WEYBURN – It’s time that female hockey players in Weyburn, Estevan and surrounding area have the opportunity to play spring hockey on a local team, according to Weyburn coach and hockey volunteer Mike Weger.
This was the first year for the Weyburn-based Jr. Gold Wings program after organizer Mike Weger recognized that there was both a want and a need for a spring female hockey program in the area.
As a committee member on the Weyburn Richardson Pioneer Gold Wings female U18 AAA team, Weger believes that running a Jr. Gold Wings program will be essential in helping to produce home grown talent for the U18 AAA team and also to assist with recruiting and retaining players to play for the Weyburn Richardson Pioneer Gold Wings once they are eligible.
“This year, I believe we had four players from the southeast corner of the province competing in the Esso Cup national U18 AAA tournament,” said Weger.
These players, for various reasons, are not playing for the Weyburn Gold Wings but Weger would like to think that if they had received the opportunity to stay close to home to play spring hockey together at a younger age, maybe things would be different.
The Jr. Gold Wings program kicked off this year with an “expression of interest” skate that was run by the coaching staff of the Weyburn Richardson Pioneer Gold Wings.
Assistant coach Ryan Swayze handled the on-ice skills session followed by a one hour scrimmage session and head coach, Chandy Kaip, evaluated players from the stands.
From this evaluation, a 2012-2013 female spring team was formed to compete in the GRRROWL Spring Hockey Classic in Regina from May 5-7.
As a result of the strong interest in the newly formed program, a three-day skills session was also put together by Weger during the Easter break. Female hockey players from Weyburn, Estevan and surrounding area and born between 2011 and 2015 signed up for three days of on-ice and off-ice skills training.
Local coach and skills trainer, Bryan Fleck, was engaged to run the sessions. “We are lucky to have people like Bryan in our community,” said Weger. “He has a respectable amount of hockey knowledge and he showed an exceptional ability to connect with the girls to make the hockey skills training fun for them.”
Fleck was also assisted by local female hockey players Meaghan Weger and Ella Schenher who helped with the power-skating part of the program. Weyburn Richardson Pioneer Gold Wings Rori Dickie, Abby Manz, Hadley Revenko and Amy Swayze, along with WHL Brandon Wheat King, Quinn Mantei also supported Fleck.
According to Weger, having young role models involved that know what it takes to get to the next level will always be an important aspect of this program.
The ice surface remained in Crescent Point Place until the weekend of May 5-7, the newly-formed Jr. Gold Wings 2012-2013 team was able to carry out five practices and two home exhibition games before heading to the tournament in Regina.
The team was instructed by Mike Weger as head coach and assistant coaches Scott Walton from Estevan, Randy Steeves from Wilcox and Quinn Mantei from Weyburn.
Up against well-established female spring hockey teams from larger centres with girls that have been playing together for many years was a challenge, said Weger, but they felt they had to start somewhere.
“We had some difficult games but we improved in each game we played and ended the weekend with a back and forth game with the Prince Albert Jr. Bears that ended in a 6-4 loss. I would prefer to say the L stands for learning rather than losing,” chuckled Weger.
“But, at the end of the day, we brought girls together from Estevan, Weyburn, Midale, Ceylon, Minton, Milestone and Wilcox. In a short period of time they learned how to come together to work hard, support one another, and have fun. I am pleased with the progress and confident that we are heading in the right direction.”
The Jr. Gold Wings will end their spring season with a final exhibition game against the 2013 Grrrowl spring team in Estevan on Sunday, May 14.
When asked what the future holds for the Jr. Gold Wings program, Weger says that they need to get some more people involved with the hopes of evaluating players in late December and forming 2012, 2013 and a 2014 female spring teams that will each begin practicing in April of 2024.
Initial plans are also under way to potentially host a spring tournament in either Weyburn or Estevan in early April of 2024. Readers are invited to contact Mike Weger for more information.
