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At the young age of 10, Aiden Brunel was mesmerized at what Lebron James could do on the basketball court.
As one of the greatest players to ever play the game, James is a reason why so many young boys and girls decide to play basketball and that is the exact case for the Ste. Rose grade 10 athlete
"Just to see all of those guys develop their games and get better, it's awesome to see," said Brunel. "As soon as I started watching a game on TV, I had to get involved."
Now years later, Brunel continues to take big steps on the court with each season that passes. This season was the young man's best on the court. With the Ste. Rose Celtics junior varsity team, Aiden helped the Celtics win the Carman tournament and they also won the Zone 8 championships which was followed up with an impressive interzone victory over Hamiota which earned them a berth to the provincial championships.
"There was a lot of improvement throughout the year for our group," said Brunel. "Our coach Nathan Zadorozny did a great job at pushing us and helping us improve. We had some guys that had never played the game, so we grew a lot throughout the year, it was a really fun year."
Aiden dominated his opponents this year averaging 23 points, eight rebounds, and six assists per game.
"I thought my game improved drastically over the year, I just started to click," offered Brunel. "It was a really fun team to be a part of and I wouldn't have improved my statistics without my teammates pushing me and being right by my side every single step of the way."
Led by Brunel, the team was in Winnipeg over the weekend to wrap up their season at the provincials. While they came up short against Green Valley and Margaret Barbour, it was an experience that Aiden will never forget. After all, it was the first time that a basketball team from Ste. Rose had qualified for the provincials.
"It was awesome, one of the best events that I had ever been to before," said Brunel. "We wanted to make a name for Ste. Rose and show what we could do. We tried to hold our own and set an example for Ste. Rose and what the future has to come."
Now that the high school season has come to an end, Brunel will focus on other high school sports that he will take part in including badminton. With that said, Brunel will always make sure there is a basketball close, and when the snow is off the ground, he will continue to work on his game at the new outdoor court in Ste. Rose. This is on top of spending plenty of time putting up shots in the school's gym.
"It's awesome to have our new outdoor court, I will be training a lot and it will keep everyone warmed up," offered Brunel. "It's great for the community and it will help our basketball team for years to come."
Brunel's days as a member of the junior varsity team also ended with a bang as the grade 10 student-athlete was named a Dairy Farmers Athlete of the Week. Aiden was shocked to find out he was a winner of the province-wide award.
"I was honoured and so surprised that I had won, there are so many great players around the province that are eligible to win," ended Brunel. "It's a great feeling to know that all of the hardwork that I have and continue to put in is paying off."
On top of being an elite athlete, Aiden also puts great focus into his studies with an academic average of 84%.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The Grand Plains 13U Hawks are feeling golden and on top of the province.
On their way to a gold medal, the Hawks went a perfect 3-0 in the round robin, scoring 25 goals and giving up just two.
In the playoffs, Grand Plains continued to dismantle their opponents with a 10-3 win against Elm Creek in their semi-final and they capped off their gold medal performance with a dominating 9-3 win against St. Eustache.
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Elsewhere, the Swan Valley Stampeders 13U team won a bronze medal.
Going up against Neepawa in the third place game, Swan Valley got four goals from Madden Atkinson in a 10-1 win against Neepawa.
Konnor Dixon scored twice for Swan Valley in the win. Emmett Grandfield, Chase Eisner, Tripp Warburton, and Dane Anderson also scored for the Stampeders in the win.
Kyson Lapointe scored Neepawa's lone goal in the game.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The U13 Dauphin Kings are the newest provincial champions.
Competing this weekend, Dauphin capped off a perfect weekend with a 6-3 victory of Notre Dame in the gold medal game.
Dauphin also beat Stony Mountain, Peguis, and Rivers.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
It was a great weekend of curling as the Dauphin Curling Club hosted its ladies bonspiel.
Team Kropelnicki ended up being the last team standing as they beat Team Scott in a great back and forth championship game. Morgan was joined by Leanne Urbanovitch, Tamara Kolida, and Andrea Smelski.
Playing on Avery Scott's team was Lisa Hale, Brandi Graham, and Pam Scott.
1st in Second Event:
Bev Hess
Linda Kitching
Gail Tycholes
Joan McKinnon
2nd in the Second Event:
Therese Deah
Kerri Wieler
Myrna fox
Martha Messinbird
1st in the Third Event:
Heather Bartmanovich
Nadine Soloway
Carmen Rodgerson
Wendy McDonald
2nd in the Third Event:
Alex Zurba
Courtney VanAlstyne
Easton Hedley
Megan Landsborough
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The Dauphin Kings failed to start on time, they got into some very early penalty trouble and it costed them dearly on Saturday night.
Playing an important home game against the Blizzard, Dauphin lost to the team they're chasing in the standings, 5-3. Dauphin picked up two early penalties which saw the Blizzard go up by a pair of goals not even three minutes into the contest.
Alex Senf cut the deficit in half late in the first; however, that is as close as Dauphin got. The Blizzard tacked on three more goals to take a 5-1 lead. Senf scored his second of the game and Cayden Glover also scored in the first, but the Kings wouldn't come any closer.
The loss was a big dagger in Dauphin's chances of earning home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs. They're now seven points back of the Blizzard with just four games left this season, one of which comes on Wednesday in The Pas.
Dauphin welcomes Portage to town on Tuesday.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
A legendary man that helped the Winnipeg Blue Bombers make an appearance in the 1990 Grey Cup has passed away.
The Winnipeg Blue Bombers confirmed Dave Ritchie's dead on Saturday at the age of 85. A cause of death was not released. Ritchie went 52-41-1 in the regular-season as head coach of the Blue & Gold.
That leaves him fourth overall, only behind Bud Grant, Mike O'Shea, and Cal Murphy. Ritchie was a defensive line and special teams coach for Winnipeg when they came up short against Calgary in the 1990 Grey Cup.
Ritchie won a Grey Cup in 1994 with the B.C. Lions as he was the team's head coach. He left Winnipeg in the 1991 season and returned eight years later.
Dave was inducted into the Winnipeg Football Club Hall of Fame in 2014 and the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2022.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The Dauphin Kings were 14 seconds away from earning two points on Friday night.
Instead, they earned just a single in a 3-2 loss against the Neepawa Titans in a game that went right down to the wire and provided fans with an outstanding game to watch.
After a scoreless first period, Colton Alexander scored the only goal of the second. Dauphin then scored two goals in a row in the third to take a 2-1 lead. WIth 14 seconds left, Neepawa was working hard in the offensive zone and it paid off at Cade Bendsten found the back of the net. Tim Tychonick then ended it with a beautiful shot in overtime.
Jordan Bax and Cayden Glover scored for Dauphin in the defeat. The Kings are now five points back of the Blizzard for second in the West and they welcome the Blizzard to Dauphin tomorrow.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The Parkland Gators Swim Club recently took the Brandon Winter Thaw event by storm with some very impressive performances.
Harper Rudkavich
mixed 25m backstroke - 3rd
mixed 25m freestyle - 2nd
mixed 25m kick - 5th
mixed 50m freestyle - 2nd
Dylan Phillips
mixed 25m backstroke - 2nd
mixed 25m freestyle - 1st
mixed 25m kick - 1st
mixed 50m backstroke - 1st
mixed 50m freestyle - 1st
Madisyn Morden
mixed 25m backstroke - 4th
mixed 25m freestyle - 1st
mixed 25m kick - 4th
mixed 50m backstroke - 1st
mixed 50m freestyle - 3rd
Lily Montagnion
50m fly - 5th
50m backstroke - 2nd
50m freestyle - 3rd
25m kick - 8th
100m individual medley - 3rd
James Forsyth
25m backstroke - 2nd
mixed 25m freestyle - 2nd
mixed 25m kick - 1st
mixed 50m backstroke - 2nd
mixed 50m freestyle - 1st
Isla Forsyth
mixed 25m backstroke - 7th
mixed 25m freestyle - 3rd
mixed 25m kick - 6th
mixed 50m backstroke - 5th
mixed 50m freestyle - 7th
Polly Fjeldsted
50m backstroke - 3rd
50m breaststroke - 6th
50m freestyle - 3rd
25m kick - 8th
100m individual medley - 3rd
Renee Fee
50m fly - 4th
50m backstroke - 1st
50m freestyle - 4th
25m kick - 3rd
100m individual medley - 4th
Evan Favel
50m backstroke - 4th
50m freestyle - 4th
25m kick - 6th
100m backstroke - 1st
100m freestyle - 4th
Meredith Cottrell
50m backstroke - 1st
50m breaststroke - 2nd
50m freestyle - 1st
25m kick - 1st
100m freestyle - 1st
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
It was a weekend to remember for the Russell Rams U11 hockey club.
They doubled up the Notre Dame Hawks, 4-2, in the gold medal game as they were crowned provincial champions for the 2023-24 season.
It was an overall perfect and dominating tournament for the team as they won all five of their games. They beat Lac Du Bonnet, Hartney, Miami, St. Eustache leading up to their gold medal win against Notre Dame.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The McCreary Centennial Arena is the place to be this weekend.
That's the venue for the 2024 Senior Mixed Broomball Provincial Championships that take place on Saturday and Sunday.
Here is the schedule for the event:
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
The Yorkton Terriers had high hopes of making a serious playoff push and making the final 8.
Ultimately, that hope has been dashed. A 5-2 loss to the Nipawin Hawks earlier this week officially eliminated Yorkton from playoff contention. The team will now wrap up their season with a home-and-home next weekend against the Melville Millionaires.
Sitting at 21-29-2-2, Yorkton has played excellent hockey at times this year which includes wins against the league's top teams including Battlefords; however, the club has been very inconsistent which has resulted in them coming up short of their playoff aspirations.
The biggest thing on many minds as of late was would the Terriers even be back in the 2024-25 season. The team announced in January that they were in serious trouble when it came to funds and they would be unable to continue operations unless things changed drastically. Now as the team's season comes to an end, it appears as if all is good in Yorkton.
Corvyn Neufeld is the team's president and he has confirmed that the team will return next year thanks to some incredible support from near and far.
"We made the announcement the other day that the team will be back next year for sure," said Neufeld. "Our season ticket blitz was very successful, we sold 931 season tickets which is up quite a bit from our current season ticket total of 162. Our community and other communities stepped up in a big way to assure we can continue operations."
When the Battlefords North Stars were in town late last month they even bought a pair of season tickets and decided to donate them back to the club so they could give them to someone who wouldn't be able to attend games otherwise.
"There are so many stories, really neat stuff," said Neufeld. "Minor hockey teams have donated the proceeds of their 50/50 to us. Former players, families of players, there are just so many stories, it's pretty incredible."
While the team's blowout prices have come to an end when it comes to season tickets, you can still secure yours at an early bird price. An adult season ticket is $300.
SJHL Scoop:
The Flin Flon Bombers have already locked up home-ice advantage for the entirety of their playoff run. With 42 wins in 52 contests this year, the Bombers are 12 points up on Melfort and will finish first overall as they will be crowned regular-season champions; however, they have hit a rough patch.
Including a 3-1 loss to Melfort over the weekend, Flin Flon has lost five of their last seven games. They will wrap up the season with two more games at the Whitney Forum before wrapping up the regular season campaign on the road for a pair of games against Humboldt. Making the league final in four of the last six seasons, the Bombers will not only look to make it happen again, but they will look to get over the hump this year to win their first championship since 1993. Don't expect the Bombers rough patch to last long, this team is far too deep for that to happen.
With Yorkton eliminated from playoff contention and Nipawin holding onto one last string, the most likely scenario is Kindersley and Estevan battling to jump into seventh. The team that doesn't will face Flin Flon in the first round. With that said, either Kindersley or Estevan are likely okay with heading up north for round one. The Klippers recently beat Flin Flon and Estevan also recently beat them. The Bruins and Bombers have played in the last two playoff years.
The battle for second overall continues with Melfort (36-14-3) currently occupying that spot. They're four points ahead of Battlefords (North Stars do have a game in hand) and five points ahead of Humboldt (Broncos have two games in hand).
The Melville Millionaires and Weyburn Red Wings will battle for fifth spot overall heading into the big dance. The Mills' are currently three points ahead of Weyburn and both teams have played 51 games. The Red Wings have won eight of their last 10 games while the Millionaires have won seven of their last 10.
Playoff Matchups if they were to begin March 7, 2024:
This year's Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL) champion will represent the league at the Centennial Cup in Oakville in May.
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- Contributed by Darnell Duff
