The regular season is winding down for the Selkirk Royals boys and girls hockey teams, which means the playoffs—the most significant time of the season—are just days away from puck drop. Both teams are entering with aspirations of winning a championship: the girls in Division 2 of the Manitoba Women’s High School Hockey League and the boys in the Platinum Promotions Division of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League.
With only a couple of regular-season games remaining for each team, the focus has shifted to improving their gameplay in preparation for what they hope will be long and memorable playoff runs.
The Selkirk Royals girls’ hockey team has achieved a strong balance of offense, defense, and goaltending throughout the season, thanks in part to effective coaching. With four games left in the regular season, they currently hold second place in the league with a 13-4-1 record, having scored more goals than any other team.
“We’ve been very consistent in terms of how we’ve been playing and that’s due to having a very strong core group of players,” said head coach Trevor Churchill. “We have a bunch of grade 12 veterans that lead us and play the way we want to play, which is fast and high energy. We try to suffocate the opponent and try to get lots of shots on net so that’s equaled into our success. It’s been an exciting year and the girls are having fun. We’re now focused on maintaining that second spot and maybe even climbing up.”
While their chances of challenging the Sanford Sabres for first place are based on the Sabres needing to lose and the Royals needing to win, the Royals will have an opportunity to hand the Sabres at least one loss when they meet Wednesday afternoon at Sanford Arena.
The Royals’s best offence and the Sabres’ best defence will make for an exciting, playoff-like match.
And with playoffs right around the corner, the opportunity to play meaningful games now is exactly what the Royals want.
“The last couple games we’ve been a little snake bitten and ran into some hot goaltenders so we need to make sure we’re not taking any teams lightly,” said Churchill. “We want to be playing our best hockey going into playoffs and making sure everyone’s healthy after running into the injury bug and having everyone coming back now. We also have three solid lines so we want them all playing right and putting in the effort every day.”
Those three solid lines, including one of the league’s best first lines, have also led to some league-wide recognition.
At Sunday’s MWHSHL All-Star Day, three Royals players—Serena Reeb, Liberty Aime, and Emily Beattie—were selected to participate in the Jets game.
Reeb and Aime have combined for 57 points this season, while Beattie has contributed six goals and six assists in just ten games as a defenseman, showcasing their importance to the team’s success and off-ice leadership.
Churchill also acknowledged the contributions of the rest of the team, particularly the eight grade 12 players who are aging out after this season.
“The core group of grade 12’s, they’ve done whatever they can to first of all get this team up and running and they’ve continued it. Whatever needs to be done, they’ve done it. We also had a really good crop of grade 10’s come in this year that when I started coaching I knew would be coming through so the combination of them have made a really strong unit.”
The Royals returned to action on Monday in Selkirk against the River East Kodiaks. Due to our press schedule, the score was not available at the time of reporting. Their next game is scheduled for Wednesday at 4 p.m. against the Sanford Sabres at Sanford Arena.
The Selkirk Royals boys’ hockey team’s regular season has had more ups and downs, but they, too, have shown signs of being a threat to opponents they might face in the playoffs.
So far, they’ve gritted their way to an 8-13-0-1 record, which brings them to ninth place in the WHSHL’s top division.
They’ve also improved as of late, winning three of their last six games. Now, with just two contests left before the playoffs start, the Royals want to make sure they lock up the ninth spot and head into the playoffs on a high note.
Their next two games are on Wednesday, February 5, against the Westwood Warriors at 4:15 p.m. at Keith Bodley Arena and Thursday, February 6, against the Sturgeon Heights Huskies at 4 p.m. at Selkirk Recreation Complex.
