The Dauphin Clippers varsity boys basketball team has great length, skill, and players who are committed to working together for one common goal.
That goal is to make a name for themselves while showing the province how strong basketball is in the Parkland. With a great mix of grade 11 and 12 athletes, Steve Hudyma has returned to coach this year's team as their season opened over the weekend following a very competitive set of tryouts.
"The competition level on this team is very high," said Hudyma. "We have a great group of guys that are completely team-orientated and athletic. It is very exciting to see how the rest of this season goes for this group, it should be a fun ride."
Hudyma says the team will continue to work towards finding their identity.
"We do have a lot of length and many skilled players," said Hudyma. "We believe we can keep up with anyone we go up against."
Dauphin's first test was the Brandon Sun Spartan Invitational (BSSI), which took place over the weekend in Brandon. Thirty-two teams, split between Tier 1 and 2, compete for a championship. Dauphin played in Tier 2 and enjoyed great success.
The Clippers won three round-robin games and had little trouble doing so as they pounded Neepawa, Frontier, and Glenboro/Baldur. In a 91-73 win against Frontier, Ronin Mouck led the way with 25 points, seven rebounds, and eight assists while Nick Hudyma had 24 points, eight rebounds, and five steals. Gabriel Beaudin also had a monster game with 20 points, six rebounds, and three steals.
Hudyma scored 23 points and 14 rebounds in a 75-50 win against Neepawa, Mouck had 22 points, 15 rebounds, and five steals, and Jaxon Larocque had 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Moving forward to a 33-point win over Glenboro/Baldur, Hudyma scored 23 of the team's 66 points and added nine rebounds, six assists, and six steals. Miguel Boncodin had nine points, seven rebounds, and six assists.
That earned Dauphin a spot in the A-side Tier 2 semi-final, but they came up short in an 85-63 defeat against a Garden Valley team with a centre standing at 6'10". Hudyma had 23 more points, Mouck racked up 19, and Beaudin had 11 points, 11 rebounds, and two blocks.
With a chance to finish on the podium playing for third place against Carberry, the Clippers pulled away late in a 76-64 win as Dauphin opened their season with a bronze medal. Hudyma had another monster game with 33 points, 12 rebounds, six assists, and two steals while Morgan Fleck had five points and 12 rebounds.
Steve Hudyma commented on the team's solid start to the season.
"It felt really good. The BSSI is always a very strong tournament, we just ran into a very strong post on that team from Winkler," said Hudyma. "We responded nicely in the third-place match and finished off a great weekend."
Following the tournament, Nick Hudyma was named an all-star. He finished with 126 points, 43 rebounds, 12 assists, and 19 steals.
"Nick had a strong weekend. With playing some club in Brandon over the past year, he has added some skills to his game and is now a multi-dimensional player," said Steve.
Mouck also had a monster weekend, scoring 103 points and racking up 43 rebounds to go along with 16 assists and nine steals.
"Ronin has a huge role on this team, he is a team-first player and will do anything he can to help this team win," ended Hudyma. "It's nice to see him get off to a great start over the weekend."
Dauphin will practice over the holidays before competing in the Big Cat tournament in Sanford from January 10-11.