– The Virden-based figure skating duo of Paige Lawrence and Rudi Swiegers have wrapped up their Winter Games debut in Sochi. The Westman Olympians finished with a score of 103.01 in their free skate and posted a total of 161.98 to finish 14th.
– Jennifer Jones is leading the charge in women’s curling at the Winter Games. Jones scored three in the ninth end to beat Denmark 8-5 to improve her first-place record to 4-0. On the men’s side, Brad Jacobs has back-to-back wins after downing Denmark 7-6 to up his record to 3-2. He’s in fifth-place in the standings with the top four advancing to the playoffs.
– The Brandon Wheat Kings were held to two goals or less for the fourth time in five games, falling 3-2 in overtime to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Former Wheat King Taylor Cooper scored 20 seconds into overtime for the ‘Canes with Richard Nejezchleb and Quintin Lisoway scoring the goals for Brandon. The Wheat Kings are now tied with Regina for second-place in the East Division, one point behind the front-running Swift Current Broncos. For more, visit Bruce Luebke’s blog at http://luberslounge.blogspot.ca/.
– The Assiniboine Community College Cougars are rolling out the red carpet for Hockey Manitoba’s senior women’s provincial championship. The nine-team tournament is running March 14th to 16th. The winners of the Senior ‘A’ and ‘B’ divisions will represent Manitoba at the Western Canadian Shield in April in Red Deer.
– Kyle McLeod of the Miniota-Elkhorn C-Hawks has been named the North Central Hockey League’s MVP. He won the league scoring title with 29 goals and 53 points and helped the C’Hawks finish in top spot in the overall standings teammate Sean McKean was recognized as the league’s most gentlemanly player while the Grandview Comets’ netminding trio of Danny McDonald, Tim Williams and Adrian Rubeniuk won the top goaltending honours.
– The Hartney Blues have struck first blood in their West Division quarter-final in the Tiger Hills Hockey League. Mark Agnew had a goal and three assists to lead Hartney to 7-0 victory against the Melita Bisons in the opening game of their best-of-three series. Trevor Derlago added five helpers and Nick Cowan scored a pair of the Blues.
– The Dauphin Kings dropped a 3-2 shootout decision against the Steinbach Pistons in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League. Brayden Cuthbert had a goal and an assist for the Kings, who picked up a single point to pad their lead to seven atop the Sher-Wood Division, with the second-place Virden Oil Capitals having a pair of games in hand.
– Grey Cup MVP Kory Sheets is going to give it a go in the NFL after signing with the Oakland Raiders. He played the last two seasons with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, racking up 2,875 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns in 31 games.
– The Winnipeg Blue Bombers open their 2014 CFL season with a pair of Thursday nighters at Investors Group Field. The Bombers welcome the Toronto Argos June 26th and then Henry Burris and the Ottawa RedBlacks July 3rd. Saskatchewan begins defence of their title by hosting the Hamilton Tiger-Cats June 29th in a rematch of last year’s final.
– The Toronto Raptors won their final game before the all-star break, beating the Atlanta Hawks 104-83. DeMar DeRozan led the way with 31 points for the Raptors, who are third in the Eastern Conference and lead the Atlantic Division with a record of 28-24.
