The Westman Wildcats U14 female hockey club just completed a successful weekend in Minneapolis by winning gold in the tournament’s top Tier division in the Under 14 age group.

The Wildcats posted a 5 – 0 record against teams from Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota with their last gold medal win coming against the Minneapolis-based Minnesota Blades.

The Wildcats are comprised of many of the province’s top 13 and 14-year-old bantam aged players that come from as far away as three hours from all parts of Manitoba to play on the Wildcats. The team is based out of Brandon.

The Wildcats handily won their first game against the Minnesota Mavericks 13 – 0. Scoring for the ‘Cats were Lauryn Keen (3 – Manitou), Kelsey Saelens (3 – Winnipeg), Brooklyn Kallusky (2 – Grandview), Rikki Meilleur (2 – Ste. Adolphe), Cassidy Carels (Bruxelles) and Ashleigh Brykaliuk (Brandon).

The next opponents for the ‘Cats were the Grizzly Gold. The Wildcats outscored their opponents 6 – 0 with goals coming from Carels (3), Meilleur (2) and Keen potting a single tally.

The Wildcats then managed to blank the Wisconsin Jr. Badgers 4 – 0. Goals came from Keen (2), Brykaliuk and Kallusky. Brittni Mowat (Glenboro) recorded her third straight shutout of the weekend by stopping 14 shots.

The Minnkota Wildcats also fell to the ‘Cats by losing 5 – 0. Meilleur tallied two while singles went to Saelens, Keen and Brykaliuk.

This last win put the highly potent Wildcats into Sunday’s Championship final against the other pool’s top team – the Minnesota Blades. The ‘Cats outscored their opponent 4 – 1 in the final two periods to capture the gold.

Scorers for the Wildcats were Brykaliuk (2), Meilleur and Jordan Robertson (Treherne).

Mowat had been looking to achieve her fifth straight shutout but a bouncing puck that was partially screened managed to find the back of the net just six minutes from the end of the game. With her performance, Mowat received the tournament’s MVP award.