Female Chiefs looking forward to new season

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Published on Thursday, September 25, 2014

By Eoin Devereux

The Neepawa Banner

Even though the first faceoff of the Manitoba AAA Female Midget Hockey League’s regular season has yet to occur, the Yellowhead Chiefs seem to already be in mid-season form. The team has been quite busy with training camp, practices and competing in the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) Ooks Blue Gold Classic tournament, which was held over the September long weekend. The Chiefs emerged from the event with a perfect 3-0 record.

Head coach Derek Tibbatts said the training camp went very well for them and it’s helped to get the team off to a great start in Edmonton.

“At training camp we had about 35 players out, including the goalies. That’s a very good number and a good level of skill. We had the three-day weekend for the training camp and the team roster was decided on Sunday night. Then on Thursday, we loaded the bus and headed out to Edmonton for the NAIT and played three exhibition games there.” said Tibbatts. “That tournament was very important. It became a bonding opportunity for the players. It was their chance to come together and work on team chemistry. It worked out very, very well.”

Tibbatts noted the Chiefs are hoping to keep the momentum going this weekend as they play in the Central Plains Capitals Pre-Season Showcase at the PCU Centre in Portage la Prairie.

“The first game is on Friday and we have four games throughout the weekend. Hopefully this will get us ready for the regular season. I’d like to see a hard effort for the team. For them to come to play and just see how they adapt to playing some of their rivals. They did really well in the NAIT Ooks tournament. In the last two games they really got the pace of the game. Now, I’m looking for the younger players to pick things up. We’ll really see how the team does overall against the other teams in our division.”

Tibbatts added that the Chiefs are heading into the regular season with some very ambitious goals.

“I think our whole team is balanced really well. Everyone came into camp in shape. That was one of my goals last year, was to have them arrive in shape and focused. We had a rocky start [to the season] last year, so the first goal is to have a better start this year and that begins with conditioning. Goals in the regular season are to get over the 500 mark [for a winning percentage] and try to win 75 to 80 per cent of our home games. For the year-end goal, we want to have a chance to compete in the Esso Cup, Canada’s national female midget championship.

The first regular season game is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 3 against the Norman Wild.