The 2024 Baseball Manitoba Awards Banquet was held Saturday night in Brandon. Seth Hooper of St. Adolphe was named the 15U Player of the Year. Hooper had a .429 batting average with 33 runs batted in and stole 19 bases with the Carillon Sultans. On the mound, he recorded 50 strikeouts over 47 innings and had a 1.04 ERA. Hooper also played for Team Manitoba at the Nationals in Laval, Quebec. Red River Valley was selected the Region of the Year.
Steinbach Regional will face the defending champion Dakota Lancers in the Winnipeg High School Football League’s AAAA quarterfinals. The Sabres won their regular season finale 51-14 over the Sturgeon Heights Huskies on Friday night and finished with a 5-2 record. The Lancers were undefeated at 7-0.
The Steinbach Pistons and Niverville Nighthawks both lost Saturday night. The Pistons fell 4-2 to the Portage Terriers at Stride Place. The Terriers scored twice on the power play and once shorthanded. Brody Green and Brett Kaiser scored power play goals for Steinbach. Portage led 3-0 and 3-2 at the period breaks. Niverville dropped a 4-0 decision to the Virden Oil Capitals. Caps netminder Peyton Shore made 32 saves in recording the shutout. Nighthawks goaltender Raiden LeGall faced 29 shots.
The first Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League Showcase takes place today at the Niverville Community Resource and Recreation Centre. The Landmark Blues face the Ste. Anne Aces (10 a.m.), the Macdonald Swarm meet the East St. Paul Gators (12:30 p.m.), the Mitchell Mustangs take on the Grunthal Red Wings (3 p.m.), the Red River Mudbugs face the Niverville Clippers (5:30 p.m.) and the defending champion Steinbach Huskies meet the Springfield Xtreme (8 p.m.). David Hazlitt, Eric Bartel and Brady Chambers did the goal scoring as the Xtreme defeated Mitchell 3-1 Saturday night in Oakbank. Carson Funk had the lone goal for the Mustangs.
Calem Normandeau and Chiefton Enns did the goal scoring in the La Broquerie Habs 4-2 loss to the Lundar Falcons. The Habs led 2-0 six minutes into the first period but gave up four unanswered goals to the Falcons. The Beausejour Comets scored all four of their goals in the third period and defeated the defending Capital Region Junior Hockey League champion St. Malo Warriors 4-2. Jarvis Ewasko, Cash Clarkson, Braden Clarke and Lavery Melsted found the back of the net for the first place Comets. Logan Fillion and Kaden Rioux replied for the Warriors.
The Winnipeg Jets put their 4-0 record on the line Sunday afternoon against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Canada Life Centre. The hockey club will honour long-time centre Bryan Little prior to the game. Little, who has played since suffering a career ending ear injury on November 5th, 2019 in a game against New Jersey, signed a one-day contract in September to retire as a member of the Jets.
The Manitoba Moose lost 2-1 to the Grand Rapids Griffins. Tyson Empey had the lone goal for the Moose who play their home opener Saturday, October 26th against the Rockford IceHogs at Canada Life Centre.