News

The CIS Lethbridge Pronghorns made their first appearance inthe Can-West Playoffs this season since 2005-2006 led by three former Westman Wildcats.

Jenna-Marie Durnin (Wildcats 2006-2009) had a breakout year
in the CIS Can-West Conference playing top line, PP and PK for her team.
Durnin, a former assistant captain and member of the 2009 National Championship
Wildcat squad, was third on the Pronghorns with points netting 7 goals, 12
assists for 19 points.

Amy Van Buskirk (Wildcats 2007-2008) was the top point
getting defencman on this seasons Pronghorns, netting 2 with 11 assists for 13
points. Van Buskirk, a former Wildcat captain, was instrumental in her teams
resurgence in the league as the team’s top D man.

Megan Bailey (Wildcats 2007-2010), helped the Pronghorns
clinch a playoff berth with strong play down the stretch. Bailey, also a member
of the National Champion Wildcat 2009 team, had three goals and two assists for
five points this season.

Durnin, from Wawanesa, Van Buskirk, from Brandon, and Bailey from Oak Lake will return next year to help continue the Pronghorns climb upthe CIS ladder.

Bisons Addie Miles and Former Westman Wildcat, Nellie Minshull named as 2011-12
Canada West Women’s Hockey Second Team All-Stars

The 2011-12 Canada West women’s hockey all-star
teams and post-season honours were announced by the conference on Thursday,
February 23. The University of Manitoba Bisons had two players honoured for
their efforts.

Bison women’s hockey defenceman/forward Addie Miles
andformer Westman
Wildcat, forward Nellie Minshull were
named as a 2011-12 Canada West Second Team All-Stars. This is the fourth
consecutive conference all-star honour for Miles while the first all-star
selection for
Minshull.

Miles, 22, capped her five years Bison career in
style by converting from the forward to defenceman position to earn this
conference recognition. The Winnipeg native was once again the team top scorer
for the fifth consecutive season and was eighth in the Canada West scoring with 22
points (nine goals, 13 assists) while playing all 24 conference regular season
games in 2011-12. The team captain leaves Manitoba being one of the most
award-winner players in the program’s 15 year history.

In her five year career, Miles was a second team all-star in 2009-10, 2010-11 and
2011-12 (defence) plus first team all-star in 2008-09 and Canada West Rookie of
the Year and All-Rookie Team in the 2007-08 season. Along with the conference
rewards, Miles played for Team Canada and won gold at the 2011 Winter
Universiade in Erzurum, Turkey. In addition, Miles finished as Top Bison
all-time scorer and tenth overall in Canada West scoring with 123 points (52
goals, 71 assists) in 116 of 120 regular season games.

Minshull, 22, completed her fourth year at Manitoba and had her
best season on offence to earn her first conference selection. The Pierson, MB native was second in team scoring and tied for ninth in Canada West scoring with 21 points
(11 goals, ten assists) while playing all 24 conference regular season games in
2011-12. An alternate captain this season, she improved her best offensive
output by five points from last season. Minshull was also selected to the
Canada West All-Rookie Team in the 2008-09 season. In addition, Minshull has
played in 91 of 96 regular season games with 60 points (34 goals, 36 assists).

“Addie had a great season playing a different position and did everything to put the
team on her back this season,” said Bison women’s hockey head coach Jon Rempel.
“Nellie was the most consistent and offensive player while playing a complete season this year.”

The first period saw the Capitols come out strong and forcing the play of the Cats who appeared nervous  and made some risky plays. Central Plains was able to capitolize on this and scored  at the end of the first period to take a 1-0 lead into the second. The second saw the Cats calmer and making better choices as the play was back and forth through out much of the period. Badiou was able to put the puck away for thr first of 3 goals in the period followed by Pringle on the powerplay and Dyck with a goal with only 1 second remaining allowing the Cats a 3-1 lead for the third.

The Westman team came out in the third determined to increase and hold the lead and Kirkup put in the fourth goal of the game 3 minutes in for a 4-1 lead, this remained the final score as Kristen Campbell played a solid game in net for the Cats. The second game of this best of five takes place in Portage Sunday at 1:15.

Congratulations to the Winnipeg Avros on winning the

Westman Wildcats Spring Classic

Saturday Play off Games

Yellowhead (11)  6      vs   Parkland (12)  2

Swift Current (9) 5OT    vs    Norman (10) 4

Winnipeg Avros (1)  2  vs  Westman (4)  0

Pembina Valley (2)  1  vs  St Mary's (3)  5

Sunday Playoff Games

Winnipeg Ice (7) 1   vs     Melville (8) 3

Central Plains (5)  3   vs     Eastman (6)  2

pembina valley  2  vs   westman wildcats 1

Winnipeg avros   6    vs  st mary's   0

Game Results

St Mary's  4                   Norman    1

Parkland   1                   Swift Current  5

Melville   3                   Westman Wildcats  4

Winnipeg Avros 6          Eastman  0

Pembina Valley  2         Winnipeg Ice 0

Yellowhead    1            Central Plains  2

Swift Current  3           Winnipeg Avros  8

Westman Wildcats 5      St Mary's 5

Winnipeg Ice 2             Central Plains 4

Eastman Selects 8        Parkland Panthers 1

Yellowhead 1               Pembina Valley 4

Norman 2                    Melville 3

Winnipeg Ice 9            Yellowhead 1

Winnipeg Avros 11       Parkland  0

Westman Wildcats 7      Norman 2

St Mary's  4               Melville 1

Eastman 3                 Swift Current 0

Pembina Valley 1         Central Plains 0

2012 Westman Wildcats Showcase Tournament

 February 17-19, 2012

Games at Hartney, Souris and Deloraine Arenas

Tuesday Jan.31 saw the second part of a home and home series with Yellowhead, and the Cats came to play scoring 7 unanswered goals in the first 10 minutes. Three of these goals were short handed. They followed this up with three more in the second and two more in the third with the Chiefs adding one for a final of 12-1.

 Friday night started a three game weekend with the Winnipeg Ice as the visting team. The Ice arrived with a flurry and pinned the Cats in the home end for the first seven minutes but the Cats perservered and came out of the period with a 2-1 lead on goals by Kirkup and Vallotton. Vallotton score another in the second putting the Cats up 3-1 before the Ice replied with 2 to tie the game after 2. The third saw the Cats go ahead halfway through on a goal by Badiou and were able to hang on for the win. This game saw the return of Kristen "Soupy" Campbell from injury after missing 24 games.

Saturday found the Cats in Portage for an afternoon game against the Caps. This was a hard fought game  with plenty of end to end play, the Capitols were able to capitolize on a couple of Cat mistakes putting them up 2-0 after two. the Cats battled back hard but only one goal was scored by Magwood as the Capitols goalie played a strong game also another strong performance by Campbell in her second game back.

Sunday morning found the Cats up and at them earlier as they had a 9:30 am game with Eastman at St.Anne, The Cats got the scoring going Hunt put a snap shot past the goaltender 4 minuts in then another by Magwood to keep the lead after one, The Cats ggot a second goal by Magwood on a deflection to take a 3-1 lead after two. Kirkup finished the Wildcat scoring in the third and Eastman tallied another on the PP with 2:10 left, the Cats held on for the final 2 minutes and secured another win with a 4-2 score.