JASTER’S JABBERINGS — Local female hockey players shone brightly last week

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This article was published 26/03/2019 (2598 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

I think it’s fair to say that last week should have been renamed female hockey week in Westman.

Not only did the Westman Wildcats win their first Manitoba Female Midget Hockey League championship, but Neepawa’s Halli Krzyzaniak and the Calgary Inferno won the Canadian Women’s Hockey League title while Brandonite Kristen Campbell backstopped the University of Wisconsin Badgers to the NCAA Division I women’s hockey crown.

If the titles aren’t enough, the stories attached with them are impressive.

The most common reaction I heard from the Wildcats winning their crown on their home ice in Hartney on Wednesday was “I can’t believe they had not won the league before.” The Wildcats joined the circuit in 2010-11 and have been perennial contenders ever since, reaching at least the semifinals every season and the final three previous times. The most heartbreaking loss was in 2014 when they led the best-of-five final 2-0 but lost the remaining three games.

All you had to do was look at the picture of captain Paige Hubbard in Thursday’s edition of the Brandon Sun to see how much the league title meant to the program, which oddly enough has a Canadian female midget AAA championship (Esso Cup) title to its name from 2009.

The Wildcats are waiting for the Saskatchewan league final between the Saskatoon Stars and Regina Rebels to end. They will visit the victor in a best-of-three series with the winner advancing to the Esso Cup, which will run from April 21 to 27 in Sudbury, Ont.

Meanwhile, Krzyzaniak has had an up-and-down year. Despite being with the Canadian women’s hockey team for the last few years, she was left off the Olympic roster for the Pyeongchang Games in February 2018. She joined the Inferno this year and had four goals and 13 points in 27 regular-season games before scoring a goal in Sunday’s championship game against Montreal.

However, the five-foot-nine defenceman has been left off Canada’s roster for the upcoming world championship. As frustrating as things must be for her with the national program, it’s nice to see her efforts get rewarded.

As for Campbell, you couldn’t be happier for her. Two years ago she was supposed to become the starting goaltender at the University of North Dakota, but they announced before the season they were getting rid of the program, leaving her without a team. She was picked up by Wisconsin and started every game for them last season (the first time anyone had done that for the Badgers), led them to the Frozen Four and lost a heartbreaker in overtime in the semifinals.

This year, she became the first goalie to shut out opposing teams in the national quarterfinals, semifinals and final and was named the Frozen Four’s most outstanding player for her effort.

What’s crazy is that she wasn’t a top-10 finalist for the Patty Kazmaier Memorial Award as the top college female hockey player.

She does still have one more year of eligibility left and I would think she should be looked at honour next year. Regardless, I’m sure she’ll take the NCAA championship every time over that honour.

Congratulations to both individuals and the Wildcats. All those titles are well-deserved.

• There are some interesting similarities between the last edition of the Brandon Wheat Kings to miss the playoffs and this year’s squad. That team had so many talented young players who went on to be part of the championship team just a few seasons later, like Jayce Hawryluk, Tyler Coulter, John Quenneville, Tim McGauley, Quintin Lisoway and Jordan Papirny. That team was too young to succeed, but patience paid off.

This year’s team had five defencemen — Braden Schneider, Jonny Lambos, Neithan Salame, Chad Nychuk and Vincent Iorio — who were in their 16- or 17-year-old seasons, and there’s a talented young goalie in the fold in Ethan Kruger. Let’s not forget forwards Ty Thorpe and Ridly Greig as well, and there’s more talent coming up in the fall too.

What’s interesting is then owner and general manager Kelly McCrimmon decided to part ways with then head coach Dwayne Gylywoychuk and take over the team as head coach himself following the 2012-13 regular season. This time, McCrimmon, who still owns the team, is busy as the assistant general manager with the National Hockey League’s Vegas Golden Knights, but the contracts of head coach David Anning and general manager Grant Armstrong are set to expire at the end of May.

Will we see a change to bring a new voice to guide the talented squad? Only time will tell.

• I know a few games have already been played in the WHL playoffs, but those results will not impact this section. Normally I make predictions for the first round of the playoffs, but without Brandon in the post-season, I’m going bolder and predicting the final.

I think the Eastern Conference will actually be decided in the second round in a meeting between the Prince Albert Raiders and the Saskatoon Blades, while the Western Conference will be decided in the third round between the Everett Silvertips and the Vancouver Giants. History dictates the previous year’s league runner-up has a good shot of winning it all the next season or a small-market club will come through, so I’m going with Everett defeating Prince Albert in the final.

• I wonder how people in the WHL office would view things if the Raiders took the title this year. That would mean the two smallest remaining markets in the league — Kootenay is moving to Winnipeg this off-season — would have claimed the last two titles after Swift Current won it last year.

• Don’t forget to help pack the Sportsplex on Wednesday evening. The Brandon Wheat Kings will host the Winnipeg Wild in Game 4 of the best-of-five Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League final. The champion could be crowned there, or it could send the series back to Winnipeg for the deciding game on Friday. Wednesday’s game begins at 7:30 p.m.

• Thursday is a good day to hit the highway to watch some decent hockey as well. In Virden, the Oil Capitals will host the Portage Terriers in Game 4 of their best-of-seven Manitoba Junior Hockey League semifinal series at 7:30 p.m.

Meanwhile in Rivers, the provincial senior A hockey championship tournament begins with the Miniota-Elkhorn C-Hawks taking on the Boissevain Border Kings in the first game of the preliminary round at 8 p.m.

» cjaster@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @jasterch