Kirkland Lycar,who once played 2 games with the Brandon Wheat Kings back in 2014/15 , has left the Dauphin Kings of the MJHL and is seeking a trade. Peter Quenneville is off to a great start with the Aalborg Pirates of the Danish Hockey League. The former Wheat King has recorded 7 points in 5 games and currently sits second in league scoring. Brandon resident, and a one time member of the Montreal Canadiens, Brock Trotter recently signed with SaiPa of the Finnish First Division. Brock played in Sweden last season. Forward, Triston Grant has singed with the Wichita Thunder of the ECHL. The Neepawa product has played a total 11 games in the NHL with the Nashville Predators and the Philadelphia Flyers over his career. Quinton Lisoway has joined the University of Manitoba Bisons Hockey team. Former Wheat King defensemen Rene Hunter is also on the Bisons' roster as are Elkhorn products Shawn & Brad Bowles. Reid Duke has been released from his tryout with the Hartford Wolf Pack and is headed back to Brandon to join the Wheat Kings. Duke's return leaves the Wheat Kings with 4 overagers, one over the league maximum.

Brandon's Curtis 'The Demon' Demarce is the new reigning Canadian Featherweight Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Champion. The fight took place in Edmonton on Saturday September 30th. Unified 28 was one of the biggest fight cards of the year. There were three title bouts in front of a crowd of nearly 3000 at The Palace. Demarce fought Parwez Ghulam. It was a three round bout, ending in TKO. Demarce says, "the fight was very frustrating for me. He ran from me the whole fight. Anytime that I tried to close the distance, get on the inside to use my boxing or get a take-down he would circle away and run. I expected more pressure from him." "Half way through the fight I had to switch my game plan, find his angles and throw something unorthodox as he was circling away from my power. A lot can happen. A good fighter finds a way to adapt on his feet, switch the plan and get the win. Happy I could get it done." Curtis Demarce at Tastee's waiting on his champ burger. What's next for Demarce? He looks to move up a weight class and capture the Lightweight title and keep both divisions active. An ambitious feat for this career fighter. No other Canadian has ever held both titles simultaneously. Demarce trains here at home in Brandon at Brandon Academy of Mixed Martial Arts and does full training camp, pre-fight at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose California. He has been fighting for over a decade now, currently ranked in the top 3 in Canada. Some of his career highlights are featured on YouTube. In the MMA context, Demarce walked away from this fight virtually unscathed. Not a mark on his knuckles, merely a broken nose, torn ligament in the foot and a couple stitches. All in a day's work. Champ Burger @ Tastee's. Curtice Demarce and his squad in Edmonton inmmediately post fight.

Those that know me well, know I have no time for being politically correct. I think it is the single most part of social behavior that ails society and I think it's why Donald Trump is so popular. People hate the politically correct world so much they overlook all of Trump's other glaring flaws as a human being simply because he says what he wants. That's not a scientific study, but just a personal observation and an informal poll I've conducted. One of the things that gets on my nerves is when someone tells me I don't have the right to comment negatively about something because I'm a white male, which is to say I've been entitled my whole life and I don't know what it means to have dealt with hard times. I may write more about that in a future column, but if I don't have the right to criticize the politically correct for changing the lyrics to our national anthem, then I'd say unless you are a woman, you don't have the right to comment on what a marvelous change this is for the anthem and its citizens either. We are both disqualified from commenting and only a woman can comment. Disclaimer-if a woman speaks negatively about this, the politically correct will brush her off and label her with some horrible title and disregard her opinion. Which brings me to a recent politically correct movement that has just floored me with the response: air shows. You see air shows are now offensive because we have a lot of new people in our country who see air shows as a glorification of the tools of war. Well, actually I didn't read that NEW Canadian people thought this. But, rather some long time Canadian people in search of trouble to start, decided this would be a fitting label for air shows because we just need to be more sensitive. Once this thought became public, of course, it gained traction from other trouble makers and other Canadian citizens who feel it necessary to spend their whole lives apologizing for being terrible a couple hundred years ago when their ancestors came to a land not yet called Canada and who weren't as sensitive to others. So, what I've done is I've decided to jump aboard. Air shows are offensive. Cancel them. Now...what do we do about the Winnipeg Jets? I mean, the Jets are not named after Air Canada. It isn't unrealistic to think someone attending a Jets game could become traumatized by viewing the logo and reading up on the team name and discovering it's a tribute to fighter planes. The time to get out in front of this is now. Let's not wait until someone shames us into realizing how offensive this name is. Let's change it. I'd also like to suggest the New York Yankees also change their name. If you Google the term 'Yankee meaning', the number one definition that comes up is 'derogatory - someone who is from or lives in the United States'. But, nobody pays attention to this one. Why? At the same time, the Washington Post conducted a survey with Native Americans and it was revealed 9/10 are not offended by the term Redskins. Yet, there are white people everywhere who are bending over backwards to change the name. Why? If you think I'm being ridiculous, ask yourself this question: if someone told me a year ago that air shows would be deemed offensive, would you laugh it off and say that's ridiculous? I think we all would. Where does it end? Will it, someday, be offensive to be called the Edmonton Oilers due to its indirect slight to environmentalists? Are the Montreal Canadiens offensive because the French spelling leaves out Canadian people who are non-French? Now, just a minute. Before you say the English would never get their way over the French, I'm not, necessarily, talking English. We are a melting pot of cultures now and it's possible a non-English person could raise this issue. Then what? We know English people come last due to the behaviour of Christopher Columbus in the late 1400's. But, where do the French fall when a different ethnic group complains? All of this can be stopped. It just requires a stand and the ability to shake off vicious name calling from the politically correct. Most of us cave once the race or bigot card is played. It's a terrible label to brand someone. But, the people who resort to using it when having a debate are misusing the term and the rest of us need to recognize that and keep up the good fight. Unless of course, you agree the name Winnipeg Jets is offensive.

This is pure gold. Anyone who lives in Manitoba, and perhaps most of Canada, is fully aware of the video which went viral of a thief dressed as an old hockey goalie robbing a local beer store in Russell, Manitoba on August 15th, 2016. While the video alone is funny enough on it's own merit someone from the community has now stamped their own brand of original humor onto the situation. One creative, and imaginative family, has recreated the now famous images from the popular security video utilizing scarecrows to decorate their front lawn as part of Russell's “Scarecrow Competition” during their annual Beef & Barley Festival week long celebrations. Each year the Russell Beef & Barley Festival holds a Scarecrow contest where homes are encouraged to decorate their front yards with the best scarecrow design in hopes of winning one of four different award categories: best single household, best multi household, best business and best traditional scare crow. Winners of the Scarecrow Contest are to be announced at the Pancake Breakfast on Saturday October 8th. Expect entry #15, below, to take home at least one of the different categories at that pancake breakfast. Photo: Damien McNabb

The Winnipeg Jets have returned Jordan Stallard, a former member of the AAA Midget Wheat Kings, to the Calgary Hitmen of the WHL. Jesse Gabrielle, a one time member of the Brandon Wheat Kings, was reassigned by the Boston Bruins to the Prince George Cougars. The rugged winger is coming off a 40-goal campaign in the WHL last season. A couple of former Brandon Wheat Kings defensemen have joined MJHL clubs. Jordan Thomson has recorded 7 points in his first 4-games with the Portage Terriers while Matt Taraschuk has 1 assist in 5-games to date with the Steinbach Pistons. The Philadelphia Flyers have loaned Travis Sanheim to the LeHigh Valley Phantoms, increasing Ivan Provorov's odds of staying with the big club. Curtis DeMarce, a Brandon mixed martial arts fighter, wins the Unified MMA feather weight title over the weekend in Edmonton, at the Royal Palace. The Brandon Boxing Clubs next event, Halloween Hustle 3, is two weeks away on Saturday, October 15th inside the Victoria Inn's Imperial Ballroom. Tickets are only $20 and bell time is 7:00 pm. David Glenn was this years winner of the annual Ridge Bowl held over the weekend at the Deer Ridge Golf & Country Club. David defeated Geoff Gregorie in the final to claim the championship.