The Steinbach Huskies are one win away from joining the Lorette Comets and Springfield Xtreme in the Hanover Tache Junior Hockey League semifinals. Dawson Smith scored the go-ahead goal at 5:25 of the third period as Steinbach edged Macdonald 4-3 in Rosenort. Ethan Plett, Dilan Sawatzky and Ethan Unger also scored for the Huskies who lead the best-of-five opening round series two games to none. Josh Vassart, Eric Bossuyt and Dryden Bound replied for the Swarm. Game three goes Wednesday night in Steinbach. Nathan Rempel stopped all 27 shots he faced as Niverville blanked the Red River Mudbugs 3-0. Dylan Peters, Jaxsen Friesen and Elijah Durksen did the goal scoring for the hometown Clippers who evened the series at a game a piece. Game three goes Monday night in St. Jean.

 

Jaden Gosselin scored the winning goal with 57 seconds left and Mitchell Penner added an insurance marker with 20 seconds remaining as the St. Malo Warriors rallied for a 4-2 victory over the Falcons in Lundar. Cole Holdnick and Evan Wuerch also scored for the Warriors.

 

The Eastman Selects lost their regular season finale 3-1 to the Westman Wildcats in Niverville. The Selects finished the season in seventh place with a record of 6-20-2 and will open the Manitoba Female U18 AAA Hockey League playoffs Tuesday in Shoal Lake against the Yellowhead Chiefs.

 

Connor McClennon and Chase Wheatcroft scored two goals each as the Winnipeg Ice bounced the Swift Current Broncos 8-2. Benjamin Zloty chipped in with four assists.

 

Jets captain Blake Wheeler was in on all five goals as Winnipeg beat the Nashville Predators 5-2. Wheeler scored twice and drew assists on goals by Mark Scheifele, Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois. With the game tied 2-2 midway through the third period, the Jets took the lead thanks to a pair of goals on a five-minute power play. Predators forward Mark Borowiecki received a major for elbowing and a game misconduct for making contact to the head of Jets forward Evgeny Svechnikov.

 

The Manitoba Moose gave up two goals in the first period and two more in the second and lost 5-2 to the Abbotsford Canucks. Mikey Eyssimont and Matt Alfaro did the goal scoring for the Moose. Portage’s Dean Stewart assisted on Eyssimont’s 8th of the season.

 

Canada’s medal count is 14 at the Winter Games in Beijing. Speedskater Steven Dubois of Terrebonne, Quebec captured bronze in the men’s 500 metre short-track event. Canadian athletes have won one gold, four silver and nine bronze medals. In curling – Jennifer Jones has a 1-3 record after losing 8-4 to Silvana Tirinzone of Switzerland. Brad Gushue defeated John Shuster of the United States 10-5 and has a 3-2 record. The Canadian men’s hockey team beat China 5-0 and finished the preliminary round with a 2-1 record. The Canadian women’s hockey team will face Switzerland tonight (10:10 p.m.) in the semifinals.