Yellowhead Chiefs AAA Female Midget: Welcome

The historic Foxwarren Arena played host to the 2012-2013 Yellowhead Chiefs end of season banquet and awards night on April 7^th.  Parents, grandparents, siblings and players gathered to celebrate the season and award players for their effort throughout the year.  A players only gathering the night before was hosted by the Scantlebury’s with many commenting on the bravery of Robin for having 17 teenage girls in her house, although she was heard to say that after years of hosting the Tibbatts on Saturday evenings, this party was pretty tame.  An excellent catered meal kicked off the evening followed by the draw for the fishing trip fundraiser, with Sky Brown winning the top selling player with over $1000 in tickets sold.  The coaches and managers received Chiefs bags as a thank you for their volunteer work throughout the year followed by thank you speeches from the coaching staff.  The graduating players, Courtney Marcinyshyn, Mariah Graham and Kailee Stewart were thanked for their contribution to the team, Mariah and Kailee for three years of play and Courtney for her efforts in her one year as a Chief.

Player awards were then handed out to the deserving players for their great seasons….

Top Goalie - Sky Brown

Ironwoman (playing in every game)  - Mackenzie Bortis, Mariah Graham, Tirra Lemoine

Top Defenceman - Jaylyn Elmes

Dedicated Digger – Hayley Cathcart

Top Scorer – Tirra Lemoine (52 GP – 25 G, 21 A – 46 pts)

MVP – Tirra Lemoine

Rookie of the year - Hannah Fouillard

Players Choice – Mariah Graham

Sportsmanship – Mariah Graham

Coaches Choice – Jordyn Tibbatts

Unsung Hero – Courtney Marcinyshyn

Most Improved - Jalin Adams

After pictures were taken and the cake was cut, a year end photo presentation, created by captain Kailee Stewart and team photographer Jennifer Workman was enjoyed by everyone.  With the end of the evening, good byes and good lucks were shared by everyone and the curtain was closed on the 2012-2013 season.

The Yellowhead Chiefs would like to wish the best of luck to the players selected to attend the Hockey Manitoba Program of Excellence Spring Tounament, March 28th - 30th in Winnipeg.

•  Hannah Street
•  Kirsten Brown
•  Hannah Foulliard
•  Jalyn Elmes
•  Mallory Workman
•  Shayna Fluker
•  Jordyn Tibbatts
•  Tirra Lemoine
•  Sky Brown

Best of luck as well to the two members of the AAA Bantam Chiefs at the POE tournament..

• Sam Geekie
• Emma Coulter

The Spring Tournament is the first step in selecting Team Manitoba for 2013.  Veteran Chief Tirra Lemoine was selected for Team Manitoba last year.  Good luck to all the Chiefs at this years camp.

The Yellowhead Chiefs have finished sixth in the MFMHL with an 8 wins, 15 loses and 5 ties record.  The Chiefs will face the third place Winnipeg Avros in the first round of the playoffs with Game 1 set for Winnipeg at the Keith Bodley Arena on Saturday Feb 23rd at 11:50 am.  The two teams played five times during the season, including one exhibition game and 4 regular season games.  While the Chiefs were winless in those games, they were all closely contested, with the Chiefs best result in a 2 - 2 tie on January 2nd.  The Avros are a veteran team that play a strong physical game.  The Chiefs will rely on team speed and forechecking to keep the Avros in their end.  Special teams as always will be important and the Chiefs will have to stay out of the penalty box to compete.  The Chiefs would like to encourage fans to come out and support the team as they look to upset the Avros and move on in the MFMHL playoffs.  The Chiefs first playoff home game will be Sunday Feb 24th at 5 pm at the Shoal Lake Communiplex.  The remainder of the schedule is in the calendar on the website.

A Saturday afternoon home game against the Eastman Selects had huge impact on the final playoff positioning for both teams.  Eastman had defeated Central Plains on Friday night and the teams were tied for 5th place as they hit the ice at the Shoal Lake Communiplex.  Unfortunately the Chiefs habit of slow starts returned and the strong play from the last week was forgotten.   Eastman was the hungrier team in the first and scored two goals to take a 2 - 0 lead.  Out shot, out worked and out scored in the first had the Chiefs playing from behind and they responded with a much stronger second period, generating several good scoring chances.  The bad luck around the net continued as the Chiefs failed to put any goals on the board.  Eastman scored a power play goal and lead 3 - 0 in the third period.  Yellowhead controlled the play for most of the third but were unable to score.  Eastman took a late 4 minute penalty and with the goalie out, the Chiefs controlled the puck and actually put one behind the Eastman goalie, but the referee was out of the play and could not see the puck in the net.  Another missed call on a similar puck in the Eastman net and it was obviously not the Chiefs day.  Eastman held on for 3 - 0 victory to vault ahead of the Chiefs in the league standings.

For the second time in January, the Yellowhead Chiefs played the Westman Wildcats on a Wednesday night in Shoal Lake.   After two solid games in Winnipeg the previous weekend, the Chiefs were ready for their western Manitoba rivals as they out shot the visitors in a scoreless first period.  The veteran Wildcats team returned the favour in the second period, as they forechecked the Chiefs and scored two goals to take a 2 - 0 lead.  The Chiefs had generated some offence and had good scoring chances in the first and second.  The third was a very even period, as the teams exchanged chances.  The Chiefs continued to be unlucky as several good chances either hit the post or trickled wide of the net.  Westman added two more in the third for the final score of 4 - 0.

Wednesday January 9th saw the Westman Wildcats visit the Chiefs at the Shoal Lake Communiplex.  The western Manitoba rivals always have exciting games and the improving Chiefs team had one of their best efforts of the season.  Unfortunately, the young Yellowhead team gave the strong Wildcats too many power play opportunities and fell 3 - 0.

Sky Brown turned in a strong game, as Westman had 36 shots on net.  A huge positive for the Chiefs was generating 29 shots on the Westman goal, including some great chances on the power play themselves.  The Chiefs gave up two goals late in the first period and one mid way through the second period, but had many strong moments, including outshooting Westman in the third period while killing several penalties.