Sports Update – Wednesday, February 1st – SteinbachOnline.com

Fort Rouge’s Matt Dunstone is number one for the 2023 Viterra Provincial Men’s Curling Championship, which begins a week from today at the Yellowhead Center in Neepawa. The former junior champion from Manitoba and Canada, along with BJ Neufeld, Colton Lott and Ryan Harnden, earned a CTRS #2 rank and a CTRS entry into the 2022-23 Viterra Championship and has competed in nine events so far this season. They qualified for the playoff rounds in eight of those events, with a win at Red Deer and three other finalists. They also captured the DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris. Rounding out the top five are Morris’ Reid Carruthers, Fort Rouge’s Ryan Wiebe, Fort Garry’s Corey Chambers and Fort Rouge’s Braden Calvert.

Four teams from Manitoba will compete in the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts February 17-26 in Kamloops. Meghan Walter and Kaitlyn Lawes will fill the three wildcard positions, along with Alberta’s Casey Scheidegger. Walter and Lawes will compete in the 18-team women’s national championship alongside Manitoba champion Jennifer Jones and three-time Canadian champion Kerri Einarson from Gimli, British Columbia.

Manitoba Junior Hockey League teams won one of three games at Tuesday’s MJHL/SJHL Showcase at the Seven Oaks Sportsplex in Winnipeg. The Waywayseecappo Wolverines’ Tresor Wotton stopped all 22 shots he faced and Steinbach Pistons forward Davis Fry scored a power play goal six minutes into the second period as MJHL 20U Black beat SJHL 20U White 4-0. Pistons forward Travis Hensrud scored the only goal for MJHL 20U Red in the 4-1 loss to SJHL 20U Gold and SJHL 18U Blue Shaded MJHL 18U White 5-4.
Steinbach’s Nicholas Mikan and Warren Clarke collected templates for MJHL 18U White.

Braden Hildebrand scored two goals and an assist as the Red River Mudbugs defeated the Lorette Comets 6-3 in St. Jean. Garrett Dick, Andy Boger and Bryson Loewen also scored for the Mudbugs, who edged the Springfield Xtreme by two points in the race for second place in the Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League. The Xtreme will meet the first-placed huskies in Steinbach tonight. Liam Foster, Matt Ramsay and Tyler Van de Velde answered for the fourth-placed Comets, which are two points ahead of the Niverville Clippers. Both teams have two games left.

The St Malo Warriors’ winning streak has reached 13 games. Jeremie Collette and Cole Holdnick each scored twice as the Warriors defeated the North Winnipeg Satelites 9-1 at the Billy Moskienko Arena. Zachary Maynard, Brady Gregoire, Radek Merasty, Ashton Dubois and Levi Penner also scored for St Malo. The Warriors are just six points behind the Selkirk Fishermen, leaders of the Capital Region Junior Hockey League.

the ste Anne Aces, Red River Wild and Morden Bombers were the winners of Tuesday night’s SEMHL. Keith Grondin had a hat trick and Guy St. Vincent had 32 stops as Ste. Anne outplayed the Ile des Chenes North Stars 4-0. TJ Matuszewski scored two goals and an assist as Red River beat Carman 6-1. Fraser Mirlees scored for the Beavers. Mike Rey scored three goals, including two in the third half as Morden beat Notre Dame 5-1. Connor Hamonic had the only goal for the Hawks. The Portage Islanders are 15-0 and have secured the top spot. The Aces finished the regular season roster with 22 points. The Bombers and Warren Mercs are third with 21 points each. Warren has three games left and Morden has two. The Wild are alone in fifth place with 20 points. Notre Dame has 18 points, Ile des Chenes has 17, and Winkler is eighth and final in the playoffs with 13 points. The Royals host the Mercs tonight. The Beavers and Altona Maroons are eliminated from the playoffs.

The Brandon Wheat Kings played Saskatoon 2-1 at Westoba Place. Charlie Wright scored 15 seconds into overtime for the Blades. Rylen Roersma had the only goal for the Wheat Kings. Brandon’s Carson Bjarnason made 31 saves.

Cole Guttman scored in regular rules of the game and scored the shootout winner as the Rockford IceHogs defeated Manitoba 3-2. Daniel Torgersson and Ville Heinola scored the goals for the Moose.