Stuart Walter Sports

With the regular season now in the books, the first round playoff matchups in the Manitoba Midget “AAA” League have now been set. Below is a breakdown of all four first-round matchups. (1) Winnipeg Wild vs (8) Central Plains Capitals The Wild finished the season first place in the league with a record of 41-5-0-1-1, outscoring their opponents 325-107. That offence was led by Bemidji State commit Kyle Bettens who won the league scoring title with 95 points (40G, 55A) in 48 games. That dominance over their opponents extended to the Central Plains Capitals, as the Wild swept the season series 4-0 (6-2, 3-2, 7-1, 6-4). Despite having the four wins, the Wild were in tough in the last game against the Capitals, who were surging as they pushed to make the post-season. Central Plains went 8-1 in the month of February, as they narrowly edged out the Pembina Valley Hawks for the final playoff spot. The Capitals are led by their captian, Reily Funk. The Portage Terriers prosp...

The Norman Northstars wrapped up their season over the weekend with a pair of disappointing losses to the expansion Winnipeg Bruins. The Nor-Man squad was playing with a short bench Friday night, as captain Jerome Linklater, Jonathan Saunders and Frederick Ledoux were out of the lineup. Ryan Monias, who had 17 points (6G, 11A) with the Midget “AA” King Miners this season, made his Northstars debut. The Winnipeg Bruins came out hard and fast, as they needed just one point to lock up third place in the league heading into the playoffs. Jason Kotchon potted the first of the game less than two minutes in, giving the Bruins the lead. Kyle Lang and Blake Burr would add two more goals for Winnipeg, giving them a 3-0 advantage going into the second. Wheat Kings prospect Wililam Highet added one on the powerplay 1:24 into the second, before Lang added a pair of goals two minutes apart to double the Bruins lead to 6-0. The Northstars would get two back, with Hunter Rambow and Sheld...

The Norman Northstars will wrap up their 2017/2018 season this weekend the same way they began the season; against the expansion Winnipeg Bruins. The two teams have played twice this season, both times in Winnipeg. The Bruins took the first game 4-1, and the second 13-3. Winnipeg Blues prospect Ty Naaykens, who currently sits second on the team in scoring with 57 points (26G, 31A), dominated the Nor-Man side with four points in the opener (2G, 2A) and five points in the second game (4G, 1A). The Bruins, who left Winnipeg for Thompson this morning, are currently in a slump. They have lost six of their last seven games, including five straight. Despite the recent run of bad play, Winnipeg continues to hold on to third spot in the Manitoba Midget “AAA” League, four points up on fourth place Eastman and eight points up on the Winnipeg Thrashers. The Norman Northstars are coming off a disappointing 12-5 loss to the Winnipeg Thrashers after upsetting the Winnipeg side 2-1 th...

The Thompson King Miners and Cross Lake Islanders will play in Cross Lake for the first game of the Norman Midget "AA" League playoff finals the weekend of March 10th. The series was originailly scheduled to take place this weekend, but had to be moved until after the 2018 Manitoba Winter Games due to a scheduling conflict.  The King Miners are coming off a first round sweep of the Norway House Northstars, which saw the Thompson side outscore their rivals a combined 21-6. They were led up front in the series by Drayden Spence (7G, 3A), Chase Gurniak (4G, 5A) and Matthew Rempel (7A). Skylar Szocs, who made his Midget "AAA" debut earlier this season with the Norman Northstars, played all three games for Thompson while posting a 2.00 GAA and a .924 save percentage. Cross Lake, who finished first in the regular season and received a bye to the finals, hasn't played since beating Norway House on February 8th. Kadin Ross led the team in offence all se...

The Norman Northstars are looking ahead to the final two games of the season after splitting a pair of games at home against the Winnipeg Thrashers. Friday night saw the Northstars play their best game of the season in a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Thrashers. It was a tightly-contested game for the entire 60 minutes, with both sides doing everything they could to try and give their team an advantage. The scoring started early in the third period, when Nor-Man alternate captain Keistin Saunders scored his sixth goal of the season at the 1:02 mark. Jordan Pfoh would add his team-leading seventh powerplay goal of the season to give his team a 2-0 lead. Billy Klymchuk would add one late for the Thrashers, but it wasn’t enough. Waywayseecappo Wolverines prospect Braedin Melsted played one of the best games of his Midget “AAA” career, stopping 35 of 36 shots. The Northstars penalty kill continued to shine, going a perfect ten for ten. Saturday night saw a very different game...

The OCN Blizzard picked up four crucial points over the weekend by taking down the Waywayseecappo Wolverines in back-to-back games. The Wolverines, who sit dead last in the MJHL, were hoping to play spoiler as they made the trip north to play the Blizzard during the Northern Manitoba Trappers’ Festival. Friday night saw a close game, with OCN coming out on top 3-2. The Blizzard started the game playing catch-up, with Jesse Korytko potting his 10 th  of the season only 42 seconds in to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead. Riley Bruce would tie things up for the Blizzard with 3:30 to go in the opening frame. The powerplay goal was set up by two former Norman Northstars, Anthony Keeper and Tony Apetagon. The second period saw more penalties than scoring, as Mark Liwiski had the only goal as OCN took a 2-1 lead into the third. Wayway would tie up the game early in the third thanks to Peyton Malcolm, before former Vancouver Giant and Edmonton Oil King Jesse Roach scored ...

The Norman Northstars have a tough weekend ahead of them as they prepare to host the Winnipeg Thrashers for a pair of games. The Northstars are coming off their last road trip of the year, which saw them drop three games to the Wild, Capitals and Lightning. Despite the trio of losses, the Norman Northstars continued to see the emergence of rookie defenceman Jordan Pfoh. The 15-year-old Flin Flon, MB native has 14 points (7G, 7A) in his 44 games played. His big physical presence and leadership have been impressing fans and coaches alike over the season. Pfoh was recently listed by the MJHL's Waywayseecappo Wolverines. The Thrashers, who are fighting to get home ice advantage in the upcoming playoffs, are coming off a 2-1 loss to the red-hot Southwest Cougars. They currently sit in sixth place in the Manitoba Midget "AAA" League with a record of 25-18-0-1. They are three points back of the Eastman Selects for fourth place. The two teams have played twice th...

The Norman Northstars were on the road over the weekend down south to play the Wild, Capitals and Lightning on their last road trip of the 2017/2018 season. The team was down two regular forwards on the trip, Jonathan Saunders and Frederick Ledoux. The weekend started on a rough note at the BellMTS Iceplex with a game against the Winnipeg Wild. Head coach James Buchanan said before the game that he knew his side was in tough against Winnipeg, especially without Saunders and Ledoux. Alternate captain Mitchell Reid spoke to 102.9 CHTM before the game, and said that going into the game the team had to do all they could to outwork the Wild. Braedin Melsted got the nod between the pipes to start the game, but didn’t last the first period, allowing seven goals in the first 16:22 of the game. Keian Weseen would allow 13 goals over the final 43:38 as the Wild came away with their fourth win of the season over the Northstars by a score of 20-1. Mikey Baron had the lone goal for the Nor...

The Norman Wolves ended their regular season on a sour note as they dropped a pair of games to the Parkland Rangers. The Wolves got out to a 5-1 lead early in Saturday’s game, before giving up nine unanswered goals en route to a 10-6 loss. Sunday was no better, as they fell behind early and couldn’t catch up in the 13-4 route. The Pas’ Chase Bertholet led the team over the weekend with two goals and four assists, while Flin Flon native and team captain, Justin Lies, finished the weekend with three goals and three assists. Carter Anderson, the lone Thompsonite competing in boys’ hockey at the Manitoba Games, put up a goal and an assist. 14 different players ended up on the score sheet for the Rangers, including goaltender Jean Berthaudin. Nine players had multi-point weekends, including five who had over five points. 13-year-old Tyson Zimmer led the way with eight points over the weekend, three goals and five assists. 

The Norman Northstars couldn't overcome a slow start on Saturday night as Eastman completed the weekend sweep with a 9-3 victory. The Selects came out strong to start the game, putting three by Braedin Melsted in the first 10 minutes. The game was the first for Melsted since January 14th, who stopped 41 of 50 shots on the night. Kelowna Rockets prospect Cole Dekoninck opened the second period the same way he ended the first, with a goal. Dekoninck, who has 53 points so far this season, scored a natural hat trick when he potted home his third of the game at 11:34 of the second frame. Dekoninck would finish the night with five points. His line mates, Jesse Mistelbacher and Dallon Wilton, would finish with a goal and three assists each. Mitchell Reid opened up the scoring for the Northstars late in the second period with an unassisted goal. Keistin Saunders and Sheldin Howard would add the other two for the NorMan squad. The Northstars are on the road this weekend...

The Midget “AA” King Miners did what they needed to on the final weekend of the regular season to find themselves, at least for now, atop the NorMan Midget “AA” Hockey League. The King Miners went into Cross Lake Saturday, and came away with a 6-4 victory. Isaak Weenusk stood tall between the pipes, stopping 30 shots to pick up the win. Chase Gurniak led the way for the offence, scoring a hat trick while adding two assists. Matthew Rempel added two assists. Sunday had the Thompson squad in Norway House, where they laid a 9-3 beating on the Northstars. Harley Horning and Brendan McKay each had a goal and three assists, Matthew Rempel and Drayden Spence each had two goals and an assist, while Kale Mayor added a pair of goals. Skylar Szocs made 30 saves for the win. Former Norman Northstar Henry Muchikekwanape had a goal for Norway House. The King Miners currently sit first in the league, one point ahead of the Islanders. The team now needs Norway House to beat Cross ...

The Norman Northstars came up short last night at the C.A. Nesbitt arena as the Eastman Selects skated away with a 5-3 victory. For the first time in a while, the Northstars were the team with a full roster card, while the EastMan squad was down a few players. The Northstars were augmented by two "AP" call-ups, goaltender Rylan Potkonjak and forward Morgan Beauchamp.  Shelding Howard opened up the scoring 57 seconds into the first period (assisted by Jamie Valentino and Branden Hill) to give the Northstars an early 1-0 lead. It wasn't long, however, before Eastman answered back. The Selects would put five unanswered goals past Potkonjak, who was making his Midget "AAA" debut.  The second period saw the NorMan squad start to mount a comeback, with powerplay goals from captain Jerome Linklater and Hunter Rambow. Both of the goals came when Spencer Morrison was in the box for the Selects. The comeback, however, wasn't meant to be as Eastman...

The Manitoba Midget "AAA" League has named their players of the month for January. Two of the three players are from the Southwest Cougars, who went 7-3 in the first month of 2018. Zachary Falk (Winnipeg Wild) was named the Chicken Chef forward of the month, Cory King (Southwest Cougars) was named the Super 8/Motel 6 defenceman of the month, and Riley Wallace (Southwest Cougars) was named the Xplornet goalie of the month. Falk, a Winnipeg native, put up 22 points (12G, 10A) in 10 games during January. The 17-year-old, who is in his first full season with the Wild, has put up 64 points (33G, 31A) in 39 games. Falk is currently fourth in overall league scoring, second in goals and 11th in assists. He sits second in team scoring behind Kyle Bettens.  15-year-old Cory King is have a huge breakout year in his first Midget "AAA" season. He represented Manitoba earlier in the year, helping the team win bronze in the WHL Cup. He scored two goals in the tour...