Welcoming The West

Monday saw a big announcement on the local hockey front as Portage la Prairie, Manitoba will get set to host the four provincial teams this December in an effort to play a U18 Nationals-like tournament for the young women on those provincial teams! After the U18 National Tournament was cancelled in BC due to pandemic cautiousness, the four provincial hockey governing bodies got together to discuss a more regional tournament - the 2021 Western Regional Women's Under-18 Championship - which will happen November 1-6 in Manitoba!

If you're looking at your calendar and thinking, "Those dates aren't far off," you're right in that teams need to be prepared to get to Manitoba and compete in this event. The reason this works so well in Portage la Prairie is that the MJHL's Portage Terriers are off on a road trip for most of that event's schedule, so having the U18 women play that week is far easier than trying to wedge games in before Terriers games or some other solution.

There is one conflict - November 5 - but that will likely be a day off for the four teams. The tournament will be a four-team round-robin preliminary round before all four teams find their places in the standings which will determine who plays whom in the medal round. November 1-3 appears to be the days where the preliminary round would take place, and November 4 would likely be the semi-final games before the day off and having the medals awarded on November 6. I could be wrong about the scheduling, but this makes the most sense if the Terrier are going to have a morning skate at Stride Center on Friday.

While it's not going to include the rest of the country, having these four teams participate in a more regional tournament will still allow teams to scout players after the entire season was wiped out one year ago by the pandemic. There are players who already have homes for next season, but there are a large number of teams needing to fill roster spots next year and beyond while a number of players at this tournament are looking for post-secondary schooling options.

If you're a Manitoba Bisons fan, you'll get to see all three recruits that the Bisons have signed playing with Team Manitoba at this tournament. Balmoral Hall's Dana Goertzen and Winnipeg Avros' Norah Collins will both skate as Team Manitoba forwards while Yellowhead Chiefs' Louise Fergusson will be on the Manitoba blue line for this tournament. Manitoba also boasts Balmoral Hall forward Kara Yackell who will play with Trinity Western next season, Winnipeg Avros forward Courtenay Bayes who has committed to the OUA's York Lions, and Winnipeg Ice forward Maia Ehmann who will join the Alberta Pandas next season, so this might be a good tournament to watch if you want to see the future starts of U SPORTS hockey!

Team BC rolled out their squad on Monday, and they'll have Okanagan Hockey Academy and future OUA Windsor Lancers netminder Cadence Petitclerc-Crosby will tend the nets at the 2021 Western Regional Women's Under-18 Championship. Bisons fans will want to note that BC's assistant coach is none other than former Bisons legend Venla Hovi as she's currently working as a coach at the Okanagan Hockey Academy, so it'll be good to see her back in the province as well!

Team Alberta will boast Edmonton Pandas and future NCAA Ohio State Buckeyes forward Emerson Jarvis, Pandas forward and future UBC Thunderbird Jacquelyn Fleming, and current Lloydminster Steelers and future AUS Saint Mary's Huskies netminder Ridleigh Hansen as some of the key players on their squad. Alberta always brings good teams to every tournament with players who have the potential to be impact players at the university level, so this is a team you may watch to catch in person.

Team Saskatchewan will also feature some future university stars as Saskatoon Stars and future AUS Saint Mary's Huskies defender Marisa McClocklin and Regina Rebels and future Mount Royal Cougars forward Allee Gerrard are among the assembled for the rectabgular province. It should be noted that Saskatchewan Huskies legends Robin Ulrich and Kori Herner will be on the bench as assistant coaches for Team Sask, and this team appears to be in very good hands!

Needless to say, the university hockey star power in this tournament is already high with future and former stars in attendance, and there's a better than good chance that a number of these young ladies will be noticed by other programs who are looking for their next stars as well!

While TV packages haven't been announced yet, I assume some streaming service will be carrying this event live. As much as I'd love to be involved with UMFM as the radio broadcaster, we're already booked on November 5-6 as the Regina Cougars will be visiting the Manitoba Bisons that weekend, so Kyleigh Palmer and I will be in Winnipeg as the 2021 Western Regional Women's Under-18 Championship plays out in Portage la Prairie. We will commit to bringing everyone updates on the broadcasts, though, as we kind of have a vested interest in these games!

It's good to have the U18 ladies back on the ice and playing meaningful games for their provincial teams. It would have been an eternity between games for these squads had they cancelled everything again this season, so I'm happy that Hockey Manitoba, Hockey Saskatchewan, Hockey Alberta, and BC Hockey came together and got this done! Get out to Portage la Prairie when you can to cheer on the ladies!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!