Koop flies high in U15 female league

Georgia Koop has set her sights high, and it’s certainly no fluke.

The second-year forward for the Westman Wildcats U15 AAA squad is not shy to admit she wants to go as far as hockey takes her, and if her play this season is any indication, the future is very bright.

Koop, a five-foot-four Virden product, has taken the Manitoba Female Hockey League by storm, dominating in all facets of the game but specifically the scoresheet, where she ranks fourth in scoring across the league with 32 points in 17 games — trailing just Eastman’s Bryelle Muntain (46), Central Plain’s Hailey Terrick (37) and teammate Demi Hodson (34).

And despite only having six games left on its schedule, Koop’s still managed to stay just shy of a goal-per-game pace, finding the back of the net 16 times, with three game winners.

She’s been the real deal all year, and it’s hard not to think about what she may have in store for herself moving forward. She hopes it’s with Westman’s top club.

“Next year, I would like to play for the U18 Wildcats,” said Koop. “That would be super cool, and I like playing with girls a level up and everything.”

Koop would be following in the footsteps of her older brother, Coleton, who’s in his first season of U18 AAA hockey with Tanner Lewis’ Southwest Cougars, where he’s notched four goals and 16 points in 36 contests. But Koop’s already got one foot in the door, as her success this year has already allowed her to play up with Karissa Kirkup’s U18 team as an affiliate player.

It’s given her a boatload of experience along with a confidence boost, something she wouldn’t have had even a few years ago.

“At the start of my first year (U15), I was very stressed and everything because you’re playing at a higher league, and so you want to do good and show everyone that you deserve to be on this team,” Koop said.

She experienced doses of “imposter syndrome” — a feeling of self-doubt — yet still managed to cash in on 26 goals and 31 points in 28 games last season. Going into this year, she felt a little more comfortable knowing she made the team last year and deserved to be in the position she found herself in, however, she still surprised herself.

“I didn’t expect this many points,” said Koop of her offensive totals this season. “I thought, maybe get a goal and assist here and there, but it shocked me after a few games because I was getting more and more points and everything. Last year was OK and everything, but now it’s just like, ‘Wow, I’m top 10 for points.’

“Now it’s just easier to go on the ice and just do my thing and not worry about everything.”

Not getting too in your head has also paid dividends in the leadership department, where Koop guides the ship as team captain. She knows it’s a big responsibility given her influence on and off the ice, specifically on the younger players, but it’s one she doesn’t take for granted — especially coming from a small town.

“It definitely means a lot even just being from Virden, especially when you’re playing against the bigger towns like Brandon and Niverville and everything, so it just shows that wherever you’re from, you can just be your own leader and everything,” she said. “Everyone’s a leader in some different way, but to be one of the top leaders on the team, it just means a lot to me. Some girls do look up to me, and people have told me that before and everything, so you kind of just got to play as you do and just be a confident person so everyone else thinks that they’re confident in everything.

“When I’m working hard and everything, they’ll be like, ‘OK, we got to get working harder now,’ so if things aren’t going well in the game, I’ll say we should do this better or something, and so that’s also how we’ve been successful because we just listen to each other and get input from everyone’s point of view.”

Koop believes their inclusive system is exactly why the Wildcats sit in second place in the standings with a 12-5-1 record. They feel connected as a team off the ice, and that’s translated to the sheet, where everyone feels they can contribute while also cheering on each other’s success. And they will only continue to do so as they keep trekking toward the post-season, but until then, they will need to finish up their final stretch of the regular season.

Westman’s next game will be on the road against the fifth-place Yellowhead Chiefs (10-8) on Saturday, before it has two weeks off and doesn’t play until Feb. 14, when it begins a back-to-back set against the winless Norman Wild (0-17). But regardless of who they play, Koop said they will be ready to go.

“I think we’ve been working really hard in practices, they’re very high-paced, and we’ve been practising like we play, so I think these last few games we will be really good,” said Koop. “It’s kind of all what we worked up to, so we just got to stay dialled in the whole game and just keep playing as we can and just not get off the gas pedal.”

As she has for most of the season, Koop will play alongside Deloraine’s Lily Wells and Hartney’s Maisie Green up front — a trio that knows where to find each other at all times all over the ice, and their numbers back it up, as they’ve tag-teamed for 61 points.

After Koop pushes for a spot on Westman’s U18 team next year, her eventual goal is to play U Sports or college hockey in the States after she graduates — and while that’s a long ways down the road, there’s no doubt that dream could become a reality.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com