By Derek Holtom /

The cream is definitely rising to the top in the Sherwood Division, and what was once a close three-way battle for top spot has turned into a two-team race for the top seed in the toughest division in the Manitoba Junior Hockey League.

Here’s a team-by-team look at each team.

Dauphin Kings
The hottest team in the MJHL heading into the month of December was not the top team in the MJHL, but the Dauphin Kings.

Dauphin’s 5-2 victory over the Swan Valley Stampeders to start the month was their 10th straight win. The Kings actually led the Sherwood Division by a point following the win, and it looks as though they will battle the Portage Terriers for top spot in this division.

Adrian Rubeniuk came back from a groin injury to pick up the win. While he was out, Matt Shenher carried the mail, and did an outstanding job in the process. Dauphin now has two of the top netminders in the MJHL, and look poised for a long playoff run this spring.

Neepawa Natives
The Neepawa Natives are not quite as hot as the Kings, but they have been playing much better hockey. In fact, after a four-game winning streak, the Natives were finally able to break out of the basement, moving into a fifth-place tie with the Swan Valley Stampeders, while retaining three games in hand.

While turning it around on the ice, the Natives were also doing great work off the ice. Men don’t usually wear pink, but the Natives opted to put on pink third jerseys to help battle the scourge of cancer. Money was raised through a silent auction, earning the Natives plenty of positive headlines across the nation.

Players also took part in a teddy bear toss. They went across the community to sell bears for $10 each.

When it was all done, the Natives sent bears to many hospitals and charities.

OCN Blizzard
The OCN Blizzard remain in the middle of the Sherwood Division. After last year’s disappointing season, Blizzard faithful are enjoying watching a team five games over the .500 level.

The Blizzard entered this season expecting plenty of scoring from Zeanan Buternowski, and he’s been delivering. Though he’s only appeared in 27 of OCN’s 34 games due to injury, he still leads the team with 23 goals and 18 assists for 41 points.

Helping the Blizzard this year is secondary scoring from other players, including four who already have more than 20 points.

And in goal, the Blizzard are starting to get the netminding they expected when they traded for David Aime. He now spots the third-best goals-against average at 2.91, and also has a solid .909 save percentage.

Portage Terriers
Hard to imagine the third-ranked team in the country is only the second place team in the Sherwood Division, but that’s the battle the Portage Terriers find themselves in.

Despite an almost flawless month of November, the Terriers entered December a single point behind the surging Dauphin Kings. The Terriers, though, retain games in hand, having lost only four times in regulation through 30 games.

Eric Delong, the MJHL player of the month for November, continues to roll along. He entered December leading the league with 33 goals and is second in points with 64.

Teammate Bryan Mountain, the November goaltender of the month, sports the league’s best GAA at 2.24, and a sizzling .919 save percentage.

Despite all this, the Terriers will have to battle hard in the second half of the season if they want to lock down top spot in the Sherwood Division.

Swan Valley Stampeders
The Stampeders seem to go up and down just like the stock market.

At times, they’ve battled the best teams in the league in extremely close games. In others, they’ve looked completely outmatched, as they did in an 11-3 loss they suffered at the hands of the Selkirk Steelers.

And at the start of December, the Stampeders had sunk to last place in the Sherwood Division. With double headers planned against the two division leaders this month — the Portage Terriers and the Winnipeg Saints — the prospects of climbing back in the race for a playoff spot are growing dimmer.

A bright spot is the play of rookie forward Ryan Marshall. The Ste. Rose du Lac native will join Dauphin’s Dallas Drysdale, Winkler’s Drew Scurfield and Scott Macaulay from the Winnipeg Saints in Summerside, P.E.I.,  for the 2008 CJHL Prospects Game Dec. 16 and 17.

Waywayseecappo Wolverines
Swan Valley’s expansion cousins had the hottest start in the MJHL this year. However, they haven’t been able to keep up that level of play, and the Waywayseecappo Wolverines have dropped from first to fourth place in the Sherwood Division.

Still, the Wolverines are very much in the playoff mix, led by Jason Bowles, who has 20 goals and 52 points in 32 games this year.

Should the Wolverines decide this is not the year they want to take a run at a championship title, the Elkhorn native would fetch a pretty price in the open market.

Wayway is in that tough position — do they try to load up at the deadline, or trade for the future, knowing they’ll likely still make the playoffs.

Like every team in the Sherwood Division, December will be an important month for the Waywayseecappo Wolverines.