Female hockey gaining in popularity in northeast Saskatchewan

Female hockey has seen an increase in numbers since 2020. There are more and more female hockey teams being established in rural Saskatchewan. 

Kelly McClintock, General Manager for Hockey Saskatchewan said the sooner girls can start playing together, the better the outcomes are for them. More and more girls are playing hockey and McClintock would like to see more organized regions for the province of Saskatchewan. The establishment of the Saskatchewan Female Hockey League (SFHL) has helped girls get into the game. 

McClintock said in the span of five years, the total number of teams went from 81 female teams to 123 in the under 13 to under 18 age categories in Saskatchewan. 

More female tournament teams have started to form in the Northeast and a tournament on Dec. 14 in Leroy brought the under 11 Humboldt Broncos, Northeast Aces, Lanigan Pirattes and the Northeast Bruins teams to playoff.  

The Broncos beat the Northeast Aces in the A-final and went 3 and 0 in round robin. The Northeast Bruins won the B-side in close game against the Lanigan Pirattes 4 – 3. The Humboldt Broncos have players from Humboldt, Quill Lake and Leroy. The Northeast Aces players are from Tisdale, St. Brieux, Arborfield, Choiceland, Melfort, Kelvington, Carrot River and Nipawin. The Northeast Bruins have players from Hudson Bay, Porcupine Plain, Bjorkdale and Kelvington. The Lanigan flyers have players from Lanigan, Jansen, Wynyard, Drake, Nokomis, and Watrous.

Currently the SSFHL has age categories for Under 11A, under 13A and 13AA, under 15A and 15AA and under 18A and 18AA.

This story was originally published in the Humboldt Journal. It is republished under a Creative Commons license as part of the Local Journalism Initiative.