5 Saskatchewan communities fielding teams in new U22 junior women's hockey league
League to provide alternative route for players not competing in U Sports or NCAA
A new competitive option is coming for female hockey players in Saskatchewan looking to keep on playing after they end their careers at the minor level.
Hockey Saskatchewan is introducing a new under-22 female junior league for the 2023-2024 season. The inaugural season is set to begin in the fall and feature at least five teams from across the province.
Those teams will be based in Regina, Lumsden, Outlook and Kindersley, along with a Southwest team representing the Swift Current and Gull Lake region.
Sage Babey, 16, represented Team Saskatchewan at the 2023 Canada Winter Games. The forward has already committed to play NCAA Division 1 hockey at Merrimack College in Massachusetts, but said the league is a great alternative for women looking to continue playing competitive hockey.
"It's so cool how you can stay in your province with the junior league now. If you're unsure of what university you want to go to, you can just play another year at home and stay with your family," Babey said.
"I think that's a great option if you're not quite ready to move away or play at university or college."
Robin Ulrich, head coach of the Team Saskatchewan under-18 female hockey team at the 2023 Canada Winter Games, said the new league will also open up more opportunities for women in the world of hockey.
"Hopefully we can start to graduate some female coaches into that level, and just create more and more opportunities for female coaches to coach and work at a higher level," Ulrich said.
Other provinces such as Alberta and Manitoba already have female junior leagues. Ulrich hopes Saskatchewan creating one can inspire other provinces to create more opportunities for female hockey players.
"Maybe one day that builds to a U22 championship for those teams," Ulrich said. "I think it's a chance to really set the bar, and continue to build and grow the game of female hockey."
Growing participation in female hockey in Saskatchewan
Over the last decade, registration for women's minor hockey in the province has risen by more than 1,600 registered players, according to Hockey Saskatchewan.
Paige Fischer, 17, was one of two goalies for Team Saskatchewan at the 2023 Canada Winter games. She is planning to play hockey at the university level once she graduates from the U18 AAA Swift Current Wildcats, but said not everyone has that opportunity.
"Too many girls whose minor hockey careers have ended are sitting at home, who could have pursued playing hockey but couldn't because they had nowhere to go," Fischer said.
"I think this league just opens up so many opportunities for these girls."
Blaine Stork, president of the Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League, said having a female junior league is long overdue.
"Junior hockey is a very long tradition on the male side, and this will be awesome for the girls that jump in at the ground floor to build their own tradition," Stork said.
Stork said five teams is a good size to start the league, but that he had hoped to see a team in or near Saskatoon be involved.
"I know Saskatoon Minor is still working on it, so you know, cross your fingers. There's still a little bit of time for that to maybe come to fruition," Stork said, "But five is a good number to get rolling.
"It's easy to manage from a legal perspective, and they probably won't be stepping on each other always when it comes to recruiting players."
Stork added the teams are working on hiring staff and fundraising in preparation for the season. He hopes there could eventually be more teams involved, to allow more female hockey players in Saskatchewan to continue their playing careers.
"When you look at our province I think that there will be some other communities that are going to come on board as the seasons roll along here that are going to want a team because they have a group of players available in their community to fill one," Stork said.
Stork said he believes the league will build its schedule to ensure hockey won't interfere with the players' academic schedules.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Dan Plaster