Wildcats win MFHL U18 AAA title

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This article was published 02/04/2022 (1440 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For the third time in team history, the Westman Wildcats are Manitoba Female Hockey League U18 AAA champions.

The Wildcats captured the crown in front of their home fans in Hartney on Friday night as they defeated the Winnipeg Ice by a score of 5-2 to complete a three-game sweep in the best-of-five series.

“It’s still a bit of a blur,” Wildcats captain Makenna Beard said shortly after the final whistle. “My heart’s still pounding and I can’t even catch my breath.

“Even though we were a young team this year, we knew from the start that this was going to be a strong group. We went into the playoffs on a bit of a down note, but we battled hard right from the opening game against Central Plains and we’ve only gotten better since then.”

In capturing the title, this year’s Wildcats join the 2008-09 and 2018-19 squads as league champions.

“I was a rookie on that team three years ago and there’s a lot of similarities between the two groups,” Wildcats alternate captain Kelsey Page said.

“We were both young teams but we all had the will to win. We kept building up our intensity through each series and I honestly think that helped us in the end.”

After finishing third in the regular season standings with a 17-8-2 record, the Wildcats swept aside Central Plains Capitals and knocked off the Yellowhead Chiefs in four games to earn a meeting with the Ice.

They picked up a 3-2 win at home last Friday night and followed that up with a 3-1 road win Sunday in Winnipeg.

“I know it’s a cliché, but it’s really about peaks and valleys at this level,” Wildcats head coach Guy Williams said. “You want to stay in those valleys for as short as possible and be up on those peaks for as long as you can.

“When this group starts doing things the right way, we really start to overwhelm teams. We’ve worked hard to get to this point and I think we saw that during the playoffs.”

Beard and Paige Kozak led the way on offence in the series decider with two goals each, while Madison Weber’s early third period marker proved to be the game-winner.

Grace Glover made 26 saves and was named playoff MVP after posting a 9-1 record with a 1.45 goals against average, a .945 save percentage and two shutouts.

“I felt like I was pretty consistent during the playoffs but I was also getting more confident out there as I played more,” Glover said. “The girls were a huge help for me as well, as they really did a lot behind the scenes to get me prepared for each game.”

“Grace has been phenomenal for us all year long,” Beard added. “When I saw here get the MVP award, it almost brought tears to my eyes. No one deserves it more than her.”

Friday’s contest brought an end to the season for the Ice, who had entered the playoffs as the fourth overall seed with a 15-10-3 record.

After sweeping the Pembina Valley Hawks, the Ice upset the top-ranked Winnipeg Avros in five games to make the league final for the second straight season.

They were slated to face their crosstown rivals in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic cancelled that matchup before it even started.

“I told the girls afterwards that we were a good team that got beat by another really good team,” Ice head coach Eugene Kaminsky said. “They shouldn’t hang their heads down as they played well all series long and they could have had a different result in those first two games had some bounces gone the other way.

“This was a still a great experience for our girls as we’re a pretty young team. We only lose four players (Brooklyn Balazovic, Meagan Carnegie, Maia Ehmann and Kali Hilderman) and the players who are coming back are going to be even better next year. We’re probably not going to be considered an underdog when we get started again in the fall.”

Breanne Comte and Ava Bergman provided the offence for the Ice on Friday, while Laura Melizza made 27 saves.

Ehmann recorded an assist in the loss as she clinched the playoff scoring title with 15 points – five goals and 10 assists – in 11 games.

After taking a few days off, the Wildcats will return to practice this week as they prepare for a Telus Cup Western Regional series, which they will host in Hartney from April 22 to 24.

They will face the winner of the Saskatchewan Under-18 AAA Female Hockey League final – which gets underway tonight – between the Notre Dame Hounds and the Regina Rebels.

“Even though we’ve revved up our intensity over these last couple of series, there’s still another level we have to get to,” said Page, who was part of the Wildcats team that was swept by the Saskatoon Stars in the 2019 regional final.

“Whoever wins the Saskatchewan league is going to be even tougher and more physical than what we’ve faced so far and we have to be ready for that.”

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