The Westman Wildcats of the Manitoba U18 AAA Female Hockey League have set their roster, and the group now sets their sights on an upcoming tournament that will see them head to Alberta.
Roster and upcoming trip
“It’s been a great week and a half since we finally were able to make our team and start practicing,” Kirkup says with a big smile. “Started team workouts, did a little fitness testing in there too. We’re very excited to be back. School is coming, and we’re getting into the full swing of things, but we are going to hit the ground running heading to the Calgary Fire Starter tournament. We’re hitting the bus on Wednesday, and then we start Thursday morning at 8:45 a.m. We’ll start from there, and it should be a very exciting season.”
Making up the roster
When it came to selecting the final group, Kirkup says it’s a blend between top-level athletes and players she can see fitting into the team systems. “I would say a combination of both,” she says with a grin. “Overall, I think we picked the best athletes, paired with them being able to complement a couple of the returning players, but also adding lots of creativity, lots of depth up front. I’m very excited about our final roster, and want to get playing some games here.”
Finding an identity
Kirkup says the staff has an idea of how they want the team to play, and now that the roster has been set, the group will carve out an identity that combines what they have as a team and what the coaches are teaching. “It is hard to tell this early, and definitely everybody has to earn their spot as the season goes. As preseason leads into our first league game on September 26th, we’re going to Morden against Pembina Valley. Overall, we took some overall athletes, we took some very good hockey players, and I think, on paper, yes, we always think one thing, and then, you know, you look a couple months back, and usually there have been quite a few tweaks as the periods go on, as practices go on. More conversations as a coaching staff and with players. I try not to, I guess, read too much into it this early on, but I just see how engaged, intense, competitive, but also coachable this group is, and I’m excited for the months ahead.”
Calgary Fire Starter Tournament
This week, the Wildcats load up and head to Alberta, where Kirkup says it’s a blend of featuring as individual athletes while also coming together as a collective team. “It’s important that they come ready to play,” the coach says with a competitive tone. “You know, they’ve been on the ice quite a bit during the last half of the summer, and we had some pre-skates, good tryouts and some good practices leading into the Calgary Fire Starter. As with any showcase, preseason or during the season, there are a variety of scouts there from different leagues, like NCAA, USport, ACHA, and ACAC. We want our athletes to be seen because they deserve a spot at the next level. That’s a lot of their student-athlete goals is to pursue post-secondary playing hockey, as well as pursuing a university degree. So, we want to do right by our players, and I mean there’s going to be so many changes from now and even heading into our first league game. It’s definitely not about wins and losses at this time. We want to peak during the right spots of the season, but we’re excited to spend more time together as a group, get to know certain people, and see how their game fits within our Western Wildcat system. Things like that.”
Teaching as a coach
Early in any season, especially with a new group, Kirkup says it’s the best time to be a coach who loves to teach, which is something she and her coaches do quite well. “As a coaching staff, we’ve been we’ve been on the phone lots already and showing up early to practice and trying to figure out who’s going to be slotted in properly and where,” she says with a gleeful smile. “But again, we’re very much a staff where players have to earn their spots and players have to work hard every shift. In the big picture, we do have ten forwards, and we’re going to put the players on our ice who are going to do the best job to find team success in the grand scheme. We want everybody to, first of all, adjust if this is their first year at the U18 AAA level. We want to allow them some time to adjust and to learn from mistakes that everybody’s going to make. But as long as they show up with a good attitude, work hard and ask questions when they arise, then we’re happy, and we can’t ask for much more than that.”
