A Milestone Season For U18 Mavericks

By Robert Thomas

They say in sports it all comes down to numbers game. Such can be said about the Mavericks U18 and U15 teams this season.

On paper, because of the low numbers of girls playing here locally, there should be no Moose Jaw U15 Mavericks team. But then again given the numbers there should be no Milestone U18 Flyers team this year as well. But they both exist.

Believe it or not both are connected.

Moose Jaw’s Nikita Halyk suited up as a Milestone Flyer - MJ Independent photo

With players graduating from the Under 18 A age bracket, returning to play on boy’s teams, exiting hockey for other sports or going on to play U18 AAA hockey this season it left the Mavericks program without enough players to suit up a midget team.

The Mavericks program was facing a numbers crunch - players wanting to play but no team to assign them to.

For Nikita Halyk, Courtney Botterill, Ember DuSomme and Taryn Sandbeck it seemingly left them with no team to play for in the 2020/2021 campaign.

That is until opportunity came knocking.

This season all four play out of Milestone - one of the best rinks in the province for a community under 1,000 people.

Taryn Sandbeck has been playing her stay at home defense this season with the Milestone Flyers in front of goaltender Kamrie Kaufmann - MJ Independent photo

The same holds true for the U15 Mavericks team, The low numbers should mean no there is no team this year.

But there is a team because the girls who would have normally played out of Milestone this season play out of Moose Jaw.

By both groups coming together there are enough girls to have a bantam team just as with the midget level.

“We were going to move our bantam players up and play the same team we did last year but the SHA (Saskatchewan Hockey Association) would not allow us to due to the COVID restrictions,” Shane Kaufmann head coach of the Milestone Flyers said.

“It looked like we were not going to have a team,” Kaufmann, said “Then we asked the girls from Moose Jaw to come and play here…the same happened with the bantams they now play there (Moose Jaw).”

Former Maverick Courtney Botterill as a member of the Milestone Flyers - MJ Independent photo

Meshing the players together to form a team has been relatively easy.

“It was pretty easy. After the first couple of practices they started to talk amongst one another and everybody fit in…it is like they have been here forever.”

Not only does the Moose Jaw quartet bring the needed players to make the team possible but they bring something added to the Milestone team - U18 playing experience. All of the players from Milestone are in their rookie year at the U18 level.

“They have more experience than the girls here and they give the other other girls good advice on the ice and on the bench…it helps a lot,” Kaufmann said.

Ember DuSomme, a member of the Milestone Flyers, fights for the puck against two Southwest Cyclones defenders - MJ Independent photo

Botterill, Halyk, Sandbeck and DuSomme played last season as members of the Moose Jaw U18 Mavericks.

At the present time DuSomme is the Flyers scoring leader with three goals and four assists followed by Halyk with three goals and one assist.

“It is good to see that everybody can get along so well when they have to make it work…at the end of the day the important thing is the kids get to play hockey.”

Despite how well the team has meshed Kaufmann said COVID - 19 has effected his coaching style in the fact people are not allowed to linger at the rink as in the past and he has not had the opportunity to speak to the players and parents as much as he would usually do.

As far as the season goes the Milestone team is tied with three other teams for fifth place in the U18 A division of the Saskatchewan Female Hockey League.

Courtney Botterill (right) and Ember DuSomme fight for the puck against the Southwest Cyclones - MJ Independent photo