2016-17 and it has obviously become one of the strongest junior
leagues in Canada.
“In 2004, my daughter and I watching junior hockey in Stonewall,”
Kuppers explained. “She was going out with a junior hockey player
then and she said, ‘Dad why don’t we have a league like this?’ So I
ended up meeting with Randy Dalton and within a couple of weeks,
we had it up and running. That was right after the March break and
in June it was approved by Hockey Manitoba. It was serendipitous
the way it fell into place with rinks and officials and everything else.
I’d watched my daughter’s career since she was 11-years-old and we
knew there were a lot of good hockey players out there.
“The most important thing is the girls love it. We’re going to stay
with seven teams next year and the coaches really want to be able to
increase the age by a year. They really want to be able to strengthen
the quality of play. We’re also going to have another European trip.
This time to Slovakia, Prague and Germany. We leave Dec. 26 with
60 people and 26 players.
“We’re doing a lot of good things and we’re getting stronger. We
could not have had a better year.” n
2016-17 MWJHL AWARD WINNERS
Chris M. Benson Memorial Trophy/
Regular Season League Champions – Polar Ice
Lieutenant Governor’s IX Trophy/
Tournament Champions – Northern Stars
Provincial Championship Trophy – Silvertips
Anthony McLaughlin Memorial Bursaries
– Hope Anderson, Whitney Scott, Dylana Barnabe
and Sheyla Duncan
Manitoba Pork Council Scholarship
– Rachel Compsty
MWJHL Scholarships
– Serena Daniels, Jennifer Wray
Most Sportsmanlike Player – Kristy Vandepoele
Scoring Champion – Hope Anderson
Goaltender of the Year – Stephanie Caryk
Forward of the Year – Hope Anderson
Defenseman of the Year – Kenzie-Dawn Dearsley
Rookie of the Year
– Stefanie Leslie and Autumn DeGraeve (tie)
Mike’s Media Award – Carli Metcalf
Most Valuable Player – Natasha Esquivel
THE CHAMPIONS – SILVERTIPS
1. Sara Cusack
33. Stacey Shearer
2. Autumn DeGraeve
4. Serena Daniels
6. Carli Metcalf
7. Paige Lindell
8. Kendall Smith
9. Brooke-Lyn Riley
10. Bryn Schmidt
11. Kristy Vandepoele
12. Rebecca Thevenot
14. Hope Anderson
16. Ashley Ross
17. Taylor Boehlig
21. Jennifer Wray
2017 CHAMPIONS EDITION
GAME ON 111