U22 Western Prairie Jr. Klippers taking shape

By Jordan Parker

With their inaugural season fast approaching, the Girls U22 Western Prairie Jr. Klippers recruitment has begun.

Committee President Mike Cullen and many others are hard at work prepping for a big year for the new squad and league.

“We formed a sub-committee. We got six members, and recruitment staff are going. We just had a league AGM, and we have six teams,” he said.

Saskatoon, Regina, Lumsden, a Southwest team (comprised of Swift Current and Gull Lake), Outlook and Kindersley will all compete.

“We are just so excited. We have our Facebook and Instagram started. We’ll have a new website in a week for the league and the teams,” he said.

An online ‘Expression Of Interest’ is now available, and packages of information about the team are prepped to be sent. Things are moving along at a bright, optimistic ‘klip’ for the team.

“We want to name a coach next week as well. There’s a prominent Jr. A coach who showed interest, but we want it all confirmed before we announce,” he said.

“We just want to get things off to the races. We have the same goal we had when we started this – We want six good teams and a good product on the ice. We want to keep girls playing a few years longer.”

Cullen is pleased to see there’s been interest in the league and there have been plenty of forms submitted.

“The girls are just excited. In Regina, some have dropped out of CIS play because they want to do this before university hockey. We want to get those who aren’t doing university hockey, who took a year of school, or otherwise,” he said.

“We want to make this as feasible as possible for players. We will help them get to-and-from the rink as cost-efficiently as possible.”

One major discussion at the AGM was how to reduce travel time for those playing.

“We just talked a lot about this. Having things split into North and South divisions will help a lot. Our main games are in Kindersley, Outlook and Saskatoon. We have one road trip through the South of the province. But we will bus for a weekend and play three games,” he said.

“It’ll be easy for girls to attend games. We will make it so it won’t impact work or school. These players are 18-22 years old. They have commitments, and we want to give them balance and joy while playing competitive hockey.”

The form to express interest in joining the Western Prairie U22 Klippers is here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdfYNdD3-yErP5fOMgEV_9kaipVzi8GBqJN_qAzxYwOB7QMNA/viewform?pli=1