Women's hockey has continually grown over the years. Young girls in small towns playing on boys hockey teams at early ages are now able to find success in the limelight. Locally 17-year-old Caitlin Dempsey of Heward, daughter to Joan and Bart Dempsey, and 16-year-old Paige Smith of Carlyle, daughter to Sandy and Jaime Smith, have been competing on the Weyburn Gold Wings, a team that just earned the championship title within the Saskatchewan Female Midget AAA Hockey League (SFMAAAHL).
Caitlin, having begun playing hockey at the age of five, she developed a quick love of the sport. First watching her dad, Bart, and older brother, Garrett, play she would later be encouraged to step on the ice, which led her to eventually try out for the Gold Wings.
"I just wanted to play at a more elite level than I was at and the Gold Wings are the closest AAA team to home, plus I knew they were a great team to be a part of," Caitlin explained.
Over the three years Caitlin has grown immensely and currently in her final season with the team she earned the title of captain, which coach of the Gold Wings, Chad Kish, was happy to bestow on the veteran player.
"She's been with the team for three years," Kish said. "She's the captain of the team and she's one of the league's power forwards. She's been very successful this season and is a hard worker, she can get down low and beat the defence with the puck."
"She's been key on the team as a leader as well. Caitlin has gotten some key goals this year and she is a tough player to play against."
This honour came with responsibility and Caitlin stepped up quickly, taking on a leadership role on the team without hesitation though it was a large responsibility.
"Being captain was truly an [honour] this year," Caitlin stated. "I think at the beginning of the season it added a little stress to my game, especially when we were on that losing skid. By the end of the year though, I felt confident wearing a letter to help lead the team into playoffs."
Paige also took to the ice at five-years-old. Paige was actually influenced by her younger sister, Raine. Raine was getting new equipment to get started in the sport which led to Paige decididing she too wanted to play.
This has been Paige's first year with the Gold Wings and she has found the opportunity to only be described as "life-changing." Billeting in Weyburn, away from home, while playing such competitive hockey while maintaining good grades in school can be difficult for many; but, Paige has enjoyed the experience immensely.
"This is her first year," Coach Kish said. "And for a lot of girls the first year is an eye opener for a lot of girls. Paige has just kept improving throughout the year and has become key to our offence."
"She just gets in there and somehow gets the job done."
Recently the pair contributed to the success of the Gold Wings bringing a championship win to the AAA team who captured the Fedoruk Cup against the Regina Rebels.
It was a long season, which saw the girls battle the seven other teams in the league throughout the year.
Caitlin and Paige describe the year as starting off a little shaky, but with hard work and determination the team grew together eventually finding their stride towards the end of the season as they found themselves on a winning streak entering the finals.
"This season was actually quite a season of improvements," Caitlin explained. "We started out the year a little shaky losing our first two games and having a bit of trouble."
"We progressively got better and better, however, around mid season we were quite inconsistent. We lost a couple of games to teams we should have easily beat, which marked our season low point."
Paige added: "We didn't do as well as we had hoped. We had hit a rut, but around Christmastime we just got going on winning streaks and throughout playoffs we were able to beat PA [Prince Albert] and last year this team [the Gold Wings] lost out to PA."
"So, after we won against them we saw what we could do, we just had to get Regina."
Caitlin, too, felt more confident in the final games against Regina than she had playing against Prince Albert.
"Going into the final I was quite confident in us," Caitlin said. "We always played great against Regina We ended the series off with Prince Albert strong with 5-0 and 5-2 wins, so we were playing good hockey. Honestly, I was more confident going into the series against Regina than I was going into round two against PA."
The league championship, however, was not the end of the story. The Gold Wings having clinched the Saskatchewan title moved onto compete in West Regionals against the Pembina Valley Hawks of Manitoba.
The West Regionals series was played in Weyburn on April 4, 5, and 6.
Prior to heading into the competition Caitlin explained she was confident in her team, while Paige was confident but slightly nervous.
"I believe we are ready and prepared to take on whatever they throw at us and that it will be a tough, fun series," Caitlin said.
Paige, confident as well, stated: "we played them at the very beginning of the year at a tournament in Manitoba and it was the first game of the tournament we lost by quite a bit but we had bus legs, so I'm thinking that's it. I'm thinking we've come a long ways and we've improved a lot. I'm confident in us, but I'm still a little nervous."
This past weekend, April 4 to April 6, saw the Gold Wings battle the Hawks in a three game series. They lost the initial game on Friday night to the Hawks in a tight score of 3 to 2.
The next two games would see the Gold Wings fight hard and come out on top with a score of 4 to 1, which meant the two teams would be headed into a third match that would determine whether they would move on to the Esso Cup.
Taking the ice on Sunday the Gold Wings took an early lead in the first period with a score of 3 to 0. Continuing to play their game throughout the remainder of the match the Gold Wings would take the win and earn their title as West Regional champions.
They will now be moving on to play in the Esso Cup which will be hosted in Stoney Creek/Hamilton, ON, from April 20 to 26.
The future for young local female hockey players remains strong as Caitlin will be attending the University of Regina in the fall to take Pre-Pharmacy on a hockey scholarship.
"My goals are just to continue playing at the university level and continue having fun," Caitlin explained of her future.
"[T]his season, and actually all three of my seasons with the Gold Wings, were unforgettable and I never regretted the decision to play with Weyburn. since I am old and have to retire from the team I encourage all young girls to attend their camps and strive to play with the Gold Wings! It was truly a great experience."
One of the team's up and comers includes Paige's younger sister, Raine, who has played as a reserve player this year.
"She's still in grade eight and she fits right in right now for her role," Coach Kish said. "She gets sporadic playing time, [but] every time we've called upon her she's done her job. She was on for a full shift once, because of I think an injury, and she scored a goal and keep up to the play, which is impressive for a grade eight to do."
