the years new churches were built in the village of Sprague and the Golden Branch church was not being used except for special occasions. In time, the church became abandoned and vandalized.

In 2011 and 2012, Alton Milne, a resident of Sprague and a past member of the Full Gospel Church, approached the Sprague and District Historical Museum board on numerous occasions to move the building to the museum site and renovate it as vandalism was leading to the destruction of the church.

AHL-signed Mistelbacher, Martin named to NHL draft list

A pair of Eastman players are in the running to be drafted to the NHL this year.

Luke Mistelbacher and Owen Martin were both named to the NHL central scouting’s final ranking list, along with 12 other Manitoba players.

Mistelbacher was eligible to be drafted last season, but NHL teams passed on him. Undeterred, the forward from Steinbach pressed on, earning an invite to the Winnipeg Jets prospect camp and playing with the team at a prospect tournament last summer.

He peaked at 113 in the NHL central scouting rankings, but his play this season has him 93rd. Mistelbacher picked up right where he left off in the tail end of last season, potting 42 goals and 51 assists for 93 points in just 67 games for the Swift Current Broncos. That had him as the eighth most productive player in the WHL.

Provencher PPC candidate joins Bernier at guns announcement

Local People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate Noel Gautron joined his party’s leader Maxime Bernier and other PPC candidates at the Gateway Gun Club in Winnipeg to tout their policy on easier access to more guns for legal owners.

It was Gautron who helped Bernier, who is from Quebec, get his gun possession and acquisition license (PAL) in Manitoba.

“I did that with Noel two years ago in Manitoba, and I know what you have to do to have the right to own a gun and buy a gun. It’s very strong restrictions: the RCMP does an investigation on you and you must have the OK from the RCMP.

“But we don’t need all these legislations, because the Trudeau government and now the Carney government, they are looking at gun owners like they are criminals and they are not. So our plan is to be very tough on crime but not on gun owners,” said Bernier after his press conference.

Lynn and Liana Designs wins provincial business award

Local business Lynn and Liana Designs is one of seven businesses to win the Future Champions Award from the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce.

Nominated by their peers, the award recognizes businesses and individuals that use their influence to drive social and economic innovation with impact, innovation, and heart.

“We’ve done a good job of telling stories of companies that have been here for a number of years and are real pillars of the community, but (what) we wanted to focus on with the Future Champions is who are some of those up-and-coming businesses. Who are companies that are just under the radar right now and that we’re seeing a real strong path of them becoming real pillars of our business community in Manitoba,” said Manitoba Chamber president and CEO Chuck Davidson.

More than 50 businesses across the province were nominated for the award, which will be handed out on May 12 in Winnipeg.

MEF adds more eggs to school breakfast menu

The question of the day at Parc La Salle School earlier this month was, “How many eggs can you eat on an empty stomach?” The answer is, only one, for then your stomach would no longer be empty.

And the Manitoba Egg Farmers are making sure that there will be fewer empty stomachs starting the day in hundreds of Manitoba Schools with the announcement they will be donating 10,000 dozen eggs to Manitoba Child Nutrition Council’s school breakfast program.

Parc La Salle’s resident chef John Holmes had lots of help in the kitchen, as representatives from the Child Nutrition Council and the Manitoba Egg Farmers joined him to scramble up a batch of eggs for students to launch the MEF egg donation program.

Parc La Salle teacher Deana Matthys served up the results of their efforts to her Grade 2 class, and then the students were treated to a video presentation on “everything eggs”, from the farm to the supermarket, followed by a question and answer period with MEF marketing manager Adriana Findlay.

Manitoba club volleyball provincials underway

Young volleyball players from across the province are in action for their provincial championships, as the club season comes to an end.

The 15U boys tournament was hosted in Steinbach/Mitchell April 19-20 with the 14U boys tournament going in Niverville.

Older age groups will be in action in the region May 3-4, with the 18U girls playing in Steinbach and Mitchell and the 16U boys in Niverville. Niverville is also listed as a partial host for the 16U girls alongside Dakota Community Centre.

The Junior Pilots club program, based out of Niverville and Steinbach’s Taika Volleyball have teams competing. The Junior Pilots boys 14U team finished second at provincials, with the boys 15U team finishing third.

Ste Anne ball hockey standout named to provincial Indigenous hall of fame

Chantal Larocque has followed her sister into the Manitoba Indigenous Sports Hall of Fame.

Ste Anne’s Larocque, who is a Red River Metis woman, has played ball hockey at the national level for over a decade, winning gold medals at the International Street and Ball Hockey Federation World Championships in 2015 and 2017.

Larocque returned to ball hockey as a masters athlete in 2022, winning a silver and gold medal. In 2024 she was named the top forward and all star at the Canada Ball Hockey National Championships.

She also competed at the inaugural Masters Ball Hockey National Championship, being named tournament MVP en route to a championship win.

Green Valley School presents The Drowsy Chaperone

Potential audience members would do well to buy their tickets now, as Green Valley School prepares to host The Drowsy Chaperone, a musical filled with nostalgia and plenty of laughs.

The cast has been preparing for the three shows that will be hosted on May 1 and 2.

“The story concerns a musical theatre fan who, feeling blue, decides to play for the audience an LP of her favourite musical, the fictional 1928 show The Drowsy Chaperone,” a synopsis states. “As the record plays, the show – a parody of 1920s American musical comedy – comes to life onstage, as she wryly comments on the music, story and actors.”

“Mix in two lovers on the eve of their wedding, a bumbling best man, a desperate theatre producer, a not-so-bright hostess, four gangsters posing as pastry chefs, a misguided Don Juan and a befuddled chaperone, and you have the ingredients for an evening of madcap delight.”

First Hope in Heels Fashion Gala a success

A crowd of 450 people attended the first ever Hope in Heels Fashion Gala hosted by Southeast Cancer Support Services (SCSS) on April 10.

It was also the first event of its kind hosted at the Southeast Event Centre. Organizers utilized the lobby space and part of the arena ice surface for the event which was originally intended to seat 300 people.

A massive response proved that was simply not enough, and the organization had no problem selling out their expanded event.

Cindy Rempel Patrick of SCSS was pleased with the event that shared individual cancer stories while modelling local fashions to an appreciative audience.