Coach Eric Labrosse and his staff are here to stay in the North after signing a contract extension with the Northern Manitoba Blizzard.

The announcement was made yesterday in the August 28th edition of the Opasquia Times—the reigning MJHL Coach of the Year award winner, along with assistant coach Paul-Antoine Deslauriers (P.A), will remain the bench bosses of the Blizz until the 2029/2030 season.

The Blizz are coming off a stellar regular season and made it to the final four in the playoffs, if you want to purchase season tickets for the upcoming season call owner Bonnie White at 204-620-2263.

Phase 1 of The Northern Manitoba Blizzards main camp starts this morning, with practices and scrimmages running until this Saturday, August 31st.

 

Phase 2 of the camp begins next week Tuesday, September 3rd with the Rookie game, which takes place in Dauphine

 

Phase 2 of the camp ends September 7th.

 

For the full main camp and preseason schedule visit normanblizzard.com.

Your Northern Manitoba Blizzard is putting together a Slo-Pitch Tournament next weekend, and they're looking for teams to participate.

There are two divisions in total, one for the men and one for the women, allowing eight teams to compete in each division.

Payouts will be based on the amount of entries they receive, the entry fee to register a team is $500. A $200 non-refundable deposit is due by tomorrow August 28th to secure your spot.

Registration can be done with Chelsey Niewiadomy at chelseycoulter19@gmail.com.

It starts on September 6th and runs till Sunday the 8th, the tourney will also feature a beer garden and a canteen. 

There's still time to register your teen for next week's U15 AAA Norman Northstars Tryout.

This year's tryout will take place at the C.A. Nesbitt Arena in Thompson Manitoba, it starts on the 31st and runs till September 1st.

Both days will have two separate time slots. On the 31st they ask that you show up and check in at 10:00 A.M. The first skate starts at 11:00 A.M. and goes till 12:15 P.M. For the second one, it begins at 4:00 P.M. and ends at 5:15 P.M.

For September 1st, the first session begins at 8:00 A.M. and finishes at 9:14 A.M., the fourth and final session commences at 1:30 P.M. and wraps up at 3:30 P.M.

The tryout fee is $175, and the deadline to sign up is August 26th at 5:00 P.M.

You can find the registration form on their Facebook page Norman Northstars U15 AAA, any questions you may have can be emailed to Coach Shayne at NNSCoachP@outlook.com.

E-Transfer Payments can be made to u15aaanorthstars2024@gmail.com, when sending one please indicate the player's name. 

They are also looking for billet families for the upcoming season, you can inquire by calling Mike Scaddan at 204-679-5376 or Rachelle Ladyka at 204-679-6763.

 

Attention teens born in 2010 or 2011, tryouts for the Norman Wild AAA Female Hockey team kick off this weekend.

They will take place at the Whitney Forum in Flin Flon, there are two time slots for Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday the first time slot is 1:00 P.M. to 2:15 P.M., and the second time slot runs from 4:00 P.M. to 5:15 P.M.

Sunday is a little bit of an early start, the first session starts at 9:30 A.M. and goes till 10:45 A.M., the last session begins at 2:00 P.M. and ends at 3:15 P.M.

For more information or to sign up email normanwildu15aaa@gmail.com. 

The stage is set for The Pas Slo-Pitch League's A-Side and B-Side playoff brackets.

Tonight the Arena  1 baseball diamond will host the B-Side finals as the Alouette Base Invaders take on the Hell Cats at 6:30 P.M.

As for the A-side final, the Yankdeez will play against team Tugeye at 6:30 P.M. at the  Arena 1 baseball diamond on Thursday.

The Pas OCN Chamber of Commerce is organizing a golf tournament this Friday at Halcrow Lake Golf and Country Club.

Make sure to gather some friends to make up a team of four, players who show up solo will be added to a team.

The theme of the tourney is "golf attire" and prizes will be handed to those who perfectly captivate it.

There will also be competitions along the course and multiple draws will take place for cash prizes.

All participants are set to receive a Mulligan package, registration forms can be found on their website thepasocnchamber.ca.

The entry fee varies as chamber members pay $100 and non-members pay $125.

The check-in is at 1:00 P.M, the shotgun start is slated for 1:30 P.M and the Steak dinner will be served at 5:30 P.M.

For more information contact Roy Osmond at 204-978-1393 or email wroyos@gmail.com

If you consider yourself to be a strong individual, make sure that you test your strength in today's strongman and strongwoman competition. 

The event will be set up at the G.L.M.C parking lot at 3 P.M. for ages 18+.  

There are big cash prizes for those who place 1st, 2nd and or 3rd, the entry fee to take part is $40. 

Tomorrow there will also be an arm wrestling contest for both the men and women of  The Pas and OCN. 

The entry fee is $20 and there will be cash prizes.

 

For more information on either one of these events contact Daniel Guiboche at 306-941-7977.

Playoffs for The Pas Slo-Pitch League kicks off tonight with four games taking place across town.

Starting with the A-Side Bracket, at 6:30 P.M. the Jacs will challenge team 309/East LA. At 8:00 P.M. The Fireballz will go up against the Deadly Diamonds, both games take place at the Arena 1 baseball diamond.

For the B-side the Alouette Base Invaders will take on team Young Guns & Then Some at the Centennial Field, that contest starts at 6:30 P.M.

At the Kinsmen field the Hell Cats will do battle with the Malls Rats, that game also starts at 6:30 P.M.  The winner of that game will go on to play the Hardwoods in the second round at the Arena 1 baseball diamond on Wednesday at 6:30 P.M. 

The deadline to register for the 10th Anthony Frank Constant Memorial Basketball Tournament is today.

There are five divisions for athletes of all ages to compete in, more information can be found on the Opaskwayak Indigenous Days  Facebook page.  

Their skills competition goes down Friday and games will be played on OCN.  

All cash prizes are guaranteed, and registration payments can be made at the OCN Payment Centre in the Otineka Mall.

For more information call Yvonne Fenner at 204-620-2738.

If you enjoy riding your bicycle and you have a competitive spirit, take part in tomorrow's bicycle race. 

There are three age categories and cash prizes will be given out to those who place 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and or 5th.

Adults are the only ones who have to pay a $20 entry fee, payments can be made at the OCN payment center. Please make sure that you bring your receipt and present it to a director before the race.

Registration begins at 8:30 A.M at the Jake Constant Memorial Bus Garage at 151 Kichemaskanow.

The start times for the race vary, for the adults it begins at 9:30 A.M., for youth ages 13-17 the race will commence at 9:35 and for the kids it starts at 9:40 A.M.

For more information contact Maureen and Gabby Umpherville at 204-620-8997 or 204-978-1204. You can also check out the Opaskwayak Indigenous Days Facebook page

 

All racers must wear a bike helmet to participate.

With the 58th annual Opaskwayak Indigenous Days beginning today, their Angel Races are also starting.

The races run until Friday, August 16th, at the Arbor Field and start at 10 A.M. daily.

In total they have three age categories, the first one is for ages 0-10, the second is for ages 11-17 and the last category is for adults.

For more information follow their main Facebook page Opaskwayak Indigenous Days.

Attention track stars aged 12-17, next week at the Joe A. Ross track on August 16th, the Nathan McGillivary Sr. Memorial Youth Relay Race will start at 10 A.M.

Teams must have two females and two males to qualify.

Those who place first will win a $700 cash prize plus trophies, 2nd place will take home $600, 3rd place $500 and 4th place $400.

Teams that place 2nd, 3rd and 4th will also be awarded medals.

Registration opens at 9 A.M. at the Joe A. Ross track. 

The 58th annual Opaskwayak Indigenous Days Youth Soccer Tournament will go down at the Arbour Soccer Field on August 15th and the 16th with games starting at 10 A.M.

The tournament will have seven divisions in total.

For the U5 and U7 Co-Ed divisions teams are allowed to have seven players on their roster.

Moving on to the U9, U11 and U13 Co-Ed divisions, teams can have a maximum of ten players, as for the U15 and U17 Co-Ed divisions rosters can only feature fifteen players.

It's completely free to sign up a team but the deadline is August 12th.

They will also serve up pizza and hand out medals to participants.

For more information contact either Frank, Angie or Kristen Young via Facebook. 

The deadline to sign up a team for the annual Opaskwayak Indigenous Days Co-Ed Slo-Pitch Tournament is today at 4 P.M.

Games will be played at all three baseball diamonds across town, it starts on the 16th and runs till the 18th.

There will be both an A-Side and B-Side division, for the A-Side 1st place will take home $4,000, 2nd place $3,000, 3rd place $2,000 and 4th place $1,000.

As for the B-side 1st place wins $1,200, 2nd place $800 and 3rd place $400.

The entry fee to sign up a team is $500, they will also give out awards to the best pitcher and highlight the tourney's male and female MVPs.

All prizes are guaranteed, to enter contact Cheryll Cook at 431-355-0648.

The Arena 1 baseball diamond along with the Centennial field will play host to a U21 Co-Ed Slo-Pitch Tournament this upcoming weekend.

They have cash prizes for the best teams and will also give away prizes for their fastest base runner and homerun derby competition.

You're allowed a maximum of twelve players on your roster, your lineup should consist of seven males, three females and two spare players, one male and one female.

 

The registration fee is only $100. 

For participants ages 13-21, a waiver must be signed.

The tourney starts at 10 A.M. on Saturday and Sunday, for more info call Clarissa Burns at 306-961-6595.

Slo-Pitch National Rules will apply for this tourney. 

 

The OCN Storm of the Keystone Junior Hockey League will hold tryouts in early September at the Gordon Lathlin Memorial Centre on OCN. 

Last year the Storm finished the regular season with a 19W-15L-0D record and unfortunately fell short in a thrilling quarter-final against the Cross Lake Islanders. 

The tryouts start on September 6th and run till the 8th but dates are subject to change. 

If you have any questions, you can contact the new General Manager of the OCN Storm Tyler Dorion, he can be reached at (204) 978-0112 or you can email him at ocnstormhockey@gmail.com.