There were four matinee games in the Zone 4 High School Hockey League on the final day of school before the start of the Christmas break. Nic Wiebe had three goals and an assist as the defending champion Morden Thunder downed Portage Collegiate 9-1. Maysen Mazurat made 54 saves and backstopped the Carman Cougars to a 3-2 victory over the Garden Valley Zodiacs. Cole Patenaude and Max Jago scored in the shootout as the Pembina Tigers slipped past the Mountain Mustangs 2-1 and Reece Fehr scored twice as the Miller Aces shaded the Morris Mavericks 3-2.


The Pembina Valley Twisters are heading into the Christmas break riding a season high six-game winning streak. Merek Degraeve and Josh Guilford scored two goals each as Pembina Valley defeated the Charleswood Hawks 6-2. Riley Goertzen and Caelan Russell also scored for the Twisters.


Owen Blocker scored in overtime to lift the defending SEMHL champion Ste. Anne Aces past the Hawks 4-3 in Notre Dame. Jonah Wasylak had two goals and two assists as the Red River Wild downed the Morden Bombers 5-1 in St. Jean. TJ Matuszewski, Parker Janz and Jared Magne also scored for the Wild. Logan Christensen had the lone goal for the Bombers.


Canada's National Junior Hockey team plays its final pre-tournament game today against the United States. Canada defeated Switzerland 6-3 on Friday. Owen Beck scored twice and singles went to Matthew Savoie, Fraser Minten, Matthew Poitras and Strathclair's Conor Geekie. The 2024 World Junior Hockey Championship begins December 26th in Gothenburg, Sweden. Canada will play its preliminary round opener on Boxing Day against Finland.


Nino Neiderreiter had two goals and an assist as the Winnipeg Jets defeated the Boston Bruins 5-1 at Canada Life Centre. Josh Morrissey, Adam Lowry and Gabriel Vilardi also scored for the Jets who won for the 20th time this season and are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games.


The Manitoba Moose gave up three second period goals and lost 3-1 the Iowa Wild. Nikita Chibrikov scored his 9th goal of the season in the first period for the Moose.