Nearly half of Team Alberta’s U-18 women’s hockey team at the upcoming Canada Winter Games will have a local connection.
Eight players from the Edge School’s Mountaineers women’s team were named to the squad, earlier this month, for the event in Halifax from Feb. 11 to 27, 2011.
The 20-player roster includes Edge forwards Amy Helfrich, Erika Sowchuk and Bryanne Panchuk, who are all from Cochrane, as well as Calgary’s Taylor Sakundiak. They will be joined by defencemen Brittney Fouracres from Airdrie, Vaila Higson from Grande Prairie and Kelly Murray from Medicine Hat, as well as goaltender Courtney Vinet from Camrose.
“From our perspective, this is further proof that everything we’ve been doing in terms of building an elite program at Edge School is working,” said Mountaineers’ head coach Mario Amantea. “When they come here, they’re good players, but our objective is to put them in a situation where they become even better. It feels good that the work we’re doing is paying dividends. Eight Edge Mountaineers going to the Canada Winter Games as part of Team Alberta – we’ve got to be pretty proud of that.”
Sowchuk and Panchuk are tied for the Mountaineer points lead, with 19 apiece, after 18 games this season in the Junior Women’s Hockey League (JWHL). Vinet has a 2.09 goals-against average and one shutout in 11 JWHL appearances this season.
Helfrich, Sakundiak, Panchuk and Fouracres were also Team Alberta players last season during a fifth-place finish at the U-18 national championship in Surrey, B.C.
“The way we approach player development at the Edge School is quite unique,” Amantea said.
“We’re able to move players on to universities and colleges, as well as provincial and national programs. It’s the intensity of our practices on the ice, as well as our off-ice work with strength and conditioning. It’s nutrition, and the focus on mental toughness. All of those things that we do are wrapped up in the Edge environment.”
The Mountaineers (12W-3L-3T in the JWHL and 23W-7L-5T overall) sit alone atop the West Division with 27 points, six points clear of the Minnesota Thoroughbreds. The team’s first 2011 tournament is set for Vancouver from Jan. 7 to 9.
