The Westman Heat U17 AA softball team headed to Winnipeg, Buhler Field, over the weekend to participate in the U17AA showcase tournament and returned home with a championship title in their possession. They finished the round robin sporting a 2-2 record, as noted below. Lost Eastman 12-7 Lost Central 7-4 Win Bonni Vital 18-6 Win Northwest Reapers 6-1 In semi-final the Heat toppled Central Charge 9-7 before a highly anticipated rematch with Eastman in the championship game. The Heat turned the tables on Eastman in the tournament final with a convincing 9-3 victory.

The MJHL's 2023-24 regular season schedule begins on Friday, September 22nd 2023 with 5 games scheduled for the evening.  The Dauphin Kings regular season kicks off that evening at at home with a matchup against the Swan Valley Stampeders. That same evening, the Neepawa Titans travel to Waywayseecappo to tangle with the Wolverines and the Steinbach Pistons visit Virden to take on the Oil Capitals. The MJHL consists of 13-teams broken up into two divisions. Each team will play a 58-game schedule that concludes on March 17 2024.

The Western Hockey League announced today that the Winnipeg ICE franchise has been sold and relocated to Wenatchee, Washington, and will operate under the new ownership of David White of the California-based Shoot the Puck Foundation. The sale and relocation of the Winnipeg franchise has received the approval of the WHL Board of Governors and is effective immediately. Wenatchee becomes the sixth U.S.-based WHL team and will join the WHL’s U.S. Division and Western Conference for the 2023-24 season. The relocation to Wenatchee will allow the WHL to balance its Western and Eastern Conferences with 11 member Clubs in each Conference starting next season. Unfortunately, multiple attempts by the ICE ownership to construct an arena facility of acceptable WHL standards in Winnipeg, based on the agreed upon timeframes, were unsuccessful, leading to the relocation to Wenatchee. The Western Hockey League would like to thank the Winnipeg ICE fans for their support and the ICE organization for building a highly successful hockey program that we expect will have a great future in Washington State.

Two local Brandon players, Ekam Dhaliwal and Dalton Andrew were both selected today in the NAHL draft. The NAHL is considered one of the top 3 Junior Hockey leagues in North America for sending players to NCAA D1 and D3 hockey. To date no players have been drafted to the NAHL from Brandon since the league began in 1975. Dhaliwal whom played for the U18 AAA Wheat Kings last year was selected by Anchorage Wolverines in the 9th round.   Dalton Andrew, also a former U18 AAA Wheat King, was selected in the first round by Shreveport. Andrew played the last two seasons in the MJHL for the Winkler Flyers. Dalton Andrew Keith Morris GM of Anchorage told BDNMB.CA today they felt lucky to get Ekam at that point of the draft.  "He has an incredible release and a natural goal scorer". Ekam hockey profile https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/647509/ekam-dhaliwal Dalton hockey profile https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/416924/dalton-andrew For more information on the NAHL draft and league click below. https://nahldraft.rinknet.com/

Jay Thiesen has some elite company at The Grey Owl. The Russell resident roared back from a three-stroke deficit at the start of the round to win his third title in the 61st annual edition of the 36-hole men’s golf tournament at Clear Lake Golf Course, which is presented by IG Wealth Management. Thiesen is just the fifth player to win three times, the others being Garth Collings (11), Jim Scissons (7), Jimmy Doyle (4) and Jamie Stone (3). Thiesen fired a bogey-free 69 to finish with a 5-under 139 total after an opening-round 70. That was two strokes clear of St. Charles’ Steven Young (69-72) and Brandon’s Kolby Day (67-74), who both finished at 3 under 141. “It’s pretty cool, I guess,” the laid-back Thiesen said after receiving the Cactus Jack Wells Memorial Trophy. “It was nice to see Garth out there again playing in the last couple groups there. I don’t know if I’ll be able to catch him. That’ll be pretty tough, but it feels really good.” Young came out on fire, birdieing four of his first five holes to grab the lead from Day, the 18-hole leader. Young was 4 under on the front and was three strokes ahead of Thiesen with nine to play. Young ran into trouble early on the back, however, bogeying the 12th, 13th and 14th holes, and the two were tied standing on the 15th tee. Thiesen grabbed the lead for the first time with an up-and-down birdie on the par-4 16th and didn’t look back. “That was one of my best rounds at this tournament,” Thiesen said. “I think I’ve shot 68s, but I went bogey-free today, so it was just a solid round.” Onanole’s Cal Vanderschuit, who was one shot back of Day going into Sunday, carded a 74 to finish fourth with a 2- under 142 aggregate. Collings competed in the championship flight once again, finishing sixth overall, and his 72-74—146 total was good enough for a four-shot victory over St. Charles’ Ken Mould (77-73—150) in the Greyer Owl for those age 60 and over. It is Collings’ third Greyer Owl crown. Brandon Sun sports reporter Thomas Friesen, who was covering the tournament for the paper, captured the Media Flight title in his first Grey Owl appearance. Friesen fired 77-74—151, and his net total of 141 was the best of the 11-player field. More information and all scores can be found at thegreyowl.ca. FINAL SCORES Jay Thiesen, Russell 70-69—139 Steven Young, St. Charles 69-72—141 Kolby Day, Wheat City 67-74—141 Cal Vanderschuit, Onanole 68-74—142