News

Five players off the Westman Wildcats  Female Midget Hockey Team have moved on in tryouts to this Junes Top 40 in Brandon for Team Manitoba.

136 of Manitoba's top female bantam and Midget aged players attended the POE camp in Winnipeg in late April vying for the opportunity to play for Team Manitoba this November in Canada's National U18 Championships in Napanee Ontario. Hockey Manitoba has selected 40 of these athletes to move on to the next camp in Brandon June 20-22.

Team Manitoba have selected 24 forwards, 12 defence and 4 goalies to compete at Brandon .

The Westman Wildcats have 5 players that have moved on to this point.

On forward, two members of last years Bronze medal winning Team Manitoba U18 team, Brittany Phillips and Amy Lee will be joined by Jenna Marie Durnin.

Phillips, from Lauder, has just returned from Team Canada U18 camp will be expected to be a leader on this years squad.

Lee, from Brandon, will be working hard to move up the depth chart and use her experience from last years team to help this years team.

Durnin, from Wawanesa, is hoping to be one of the 15 forwards moving on to the next camp.

Sarah Williams will join Brandi Pollock from last years team Manitoba, on defence.

Pollock, from Virden, will be trying to solidify a spot on the backend of this squad.

Williams, from Souris, is making her first run at Top 40 and is in good position to be a top 8 defenseman moving on to the next camp.

Following the Top 40 camp in Brandon, 26 of these players will move on to a camp in Dauphin from August 15-17 before the final team of 20 is announced.

The Westman Wildcats 2008-2009 Season is starting to unfold. The schedule is starting to come together and this year plans to be another great opportunity for the ladies in the program .

Westman's tryout camp is being finalized with the camp schedule for early August in Brandon.

An athletic trainer will work with the team through the month of September for dry land training as well as one ice sessions begin in September in Brandon.

The team will have a weekend training camp at Buffalo Point in conjunction with Balmoral Hall in early September as well as Two weekend exhibition series.

The program will than shift full time back to their host center of Hartney for three practices a week in October.

October will see the program compete at the Little Caesars Tournament in Detroit as well as hosting Westman's own  tournament.

November and December will have the program competing in St Paul in the Minnesota Thoroughbreds Thanksgiving Invitational, at Wilcox at the Notre Dame Hounds Showcase and in Calgary at the Annual Mac's Midget International Tournament.

The rest of the schedule is still being tinkered with. Shattuck St. Mary's and the Saskatoon Comets Showcase will anchor some of the schedule that will complete the season.

Try out information will be made available as soon as dates and times are confirmed with all registration information being included.

This camp is open to any female hockey player born in 1991-1992-1993 that is playing or living in the Westman region.

The camp will begin Friday, August 8th in the evening an on ice session. Saturday will continue with two on ice sessions and conclude with a Sunday scrimmage and an announcement of the 2008-2009 Westman Wildcat team.

The season will begin on September 2nd with dry land training, classroom whiteboard instruction and on ice for the month of September with 3 a week on ice practices beginning in October.

The program has tentatively set its tournament schedule with the major tournament being; Little Caesars in Detroit, Minnesota Thoroughbreds in St. Paul, Notre Dame Hounds in Wilcox, Mac's in Calgary, The Comets in Saskatoon, Our own Wildcats in Hartney as well as the Shattuck St. Mary's Series in Faribault.

Letters will be sent out to all players registered in the Westman region for dates, times and registration process. As well updated information will be found on this website.

For more information contact

Director Of Hockey Operations

Wes Phillips

1-204-858-2436

wesbend@xplornet.com

            Westman Wildcats Complete Inaugural Season

The Westman Wildcats Female Midget hockey team completed a very successful 2007-2008 inaugural campaign

The Wildcats played 50 games this season and had a record of 33-16-1 in tournament and exhibition play.

The Westman squad played in 8 Midget AAA tournaments in Western Canada and The United States as well as three different mini-series with Manitoba Regional teams, and included a series at Shattuck St Mary's in Minnesota. Single exhibition games were played with teams from the Saskatchewan AAA female league, US Colleges, Manitoba Regional teams as well as Winnipeg AA and Balmoral Hall.

This season allowed the young athletes to compete against the best female midget talent in North America and to help develop their skills against the top programs in female hockey.

The players were exposed to many colleges and the team's players were charted and scouted by Hockey Canada for inclusion in Team Canada's U18 and U22 programs.

With close to 30 NCAA, CIS, ACHA, ACAC schools actively recruiting Westman Wildcat players, it has given many the opportunity to continue their education and hockey.

This closes the page on the winter season with seven graduating players moving on, the Westman Wildcat tryout camp August 15-17 will prove to be a spirited affair with players vying for the opportunity to be the next "WILDCATS".

2007-2008 Westman Wildcat Team Stats

The Westman Wildcats finished out their 2007-2008 season on the weekend with a loss in the Bronze game to Warner Warriors of the Warner Hockey School at the Balmoral Hall Great White North Invitational Tournament.

2007-2008 Season Synapsis

The Wildcats finished out with 33 wins 16 losses and 1 tie in the 50 games they played.

The Westman squad scored 229 goals, for a 4.58 GF average. The team gave up 109 goals for a GAA of 2.18.

The squad was given 552 minutes in penalties, 11.04 minutes a game.

7 of the teams 16 losses were one-goal affairs while 3 were two goal games. The Cats were only able to win 3 one-goal games while winning 5 two-goal games and 25 wins were by 3 or more goals.

4 of the Teams 16 losses came at the hands of Balmoral Hall, while the team had 2 losses each to Shattuck's St. Mary's and the Calgary Flyers.

Westman's Williams &Vanbuskirk Sign with SAIT & Lethbridge

Westman Wildcats  Midget Female hockey team is proud to announce the signing of their two captains for the 2008-2009 year.

Seniors Amanda Williams and Amy Vanbuskirk with both be packing their hockey bags and going west to continue their education and hockey careers this fall.

Senior Amy Vanbuskirk from Brandon has signed with the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns who plays in Canada West of the CIS.

Vanbuskirk a senior in Crocus Plains, will be patrolling the blueline for the Pronghorns for the next 5 seasons and is going to add a steadying, mature influence to their program.

Williams, a grade 12 student at the Souris High School will be suiting up with the SAIT Trojans in Calgary of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference.

Williams, a defenseman from Souris, will be joining fellow Westman product Jordan Lonsberry of Virden who joined the Trojans last season.

Both Williams and Vanbuskirk were captains on this years Wildcats squad and have garnered a lot of attention from different schools throughout the year so it is understandable that both of these Alberta schools are excited to land these two standout defensemen to their respective programs.

It is also an exciting opportunity for both of these athletes to be able to continue their education as well as being able to play a varsity sport at these institutions.

Westman Blue/White Games Huge Success

The Westman Wildcats and the Westman Bantam Challenge teams competed in a series of intersquad scrimmages that can only be summed up by being called a huge success.

With both teams getting ready for big tournaments next weekend these game situations helped to prepare both teams.

On Tuesday night Team Blue was able to edge Team White an offensive game by a 6-4 score. Wednesday saw a more defensive game with Team White turning the tables and recording a 3-2 win to even the series.