Matt Dunstone of Fort Rouge is the number one seed for the 2023 Viterra Provincial Men's Curling Championship that begins one week from today at the Yellowhead Centre in Neepawa. The former Manitoba and Canadian junior champion skip along with B.J. Neufeld, Colton Lott, and Ryan Harnden earned their CTRS #2 ranking, and a 2022-23 CTRS entry into the Viterra Championship, competing in nine events so far this season. They qualified for the playoff round in eight of those events, with a win in Red Deer and three other finalist finishes. They also captured the DEKALB SuperSpiel in Morris. Rounding out the top five seeds are Reid Carruthers of Morris, Ryan Wiebe of Fort Rouge, Corey Chambers of Fort Garry and Braden Calvert of Fort Rouge. 


Four Manitoba teams will be competing at the 2023 Scotties Tournament of Hearts February 17th-26th in Kamloops. Meghan Walter and Kaitlyn Lawes along with Alberta's Casey Scheidegger will fill the three wild-card positions. Walter and Lawes will join Manitoba champion Jennifer Jones and three-time defending Canadian champion Kerri Einarson of Gimli in British Columbia for the 18-team National women's championship. 


Manitoba Junior Hockey League teams won one of the three games Tuesday at the MJHL/SJHL Showcase at the Seven Oaks Sportsplex in Winnipeg. Tresor Wotton of the Waywayseecappo Wolverines 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 blanked SJHL 20U White 4-0. Pistons forward Travis Hensrud scored the lone goal for MJHL 20U Red in their 4-1 loss to SJHL 20U Gold and SJHL 18U Blue shaded MJHL 18U White 5-4.
Steinbach's Nicholas Mikan and Warren Clarke picked up assists for MJHL 18U White.


Braden Hildebrand had 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 moved two points ahead of the Springfield Xtreme in the race for second place in the Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League. The Xtreme meet the first place Huskies tonight in Steinbach. Liam Foster, Matt Ramsay and Tyler Van de Velde replied for the fourth place Comets who are two points up on the Niverville Clippers. Both teams have two games left. 
 

The St. Malo Warriors winning streak has reached 13 games. Jeremie Collette and Cole Holdnick scored two goals each as the Warriors downed 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 back of the Capital Region Junior Hockey League leading Selkirk Fishermen. 


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


The Brandon Wheat Kings dropped a 2-1 decision to Saskatoon at Westoba Place. Charlie Wright scored 15 seconds into overtime for the Blades. Rylen Roersma had the lone goal for the Wheat Kings. Brandon's Carson Bjarnason made 31 saves. 


Cole Guttman scored in regulation and potted the shootout winner as the Rockford IceHogs edged Manitoba 3-2. Daniel Torgersson and Ville Heinola did the goal scoring for the Moose.

 

Steinbach Regional will end the WHSHL regular season schedule this week with games against the J.H. Bruns Broncos and Garden City Fighting Gophers. Sabres head coach John Laninga will join Clayton Dreger on Sportsbeat which airs Wednesdays at 5:15 p.m. on AM 1250 Radio.