Jesse Morris made 50 saves and Ashton Dubois scored twice as the St. Malo Warriors beat Arborg 3-1. Evan Wuerch also scored for the hometown Warriors. The Ice Dawgs lead the Capital Region Junior Hockey League's best-of-seven semifinal three games to one. Game five goes tonight (8 p.m.) in Arborg.

 

The Steinbach Pistons play their regular season finale tonight (7:30 p.m.) when they meet the Winnipeg Blues at the T.G. Smith Centre. The Pistons (41-9-2-1) clinched first place in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League's East Division two weeks ago and will face either the Selkirk Steelers or Portage Terriers in the opening round of the playoffs which begin next weekend.

 

The Winnipeg Goldeyes re-signed infielder Dakota Conners. The Alameda, California native hit .235 with one home run and 15 RBI in 66 games while playing in a utility role for the Goldeyes last season. Conners reached base in 42 of his 66 games played and batted .351 from July 31st through the end of the season. Conners is entering his third season of professional baseball. The 26-year-old hit .302 as a true rookie for the Pacific Association’s Napa Silverados in 2019, which ranked 11th in the league. The Fish now have 19 players signed to contracts for the 2022 season. American Association clubs may carry up to 30 players during spring training, which begins May 5th.

 

The organizing committee for the annual Bob Picken Memorial Masters Bonspiel has announced its latest contribution to youth curling development in Manitoba. A Bob Picken Legacy Fund grant of $500 has been made to the Junior Interlake Inter-club League. This brings the total invested in youth curling development to $3,000 since the bonspiel was established in memory of legendary curling broadcaster Bob Picken in 2019. This year’s league included teams from East St. Paul, Stonewall, and Selkirk. West St. Paul, usually also involved, was unable to participate this year. The league offers young curlers, aged 12-17, development opportunities through both coaching sessions and competition. Games through the season are played in each of the participating clubs with the travel to play in different venues and on different ice also being a development experience. The Junior Interlake Inter-club Curling League will wind up its 2021-22 season March 20th at East St. Paul. In 2019, the Bob Picken Masters Bonspiel made grants to Thistle, Oakville, and Riverview (Brandon) Junior development programs. Due to the pandemic, no grants were made in 2020. In 2021-22, grants have been made to the Interlake league and to support CurlManitoba’s Bob Picken Legacy Inter-club Youth League in Winnipeg. Planning is underway for the fall 2022 Bob Picken-Valour Road Masters Bonspiel at Thistle Curling Club. The committee will continue to support junior curling development in Manitoba. Grant applications, through CurlManitoba, will be received at the beginning of next curling season.