After an intense weekend, the Westman Wildcats have finalized their roster for the 2025/26 season, and coach Karissa Kirkup believes this group has the opportunity to do something special.
Final roster
"It's a very, very exciting time of year," Kirkup says with an excited smile. "It was a big weekend with practices and games, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, in Souris. We had 42 girls out, it was high competition, and I'm really proud of how everybody performed this weekend. Ultimately, we have a 2025/26 roster out of it, and I'm really excited about."
Heading into the year, Kirkup believes the group is going to be quite strong in all areas. "I'm very excited about this team, we have a lot of key pieces that are going to be really great to work with. I've coached a good percentage of these players before, over the past three or four years. It's amazing to see how hard they've worked over the summer, and how much they've developed over the last few years, as well. Others, I've only coached against in the last few seasons, so it's finally nice to join forces with them. There are some great players and great personalities that I'm looking forward to working with. We have great goaltending, our d-core is going to be very, very strong, and then forwards, we have lots of depth with a variety of skill sets, so it's going to be great."
Carving out an identity
When it comes to the identity of the club heading into the new year, Kirkup says it's a mix between what the coaches want established and the personalities of the team. "I have my ideas, and we're going to be crazy hard on them to outwork everybody, and I don't think that's going to be an issue based off what we saw this past weekend, and from the players that were chosen for this particular team and will represent the Westman Wildcats. We will kind of watch the next few practices, work with the leadership group as they look to guide us through our first few tournaments, then we'll go from there. We have 26 days until our first league game, that will happen near the end of September, but next week, we are hoping on a bus on Wednesday morning, we're going to Calgary for the Fire Starter Tournament, followed by the Central Palins Capitals Showcase, as well. There's going to be a lot to go through, the younger players will really dive into U18 hockey, and we'll figure it all out together."
Early coaching challenges
With the team made, Kirkup views the two upcoming tournaments as an opportunity to work with the group, build chemistry, and find the best ways for the group to be successful long term. "It's something we're working through right now. I think there are ups and downs over the course of the season where certain players are clicking, and there is natural chemistry that I've already seen through tryouts with a few players. We're the type of coaching staff that is trying to do the best for every single player that is on our team. As far as going to these tournaments, we're trying to showcase every individual player, as well as our team, so they can give themselves the best opportunity to be recruited by a post-secondary option somewhere in Canada, or the United States. I think the roster we have is very strong, and each and every one of the players has the potential to pursue something like that, at a variety of levels. It'll be exciting over the next couple of years. We'll have some sort of starting point in practice, we'll practice next Tuesday, and then we'll be off. I don't keep the lineup stagnant, by any means. It's very much based on who's working hard, who shows up to play game in, and game out, who puts in effort and who's coachable. We have some really great personalities, and I have nothing but positive vibes heading into this year."
Wildcats debut... again
Having played for the Westman Wildcats back in her playing days, Kirkup still gets chills when thinking about coming full circle, leading the team as the head coach. "I have a big smile on my face just thinking about it," she says with a laugh. "It's incredible. My dad was talking the other day, he coached the team from 2010 to 2012, and it's really great to be back in the region and with these great families. I'm so excited to be able to work with this great group of girls, and I can't wait to see what they can do with each other. They've worked very, very hard all summer, they deserve the opportunities they're about to get, and it's about to be a very busy time of year, but we're going to hit the ground running. It's going to be a lot of fun."