THREE MANITOBANS WIN SILVER
WITH TEAM CANADA
Silver wasn’t the goal, but it sure beats bronze.
Team Canada’s female hockey team lost a heartbreaking 4-3 over-
time decision to the United States in the final of the IIHF’s World
Women’s Hockey tournament in Plymouth, Mich., last month.
another year on my contract, but we’ll see what happens. I don’t
think the team was happy about us losing in the first round of the
playoffs and they’ve said they’re making some changes so we’ll see
what happens this summer.
Shinnimin felt the same way. He got to spend a year with fellow
Manitobans Cam Barker, Nigel Dawes and Dustin Boyd with As-
tana in the KHL, but still isn’t locked in for next season.
“Astana was a great experience,” said
Shinnimin. “I was pretty fortunate and
happy to be able to go over there.
The city was amazing. The archi-
tecture is something that’s very
special. And to go over and play
with some guys who are from
Winnipeg – Nigel Dawes, Cam Barker
and Dustin Boyd – it was nice to have
a connection there. We also had a
great team, had a pretty solid playoff
run and it definitely was a great
experience.
“I’m definitely thinking
about going back. I
felt pretty com-
fortable there. If
the
opportunity
arises, I’d defi-
nitely consider it.
If if fits within what
I have planned for
my future, then it’s
definitely a place I’d go
back to.”
We’ll keep tracking their
status, as well as the status of
other Manitobans playing in Eu-
rope, for our September issue.
On the upside, three talented Manitoba women were awarded sil-
ver medals. Bailey Bram and Jocelyne Larocque from Ste. Anne,
Man., and Halli Krzyzaniak from Neepawa represented Manitoba at
the 2017 World Championships.
Twenty-three players were selected to represent Team Canada on
a roster that was selected by head coach Laura Schuler alongside
Melody Davidson, Hockey Canada’s general manager of national
women’s team programs, and included support from Hockey Cana-
da regional scouts, assistant coaches Dwayne Gylywoychuk (from
Brandon) and Troy Ryan, and goaltending coach Brad Kirkwood.
• • • • •
TOP MANITOBANS IN EUROPE
UNSURE ABOUT NEXT SEASON
Both Adam Hughesman from Selkirk and Brendan Shinnimin
from Winnipeg had solid seasons in Europe this season. However,
even though Hughesman still has a contract to return to Austria,
he isn’t certain about the club’s direction.
Thus are the perils of playing European hockey.
“I played in Austria in the Top League this past year,” said Hughes-
man. “They have teams in other countries as well – Hungary, Czech
and Italy. I was based out of a Czech team in Znoimo, not far from
Vienna. We lost in the first round of the playoffs. It was a fun year,
a challenging year and Czech is certainly a different place. I have
KOGA WINS MJHL SCHOLARSHIP
BUT CONCUSSIONS END CAREER
Steinbach Pistons’ forward Julien Koga been awarded the $1,000
MJHL Junior A Scholarship. It was a tremendous honor consider-
2017 CHAMPIONS EDITION
GAME ON 121