For the second year in a row, the Murillo Mudhens of Kakabeka Falls captured the Dryden ladies’ fastball tournament over the weekend.
They took on Dryden’s  Thompson’s Paintshop Angels in the A side final, earning a 7-0 shutout for the $1,000 first place prize.
In the B side final, Kakabeka Falls took the $700 prize with a 6-1 win over the Time-Out Sports Panthers.
In the C side final, the A&W Devils earned $200 and the 8-1 win over the DMTS Swingers.
Twelve teams took to the field  in the three day tournament, traveling from Thunder Bay, Kakabeka Falls and Winnipeg to take on the seven Dryden teams.
Runners-up in all three finals took home $800, $500 and $100 respectively.
Dryden also hosted a skills competition with Dryden’s Megan Pinette winning first place in both the furthest hit competition and was named the fastest base runner in the tournament.
Sam Sitar of the Murillo Mudhens took home the prize for the furthest throw competition.
The tournament boasted a great tournament with lots of local support from fans.

After a lengthy absence in the world of Dryden High School athletics, Eagles are once again participating in the sport of Track and Field.
Eleven DHS?athletes traveled to Thunder Bay May 19-20 to compete in the NWOSSAA Track and Field Championships.
Coach Mike Wood says the team should be very proud of their accomplishments.
“They did very well and it was noticed in the region. We had a number of top three finishes and fantastic results. We set an NWOSSA record and nine school records so they should be very proud of what they’ve done.”
Taylor Koshel placed first in the Open Girls Steeplechase, putting in a time of 6:09 min., setting a record for the school and NWOSSA.
Koshel also placed sixth in the Senior Girls 1,500m race.
Nicole Valiquette finished second in the Senior Girls 3000m with a time of 11:56 min, setting another DHS?record.
Valiquette also earned a fifth place finish in the Senior Girls 1,500m race with a time of 5:40 min.
Garrett Lindquist posted three third place finishes and three school records.
Lindquist took bronze in the Open Boys Steeplechase, the Junior Boys 3,000m and the Junior Boys 1.500m, all new records for DHS.
Nathan Mallyon posted two fifth place finishes in the Open Boys Steeplechase and the Senior Boys 400m race, posting a new DHS record with the 400m.
Dominique Gardner earned a fifth place finish in the Midget Girls 3,000m race; Jonathon Kereliuk finished sixth in the Senior Boys 400m and Candance Glowa finished eighth in the Senior Girls 200m.
Nevin Mallyon set two new DHS records in the Javelin and Shot Put events, recording a 21.56m and 9.08 m respectively.

A new forest fire engine was delivered to the Thunder Bay Fire Management Headquarters on May 19 as a new tool to fight road accessible forest fires in the region.
The brand-new engine, manufactured by Holland Enterprises in Kakabeka Falls is designed to carry a fire ranger crew, 1,000 gallons of water and all of the specialized firefighting equipment required to fight forest fires.
Fire ranger crews have been using trucks to deliver water to forest firefighters for more than 30 years but the development of a fire engine designed specifically for forest fires in Ontario is something new.
Holland has been retrofitting older truck chassis into engines for the MNR fire program for more than 15 years. This was their first opportunity to build a brand new engine body on a new truck chassis for the MNR.
There were 15 new forest fires in the West Fire Region between May 18 and 19. Dryden District has two active fires, Dryden 13 and Dryden 17. Dryden 13, located at the Ignace landfill site is listed as under control at 0.2 hectares in size.
Dryden 17, located 30 km west of Ignace is classed as being held at 1.7 hectares in size and no problems are anticipated.
Red Lake District has three active fires, Red Lakes fires 25, 26 and 27. Red Lake fire 25 located about 30 km southeast of Red Lake is a lightning-caused fire classed as not under control at 50 hectares in size.
Fire rangers made good progress on the fire on May 19 and although there are values in the vicinity of the fire, none are immediately threatened.
Red Lake fire 26, located about 110 km east of Red Lake, is classed as not under control at 340 hectares in size. Some cut wood values were lost and a value in the area is being protected by sprinkler systems. The cause of the fire is being investigated.
Red Lake fire 27, located about 30 km north of Red Lake is classed as being held at one hectare in size and was a lightning caused fire.
Sioux Lookout District also has three fires, Sioux Lookout fires 36, 37 and 38. Sioux Lookout fire 36, located 65 km east of Ear Falls is classed as not under control at 10 hectares in size. The fire is burning in heavy storm damaged forest and progress is slow.
Sioux Lookout fire 37, located at the community of Weagamow Lake was responded to by the community fire officer, locals and an MNR fire ranger crew. It is classed as being held at 0.6 hectares in size.
Sioux Lookout fire 38, located at the community of Mishkeegogamang required air attack on May 19 and a commitment of three fire ranger crews. The fire is classed as not under control at four hectares.
Storm activity in the region is bringing rain but also lightning activity which is expected to result in lightning-caused fires in the coming days.
Four fires were declared out on May 24.

It wasn’t exactly the playoff ending the Dryden Ice Dogs were hoping for as they dropped game five to the Fort William North Stars in the best-of-seven Bill Salonen Cup final.
Clint Mylymok, head coach of the Ice Dogs, says after a very successful first round in the playoffs, a second place finish in five games was not at all what the team expected but some key factors were missing in those final games.
“Usually you look at three things. You look at goaltending, special teams and your top scorers. You usually need two out of three of those to have success, especially in a championship-type setting and we didn’t have all three.”
The team came into the final playoff round after going undefeated in the first round robin playoff round against the Sioux Lookout Flyers and the North Stars and beating out the Fort Frances Lakers in the semi-finals in six tough games.
Looking to repeat round one, the Ice Dogs missed the mark, falling 5-1 in Thunder Bay before tying the series in game two with a 2-1 decision.
The series came to the Dryden Memorial Arena April 3 and 4, where the Ice Dogs couldn’t hold on, losing 5-1 and 4-1 respectively.
The series returned to Thunder Bay where the North Stars finished the series and took home the Bill Salonen Cup with an 8-1 win over the Ice Dogs.
Mylymok says a big part of their loss was taking not taking shooting opportunities when they came up and always looking for that extra pass.
“You got to put pucks on net in the playoffs, get sticks on it on rebounds, deflections. You take a beating to score a goal and you got to make those types of sacrifices.
In our last two games against Fort Frances, all we did was put pucks to the net. We flooded players to the net, won faceoffs, got pucks to the net, battled for pucks. I didn’t see that same type of game from our forwards.”
On the positive side, talk in the stands kept coming back to local player Kevin Raine, who stepped in during the semi-finals to help out the defensive line.
At 16 years old, Raine delivered some huge hits for the team, making the trip towards the Ice Dogs net a huge challenge.
“He was a huge presence, especially in the series against Fort Frances. Players like Katapaytuk and Jourdain who are 6’ 2”, 220-230 lbs and they were getting through our guys to easy. The more [Raine] played, the more he got his timing down. He was a huge presence and I thought, to be honest, he was the turning point in that series.”
Mylymok says that Raine will have options in the hockey world in the next few years and he’ll have some big decisions to make in the future.
The playoffs may not have been as successful as the team expected but the season was far from a disappointment.
With only nine losses in the regular season, the team enjoyed a comfortable lead over most teams straight through to playoffs, something the boys should be proud of.

The Ice Dogs couldn’t pull a comeback in Thunder Bay last night in game 5, falling 8-1 to the North Stars.

The North Stars took the Ice Dogs four games to one in the best-of-seven series for the Bill Salonen Cup.

More info to follow in next week’s edition of the Dryden Observer