– Tim McGauley had two goals and an assist to pace the Brandon Wheat Kings to an 8-4 victory over the Regina Pats. Richard Nejezchleb added a goal and two assists for the Wheat Kings, who won back-to-back road games for the first time since early December to take a two games to none lead in their first round playoff series. The series now shifts to Brandon for games three and four on Wednesday and Friday. For more on the Wheat Kings, see Bruce Luebke’s blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/.
– The Virden Oil Capitals fell 4-2 against the Dauphin Kings in the opening game of the MJHL’s Sher-Wood Division Final. Jake Dudar and Rob Newton scored for the Caps’ while Artsiom Kalashnikov assisted on both goals for Virden. Game #2 of the best-of-seven series is Tuesday night at Tundra Oil and Gas Place.
– Former Neepawa Native John Lawrence and his Saskatchewan Huskies finished runner-up at the University Cup CIS Men’s Hockey Championship. Lawrence and the Huskies fell 3-1 against the #1 ranked Alberta Golden Bears in Sunday’s final.
– The Westman Wildcats are one win away from capturing the Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League championship for the first time ever. KJ Wallace, Jaedon Cooke and Ashton Bell had a goal and an assist each for the Wildcats, who defeated the Pembina Valley Hawks 4-1. Megan Robertson had the other goal for the Wildcats while Sky Brown made 27 saves for Westman, who lead the best-of-five series two games to none.
– The Neepawa Tigers are closing in on a double-double. The Tigers got past the Major Pratt Trojans 5-2 in the opening game of the best-of-three championship series in the Westman High School Hockey League. Garret Rempel recorded a hat-trick for Neepawa, who captured the provincial ‘AA’ title earlier this month.
– Brandon’s Lois Fowler continued her winning ways Sunday at the Canadian Senior Women’s Curling Championship. Fowler beat Northern Ontario 7-4 and Saskatchewan 8-6 to improve her record to 3-0 and sit in a three-way tie for top spot in the standings. On the men’s side, Neepawa’s Kelly Robertson split his two games Sunday and has a record of 2-1.
– Jeff Stoughton’s curling team is breaking up. Stoughton, Jon Mead, Mark Nichols and Reid Carruthers are going their separate ways come seasons end. The foursome failed to make the playoffs at the Roar of the Rings Canadian Curling Trials in December and fell in Page 3-4 Game at the Brier earlier this month.
– Jared Kolomaya captured the top prize at the Provincial Mixed Curling Championship. Kolomaya scored two in the ninth and stole a single in the final end to beat David Kraichy 6-5 in Sunday’s final. Kolomaya will now represent Manitoba at the national mixed in November in North Bay, Ontario. Lee Robins and his Brandon team fell to Kolomaya 8-7 in an extra end in the provincial semifinals.
– Canada’s Rachel Homan suffered a 9-5 setback against Switzerland in the final at the World Women’s Curling Championship. The Canadians had a record of 11-1 going into the gold medal game, but gave up back-to-back three enders in the eighth and ninth against the Swiss. Canada’s last title at the world women’s was Jennifer Jones in 2008.
