Christmas came early for Diamond Energy Female Midget AAA Wildcats forward Carissa Hogan yesterday, as she officially put pen to paper to play for the Red Deer College Queens starting next season.

"I'm super excited about it going into it," said the Grade 12 product of Rosetown. "It's going to be amazing - hoping to have a hard year, and finish off my year strong as a Wildcat. Being a part of the Queens family is going to be definitely a huge commitment." 

It's been a notable December for Hogan, who also learned she cracked Team Sask's U18 roster heading to the Canada Winter Games in February.

Hogan is into her third season with the Wildcats, but just her second as a forward, after logging time on the blueline as a rookie.

"During my minor hockey years, I was just kind of playing left wing at the beginning, then they transferred me back to defence," Hogan explained. "From there, Terry threw me back to centre and it's just been good from there."

The fit at centre certainly has been a good one for Hogan. She tied for second in points on the Wildcats last season with 24 (12 G, 12 A) in 28 games, and this year is T-3 with 10 points in 14 games.

Hogan, who is riding a four-game point streak (2 G, 4 A), will now get to reunite with a pair of former Wildcats teammates in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference with the RDC Queens.

Former Wildcats Jenessa Fournier and Shelby Ballan are both in their second season with the Queens.

"It's going to be awesome living with two people that I played with earlier is going to be definitely better than living with other people you don't really know," Hogan said. "And, going into a team knowing two people is definitely a lot easier than going in and not knowing anyone."

Since the inception of the Sask Female Midget AAA Hockey League in the 2006-07 season, 67 players that have donned a Wildcats jersey have signed on to play past the Female Midget level.

Hogan said she's grateful for her head coach helping her become the 68th.

"Obviously Terry (Pavely) is a good coach, and he usually gets people recruited to the next level," said Hogan. "I just thank him for putting in the work, and making me go to the next level."

In the meantime, there are still two important league games ahead of the Christmas break for Hogan and the Wildcats. Swift wraps up the 2018 half of their schedule on the road Friday and Saturday against the Saskatoon Stars.

"Going into the weekend for sure we need to be playing as a team, going hard," she noted. "We need to be moving our feet, talking lots - just play our game, and we'll be on top of it."

Friday's game between the sixth-place Wildcats (6-7-0-1) and the league-leading Stars (15-0-1-0) will be live on The Eagle 94.1.

Catch all the action live from Merlis Belsher Place in Saskatoon with pregame starting at 7:15 and puck drop set for 7:30 for Diamond Energy Wildcats hockey, brought to you by SWT.