Off-season recruiting is nearly done for the Swift Current Innovation Federal Credit Union Wildcats.
They've signed 9 new players and 18 total for the 2025-26 Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey season.
A good chunk of those players come from the southwest.
"That's one thing that we really try to do is get that southwest kid," said Wildcats Head Coach Terry Pavely. "We kind of look at our areas from Rosetown down to someone over in Lafleche. I think right now we might have 14 out of the 18 kids we've signed from our area.
"That makes things easier for us recruiting-wise if kids in this area want to play here, and it helps recruiting down the road because they might have a sister or a cousin or a neighbor from their small town."
Some of the new local players added to the Wildcats include defender Piper Arntsen and forward Kapri Darby, who played for the Swift Current U15 AA Wildcats last season.
Artnsen was among the top-scoring defenders in the league with 34 points in 27 games.
"Just a workhorse," Pavely said. "She's just a kid who's really hard to play against. She'll defend really well and just competes shift in, shift out."
Darby was third on the Swift Current U15 AA team with 31 points in 26 games.
"She's a strong player," Pavely said. "She's really good along the wall. She'll win battles, get pucks out, be a good net presence, and around the net, she can snap that puck. She's got the offensive capabilities, but she's also got that kind of power forward type of play in her."
They join teammate Laynee Rondeau in making the jump to the U18 AAA Wildcats together. Rondeau had 40 goals and 24 assists to lead the U15 AA team in scoring.
The other new southwest talents were three skaters from the provincial champion Western Prairie Thunder who signed just after the regular season ended. Hayden Hilbig, Jalaa Moore Jagow, and Iralyn Calkins were also among the top scorers in the U15 AA league.
"Puck skills and offensive ability, that's what we're trying to really ramp up on our team," Pavely said. "You can see by the kids that we added. We got 4 kids who signed with us who are in the top 9 scores in the U15 AA league. They all have different skill sets, but good skill sets. We're really trying to find a little bit more offense, and I think you've kind of seen that through all the kids we brought in."
Another boost comes from a more experienced addition. The Wildcats signed 2008 born forward Ella Schenher.
The Weyburn product helped the Regina Rebels to a U18 AAA national championship as a rookie. After a lacrosse injury, she returned home to play U18 AA last season.
Schenher was the top scorer in the province at that level with 47 points in 26 games. She added 11 more in 8 playoff games as her team won a provincial title.
"She had a really strong camp with us," Pavely said. "Was very gifted with the puck. With the young kids we're bringing in and the offensive skill, she'd be just a good addition to our team. She's got a little bit of that winning pedigree the last two years to win a provincial championship in two different levels in two years in a row. Hopefully that can help our young kids."
With Jordyn Ottenbreit graduating, the Wildcats needed to add a goaltender to the mix. They signed Emily Klapak, one of the most promising young netminders in the province.
"She's a real good-sized goalie," Pavely noted. "She's athletic and backstopped her team to a provincial final. She really gave her team an opportunity to win... in pressure situations. She was composed and had a really good playoff run. We felt it was important to get a young goalie. We've got a grade 12 goalie (Ashley Vezeau) who was really solid. It really helps solidify our position for the next in net for the next three years."
Klapak had a 2.79 goals against average and 0.926 save percentage in the regular season. Those numbers improved to 2.52 and 0.934 on their playoff run.
The Wildcats rounded out their recruiting class with defender Rowyn Baptist out of Saskatoon. She was third on her U15 AA team with 24 points in 23 games.
"Skates well has potential to be offensive," Pavely said. "Offence just isn't from your forwards, it's defence who recognize when there could be an opportunity to jump in and make that rush. We want to defend, and that's still going to be our mindset, is that we defend first, but we also need players who want to get in the offensive zone, who can make plays. If we can get a good balance of that, there are opportunities for us to win a lot of hockey games."
Pavely noted there are still potentially a couple of spots left to fill before camp.