Westman Wildcats coach Karissa Kirkup, was named the BFL Women in Coaching Award, the national competitive winner, and on top of that, she's looking forward to tryouts and camp, which is right around the corner.
Kirkup grew up playing minor hockey in Portage la Prairie before her family moved to Virden for high school.
From there, she would play U18 with the Wildcats of the Manitoba Female Hockey League before moving on to a successful career with the U of M Bisons.
Along with coaching, she is a Grade 6 teacher and is working on a master’s degree in education.
The award goes to...
Earning the Hockey Canada award came as a surprise to Kirkup and wasn't something she expected.
"I was honoured to receive the award," she said with a humble smile. "It means a lot to me. I think that I've been fortunate to be surrounded by some really, really great people that I've had the opportunity to work with. Since my coaching career has started, I've done a lot of learning, spent a lot of time, similar to a lot of coaches from this area, and across the country, as well. It was unexpected, but a huge honour and privilege to receive that."
Celebrating coaches remains important
For Hockey Canada to honour coaches, Kirkup is a believer that there needs to be more of that for both men and women behind the bench. "I think it's important, and it's special to acknowledge good coaches in general.
Coaches in general spend hours and hours of their time volunteering, and doing the best that they can to consistently improve, and provide good lesson planning, good drills, and good life lessons to youth in our province. I think that over time, there's been a huge growth in women in coaching, as well as women and girls playing hockey, as well.
It's important to acknowledge women in coaching, but there's been so many great women that I've had a chance to look up to and learn from in the game of hockey. It's a super exciting time.
Hockey season approaching quickly
In the 2025-26 season, Kirkup is moving from a team in Brandon to the Wildcats, and prep work is already well under way, while still soaking in some summer days.
"As soon as August long weekend hits, it seems like tryouts are right around the corner. There are quite a few months between the end of one season, and going into the next. I don't like to procrastinate, so I like to chip away at things over time. I'm a teacher, so I do have some time off in the summer to focus, and spend some time preparing and organizing things that we as a coaching staff want to do and get done. I'm excited, I've been seeing the updated registrations leading into tryouts. The tryouts for the Westman Wildcats are August 29-31, and then we're off to Calgary for a tournament right away, then the league starts, and we're right back into the flow of hockey season. I'm excited to get going again."
Team identity will come with time
As she prepares for her first season behind the bench of the Wildcats, Kirkup is balancing between putting an identity on her club, while also being open to how things to once tryouts and camp get rolling.
"I think that since I began coaching, it's been a creation of different programs, and I've had the opportunity to create that culture since the programs started. This time around, the Wildcats have been around, they have a storied history of great players, coaches and more. It's slightly different, but I think with a new coaching staff, a great core group of players, it's an opportunity to continue that never be satisfied motto that the Westman Wildcats have. We want to build on that culture. We're going to work hard, have a blue collar mentality. As a player, I fell in love with it and I'm excited to dive back in."
Fans encouraged to come watch tryouts
Kirkup says the community support means the world, and that fans in the stands for tryouts would be special.
"I think that would be great if there were some support for the players right off the bat. August 29-31, there will be one to two ice sessions per day. Final cuts will be on that Sunday. Tryouts are going to be in Souris, with practices happening in Souris throughout September, then we'll move to Hartney when the ice comes in. We're just waiting on the league schedule, and we'll go from there."
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