Hockey is Over and Winter is Still Hanging Around

We entered a 24 team tournament in Portage la Prairie this past weekend and came out quite well. Not much snow where we were but and hour north in Eriksdale there was a Heavy snow storm. At least a foot of snow fell overnight and it was Wet and Heavy. Spring was here......


My Daughter Maija sits by her friend Jerrica every game and practice. Here they are for what was to be the final game of our season.


We were in the semi-final of the Portage Lions 19th Annual Atom Tournament, one which has many extended roster teams which take players from a wide region to make an allstar team. We went with our kids from our 2 small towns... All weekend the hockey was fast and furious, our kids played as well as I have ever seen them play. Competing and Beating teams from larger towns which have a number of teams in each age group. It feels so rewarding to see these young hockey players mature and play so well as a team. This team is made of 1/2 nine year olds and 1/2 ten year olds. All the other teams are made up off 10 year olds so the competion and size difference is a factor. Our kids were totally up for it. The last game was a Wild one. Goal for goal we were tied but we were on them like stink. Austin N., a nine year old on our team picked up the puck along the boards by the top of the circles and had a clear path to the net, WITH 10 SECONDS LEFT in Regulation!!! He shoots.... and it hit the post! He almost had the rebound to boot but the goalie covered it and here comes overtime...AGAIN. 5 Minute 4 on 4 overtime. We carried most of the play but could not bury another goal. This was such a large tournament that the next step after OT is a SHOOT-OUT. We scored 2 and they scored 4. Hockey is officially over for the season. Excellent Hockey and feels so good to be a part of such a growing experience for these kids. Next year they go into body contact!!! I can't wait:)



There was plenty of pool and hot tub time for the Kids as well. Hockey Tournaments are still some of my fondest Memories.


We also had our "2nd annual Wind up on the Lake". I made a rink out on Lake Manitoba and had the Girls and Boys teams out for a party. There was a ton of kids and a lot of hockey. The kids really like a party like that, definately something different.


This is one of our players little brother watching and wanting to be out there with the big kids... Soon enough.LOL He will be a good player. Comes from a good hockey family.

Spring is Starting to Arrive!!

Spring has showed up here on the Prairies! It will slowly creep north and should start to warm up a bit up there in a couple of weeks. March generally is when we get the majority of our snow so we will see how that goes. I don't mind if spring holds off for a bit... summer will be here soon enough.


We are hockey crazy right now. I have been too busy with Fishing and Hockey to get any updates on here. Here is what has been happening.



Maija's team is the one I coach and have made it through 3 rounds of playoffs which are the best of 3. We played Gimli in the first round which went 3 games which we played well when we had to win but I could see the Kids getting the desire to win a championship. This team has never won our league but this year they really started to come around and I could feel that maybe this was their year. Second round was against Stonewall. They had beaten us 2 of 3 games this winter so it would be tough.... We swept them in two games! Maija scored the game winner in game one- a 4-2 win, and game 2 we dominated them in a 5-1 win to move to the final round against another upset, the 4th place Warren Wildcats who knocked out the first place team to advance.



This proved to be an extremely close series even though we won game one 6-2. Game 2 was played in Warren, in a lot warmer arena and on a considerably larger ice surface. Our team did not respond well. Losing 3-0!! I was not impressed. Even in any of our other loses this season we were never shut out. We had one day off to get ready for the final game of the series. It could not have worked out any better. I volunteered to go on a Field trip with Maija's class to Winnipeg so I was able to spend the whole day with the older kids on the team. We had a great day but still pretty stressful having 40 some 10 year olds downtown, but good to spend time with all of them. I get along so well with those little heathens cause I was totally like them at that age.



Game 3!!! The atmostsphere in the dressing room before the game told me that we were going to win. Not to uptight, everyone was having a good time and not really nervous. We opened the game with a Bang, scoring right away and had all of the play in their end. Warren did get the odd rush though and kept coming. They ended up scoring 3 goals on the rush by the end of the second and their goalie kept us off of the scoreboard, we were down 3-1 going into the third. I was a little nervous but we still had most of the play in their end, we just had to SCORE! In the Intermission, I simply told them that THEY have to win the game, I can only put them out there to do it.. Again we started to dominate. Austin, who scored our first goal, pulled through again with a bullet wrist shot from the face off dot, which went top corner short side with 10 minutes to go in the third. We kept the pressure on and called a time out near the end to give the kids a rest and come up with a plan for pulling the goalie. The play came down to our end with just over a minute to play but we turned the puck over quickly and when it came through the neutral zone Dradon came to the bench, I put out a Strong Farm girl on our team named Tayllor. She went tearing into the zone and picked up the puck along the boards and shot it towards the net. Riley was there to chip it in front and hit the POST! The puck seemed to lay there for an eternity as every one converged on the puck... Riley was able to get to it first and tied it up with :56 seconds to go. There was around 200 people watching and the arena just went crazy!!! After that we were all over them again but could not finish in regulation. Overtime is so exciting, but we had Tony who has always been our clutch performer and had not scored in 2 games so he was due. With 2:06 remaining in the first 10 minute overtime Tayllor again turned the puck over in the neutral zone and sent Tony in on a one on one and he went wide beating the defenceman and getting a shot. The goalie saved it but the rebound came right back to Tony and It was over!!! What a feeling. The first league Championship for this team. They played their hearts out and were rewarded for it. Here are some pictures from the last couple of series:
Jerrica and Maija during the Stonewall series having fun
Tony the Zamboni after Sweep of Stonewall
The Mob after Tony scored the overtime winner to clinch the Series
Winning it at home was even better.


Now we have to play the winner of the North half of our association, Fisher River Terriers. We have never played them so we will see if we reign supreme in the Interlake Region.

Hockey Tournament is over.

Our hockey team hosted a six team two-day tournament this weekend in two towns for Atom aged kids which are 9 and 10 year olds. It was a excellent fundraiser for our minor hockey association and local arenas. We live in a small town and keeping the rinks open is always a concern. Everyone in town loves to see a buzz around the rink on occasions like these. My team did not place in the medals but won the Consulation. We invited stiff competition but most games were decided by one or two goals, Very Intense! These kids will be in body contact next year so there is a fair amount of body checking, I love that!!

And guess who planned it all...
If you have ever been fishing at Amik Outposts it should not surprise you to hear Rena takes care of all our tournament planning. She is Greatly Appreciated!!


This is one of our ways that we raise money, The Loonie Stick. This year there was 2 one piece composite sticks with each person paying $2 for each entry. $1 goes to our tourney and the other taped to the stick and their name entered in a draw. We had 2 sticks and each one had almost $100 on it. Other Fundraisers were Chuck-a-puck where the closest to center ice won a new wheeled hockey bag, Buy-a-player where we get $1 and the player bought gets the other $1, a Warren player went home 70$ richer this weekend. We also had a huge Rainbow auction.



Our kids had a League game Friday night then played three games on Saturday. Maija was totally wiped in the second intermission of our last game. We had a 2-1 lead going into the third against a team that is a division higher than us but sadly we ran out of gas and gave up three third period goals and lost 4-2. She mustered half a smile me. lol

It was sooo cold here this weekend. Minus 35 celsius with a -50 windchill. Canadians are crazy for hockey and we had teams travel through the weather and come to play despite the weather. Here is my Goalie Dradon. Hiding in his equipment trying to stay warm. Cold and played out after facing that frozen piece of rubber for 4 games in less than 24 hours.

This is the net that I scored my first goal in almost 30 years ago, Still Going.

The old barn in Eriksdale. Natural ice is great to skate on. Not many of those left. When I started playing here there was no glass, just heavy wire on the ends of the rink. The fans stood along the boards and had to pay attention to the play or they might get a stick or puck in the teeth. When my Dad coached Men's hockey here the fans were involved in the game too, holding up players or yapping with the opposition. Things got pretty heated at some of those games where the age old rivalries saw some awesome hits and goals.

My Daughter Maija on the left with Jerrica and the "Hardware"

One of my wingers Leo with a nice shirt on.

The Bronze medal winners, Warren Wildcats

The runners up, Riverton Eagles

Gimli Vikings, The Champs. This team is half girls and boys. Congrats!

Some Recent Pictures.

The Lake is Big outside the Reef!!

Here is the Video of our last week out on "The Lake"

Winter on Lake Manitoba


Perch fishing has been pretty good for the first couple of weeks. Hopefully it will continue for another month. Temperature has just begun to warm up too. So the ice crack should start to pile up like crazy. the ice has been "talking" since yesterday when the south wind started. Quite often you hear "Chunk" as the temperature rises. Today we could hear rumbling like thunder for sometimes 5 minutes on end as the crack pushes together until something gives and carries on for 30 or 40 miles, crushing together 3 to 4 feet of ice.

"The Lake is big outside the Reef" This is a saying that was written on an old wooden fish tub that is still over at the family farm. It means outside Long Point Reef which is 4 miles south of Einar's island which is 2 and a half miles out from Scotch Bay which is 1 and a half miles west of my house, the lake is BIG! Kind of an inside joke between my brother and myself. We do not know who wrote that but it is very true. There is nothing but smooth mud bottom out in the middle of Lake Manitoba, but that is where the Perch are. The lake is big outside the reef.

Minus 46 Degrees Celcius with the Wind Chill, Feels pretty good? Not really.
That is the Jigger under 3 feet of ice. It takes out the line to set our nets.
Fishing was so good, one day this week we ran out of tubs. So we just dumped them on the floor. It takes around 240 Perch per tub to fill. Lots of picking in a day.
We catch a few pretty big Perch too.

The video of our first days troubles on "The Lake"

Well, the first frostbite showed up today. Yesterday my brother Jamie said to me,"Hey your nose is frozen". I wanted a picture but by the time the camera was fished out of my snow suit it would have thawed, I did not feel like going out from the back side of the Bombardier to keep it frozen,LOL After showering today Rena noticed there was a patch of skin missing from the bridge of my nose, just a little frozen skin, nothing serious.

Here is the link to the video of our first day on "The Lake"

http://youtube.com/watch?v=7liRe_AdfzI

Perch Season begins on Lake Manitoba with a Bang!!

Perch Season began today and it was a Stormy Day!! Very poor visibility, -20 celsius, and a wind gusting to 70km/h, and we had fishing to do!! My brother and I have the same work ethic, if there is a job to do, we will get it done no matter what the weather. Today we delivered once again, it was not pleasant out there but as long as you stayed moving it was not to bad. We did have a little trouble though. As we were crossing the first ice crack, (which was wider than we expected) one of the skis on our sled that we haul our snowmobile on caught the edge of ice on the crack as we came across. The end result....






A bent steel ski and a partially wrecked snow machine, could have been alot worse had the Bombardier hit the crack like that. We just took the snowmobile and left the sleigh. It was very cold driving the snow machine as we were going setting nets 15 miles from home. A long ways with no windshield to hide behind. Anyways I toughed it out and by late afternoon the wind was going down and it was actually almost enjoyable. The wind is supposed to blow from the north tomorrow and get colder. GREAT!! Can't wait to start catching fish..

Sportshows were a success!!!

Bookings were very good at the 2 sportshows I attended these past few weeks. A reminder to anyone wanting to book a flyin trip with us to call or email for dates as they are filling up fast.

I will show you those little gold Lake Perch soon, hopefully lots and lots of them.