– The Brandon Wheat Kings are bringing in another one of their top prospects for the remainder of the WHL playoffs. Kale Clague has joined the team after his Lloydminster Bobcats lost in the final of the Alberta Midget Hockey League late last week. Clague was the sixth overall pick in the 2013 Bantam Draft. He had 33 points in 31 regular season games and added 13 points in 12 playoff contests. Nolan Patrick, the fourth overall pick in the 2013 Bantam Draft, joined the team late in the regular season. Brandon opens their Eastern Conference semifinal in Edmonton on Thursday.
– The first round of the Western Hockey League playoffs concluded Sunday night with the Medicine Hat Tigers edging the Swift Current Broncos 2-1 to take their Eastern Conference Quarter-Final series four games to two. Medicine Hat will play Kootenay and the Brandon Wheat Kings battle Edmonton in the East semifinals. The Western Conference semifinals will have Kelowna facing Seattle and Portland up against Victoria.
– The Pembina Valley Hawks have captured the Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League title. Lauryn Keen and Chelsea Dearsley had a goal and an assist each as the Hawks downed the Westman Wildcats 2-1 Sunday in the fifth and deciding game of the League Final. The Hawks overcame a 2-0 series deficit, and now face the Saskatchewan champion Weyburn Goldwings in the Western Regional series. The winner of that series earns a spot in the Esso Cup National Midget Girls’ Hockey Championship.
– The Steinbach Pistons kept their MJHL season alive with a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Blues Sunday night. Zach Rakochy stopped 37 shots for the Pistons, who still trail the Addison Division Final three games to one. The winner of the series will play the Sher-wood Division champion Dauphin Kings in the Turnbull Cup Final. Dauphin swept the Virden Oil Capitals in the Sher-wood final.
– Former Wheat King Tyler Dittmer got the overtime winner as the South East Prairie Thunder downed the Shellbrook Elks 3-2 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep of the Rathgaber Cup series. Riley Dudar and Brad Purdie scored third period goals for the Thunder, who trailed 2-0 after 40 minutes. The victory gives South East a spot in the 2014 Allan Cup, which will take place in Dundas, Ontario from April 14-19. The Prairie Thunder won the Allan Cup two years ago.
– Virden’s Bryn Chyzyk and the University of North Dakota are off to the NCAA’s Frozen Four. The Fighting Sioux won the Midwest Regional Tournament Saturday, downing Ferris State in double overtime. Chyzyk’s in his sophomore season at UND, scoring four goals and nine points in 36 games this season. UND will face Minnesota and Boston College plays Union in the semifinals. The Frozen Four takes place April 10-12 in Philadelphia.
– Mounties were called to a hockey game in Stonewall Sunday to deal with a disturbance during a minor hockey championship. Police say that during the last period of a game between Stonewall and Dog Creek First Nation, one of the referees may have been struck by a 14-year-old player, as well by parents who were fighting in the stands. There were no reported injuries. Police say they were able to clear approximately one hundred people from the arena without incident.
– Kevin Koe improved to 3-and-1 at the World Men’s Curling Championships in Beijing after rolling to a 9-1 victory over Russia early Monday morning. Canada, which includes Brandon product Nolan Thiessen at lead, have another game against the Czech Republic Monday (6 a.m., CDT).
– Carberry’s Braden Calvert will have a chance to defend his Provincial Junior Men’s title. Calvert and his Deer Lodge Curling Club team won the Curl Manitoba Spring Berth Bonspiel Sunday, downing Jordan Smith of Stonewall 6-4 in the final. Beth Peterson of Victoria won the Junior Women’s berth, beating St. Vital’s Shannon Birchard 8-4 in the final. Both teams earn spots into the 2015 Provincial Junior Championship.
– Boissevain’s Natasha Armstrong concluded a week-long training camp for Canada’s top amateur boxers over the weekend. Armstrong was at the U.S. Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs, and fell to Caitlin Orosco in their 51-kilogram youth bout Saturday to wrap up the event. Only two of the nine Canadians managed to beat their American counterparts.
