Prospective players for the Airdrie Lightning will have one more chance to prove they deserve to make the squad for the 2018-19 season – the AA midget girls hockey team is competing in the Firestarter tournament in Calgary, Sept. 21 to 23, before the roster for the upcoming campaign is finalized. The Lightning is coming off a solid 2017-18 season in the Alberta Female Hockey League’s (AFHL) Midget Elite league. With a 16-10 record, Airdrie finished in third place in the south division, against other AA midget teams from Calgary, Red Deer, Lethbridge and Okotoks. The team concluded its 2017-18 campaign by finishing fifth at the provincial tournament, with a 1-3 record. Airdrie will depend on the experience of the team’s returning players this season, as well as the energy from a new crop of midget hockey players – some of whom are joining the team from a bantam elite program in Olds, according to the Lightning’s new head coach, Jay Simpson. “I’ve seen some strong play out of a few of the girls who are returning,” he said. “By all accounts, our goaltending looks really solid, taking into consideration I haven’t seen them play against other girls. Based on the conditioning camp…we’ve got some pretty solid goaltending and some skilled forwards.” Simpson said two players to watch this season are 17-year-old forwards Emma Hoppins and Madison Black. Hoppins is entering her third year with the program. “I think we’re going to have a pretty good team,” said Hoppins, before taking to the ice for a tryout session Sept. 13. “The first-year players coming up look like they’re pretty strong. “Our defensive core is pretty good, our returning defensemen are doing well in preseason and are skating well. I’m looking forward to see how we play during the year.” While he aims for the team to remain competitive in the AFHL, Simpson said, his primary focus is on players’ long-term improvement, rather than simply results. “I think we’re going to take it game by game,” he said. “My goal is really player development. I was one of the architects and authors of the Airdrie Minor Hockey Fair Play Policy, so I’m a big proponent of fair play, which is a program developed to give players essentially equal ice time. “It really centers around player development so that all players develop in all situations. That’s a big component of how I coach.” The first round of tryouts was held last week, and the Lightning’s final roster will be determined after the Firestarter Tournament, according to Simpson. The roster will have plenty of time to gel before the season officially starts – Airdrie’s first game will take place Oct. 19, on the road in Red Deer, before the team’s home opener Oct. 26. “A lot of our core who played with us when I was [in my] first year, when the elite league formed in Alberta, we’re third-years now,” Hoppins said, adding many of the players aim to eventually play at the collegiate or junior level. “I think it’s exciting to see how far some of us have come since first year.”
