How We Got Here

For many of the players on the team, the process to be a part of Team Manitoba started over a year ago with each player attending one of 5 regional try out camps throughout the province in early February. From there the top 136 players were selected to attend the Program of Excellence Spring Evaluation tournament in April at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg. The players were split onto eight teams and competed in a tournament format all vying for one of 40 spots in the Summer Camp.

The Coaching Staff and Evaluators selected a list of 4 goalies, 12 defensemen and 24 forwards from the tournament to attend the Summer Evaluation Camp in Brandon in late June. It was a very competitive and grueling process for all of the athletes involved as they fought to be a part of the evaluation roster. Some tough decisions were made as the staff whittled the list down to 26 players.

The 26 player Evaluation Roster then took part in two tournaments in late September and early October. The first tournament was the University of Manitoba Bison Pre-Season Invitational. The team opened with a loss to the Shattuck St. Mary's Sabres before following that up with victories over Team Saskatchewan and the University of Manitoba to earn a rematch in the Championship final against Shattuck. The tone in the rematch was quite different with Team Manitoba ultimately avenging their earlier loss with a 4-3 overtime victory.

The following weekend the team headed down to Grand Forks, North Dakota for the University of North Dakota Sioux-per Series. This was the final opportunity for players to make an impression on the coaching staff and some nervous performances early on led to Team Manitoba dropping their first two games before steadying the ship and finishing off with three straight victories.

Following the conclusion of the tournament the coaching staff selected the final 20 player roster. The team has gotten together over the past few months to practice as well as played a pair of exhibition games. The team posted a dominant victory over the Notre Dame Hounds as well as playing an excellent game against the Winnipeg Bantam AAA Sharks, losing by a 3-0 margin.

The final preparations for the team take place next Thursday and Friday, March 1st and 2nd as they practice in Winnipeg before flying out to Whitehorse.

You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take. - Wayne Gretzky