– The Western Hockey League’s annual general meeting wrapped up in Vancouver Wednesday with the league announcing several plans to celebrate its 50th season in 2015-2016. The league will name its top-50 players of all-time during the season, publish a 50th anniversary book that details the league’s history and each franchise will host one game to celebrate the 50th season, the history of their franchise and alumni. No rule changes were unveiled but we do know the playoff format that was introduced last season will remain in place for at least two more years.
– The Winnipeg Jets and defenceman Ben Chiarot have agreed to a two-year contract extension. Chiarot was scheduled to become a restricted free agent on July 1st. The 24-year old Chiarot played in 40 games with the Jets last season, scoring two goals and eight points. The new deal with with an average of 850-thousand dollars a season.
– It’s party time in Chicago. The city will celebrate the Blackhawks’ third Stanley Cup championship in six years Thursday with a parade and a rally at Soldier Field, home of the NFL’s Bears. Mayor Rahm Emanuel promises a celebration "worthy of a hockey dynasty.” The Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup on Monday night with a 2-0 win over Tampa Bay.
– The recruiting class for the Brandon University men’s basketball team continues to grow. On Wednesday, the Bobcats announced the commitment of 6-foot-1 guard Aidan Saunders from Ernest Manning High School in Calgary. He’s the fourth recruit, and coach Gil Cheung says he expects to add 2-3 more before the recruiting season is complete. For more on this story, click here.
– Former Westman Olympian Rudi Swiegers is returning to competitive skating next season with a new partner. Swiegers will be skating alongside Hayleigh Bell when he returns from a one-year sabbatical. Swiegers and former partner Paige Lawrence trained in Virden for several years and had a lot of success during their nine years together, culiminating with an appearance at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
– Brad Bowles and Tyler Wood combined on a three-hit shutout to lead the Elkhorn Expos to a 6-0 victory over the Virden Oilers in South West Baseball League action Wednesday night. The other game saw Travis Brooks drive in three runs to lead Hamiota past Boissevain 11-2, while the Wawanesa/Hartney game was rained out. One score from the Santa Clara Baseball League Wednesday saw Andrew Richards have three hits and three RBI to lead Minnedosa past Carberry 8-5 while the Andrew Agencies Senior AA Baseball League game Wednesday saw the Rivers Comets and Brandon Midget Knights play to a 1-1 tie.
– Knuckleballer R.A. Dickey will try to keep the Toronto Blue Jays on the winning track Thursday night. He’ll start as the Blue Jays host the New York Mets in the second home game of their interleague series. The Jays clobbered the Mets 8-0 Wednesday night after dropping a pair in New York that ended their 11-game win streak.
– Canada’s next generation of curlers will be the big beneficiaries of an anonymous two-million dollar donation to Curling Canada. The donation to the ‘For the Love of Curling’ foundation is targeted toward enhancing the youth system in Canada to not only get them started in the sport, but to support them in their efforts through their formative years. The donation was announed on the final day of the 2015 Curling Summit. The Curling Hall of Fame inductions and awards gala also took place during the Summit.
– Canada’s women’s volleyball team is on a two-match losing streak at the Pan American Cup in Peru after dropping a straight sets decision to Cuba Wednesday. Dauphin’s Tabi Love had 17 kills and one block in a losing cause for Canada in their final match of the pool stage. They finished with a 3-and-2 record, good for third-place in Pool C. They’ll face Argentina in Friday’s quarter-finals.
– No action Thursday or Friday in the Women’s World Cup of soccer. The round of 16 will begin across Canada on Saturday although the Canadian squad is off until it meets Switzerland on Sunday. On Wednesday, France routed Mexico 5-0 to win Group F while England beat Colombia 2-1 to reach the knockout stage. Brazil topped Group E with a 1-0 win over Costa Rica and South Korea advanced with a 2-1 win over Spain.
– "There’s always room for more" is the motto for the Westman Ultimate Disc League. The league holds a pickup game every Sunday evening at UCT Sstadium at the Sportsplex in Brandon in hopes of introducing new people to the sport. The league has seven teams this year, down one from a year ago. They’ll be hosting their annual tournament next month at John Reilly Field. Courtlyn Miller from Westman Ultimate guested on CKLQ’s Westman Sports Talk Wednesday. The podcast is available here.
– The U.S. Open of golf begins Thursday in University Place, Washington. It’s the first time the major event has been held in the Pacific Northwest. David Hearn and Brad Fritsch are the only Canadians in the tournament.
