– The CIS recognized its best in women’s volleyball Thursday night, and three members of the Brandon Lady Bobcats were in the spotlight. Lee Carter was named the CIS Coach of the Year; Donata Huebert earned CIS Libero of the Year and first-team All-Canadian honours while Vaovai Aiono was named to the CIS All-Rookie team. Brandonite Lisa Barclay of the UBC Thunderbirds was named the CIS Player of the Year. CKLQ’s Tyler Crayston has more here.
– Carberry’s Braden Calvert and his Winnipeg-based team fell to 1-and-3 Friday morning at the World Junior Curling Championship in Switzerland. Calvert fell behind 6-1 after five ends and dropped a 10-5 decision to Scotland. Calvert will play a second game Friday against China (9 a.m. CST).
– The Winnipeg Jets played their first post-Olympics game Thursday night, downing the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2 in a shootout. Bryan Little and Blake Wheeler scored in regulation for the Jets while Olli Jokinen got the shootout winner. The Jets improve to 10-3-1 since Paul Maurice replaced Claude Noel as head coach, and are two points out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Other NHL games Thursday saw former Wheat Kings’ co-captain Brayden Schenn notched his 16th goal of the season in Philadelphia’s 7-3 loss to San Jose while Brandonite Ryan White sat out Montreal’s 6-5 shootout win over Pittsburgh because of illness.
– The second round of the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League playoffs open Friday night with the Brandon Wheat Kings hosting the Eastman Selects (7:30 p.m., Sportsplex). Brandon completed a sweep of the Yellowhead Chiefs nine days ago, while Eastman swept the Southwest Cougars in the first round of the playoffs. The Wheat Kings won all four meetings between the two teams during the regular season, but three of the four games were deciding by two goals or less. A preview of the series can be found here.
– Kyle McLeod completed his hat-trick in overtime as the Miniota-Elkhorn C-Hawks downed the Minnedosa Bombers 5-4 Thursday night to open their Best-of-Five semifinal. Game #2 goes Saturday in Elkhorn. The other semifinal series between the Grandview Comets and Russell Rams opens Saturday night in Russell.
– The Dauphin Clippers are headed to the Provincial AAA/AAAA High School Hockey Championship. The Clippers blanked the Vincent Massey Vikings 7-0 Thursday night to sweep the Best-of-Three series to decide the WHSHL’s representative to Provincials.
– The Neelin Spartans swept the Westman High School Basketball League’s varsity titles Thursday. Paige Thomson had 21 points as Neelin downed Vincent Massey 48-26 to win the Varsity Girls’ Final 2-0 while Andrew Paul had 30 points and Quinton Hunter added 29 as Neelin beat Vincent Massey 87-55 to take the Best-of-Three Varsity Boys’ Final 2-0.
– Sports for Youth Registration is taking place this weekend at Shoppers Mall, Brandon. You can register your child for Brandon Youth Soccer, Brandon Minor Baseball, Westman Softball, Westman Youth Football and the Prairie Breeze Riding School. Volunteers will be manning booths from 9:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Saturday and 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Sunday.
– The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have re-signed East Division all-star running back Will Ford. Ford ran 113 times for 594 yards and two touchdowns last season. He was also a threat on special teams, returning two kickoffs for touchdowns.
– Three members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders charged with aggravated assault will face a preliminary hearing on June 11th and 12th. Defensive back Dwight Anderson and receivers Taj Smith and Eron Riley were charged after a man was seriously injured in a bar fight last August. Preliminary hearings determine if there is enough evidence to send a case to trial.
