Local Sports

The Manitoba Junior Hockey League season is still a few weeks away, but the Niverville Nighthawks are not waiting, they've started their camp today, which will run through the weekend, and players, as well as staff, are excited to be back.

For now and the future

"I can't believe we're heading back into a rink," Nighthawks general manager Mike McAulay says with a laugh, "but we're excited to be back. With our returning players, there's a lot of buzz, a lot of excitement about the upcoming season."

Say this about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers as they hit the halfway mark of their 2025 Canadian Football League season:

They have certainly developed a flair for the dramatic — and, yes, sometimes unnecessarily — so much so that the final moments of their games could bring a stone-cold corpse to life again.

The Blue Bombers improved to 5-4 with another all-over-the-map 30-27 victory over the Ottawa RedBlacks in front of another capacity Princess Auto Stadium crowd of 32,343 that certainly felt much more difficult than it needed to be by the night’s end.

While the start of the day didn't go as planned, the U15 AAA Central Energy showed a lot of heart, battling to win their second game of the day, giving the group a strong 3-1 record after day two of nationals being held in Winkler and Morden.

No quit in the group

The senior baseball season is officially over.

The West Central region features four local leagues, and the champions were as follows:

• Oyen Eagles (Fertile Valley Baseball League)
• Beechy Breakers (Coteau Hills Baseball League)
• Macklin Lakers (Battle River Baseball League)
• North Battleford Beavers (North Saskatchewan River Baseball League)

Those results mean hockey season is around the corner, and with it, the return of the Klipper Report.

SWIMMING

Our local swimmers have completed their final races of the Canada Summer Games in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Swift Current's Rahimay Priebe finished 5th and Avery Underhill took 8th in the first heat of the Special Olympic Women's 50m Freestyle.

Swift Current's Tate Zimmerman and Gull Lake's Chayce Foster finished 2nd and 3rd in the first heat of the Special Olympic Men's 50m Freestyle.

Their times did not qualify for the final. 

All four swimmers competed in five events representing Saskatchewan at the summer games. 

Hockey Saskatchewan announced an update to their Board of Directors back on Monday, and an Eston resident was put into a leading role.

Edward Watson is the new Chair of the Board. He will work with Sarah MacNaught as Vice-Chair, and newly elected members Chris Morrison and Dale Measner, joining existing directors Ryan Hoffman, Trevor Norum, Carla Odnokon, Kayla Shaw, and Jeremy Trask.

The only outgoing member was Norquay's Nicole Korpusik, completing her time on the Board as Hockey Saskatchewan thanked her for the time served.

With files from Shawn Mullin

A 6th place finish for Kyle's AJ De Necker and Team Saskatchewan in Rugby Sevens at the Canada Summer Games in Newfoundland.

Saskatchewan lost 35-12 in the 5th place game to Nova Scotia last night. They finished the tournament with two wins in seven matches.

Senior slo-pitch in Winkler continues to grow, and long time player Jake Driedger is thrilled with how things went this year, and where things are going into the future.

History of senior slo-pitch

The medal hopes for three local athletes at the Canada Summer Games in St. John’s, Nfld. Yesterday. 

In women’s box lacrosse, Team Saskatchewan was defeated by Ontario 8-1 in the quarter-finals. Moose Jaw’s Kyler Pladson was held off the scoresheet against Ontario. 

Saskatchewan will be back in action on Thursday as they take on Manitoba in the consolation round. 

The Strathmore Spartans football team are about to begin their regular season.

Practice kicks off on Saturday (Aug. 16) before their first game against the Catholic Central Cougars on Aug. 23.

"We had a spring camp in June for two weeks," said head coach Danny Warrack. "We don't get together over the summer. They don't allow you to begin team activities until Aug. 16."