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Josh Thompson will enjoy every second of the next week off from game action with the Blind River Beavers.
On Saturday, the Russell star posted one assist as the Beavers downed the Soo Eagles, 5-1. It was Blind River's 15th win in a row as they're tied with Greater Sudbury for first place in the West Division with 58 points. Blind River has 29 wins in their 37 games.
Thompson, despite missing nearly two months because of a broken hand, has been outstanding in his final year as a junior hockey player. In 23 games, Thompson has 12 goals and 17 assists for 29 points. Josh is proving to be a real powerplay specialist. All of last season in 56 games, Thompson recorded six goals while on the man advantage.
This year, Josh already has that same amount and still two months of the season remain. Blind River has scored the second-most goals in the league with 180, only behind Greater Sudbury who has 183. However, the Beavers have only allowed 87 goals which is 20 fewer than Greater Sudbury and Timmins.
Josh will look to help Blind River continue with their hot play next weekend when they play a pair of home games at the Blind River Community Centre against the Vikings and the Paper Kings. The Paper Kings are 23-13 while the Vikings are dead last in the 12-team circuit with just five wins in their 33 games.
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Once again, the Parkland U18 Rangers showed that they can hang with and beat some of the best teams in the Manitoba AAA U18 Hockey League.
Opening a weekend home-and-home with the Southwest Cougars on Saturday night at Credit Union Place, Chase Glover was nothing short of outstanding as Parkland earned a critical and impressive 2-1 shootout win over the Cougars.
Southwest entered the game with 18 wins in 25 games, but they couldn't solve Glover of McCreary more than once. Landyn Garton scored Parkland's lone goal in regulation while Quinten Fisk scored the shootout winner for the Rangers as they won their 10th game of the season. Glover did not allow a goal in the shootout and he made 42 saves on 43 shots.
With the big win, the Rangers remain just a single point behind both Eastman and Norman for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Rangers will head to Souris for a rematch with the Cougars on Sunday afternoon at 4:30.
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The Dauphin Clippers used a great second and third period on Saturday to earn their 15th win of the season.
Playing the Virden Golden Bears, the Clippers scored four times in the final two frames in a 5-3 win against the Golden Bears as they won for the 15th time in 19 tries. The team was coming off a 14-0 thrashing of Sandy Bay on Friday afternoon at Credit Union Place.
The Clippers did face some adversity in the game as they were trailing 2-1 after 20 minutes; however, they played the role of comeback kids to hand the Golden Bears their ninth loss of the season in their 18th contest.
Liam Chartrand continued with his torrid season as he recorded a hat-trick while Layne Wolfenden and Boston Karlson also scored for the Clippers in the victory. Owen Chubka earned the victory in net.
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Cole Sheffield made 24 saves and the Dauphin Kings opened up the 2024 portion of their schedule perfectly on Friday night.
On home ice against the Winnipeg Freeze, Madden Murray opened up the scoring and Dauphin didn't look back in a clinical 3-0 win against the Freeze. Dauphin did dominate from start to finish as they opened the game by recording the first 14 shots of the contest and they finished with 49.
Gabriel Bugeaud and Logan Walker also scored for Dauphin in the victory as they snapped their three-game losing streak. With the win, Dauphin improved to 17-11-1 on the season.
The win also sees them move within nine points of the Blizzard Junior A Hockey Club for first in the West Division and they will head north to play them next Sunday.
Dauphin will next hit the ice on Sunday afternoon when the Selkirk Steelers come to town. Darnell Duff will then broadcast Tuesday's game from Neepawa as the Kings play the Titans. Paired with Neepawa's loss on Friday to Selkirk, Dauphin is now four points up on the Titans for third place in the West.
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The Dauphin Clippers showed up in a big way on Friday afternoon as they put on a show.
Welcoming the Sandy Bay Badgers to town, the Clippers put up 76 shots while Joe Tabin recorded a shutout in a massive 14-0 win against the lowly Badgers, who have won just two games this year.
Layne Wolfenden, Jayton Kabel, and Norman Lacquette scored two goals apiece for Dauphin in the victory. Boston Karlson, Jordan Height, Ethan Everett, William Miner, Tyron Sweetman, and Cody Zurba scored for Dauphin in the win.
Dauphin has now jumped into first place in the league with 14 wins.
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Chris Wolfenden wrapped up what was a very solid professional volleyball career in the 2008-09 season with PAOK Thessaloniki.
PAOK made their first appearance in Greece's top national division in the 1970-71 season and Chris spent one season with them, following a one-year stint with another Greek club in Ethnikos Alexandroupolis the previous year.
Wolfenden's impressive volleyball resume also included playing for the Canadian men's national team at the 2002 FIVB Men's World Championships, an event that features the best volleyball countries in the world. Brazil went on to win the world championships that year while the Canadians ended up in 17th.
In the summer of 2008, Wolfenden then traded his playing hat for a coach's hat as he joined the coaching staff for Team Manitoba. It was an opportunity that Chris was very thankful for and 15 years after his debut as a coach, Wolfenden started coaching the Parkland Vipers in January of last year. The Vipers are a women's program based out of the Parkland and it's a program that has several teams at different age levels and over the years, they have done great things on the national stage.
Still in love with the game that provided him with a chance to travel the globe and even represent the country, Chris was approached by Taylor Schmidt and the principal at the DRCSS offered Wolfenden a chance to take over the reins of the varsity girls' volleyball team.
It seemed like a natural fit. Chris had gotten back into coaching and he was already coaching many players on the Vipers that were set to be on the high school team. Wolfenden jumped at the opportunity and his first year as head coach of the Clippers wrapped up last month at Credit Union Place in front of hundreds of fans as the Clippers hosted the Manitoba High School Athletic Association's (MHSAA) AAA Provincial Championships.
"I had such great support from the school, it was such a great program to be a part of," said Wolfenden. "It was a complete team effort from so many people. The girls were great, I knew them very well coming into the season. They were dedicated as well which made it that much more enjoyable."
Feeling the pressure of hosting the best AAA girls' teams in the province, the Clippers used that pressure as motivation to defend their home court and while the team got off to a tough start with three losses in the round-robin, Dauphin caught fire at the most critical time.
Playing the Balmoral Hall Blazers, the top team in Pool B in their first playoff game, the Clippers made quick work of the Blazers with a straight set 25-20, 26-24 win. That put Dauphin in the semi-final match where they came up short against Linden Christian in a hard-fought battle.
After losing the first set in the bronze medal match against Westgate, Dauphin rallied to win back-to-back sets as they won the match and with it, finished as the third-ranked AAA team in Manitoba.
"I'm extremely proud of the girls, they believed in each other and the system we put together," said Wolfenden. "We faced a lot of adversity and pressure and we were able to overcome that, that was pretty special."
So in his first year of coaching high school volleyball, Chris has added a bronze medal to his trophy case, but that's not it. Recently, Chris was named the Payworks Coach of the Month for December.
"We had an incredible group of athletes and that's a big reason that I was able to win this award, it would have not happened without them," offered Wolfenden. "Winning the award motivates me to keep going forward and learning. There is so much to learn as a coach, it's motivating to keep on rolling."
The focus now shifts to preparing for the Manitoba Summer Games as Dauphin will play host to the event from August 11 to 17. Credit Union Place will be the venue for the volleyball event and as Wolfenden says, they're ready to welcome the best age-eligible volleyball players to town.
"Hosting the provincials was a great dry run for everyone, we know Credit Union Place is a perfect facility to host volleyball," ended Wolfenden. "Most 14-year-old kids don't get an opportunity to play volleyball in an arena, so it's pretty great that we can offer that. It's going to be a great event and we will be more than ready to go come August."
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The Parkland U18 Rangers played a very solid first period, but struggled in the final 40.
Opening 2024 on the road in Brandon, the Wheat Kings pounded Parkland, 9-0.
The game was scoreless late in the first until Jonah Lemoine opened the scoring to give Brandon a 1-0 lead after 20.
The Wheat Kings went on to score eight goals in the final 40 minutes in the win. Jaxon Jacobson led the way with a hat-trick for Brandon.
Brandon improves to 24-0-1 while the Rangers fall to 9-12-2-1. Parkland is still only a single point back of a playoff spot.
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Conor Geekie's dream of winning a gold medal while playing with Team Canada has ended.
Geekie and the rest of the Canadian squad were eliminated from the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships on Tuesday afternoon following a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Team Czechia.
A very slow start for Canada on Tuesday saw them fall 2-0 after 20 minutes. The Canadians would respond in the second with a pair of goals to tie the game. On the team's second goal, scored by Jake Furlong, Geekie provided a great net-front presence.
Canada sustained great offensive pressure in the third, but they could not find the back of the net while Jakub Stancl scored with just 11 seconds left to seal it. It was the first time since 2019 that Canada failed to medal at the event, hosted this year in Sweden. Ottawa will play host to the 2024 event.
Conor, of Strathclair, finished the tournament with two goals and one assist. He will now head back to Wenatchee to continue his season in the Western Hockey League, one that has been outstanding for the Arizona Coyotes first-round draft pick. He has 20 goals and 29 assists in just 26 games.
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They have yet to compete together in a U-18 Provincial Championship; however, that is about to change.
Tessa Terrick is making her way to the Selkirk Curling Club for the provincial event slated to begin on Wednesday morning. Terrick is playing lead on Team Cassidy Dundas of Onanole. Joining the foursome are Eryn Czirfusz and Lauren Evason.
The team begins their five-game round-robin on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. against Team Leadbeater. The top two teams from each pool of six will make the page playoffs with the gold medal game set for Sunday afternoon.
Entering the 12-team tournament as one of the favourites, Terrick understands nothing will be given, the team must earn everything.
"We're feeling pretty good," said Terrick. "The competition is going to be very tough, so we have to play very well."
While this team just came together this year, they have had an impressive season to date. They are right near the top of the standings in league play and they won a U18 tournament at the Heather Curling Club last month, so it's safe to say that chemistry is not an issue.
"We all mesh together very well and we're extremely familiar with each other now," offered Terrick.
Tessa has competed in provincial events before -- including winning the Telus U21 provincials last year -- and while this will not be a new experience for the McCreary native, competing in a provincial bonspiel truly never does get old.
"It still feels good to be able to get on the ice and have a chance to represent our province," said Terrick. "Provincial tournaments are always special, great to be a part of."
Up for grabs this week is a berth to the national championships which will take place from February 4 to 10 at the RA Centre and Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club in the nation's capital.
Tessa won a national bronze medal last year alongside her sisters Zoey, Jaycee, and Jensen Letham. This year, she isn't looking too far ahead and she's only focused on taking things end by end as Team Dundas prepares to open their provincial journey.
"I'm just thinking of this week as another bonspiel, I'm not focused on a national tournament, I am in the now," ended Terrick. "I'll go out there and play my best and we will see what happens."
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Scoring twice and winning 6-1. That's usually a combination that calls for a celebration and two honks from the bus on the way home.
While two honks happened and a celebration occurred for most of the team, Josh Thompson was just wondering how long he would be out of the lineup. After scoring two goals in a 6-1 win against the Storm on October 15, Thompson broke his hand and it was an injury that sidelined the Russell star for nearly two months.
Frustrated that he couldn't be on the ice helping his team win, the Beavers did their best without Josh, but they dropped the following two games after his injury. The team (Blind River Beavers) would turn things around as they won 10 of their next 12 games without Josh and that led the team to welcome back one of their stars.
As the calendar flipped to December, Thompson was elated to find out he could return to the lineup and he did so in the team's 4-1 dominating victory over the Eagles on December 8. This time, Thompson wasn't thinking about how long he would be out with an injury, he was thinking about how great it felt to be back on the ice with his teammates and how great it felt to win a game.
"It felt great, I was super anxious to play, it was a pretty unfortunate situation not playing," said Thompson. "I was glad that the boys kept winning and I couldn't wait to get back so I could help them rack up some more wins."
Back for his second season with the Beavers, a member of the 12-team Northern Ontario Junior Hockey League circuit, Thompson and the rest of the team are just one point behind the Greater Sudbury Cubs for first place in the West Division. With 27 wins in their first 35 games, the Beavers have the best plus/minus differential in the league at +81 and they finished the 2023 portion of their schedule with 13 straight wins.
"We have a great group of guys this year, it's honestly like one big family," said Thompson. "We pack the barn pretty well, when we score everyone gets fired up. I'm in a great spot here, I'm enjoying myself."
Thompson posted 23 goals and 28 assists last year in 56 games played. This year, Josh is back to doing what he does best and that's produce offensively. The former Parkland Ranger enters the Christmas break with 11 goals and 26 points. What makes his total that much more impressive is the fact that he missed nearly two months of game action. Thompson sits seventh in the team scoring and his five powerplay goals are the second-most on the team.
"I think I have taken the next step compared to last year, I'm more of a leader this year," offered Thompson. "I'm just trying to get a ring at the end of the year and that's everyone's goal on our team. I believe we have a great squad this year, we're trying to go all the way."
Last year, Blind River won 42 of their 58 regular season games and finished second in their division. With championship goals, they were shocked when they lost in the first round in just five games. With that heartbreak now in the past and experience gained, Thompson isn't ready for that to happen again.
"We have a lot of returning guys from last year so I think we all know what it takes," said Thompson. "We can't let the other teams control us, we know how strong we can play. We just have to continue to force the issue and make it very hard for other teams to play against us. No one wants to feel what we felt again."
Now back home for the Christmas break, Blind River will return to game action on January 5 when they head to the Massey & District Arena to play the Vikings.
Brotherly Love:
While Josh is enjoying all-star success in Blind River, his brother, Ryder is enjoying a great season in the Western Hockey League with the Portland Winterhawks. With an NHL camp already under his belt, Ryder has become one of Portland's top defenders and has posted 12 points from the back end this year.
Sitting at 20-10-1-1 at the Christmas break, the Winterhawks are in fourth place in the Western Conference and only six points back of Prince George for first.
While he lives out his dream of playing junior hockey with a goal to win a league championship in the NOJHL, Josh is closely watching how his brother is doing while Ryder lives out his dream of playing Major Junior.
"I had the chance to watch him play a game while I was injured and it was special," ended Josh. "I'm so happy for him. I love him a lot and I hope everything works out for him, I cheer him on every day."
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The Christmas break arrived a little earlier than scheduled for the Parkland U18 Rangers.
Parkland was scheduled to play Yellowhead last Tuesday, December 18; however, the game was postponed due to an illness affecting several members of the Rangers team. Now a week removed from that postponement, the Rangers are reflecting on the first half it was, and to many, the team exceeded expectations.
The team finished the first half of the season at 9-11-2 which has them just a single point back of Eastman for the eighth and final playoff spot and the Rangers are just two points back of Pembina Valley for seventh and five back of the Thrashers for sixth. The Rangers won five of their last nine games before the break.
Tyler Carefoot is the team's head coach and he's proud of how the team came out and battled every night.
"It's a different vibe than past seasons, this is a group that gets along well together," said Carefoot. "When we have focused on the little things, we have found success. I think overall, we have to be pleased with how the season has gone so far."
Hayden Seib has led the offensive output for the Rangers thus far with eight goals and 16 assists while Cash Clarkson and his 23 points are just behind and Cade Legaarden is third in team scoring with 11 goals and as many assists. The Rangers have six other players who have recorded at least 10 points in Tavyn Boychuk (15), Ethan McMullan (15), Maddox Shindle (14), Sam Swanton (14), Cam Sarna (10), and Quinten Fisk (10).
In net, Chase Glover has shown signs of brilliance at times. With eight wins to his name this year, Glover provides Parkland with a chance to win every single time he's between the pipes. He has a 3.72 goals-against average to go along with a .899 save percentage.
"I've always liked Chase's demeanor, he never gets too high and he never gets too low," offered Carefoot. "He's a guy that we rely on and we're a confident group when he is net, he has been the backbone of our club."
While scoring goals has been hard to come by at points, Parkland has been excellent on the man advantage. The Rangers have 28 powerplay goals as they rank third in the league at 24.8%. With 77 goals this year, more than 25% of the team's goals have come while up a man. On the penalty kill; meanwhile, Parkland is 78.2%.
If Parkland hopes to leap the standings early in the New Year, they will have to tame the top teams in the league. The club opens up 2024 on the road in Brandon against the Wheat Kings. Brandon has not lost in regulation this year, winning 21 of their 22 games. The Rangers then play a weekend home-and-home with the Southwest Cougars, a team that has lost just five times, winning 18 of their first 23 contests. Parkland then plays the third-place Lightning, the fifth-place Wild, and then another home-and-home with Southwest.
It's a daunting schedule without a doubt, but the U18 Rangers have proven in the past that they can play with and beat some of the top teams in the league. If they can do so in January, Parkland will be in a good spot and will keep their chances alive of advancing to the playoffs in the 12-team circuit with eight teams qualifying for playoff play.
Alumni News:
Bo Eisner is in his rookie season with the Melfort Mustangs and it's going very well. He has played 24 games, scoring one goal and amassing five points. The Mustangs are one of the top teams in the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) with a record of 22-9-3, good enough for a tie for second.
Bo served as Parkland's captain last year and Tyler is not surprised that the former Ranger and Swan River native is enjoying great success at the next level.
"Bo is a low-maintenance guy that comes to the rink to execute to the best of his abilities," said Carefoot. "He has gotten better every quarter of each season for the past few years and he is very well deserving of being where he is."
Bo played 102 games with the U18 program, scoring 16 goals and adding 47 assists. The Swan River native is just another case of play in the Parkland and move onto bigger and better things.
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