Nothing ever stays the same on the lake!

It has been a pretty good year for my brother and I fishing on Lake Manitoba. The walleyes have been around but we have had to chase them to keep catching. Here is one that is probably the biggest we have ever seen, 35 inches!


As the temperatures warm up and cool down, the lake breathes a lot. There is a small rocky island under that mountain of ice. At freeze up, all of that area was perfectly flat.




The ice will not even break sometimes and bend.

Our nemesis, the Crack, pushes together and goes down at times, making it too deep to cross and too dangerous. Getting stuck in the crack or worse, putting the Bombardier to the bottom and having to go swimming. It would be a long walk back to shore if you are wet and getting hypothermia. We crossed here the day before.


We found a place to cross but after crashing our way across decided that we would not cross here again.....There is ice under there but it has 5 feet of water on it.

We recently had a foot of snow and a huge wind along with it making the road near the lake high with drifts and even the old Bombardier could not make it through. We had to get the tractor to get us out.

Hard travelling comes with all the snow. And following that is breakdowns. The 1953 Bombardier has seen some metal fatigue jumping cracks and crashing over rock hard snow drifts. Our back axle broke. Seven miles out. It was a nice sunny day so my nephew Trent and Maija jumped on the snowmobile and followed our tracks out to get us. We tore the Bombardier apart, and left the kids out there while we went home to weld.




Back in action, at least it was not a stormy day and 40 below.

Hockey Day in Canada!

Saturday was Hockey day in Canada. There was thousands of hockey games being played in every corner of our vast country. Both of my girls were involved as well. Taina played at the same time as Maija so Rena and I were in 2 different places. Taina's team tied 2-2, and she had one goal for her team. Maija's Peewee team played an exhibition game against a new rival. The Oakville Seals. We were playing in their arena but it was a nice small ice surface, perfect for a first meeting. Both teams had many chances in the first two periods but Oakville held a 2-0 lead on us after the second period. We had many chances but not too many quality shots on their net. After the intermission, we came out and scored in the first minute of the 3rd period. We were taking the body and had a strong forecheck going. I knew we were coming back! Halfway through the last 20 minutes we tied the game, shorthanded! Our kids were gaining momentum each shift. Then we let their best player get too much room for one shift. He is a strong player and found the back of our net after getting his own rebound, finishing off his hat-trick with 4 minutes remaining. We held them in their end for the rest of the game but could not find a way to tie it up even though we pulled the goalie to make it 5 on 5 since we had a player in the penalty box. A good game. They want to return the game so we will be playing in our rink next time....

2009 Moose Hunt video

Winning. So much better than Losing!

Our Peewee team was off to Dominion City this weekend. A small farm town in Southern Manitoba. We knew none of the teams there, just that they were from towns similar in size to ours and knew we should be competitive. These kids have been playing very well since X-mas and it was a pleasure to coach them.

The weather gets a little white on the prairie, but hockey people will travel in almost any weather to play.


A perfect style of arena for us to play in. Cold and crisp. The last time I was in this arena, I was involved in a bit of a scuffle and ended up biting someone's finger when I was playing junior hockey!


After winning both of our round robin games, 2-1 close one over Iles des Chiens and 9-0 over Lorette we were in the top position with a spot in the gold medal game. Our opponents were the Landmark Blues. A team similar to ours who liked to play rough. Our kids were pumped and ready to play. We had a 4-0 lead right away and played very solid in holding on for a 6-1 win. As it happens sometimes in hockey, the game started to get ugly when the score is one sided. Landmark was getting frustrated because we were playing very well defensively and started to run our players. We gave it right back and made an entertaining final in the tournament. A few penalty minutes later we had done it! Gold!!!

2 Shutouts to strart the year!

We opened the second half of the 2009/2010 season with 2 shutout victories. Our peewee team played very well, positionally and very aggressive! Taking the game to both Stonewall and St.Laurent.

We tied Stonewall 3-3 in the first half and played them at our barn on Saturday. Just so you know, our rink is one of the coldest around....and Saturday was a cold windy day. I over heard a Stonewall player coming of the ice in the first period saying, "I don't know if I can play in here" Our kids had no problems with it, a few hand warmers to hand to them when they get off the ice between shifts and we were good to go. We hit them enough we stayed warm anyways. A 9-0 win!

Today we were in St. Laurent to face the Sharks. A much bigger team than ours but we can generally beat them. They improve as the year goes on like ourselves.

The only time I remember I have a camera is before the game. Once the game starts, I am too involved to be taking pictures.

There is a constant giggle coming from this corner!

It was a good rough game versus St Laurent but we prevailed. 4-0 They have an awesome goaltender. We carried the play for most of the game but could not finish as much as we should have. I can see the pace of each game picking up, it should be a fun second half.

Some recent pictures from the lake

The deep freeze is here to stay for awhile it seems. The best thing for staying warm is catching fish! We have been doing pretty good lately and hope to continue to do so for another couple of months.



The coyote population is getting a little out of hand in our area. They are everywhere, but rarely seen.


This one made a mistake of heading to the lake in the daylight!

Hockey season is half over already!

Hockey so far for the Lakeside Peewee's has been played with a few less games than normal up to this point in the season due to us having artificial ice problems early in our arena. We are 3 wins, 3 loses and a tie in the first half of the season in our league....we should have a great opportunity to win our league. We have always been slow starters and finish strong. We are also entered in a couple of tournaments in January, so there should be lots of hockey to write about. My best memories in life were from the tons and tons of tournaments we played in in every corner of Manitoba. It was always great to play new towns who did not know how rough we like to play here in our little town! :)

Keep watching to see the highlights.