– It took until the final game of the regular season, but the Brandon Wheat Kings have clinched a spot in the Western Hockey League playoffs. Peter Quenneville had a hat-trick and Nolan Patrick scored his first career WHL goal as the Wheat Kings downed the Regina Pats 6-3 Saturday night to earn a post-season berth for the 13th time in 14 years. That sets up a first round matchup between the Wheat Kings and Pats that begins Saturday in Regina. It was also the 364th career coaching win for Brandon GM/Coach Kelly McCrimmon passing Bob Lowes on the Wheat Kings’ all-time list. CKLQ’s Bruce Luebke has more on his blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/
– The Wheat Kings also handed out their year-end awards during and after Saturday’s game. Ryan Pulock collected Most Valuable Player, Defenceman of the Year and top Manitoba-born player honours, rookie Jesse Gabrielle won the Fans’ Choice Award, Chad Robinson was named the Most Community Minded; Jordan Papirny was named the Rookie of the Year and Ryley Lindgren won Scholastic Player of the Year honours.
– Ben Williams scored with 25 seconds left in the third period to lift the Virden Oil Capitals to a 3-2 win over the Swan Valley Stampeders Saturday night. The victory ties the Sher-Wood Division semifinal at two games apiece, with Game #5 in Virden tomorrow night. Corey Haverstick and Mack Hardy also scored for Virden while Adam Iwan stopped 30 shots in the Oil Caps’ net. Other action in the MJHL Saturday saw Dauphin blank OCN 3-0 to complete a four-game sweep of their Sher-Wood semifinal. The Blizzard did not score a goal in the series. Selkirk blanked the Winnipeg Blues 1-0 Saturday night to keep their playoffs alive. The Blues still lead their Addison Division semifinal 3-1.
– Braeden Mitchell scored six minutes into overtime as the Neepawa Tigers claimed their third straight Provincial A/AA High School Hockey Championship Saturday, beating the Deloraine-Hartney Colts 3-2 in the final. Ty Moffatt of the Colts was named the Tournament MVP. The host Major Pratt Trojans claimed the bronze medal, beating the Melita-Waskada Devils 4-1 in the third-place game.
– The Grandview Spartans claimed the Provincial A/AA Junior Varsity Girls’ Basketball Championship Saturday, defeating the Neepawa Tigers 57-44 in the final. Hailee Vanwynsberghe of Grandview was named the tournament MVP. Meanwhile, the Ross L. Gray Raiders downed the Glenboro Panthers 50-35 in the final of the Provincial A/AA JV Boys’ Basketball Championship. Matt Klassen and Reid Gillis of the Panthers were named to the tournament all-star team.
– The host ACC Cougars are into the semifinals at the Hockey Manitoba Senior B Women’s Provincial Championship in Brandon. The Cougars beat the Brandon Bandits 7-0 in their only game Saturday to finish atop the Red Division with a 2-and-0 record. ACC will face the Devils in one semifinal Sunday morning while the Aces will play Rage II in the other semifinal. The bronze medal game is then scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at the Kinsmen Arena, with the championship final at 2:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the Manitoba Maple Leafs and Herd will play in the Senior A Women’s Provincial Final at 2:00 p.m..
– Glenn Howard and Brad Gushue will meet in the final of the World Curling Tour’s Syncrude National Grand Slam of Curling. Howard scored four in the seventh end to defeat Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 10-6 in one semifinal Saturday night while Gushue scored a single point in the eighth end to edge Switzerland’s Sven Michel 7-6.
– Canada’s Rachel Homan is off to a solid start at the women’s world curling championship. The Ottawa-based skip opened the tournament with a 7-5 win over Russia’s Anna Sidorova Saturday. Canada scored two points in the 10th for the victory.
– Johny Hendricks won the vacant UFC welterweight championship Saturday night, unanimously outpointing Robbie Lawler in five rounds at UFC 171. Tyron Woodley won the co-feature, stopping Carlos Condit to set up a likely title bout against Hendricks in the 170-pound division. Fighting in Hendricks’ adopted hometown, Lawler opened a cut beside Hendricks’ right eye in the fourth round. All three judges scored the fight 28-27 for Hendricks. The title was vacated by Georges St. Pierre, who had held it since 2007. In his final defence, St. Pierre took a disputed split decision over Hendricks in November.
