– The race for first-place in the MJHL’s Sher-Wood Division is over. The Dauphin Kings clinched top spot with a 4-3 win over the Neepawa Natives last night, eliminating the Natives from playoff contention in the process. Meanwhile, Waywayseecappo doubled Virden 4-2, with Brandon Masson and Kevin Pochuk scoring the goals for the Oil Capitals. Virden has lost eight of 12 games this month, but are locked into second-place in the Sher-Wood Division.
– Hockey Manitoba Provincial Championships over the weekend included titles for four Westman teams. The Virden Jr. Oil Capitals took the Bantam Rural A title in The Pas, defeating Swan Valley 4-1 in the final. Russell won the Bantam Rural B title, Killarney won the Bantam Rural C crown and Hartney-Deloraine won the Bantam Rural D title. For the Hockey Manitoba Provincial scoreboard, click here.
– Two in the eighth and final end lifted Brandon’s Lois Fowler to the title at the Provincial Senior Women’s Curling Championship. Fowler defeated Hamiota’s Sandra Cowling 6-4 to claim the title for the second straight year, but with an entirely different team than in 2013. Fowler and her team of Maureen Bonar, Cathy Gauthier and Allyson Stewart will now represent Manitoba at next month’s Canadian Senior Curling Championship in Yellowknife.
– Neepawa’s Kelly Robertson and Brandon’s Kelly McMechan are in the playoffs at the Provincial Senior Men’s Curling Championship at the Brandon Curling Club. Robertson takes on defending champion Bob Sigurdson in the 1-vs-1 Page Playoff game while McMechan will play Carl German in the 2-vs-2 game on 9:00 a.m. Monday. The semifinal is at 12:30 p.m. and the final at 4:00 p.m..
– Canada proved that it’s still a world player in winter sport, finishing fourth in the Olympic medal race with 25 at the Sochi Winter Games. Host Russia led with 33, including a games high 13 golds. Canada finished fourth overall behind the U-S and Norway. We ended with 10 golds, the latest coming in a 3-0 win over Sweden in the men’s hockey final.
– With the Winter Olympics over, the NHL slowly gets back into action. Play resumes Tuesday with the Carolina Hurricanes visiting the Sabres in a game that was postponed in January because of hazardous weather in Buffalo. There are four games on Wednesday, and 12 on Thursday. The Winnipeg Jets first post-Olympics game is Thursday against the Phoenix Coyotes.
– Jason Collins has returned to the NBA as the league’s first openly gay player. The 12-year veteran played 10 minutes for Brooklyn and had two rebounds and five fouls in his first game with the Nets, who were 108-102 winners over Los Angeles Lakers.
