Two teams from the Estevan Minor Hockey Association’s (EMHA) female division recently won championships, which is a great accomplishment for the organization.
The Estevan Power Tech midget AA Panthers won their league championship, and the Power Dodge peewee A Vipers won both their league and provincial championship.
“I think female hockey is looking good,” Panthers coach Chad Chapman, said. “The success this year is definitely promising for the future with female hockey in Estevan.
Despite the Power Dodge bantam A Chargers struggling a bit this year, Chapman said the players who will be playing for the Panthers next season showed some promise this season.
Along with winning championships, Estevan female minor hockey has also helped develop athletes to play at a higher level in minor hockey, which includes midget AAA.
There are currently seven athletes who have come up through the female division and are playing on a midget AAA team, including
They are, Jessica Pele (Swift Current Diamond Energy Wildcats), Madison Colbow, Michaella Matthies, Jenna Grube, Paige Smith and Tamara Irwin (all from the Weyburn Southern Gold Wings) and Ashlyn Taillon(Melville Fox FM Prairie)
“To have those kids be able to play at that next level we can’t provide here should be a … testament to the coaches that have brought those kids along,” Chapman said.
He also acknowledged the parents as well.
“They put out a lot of money and time chasing kids around and to be able to have the success to make it worthwhile, that’s also awesome.”
For the Estevan Senchuk atom A Mustangs, even though they didn’t win a championship, they made it to their league final against Moose Jaw.
EMHA female director Chad Farr said coaches Brent Olfert and Mike Merriman have done a “heck of a job” with that team.
He noted some of the players on the team were just starting out and said those coaches have a lot of pride and passion in the development and progression of the team.
This past season, Farr said there were 12 athletes in the atom division, 19 on the peewee, 12 youth competing with the bantam team and the midget AA team carried a roster of 19.
To get more females interested in the program, Farr said that they plan on having some events to bring awareness to women’s hockey because the numbers in their initiation and novice teams were low.
“We’re going to have to go to the community and to the schools and start getting the game of hockey out there to young girls,” he said.
Farr has been involved with the EMHA for the past seven years and has seen the female division grow. He mentioned the female teams have grown, as girls from the rural areas are participating in all age categories.
“We’ve grown because once we get to the atom, peewee and bantam ages we tend to see a few kids from out of town come in to help us with our numbers," Farr said. “We tend to utilize that all the time, if we need to grab a couple of kids from the rural to get us a nice number on each roster … we’re going to explore those avenues to make sure we give our coaches the right amount of roster so they can be successful.”
Farr also believes that the female program will continue to grow.
“I just encourage all of the girls to come out and try the game,” he said. “It’s a fun sport, it’s great way to meet people and expand your friends.
“It’s a great game, it’s a team game and all in all it’s a great atmosphere. I’m just hoping more girls come out and support the female program in Estevan, because we’re certainly raising the bar year-by-year and we plan to be a staple of the female hockey for years to come.
