Softball Manitoba's Provincial U13 A Championship begins today in Portage la Prairie. 41 teams are competing including the Boissevain Centennials, Miniota, Virden, Deloraine, Hamiota Red Sox, Wawanesa Wild and Killarney Lakers. The gold medal game is scheduled for Sunday at 4 p.m. Boissevain captured the Provincial U11 A championship last weekend in Winnipeg.
The Elkhorn Expos plated four runs in the first and second innings en route to a 23-8 victory over the Rivers Comets. Colby Walker had three hits and drove in six runs for the Expos who tacked on nine runs in the bottom of the fourth and six more in the sixth inning. Scott Beever had three rbi for the Comets. The Boissevain Centennials are in first place in the South West Baseball League with an 11-1 record. Rivers is next at 9-3. The Deloraine Royals are 8-4 and the Reston Rockets are 6-4. Wawanesa is in fifth place at 4-6. The top four teams qualify for the playoffs.
The Winnipeg Goldeyes fell 2-1 in 10 innings to the Chicago Dogs at Impact Field. The Goldeyes tied the game at 1-1 in the top of the seventh inning on left fielder Roby Enríquez’s bunt single down the third base line that brought right fielder Max Murphy in to score. The Fish have lost eight of their last nine games and begin a three-game weekend series against the Gary SouthShore RailCats tonight in Indiana.
Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets won the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender at the NHL Awards Thursday night in Las Vegas. Hellebuyck, who also won the award in 2020, went 37-19-4 with a 2.39 goals-against average, .921 save percentage and five shutouts in 60 games this season. He ranked second in wins, second in save percentage and fourth in GAA. Hellebuyck is the 23rd goalie to win the Vezina Trophy multiple times. Nathan McKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche won the Hart Trophy as league MVP. Quinn Hughes of the Vancouver Canucks received the Norris Trophy for top defenseman and Connor Bedard of the Chicago Blackhawks won the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year.
The 2024 National Hockey League Draft begins tonight in Las Vegas. The San Jose Sharks have the first overall pick and are expected to select Hobey Baker award winner Macklin Celebrini of Boston University. Celebrini finished second in the NCAA with 32 goals and was third with 64 points in 38 games for the Terriers. The Winnipeg Jets do not have a pick in round one. The Jets dealt their first round pick (26th overall) to the Montreal Canadiens for Sean Monahan. Rounds 2-7 take place on Saturday.
The Canadian men's volleyball team was eliminated from Volleyball Nations League action. Japan swept Canada 26-24, 25-18, 26-24 in the quarterfinals Thursday in Poland. Steinbach's Eric Loeppky had six attack points and three blocks for the Canadians. The result ended a successful run for Canada, which qualified for the tournament quarterfinals for the first time and posted preliminary-round wins over Japan and Brazil. Up next is the Paris Olympics, where Canada is in a group with host and defending champion France.