French soccer powerhouse Bordeaux provisionally relegated

Kinew won’t budge on opposition to criminalizing residential school denialism

Premier Wab Kinew stood by his opposition to the proposed criminalization of residential school denialism Wednesday, after some First Nations leaders criticized his earlier comments and asked him to reconsider.

Kinew said he doesn’t think Canada should make residential school denialism a crime, nor does he think it’s feasible to do, and he’d prefer to see it combated with education.

“When somebody has a question or wants to make a statement from a place of ignorance, the response isn’t to try to criminalize,” he told reporters.

“The response should be to try to heal whatever is going on with them that would cause them to say something hurtful, to try and educate whatever they lack in terms of knowledge about the true history of our country, and ultimately to find a way for us to all live together.”

MPI still lacking brain injury expert

Manitoba Public Insurance has failed to hire an independent brain injury expert to probe how personal injury claims are handled, nearly two years after it was recommended.

Hockey teams scramble after two city arenas put on ice

Instead of ice, Barry Bonni walks onto a dull concrete surface at the Terry Sawchuk Memorial Arena on Thursday.

The arena, as well as the West Kildonan Memorial Arena, have had to close after failing inspections. Predictably, the city’s hockey community is in a tailspin because ice time is so precious.

“We’re now in panic mode,” said Bonni, president of the River East Royal Knights on Thursday. The Sawchuk arena is the team’s home rink.

Bonni, who is a living legend in Manitoba’s hockey community, said the Manitoba Major Junior Hockey League club is scrambling to find ice time.

Around the NSL: Penultimate matchup playoff implications

And we’re back!

Hopefully the bye week gave everyone a chance to collect their breath as Week 23 only amplified the drama in the standings.

Ottawa drew 0-0 on the road against Montreal, Calgary drew 0-0 on the road against Halifax and Toronto took a 2-1 victory at home over visiting Vancouver.

While there was minimal shuffling in the standings — mainly the Mighty Maroons leapfrogging the Rapid for second overall — here’s a look at the remaining games and their implications with two weeks left in the regular season.

‘We know we’re not going to beat Mother Nature’: Ice prep begins at Princess Auto Stadium for Heritage Classic

Derek King typically has ice in his veins.

But the Manitoban admits there may be a few more butterflies than usual as he prepares for the ultimate home game — the 2026 Heritage Classic between the Winnipeg Jets and Montreal Canadiens.

“This is so exciting to be back,” King, the NHL’s vice-president of hockey operations and facilities operations, said Tuesday afternoon.

“It’s definitely going to be a fun event to be part of.”

Get to know your Jet: Neal Pionk

“Give it 110 per cent.” “Get pucks in deep.” “One shift at a time.” “Play our game.” “Keep it simple.”

Hockey has a language all its own. Unfortunately, after hearing the same phrases repeated often enough, that language can start to sound a lot like white noise.

So we’re going to try something different.

The Free Press will occasionally sit down with a Winnipeg Jets player at his locker-room stall for a wide-ranging conversation about the stuff you don’t always hear in a media scrum.