Steinbach to host top-40 Hockey Manitoba camp

The best U16 hockey players in the province were in action this week, as Hockey Manitoba hosts their annual Program of Excellence camps.

The Program of Excellence aims to identify top hockey players and set them up for success as they move forward in their elite hockey careers.

The 117-player roster for the boys spring selection camp will be paired down to a top-40 camp, which will be hosted in Steinbach May 8-11 at the Southeast Event Centre.

”The Boys U16 Program of Excellence is the first step in the Hockey Canada Male Program of Excellence,” a release announcing the roster on the Hockey Manitoba website reads.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 1998: Constant improvement goal for local fitness competitor

Tami Heinrichs, owner of TJ Fitness in Steinbach, recently finished fourth overall at the Canadian Fitness Championships in Calgary.

Although fitness magazine writers covering the event felt Heinrichs should have been placed higher, she didn’t complain about fourth place, saying as long as she continues to improve she is happy.

And it is precisely that positive, never-say-die, attitude that helps keep Heinrichs focussed as she trains for fitness and bodybuilding competitions. Her training regime is certainly a gruelling one. It includes two aerobics classes per day and an hour of training for her fitness routine, which includes gymnastic flips, dancing and taekwondo moves.

Rigorous training is combined with a year-round healthy diet of low-fat meats, lots of vegetables, fruit and rice. Heinrichs throws in a plug for a neighboring business, saying her favorite ‘treat food’ is Niakwa Pizza.

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Banners matter

The Winnipeg Jets are the best team in the NHL this year.

It’s a sentence that just seems impossible to believe. Not just because the Jets always seem to come up short, but the fact they even exist to achieve that feat.

For my entire childhood, the NHL returning to Manitoba was just a pipe dream, something for seemingly crazy people to post about on niche forums or phone into radio shows and rant about. (Yes, I did both of those things regularly)

From a historical perspective, it seemed impossible as well. Even the best Jets teams of the 80s, with a certified superstar in Dale Hawerchuk never seemed to come close to this feat.

Sceptres place Kirk on injured reserve

Raygan Kirk’s solid rookie Professional Women’s Hockey League (PWHL) season has been cut short due to injury.

The Toronto Sceptres placed the Ste Anne goaltender on long term injured reserve April 7, picking up Kassidy Sauve to replace her. Sauve has played this season in the Swedish Women’s Hockey League.

Kirk was pulled from the third period of a game March 30, suffering a lower-body injury and is out indefinitely.

The former Ohio State Buckeye had appeared in 10 games for Toronto, picking up five wins in eight starts while posting a 0.917 save percentage.

Area basketball players to play in high school all-star event

The region’s best graduating high school basketball players will be in downtown Winnipeg April 19 for the Basketball Manitoba awards and all-star games.

The games will be at the Canada Games Sport for Life Centre at 145 Pacific Avenue. Players are divided into four teams for each gender, with a pair of AAAA teams and a pair of combined A/AA/AAA teams facing off.

The AAAA games will take place at 10 a.m., with the A/AA/AAA games going at 12 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults. After the games, the awards presentation will be across the street at the Manitoba Museum, with free entry.

Steinbach Regional standout Lily Anderson is the only player from the region to make the AAAA team. Anderson had her grade 12 season cut short due to a knee injury, but still averaged over 15 points per game while grabbing 13 rebounds and serving as co-captain for the team.

Carillon Sports Second Shots: St Malo Warriors championship win

Featuring photos from game six and seven of the CRJHL championship in St Malo and Beausejour.

U18 AAA Eastman Selects fall in regionals

The Eastman Selects quest to keep their season alive came to an end April 6 in Saskatoon, as they fell in game three of an Esso Cup regional qualifier.

The Selects faced off against the Saskatoon Stars with the winner earning a spot at the national U18 AAA championship. Despite a 2-1 game one victory, the Selects dropped the next two games in the best-of-three series. Twins Delainey and Vayda Rigaux provided the goals for Eastman.

They had their chance to spoil the party in Saskatchewan in game two, erasing three one-goal leads in the first two periods, but eventually fell by a narrow 5-4 margin. A late powerplay in game two with a chance to tie the game would be as close as the team would come, falling by a lopsided 6-0 margin in the decisive game three.

The Selects have never made an appearance at the national championship, last advancing to the West regional qualifier when they were backstopped by Raygan Kirk, who now plays professionally for the Toronto Sceptres of the Professional Women’s Hockey League.

St Malo Warriors win back-to-back CRJHL championships

By the narrowest of margins, the St Malo Warriors won consecutive Capital Region Junior Hockey League championships.

The Warriors needed every little bit of advantage they could get, defeating the Beausejour Comets 4-3 in their best-of-seven final, pulling out three overtime wins, including in game six just to force a decisive game seven, which was hosted in St Malo April 4.

Brady Gregoire played the hero in Beausejour April 2, scoring seven minutes into the second overtime period by banging home a rebound after a Teagan Fillion rush chance, setting up what might have been the hottest ticket in town a couple nights later.

Fans were so eager to get a good seat for the game, they arrived at 10:30 a.m. to try and reserve their spots. The players could feel the pressure of a game seven as well.

SPORTS FLASHBACK 1999: Wednesday is ‘Fight Night’ at Maximum Fitness gym

Boxing, often referred to as the “sweet science”, has arrived in Steinbach.

Maximum Fitness at Clearspring Village, has set up a regular boxing ring to give customers another alternative to their workouts. Owner Les Spence, who opened the workout gym five years ago, says it is something he has considered for quite some time. This winter, he purchased $5,000 in equipment to set up the boxing facility.

The ring is actually only set up on Wednesday evenings, when sparring takes place. But available for training workouts any time are three punching bags, including two speed bags and a heavy bag.

Grace Bartel has been working out at Maximum Fitness for more than two years, and is one of about 20 regulars who have been working out with the equipment and a boxing instructor.

DANKOCHIK’S DRAFTINGS: Learning the ebbs and flows of junior hockey

It was a weird moment for me at this year’s Steinbach Pistons banquet and awards ceremony.

Seeing Spencer Penner and Noah Szabo on stage as graduating players is my first lesson in how fast a junior hockey roster can turn over.

When I grew up in Gimli, we didn’t even have a junior B team, just senior, and when I worked in Flin Flon, I was only there for a single hockey season.

Since joining The Carillon in 2022, we’ve been lucky to have teams with plenty of success on the ice, including that Pistons squad.

AS I SEE IT COLUMN: Gretzky’s MAGA madness worsens

In a classy move, last Friday Wayne Gretzky was in attendance as Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals were in Chicago. Ovie was three goals away from breaking the once untouchable record of 894 career goals. Just like Gordie Howe was in the rink in 1994 when Gretzky broke Howe’s all-time goal scoring record, Gretzky wanted to respect the history of the game and be in attendance when Ovechkin had a chance to break the record.

On such an historic night, who would Gretzky be sitting beside? Would it be former teammates Jarri Kurri, Mark Messier or Paul Coffey, who assisted on several hundred of Gretzky’s goals? Would he bring Howe’s son or grandson to make a classy show of the record’s continuity? Given his penchant for conservative politics, would he bring Trump wanna-be Pierre Poilievre?

Nope, Wayne sat next to Kash Patel, the new head of the FBI and likely the most unsavoury member of felon Trump’s cabinet (which is saying a lot). He is an avowed believer in an ultra right-wing extremist conspiracy group called QAnon. How extreme? They believe that Democrats are pedophiles who drink the blood of young children. (Yes, you read that correctly. It is one of their core beliefs.)

Gretkzy has come under withering criticism in Canada for his unabashed friendship with felon Trump, for not wearing a Maple Leaf uniform when he was the honorary captain of Team Canada at the 4 Nations Cup, but mostly for staying completely silent while his convicted criminal buddy Trump disrespects Canada’s Prime Minister by calling him “governor” and threatening to eradicate Canada as a sovereign nation.

Ste Anne Aces top Manitoba senior hockey mountain

Another provincial championship banner is set to hang inside Ste Anne’s Maurice Chaput Arena.

The Ste Anne Aces swept the provincial senior A championship over the Killarney Shamrocks in the most dramatic of fashion, scoring with under 10 seconds to go in a decisive game two to tie the game, before a Steph Pattyn marker in overtime clinched a 6-5 victory for Ste Anne.

“I said to the boys, ‘why do we do this to ourselves,’” team captain Brenden Walker quipped after returning to Ste Anne.

The Aces needed a late tying goal from Walker and an overtime winner from Cody Fowlie to beat the Springfield Winterhawks for the league title to make provincials.

Steinbach Pistons celebrate graduating players at year-end banquet

The Steinbach Pistons hosted their year-end banquet a little earlier than they would have liked April 3. The team honoured award winners and its eight graduating players just days after getting knocked out of the first round by the Portage Terriers in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League quarterfinals.

“Every year I feel like I’m not prepared for this day, and probably moreso than ever before,” head coach and general manager Paul Dyck said before introducing the team’s crop of graduating players.

“We thought this might be happening in May this year.”

It was no surprise to hear Connor Paronuzzi’s name called the most during the team’s awards ceremony. Paronuzzi was named the league’s most valuable player, winning the MJHL scoring race while setting a new single-season points record for Pistons players.

Larocque seeking further success wearing Maple Leaf

Ste Anne’s Jocelyne Larocque has turned wearing the Maple Leaf into an annual tradition.

The defender has now played over 100 games for Team Canada at the senior level, including last year’s world championship, where she helped Canada to a gold medal.

Larocque and the Canadians will be seeking to defend that championship this week, as they travel to Czechia for the 2025 edition of the tournament.

With the 2026 Olympics fast approaching, the World Championship takes on a more important meaning.

Providence Pilots honour top athletes at banquet

Riley Paul capped off a spectacular collegiate career in style, getting named the Providence Pilots men’s player of the year at the school’s awards banquet March 27.

In his final games with the Pilots, the Brandon basketball centre surpassed 1,000 points scored for the college, as he was named to the National Christian Colleges Athletic Association’s all-region second team.

The women’s Pilot of the Year went to volleyball left side Tyra Peters for the second consecutive year. The senior from New Bothwell had another outstanding season for the Pilots, leading them offensively to an Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference championship, with the team picking up the program’s first win at a national championship this season as well.

The school’s scholar athlete of the year also came from women’s volleyball, as Maddie Oselies, a junior libero from Edmonton posted a 3.99 GPA.