Lily Anderson poured in 23 points and Alex Bergman added 16 points as the Steinbach Regional varsity girls basketball team defeated the College Jeanne-Sauve Olympiens 51-34 Monday night at the SRSS. The Sabres were dominant at both ends of the floor early in the game and late in the fourth quarter. The SRSS went on a 14-0 run to start the first quarter and a 17-0 run to finish the game. Steinbach Regional has a 2-1 record in the South Central Athletic Conference and will face the Dakota Lancers on Wednesday in Winnipeg. 


Three Manitoba Junior Hockey League teams are in top half of the Canadian Junior Hockey League’s weekly Top 20 rankings to start the new year. The Steinbach Pistons (26-4-3) moved from number five to number four; the Winkler Flyers (25-3-2-2) fell from number number seven to number nine while the West Division leading Virden Oil Capitals (23-5-2-2) remain at number 10. The Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Flin Flon Bombers (29-2-2) are the number one ranked team in the country for the 10th week in a row.


Canada plays its final preliminary round game today at 1 p.m. against Finland at the 2024 World Women's U18 Hockey Championship in Zug, Switzerland. Both teams have 2-0 records, and the winner will finish first in Group A.


Winnipeg Jets goaltender Connor Hellebuyck has been named the NHL's Third Star of the Week. The 30-year-old Commerce, Michigan native began the week with a 34-save performance in a 4-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday. On Thursday, the 2020 Vezina Trophy winner stopped 28 of 29 shots in Winnipeg’s 2-1 victory in San Jose. Finally, Hellebuyck recorded 15 saves in Sunday’s 6-2 win over the Arizona Coyotes. Hellebuyck finished the week a perfect 3-0-0 with a 1.68 goals-against average and a .937 save percentage.


The Winnipeg Football Club has named Jordan Younger as Defensive Coordinator and Mike Miller as Special Teams Coordinator, the latter replacing Paul Boudreau whose contract was not renewed by the club. Richie Hall remains on the defensive coaching staff. Younger returns to the Blue Bombers for a sixth season in 2024 and his first as the Defensive Coordinator after previously serving as the Defensive Backs Coach. Winnipeg’s secondary has been a force under Younger’s watch, ranking first in passing yardage allowed per game (229.4 yards) and opponent completion percentage against (59.7) in 2023. Younger came to the Blue Bombers in 2018 after working as the defensive backs coach with the Toronto Argonauts (2015-16) and previously with the Ontario Football Conference’s Oakville Titans and the University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Hall will remain in the organization, working with the defensive staff, and 2024 will mark his ninth season as a member of the Blue Bombers coaching staff. Miller moves directly from the playing ranks to coaching after spending the 2023 season working with the specialists in a non-playing role. The CFL’s all-time leader in special teams tackles with 226, Miller missed the entire 2023 season after suffering an injury in training camp.


The Nunavut Curling Association has informed Curling Canada that it will not be sending a team to Calgary for the 2024 Scotties Tournament of Hearts. The 18-team event, set for February 16th-25th at the WinSport Event Centre in Calgary, will be filled out instead by a fourth Canadian Team Ranking System-qualified team. Two teams — skipped by Jennifer Jones (Winnipeg) and Rachel Homan (Ottawa) — have already been declared based on CTRS standings, alongside defending champions Team Kerri Einarson of Gimli. One more was to be declared at the conclusion of provincial and territorial championships — the highest team in the standings that didn’t qualify through its provincial or territorial championship. Now, the highest two teams in the standings that didn’t qualify will earn trips to Calgary for the Canadian women’s curling championship. Nunavut has already declared its team for the 2024 Brier which will begins March 1st in Regina and will be participating as scheduled.

curling_2023Team Hayward and Team Campbell captured the Provincial U18 Championships (photo courtesy Connie Laliberte/CurlManitoba)

The Provincial U18 Curling Championships wrapped up Sunday in Selkirk. 2024 champions Shaela Hayward of the Carman Curling Club and Rylan Campbell of the Altona Curling Club will join Clayton Dreger on This Week in Curling which airs Tuesdays at 5:15 p.m. on AM 1250 Radio.