Coach Karissa Kirkup happy with U18 AAA tryout talent

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This article was published 24/06/2024 (529 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s never easy telling a player they’ve been cut following tryouts.

Just ask Karissa Kirkup, coach of the inaugural U18 AAA Brandon Wheat Kings that with play in the Manitoba Female Hockey League starting in the 2024-25 season.

“With everything brand new with this team, we had a great tryout [camp], with high competition from solid goaltending to great defence and offence,” she told The Brandon Sun Sunday afternoon. “All this made decisions very hard, especially when it came to the level of goaltending we had for the tryouts.

“When it came to the defence, we had players who could move the puck. They all had good tryouts, but having known a lot of the players, and seeing how they’ve improved since I’ve coached them a few years ago, they all worked their way on to this team. The intensity was up at this camp.”

While it’s only a few days into summer, and June is not September, Kirkup conceded having to tell players they did not make the cut was no easy task.

Each player took part in an exit interview with the coaching staff, where they learned if they would be looking for another team this fall or would make their debut three months from now at J&G Homes Arena, where the team will play home games.

“I’m very happy with the [hockey] experience we have on this team,” she said. “There’s lots of talent, lots of skills at all positions, with a mixture of players who play with grit.”

She even noticed from her perch looking down on the ice that there was obvious player chemistry between individuals playing for Team Blue or Team White.

“That was nice to see, chemistry with players who played for me two or three years ago, and coming back together and showing they can play together as though they had not been separated, which makes my job to come up with lines, or defensive pairings easier.”

She cited the tryout play of Parkland’s Ffion Devonald that attracted Kirkup’s attention, and why she selected the 16-year-old forward.

“I’m very happy with the [hockey] experience we have on this team. There’s lots of talent, lots of skills at all positions, with a mixture of players who play with grit.”– Karissa Kirkup

“She’s an excellent skater, and very mature on and off the ice,” she said. “I’m excited to see her as part of this team.”

Her captain from last season was an easy choice as the 15-year-old plays with plenty of enthusiasm with and without the puck.

“Keira protects the puck well and is an excellent defensive centreman,” she explained. “I’m looking for the leadership from my older girls on the team, to work with the younger girls and let them be sponges.”

Kirkup was also looking to the team’s future as part of her decisions, trying to have a blend of senior players aged 16 and 17, to mentor those teammates aged 14 and 15. She recalled her own start in the league at age 14 with the Westman Wildcats.

Like Bailey Anderson, a 17-year-old defender who played last season with the Central Plains Capitals.

“Bailey had a lot of leadership when she played for me on my U15 team,” she recalled.

Likewise, she was happy to offer Kaia Stewart a spot on the team after the 15-year-old was cut by the Capitals and Westman Wildcats last season.

“She had a good tryout. She’s a lot quicker since I last saw her play for me … she’s very coachable. She wanted to be on this team, and our [exit] meeting was memorable. She’s a coachable player.”

While players attending the four tryout sessions came into it with clean slates, according to Kirkup, it did help with some of her decisions because she knows the off-ice character for some of the players who demonstrated they have improved as hockey players.

“It still made my decisions very hard. I know the level of talent they will bring to the team because I’ve known a lot of the players for three years now.”

Kirkup’s choice for holding the fort in the crease are Danica Averill, who played for the Westman Wildcats as a rookie last season, and Shannon Hees, who played for her on last season’s U15 AAA Wheat Kings championship team. Both are 15 and can be with the team for a few seasons.

Patrolling the blue-line will be Kasia Baranyk, Devyn Moncur, Haley Blaine, Chloe McBeth, Anderson and Chloe Kachur.

The forwards are Paige Crossley, Devonald, Sydney Sass, Kaylee Dittmer, Jordan Bell, Stewart, Quinn Twordik, Madison Blaine, Keira Vines and Jade Campbell.

Crossley, Moncur, Sass and Blaine all played for the Wildcats during the 2023-24 season, while McBeth, Dittmer, Anderson and Bell were with the Portage La Prairie-based Central Plains Capitals last season.

Campbell, Twordik, Vines and Baranyk were on Kirkup’s U15 AAA bantam team last season.

The Winnipeg Ice, Winnipeg Avros, Pembina Valley Hawks and Capitals have already held tryout camps, and have announced their teams, plus leadership groups on the MFHL website and their social media platforms.

Wildcats and Yellowhead Chiefs, Interlake Lightning and Eastman Selects have yet to hold tryouts, with the Chiefs and Wildcats planning sessions in early September.

Besides setting up social media platforms, purchasing new jerseys and landing team sponsorships, Kirkup will be looking for a team manager to handle the team’s X, Facebook and Instagram pages. Plus the MFHL’s website.

“There’s lots of logistics still to do for this new team before we start playing in the fall,” she said. “But it will be exciting … we’ll plan some team bonding before the season starts for the girls.”

She has two major tournaments for U Sports and American hockey scouts to see her players in action lined up already.

The Wheat Kings will play at the three-day Central Plains Three Season Showcase starting Sept. 20, then will be heading for Minnesota for another three-day tournament in Blaine starting on Oct. 1.

» jxavier@brandonsun.com

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