The Provincial Junior Varsity Badminton Championships wrapped up Friday at Sport Manitoba in downtown Winnipeg. Logan Speers & Rylee Thiessen of Morden finished third in girls doubles; Sophia Cox & Presley Wolfe of Carman won the consolation final; Tyson Mullin & Kiru Griffin of Morden finished third in boys doubles; Carson O'Connor & Linden Findley of Carman were eighth; Kaden Dyck & Alexi Gerbrandt of Northlands Parkway finished fifth in mixed doubles; Dani Grenier of St. Jean lost out in the consolation semifinals in girls singles; Koen Bleznuk of Garden Valley finished fourth in boys singles and Zac Pritchard of Carman was sixth.


The playoffs begin this morning at the Provincial High School Varsity Badminton Championships in Winnipeg. Qualifying for the round of 16 are Sean Aguinaldo of Morden and Griffin Carnellley of Carman in boys singles; Cade McCallum & Ryder Wolfe of Carman and Liam Klassen & Raiden LeGall of Morden in boys doubles; Lindsey Miller & Makayla Gerbrandt of Miller Collegiate, Zeni Vanstone & Abigail Dyck of Miami and Alyssa Bjarnason & Jenae Russell of Sanford in girls doubles along with Zander Cox & Jayci Best of Carman and Josh Dyck & Austin Wiebe of Garden Valley in mixed doubles.


Rick Bowness of the Winnipeg Jets, Andrew Brunette of the Nashville Predators and Rick Tocchet of the Vancouver Canucks are the finalists for the Jack Adams award which goes to the NHL’s top coach. Bowness, 69, is in his second season as head coach of the Jets and led the club to a 52-24-6 record, their 110 points were second-highest in the Western Conference and fourth-most in the NHL. The club also set a franchise record with 25 road wins during the season. Winnipeg led the league and won the William M. Jennings Trophy with 199 goals allowed during the regular season. The Jets set a franchise record by going 35 consecutive games allowing three goals or fewer (Nov. 4/23-Jan. 20/24).


Canada will face Sweden today (10 a.m.) in the semifinals at the World U18 Hockey Championship in Finland. Team Canada shutdown Latvia 4-0 in the quarterfinals on Thursday.


The Winnipeg Goldeyes won their exhibition opener 5-2 over the Sioux Falls Canaries. Dayson Croes had four hits for the Fish who will play their second of five pre-season games today (1 p.m.) against the Saltdogs in Lincoln. Winnipeg will open the 2024 American Association season on May 9th in Texas against the Cleburne Railroaders. The Goldeyes home opener is Tuesday, May 21st versus the Chicago Dogs.