The Diamond Energy Female Midget AAA Wildcats kick off their annual preseason tournament today, inviting teams from around Saskatchewan and Manitoba to Swift Current.

Six other teams fill the eight-team tournament schedule:

  • Melville Prairie Fire
  • Weyburn Gold Wings
  • U16 Team Sask
  • U16 Team Manitoba
  • Pembina Valley Hawks (Manitoba)
  • Pilot Mound Buffaloes (Manitoba)

In what started out as just a means for early-season action close to home, the growth of the tournament has gotten to a prominent status.

"We started this tournament so that we get some exhibition games without having to travel - a little bit selfish," laughed Wildcats head coach Terry Pavely. "It's evolved into there's going to be scouts around. I know there's some Hockey Canada guys coming, there's (NCAA) Division I schools from the U.S. coming, some Canadian schools. For us it's just an opportunity to get some game shape in early, because these will be the only games we play until we open the regular season."

The Wildcats enter the preseason tournament with little more than a handful of practices under their belt as a team. The main focus won't be on any sort of in-depth game-plan, according to Pavely, but instead on compete level.

"Shift in, shift out, and we're going to challenge them to shift with the puck, without the puck, and compete in all three zones. We won't be very tactical - we probably won't even have a breakout set," he admitted. "Sometimes it's nice to see what they can do on their own - the way they think the game, how they react and read situations. So, just let them compete as hard as they can. We want to be a team that's hard to play against, so that only happens if you compete hard."

Though they're still in early-season form, the Wildcats carry a ton of talent over from last season's roster - just five somewhat-new names dot the roster this season.

Rookie defenceman Kamryn Johnson was an AP last season, logging some game time with the Wildcats, but mostly spending time with the Female Midget AA Broncos.

The other two rookies are the Rublee sisters from Kindersley, Brooklyn and Shelby, a 16-year-old forward and 14-year-old defenceman, respectively.

Meanwhile, the other two new faces are not new to the SFMAAAHL.

Forward Ashlee Wolfe spent the past two seasons with the Battlefords Sharks. She racked up 13 points (8 G, 5 A) in a combined 36 games over the two campaigns

Lastly, towering 5-foot-10 blue-liner Kate Wagner is also into her third season in the league. The Saskatoon-born defenceman played for the Prince Albert Northern Bears in her rookie season, and last year played for the Regina Rebels.

Failing to miss a regular season game so far, Wagner has logged 17 total points (6 G, 11 A) in 56 combined games between the two teams.

Luckily for Pavely and the Wildcats, the adaptation to the SFMAAAHL will be minimal for his 2018-19 squad.

"Part of it is teaching the young kids, the new players, the grind of playing AAA Midget from AA, where you go through stretches where you're on the ice six days in a row. Usually in AA or in Bantam they don't have that. So the big thing is learning the commitment is bigger, the competition is tougher, and you have to be prepared to compete in practice and in the games every day. So just really getting them accustomed or acclimatized to the schedule that a AAA team has."

This preseason tourney serves as just that - a taste of what the Midget AAA level can be, as well as the opportunity to get comfortable playing in the spotlight.

The Wildcats, as noted yesterday, will be without goalie Amaya Giraudier and forward Baylee Kirwan, who are on U16 Team Sask in the tournament - a testament to their growth.

"You see when they came back, they've both gotten stronger. That's a thing you can control if you work hard. Some kids aren't willing to put in the time, and obviously we've notice that these two girls have," explained Pavely.

"You can just tell that they're both more confident. At camp they were more confident, even our interactions socially, you can just tell they're more comfortable, more confident. People tend to succeed better when they have confidence. Both of them had what we'd say is probably a slow start last year, and they continually got better. Now, we expect that they'll just pick up from where they left off at the end of last year."

While the the pair of Wildcats are in action this afternoon against Pembina Valley, the Wildcats have to wait until the last game of the day to hit the ice.

Swift Current also plays Pembina Valley at 7:30 p.m. from Fairview West arena.