News

Seven Wildcats to Graduate this Week

Seven Wildcats are graduating this week from four different High Schools in the Westman area.

Teal Crosson from Alexander graduated from Crocus Plaines on Monday, while six others are having the graduation ceremony on Friday.

Kelsey Sanderson is graduating from the Melita High School. Kelsie Scott, Sarah Williams and Sheryl Kaskiw are graduating from the Souris High School. Megan Bailey and Brandi Pollock will both be receiving their diploma from the Virden High School.

The Wildcat organization would like to congratulate these athletes in their accomplishment and wish them well on their next endeavours.

Two Wildcats to Compete at POE Top 40 in Brandon

Two current Westman Wildcat female regional midget hockey players will be attending Hockey Manitoba’s POE top 40 this weekend in Brandon competing for a spot on Team Manitoba that will compete at the 2011 Winter Games.

Kiara DeKezel of Deloraine and Kayleigh Chapman of Virden will join 38 other hopefuls from around the province to showcase their talents in front of selectors and the coaching staff for a spot on the team that will compete at the Canada Games in 2011.

Both of these athletes are going into their senior year and have competed for the Wildcats in the last two seasons.

DeKezel and Chapman are both forwards and are hoping to be one of the 12 forwards selected for the team.

Both of these players have made it from regional tryouts in February to the Winnipeg camp in April and are now on their last leg of the tryouts.

Wildcats Fall Tryout Camp Set

The Westman Wildcats regional female Midget hockey program has announced their fall tryout camp dates and times.

The Camp will be open to all Bantam and midget aged females that reside within the Westman south region.

The camp will be all held at the Souris arena and will run the weekend of September 3-5^th.

The camp will begin on Friday night with registration and an on ice session.

Saturday will see the players competing in another on ice session along with parent/player information session during the day.

Sunday will see two ice sessions with a team meeting following the last session on Sunday.

Registration can be made online at www.westmanwildcats.com  and the cost of the camp will be $50 per player.

Westman Wildcats Assist Virden Tim Horton’s in Camp Day

Four current and former members of the Westman Wildcats worked with and assisted Virden Tim Horton’s in Tim Horton’s annual Camp Day.

Brittany Phillips of Lauder, former captain of the Westman Wildcats and current NCAA division I member of the Colgate Raiders, Brandi Pollock of Virden, former captain of the Westman Wildcats and new member of the NCAA Division I Robert Morris University Colonials in Pittsburgh, Megan Bailey of Oak Lake, former Westman Wildcat and new member of the CIS University of Lethbridge Pronghorns and Karissa Kirkup of Virden, current member of the Westman Wildcats all pitched in to help serve coffee and donuts and greet customers at the Virden Tim Horton location to help raise money for Tim Horton’s Camp Day.

Money raised from this event helps sends kids to camps and these Westman Wildcats in their jerseys helped the Virden Tim Horton location to do their part in this worthwhile event.

Westman Wildcats Announce Dan DeKezel as Head Coach

The Westman Wildcats Regional Female Midget Hockey Team is proud to announce that Dan DeKezel of Deloraine has been named the Head Coach of the program.

DeKezel has a long history of coaching minor hockey in the Deloraine Minor Hockey program and has been the assistant coach of the Westman Wildcats for the past two seasons.

ST. ALBERT, ALTA. TO HOST 2011 ESSO CUP

ST. ALBERT, Alta. – Hockey Canada, in partnership with Hockey Alberta and the St. Albert Minor Hockey Association, announced Friday that St. Albert, Alta., will host the 2011 Esso Cup, the third annual National Female Midget Championship.

The 2011 Esso Cup will take place from April 17-23, 2011 at the state-of-the-art Servus Credit Union Place and will help celebrate the City of St. Albert’s 150th anniversary. The national championship brings together the best female Midget teams from across the country.

“We feel privileged to be chosen as the host province for the Esso Cup for the second time in the tournament’s short history,” says Annie Orton, president of Hockey Alberta. “This is a great opportunity to continue building and promoting the female game in Alberta while showcasing the top female hockey talent right in our own backyard.”
“The Esso Cup is an outstanding championship event and we are so proud that it will be held in St. Albert in 2011,” says St. Albert mayor Nolan Crouse. “Our sports and business communities, and our city as a whole, look forward to supporting the event during the year of our 150th anniversary.”
The 2011 Esso Cup will feature five regional champions (Pacific, West, Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic) and a host team, the St. Albert Slash of the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League. The six competing teams will play a five-day round robin, followed by semifinals and the bronze and gold medal games.

“St. Albert was awarded the 2011 Esso Cup based on its strong local fan base, a terrific facility and a host committee with a proven track record,” says Dean McIntosh, director of marketing services and events for Hockey Canada. “Hockey Canada is confident that the community of St. Albert will embrace the event and provide a tremendous experience for the athletes competing.”

“Providing the athletes with a stage to showcase their considerable skill is the requisite role of the host,” says Dean Hengel, chair of the 2011 Esso Cup host committee. “SAMHA, the Raiders Hockey Club and the City of St. Albert are uniquely positioned to do this in 2011 as part of our city’s 150th anniversary celebrations. No doubt, the citizens of St. Albert will rise to the challenge of hosting a great event and filling the Performance Arena at Servus Credit Union Place”.

2009-2010 Season is now in The Books

The 2009-2010 female midget season is now complete following the Thunder Bay Queens winning the Esso Cup on the weekend over the Notre Dame Hounds.

It is a good time to review the season for both current and past Wildcats.

The 2009-2010 Wildcats had a great season competing well at all major tournaments and winning the Provincial Silver Medal this season. It is the fifth consecutive year for the Wildcats to finish in the top three in the province.

Five seniors landed scholarships to continue their hockey at College or University for the next season bringing the Wildcat total to an impressive 24 former players having the experience of College hockey both here in Canada as well as in the US.

Three Wildcat Bantam aged players led their regional Bantam Challenge to a top three finish at this year’s provincial Bantam Challenge tournament.

Two graduating players suited up for the 2009 Team Manitoba while five of the Wildcats are still in the mix for the Team Manitoba Canada Games team for 2011.

As well, many former Wildcats had great seasons on their College programs.

Nellie Minshull(Pierson), Tara Lacquette(Waterhen), and Amy Lee(Brandon) helped the University of Manitoba Bisons to the CIS West finals before bowing out to the eventual National Champions the U of A Pandas.

Jasmine Pollock(Virden) and Teagan Cassan(Medora) led the  NCAA DIII University of Wisconsin Superior Yellowjackets to the finals of the NCHA.

Laura Williams(Souris) helped the NAIT Ooks to an ACAC league final.

JD Durnin(Wawanesa) of the University of Lethbridge Pronghorns was named to Canada West all Rookie team, while team mate Amy Vanbuskirk helped the Pronghorns to their best finish in years knocking on the door of a playoff spot in the CIS West division.

Britt Philips(Lauder) and KL Pollock(Virden) helped the NCAA DI Colgate University Raiders back into the ECHA playoffs again this season.

Danielle Maxwell(Lake Frances) was a key member of the defence for the CIS East University of Prince Edward Island Panthers get to their league playoffs.

Amanda Williams(Souris) with the SAIT Trojans, Erica Hartel(Virden) with St Benedict College and Kim Jory(Brandon) with the Brock Badgers all were key members of their respective programs as well.

With many graduating players having great success with their respective teams and a huge selection of potential Wildcats with 53 players competing at the prospects camp the future is very bright for past, current and future Wildcats.

53 Prospects Conclude Wildcat Camp

The Westman Wildcats regional female midget program concluded their three day prospect camp last night with the fastest paced game of the session.

The camp saw 53 players register and showcase their talents over the three days. As the players became more comfortable the speed and intensity of the sessions increased and everyone was treated to some very entertaining hockey.

The program is very excited at the talent pool that the team will pick from in the fall to form the 2010-2011 version of the Westman Wildcats, but what really stuck out was the depth of the talent for the foreseeable future with the program in great hands for the long haul.

With many of these young ladies now off to University camps, POE try outs and their summer hockey teams they will continue to improve their skills over the summer preparing for fall camp.