West Northumberland Wild U11 Team to Compete for OWHL Championship Saturday; Also Qualify for OWHA Provincials 

By Jeff Gard/Today’s Northumberland

West Northumberland’s Quantrill Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac U11 B Wild team will compete for the Ontario Women’s Hockey League Southern Championship this Saturday morning in North York.

They will take on the Kincardine Kinucks at 8:15 a.m. at Chesswood Arena.

After placing second out of eight teams during the regular season, the Wild swept the Otonabee Wolverines from Keene in two games before claiming the East Division crown with a series victory over the Kingston Ice Wolves in three games.

West Northumberland then faced off against the Central Division winner Georgina Golden Hawks and Central North Division winner Orillia Hawks in a home-and-away series with the most points clinching victory. Tie-breaker rules favoured the Wild after they tied Orillia in points.

The Wild played nine games in three playoff rounds between March 1 and 29 to advance to the OWHL Southern Championship game.

In addition to the OWHL playoff games, the Wild were also competing to qualify for the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association provincial championships through a separate set of playdown games from March 1-12. During playdowns,the Wild faced Otonabee, the Ennismore Eagles and the Belleville Bearcats in another home-and-away series and qualified for the provincials after tie-breaker rules named them the winner of this series when they tied in points with Otonabee.

The OWHA Provincial Championships are scheduled for April 13-16 at various arenas in Toronto. The U11 B teams play at the Canlan-York arena, as well as the Westwood Arena in Etobicoke.

Wild U11 B players are Maelle Appleman, Mya Binkley, Haylee Brooking, Zara Caletti, Greta Coyle, Blythe Crowley, Isabella Gillard, Presley Giroux, Aliviah Harmon, Audrey Leismaster, Reese Lewis, Annemieke Loohuizen, Addley McCullough, Evelyn Semlitch, Blakely Simpson, Alia Smith and Madeline Walker.

The staff includes head coach Adele Appleman, assistant coach Chad Leismaster, trainers Ryan Binkley, Jeff Crowley, Hope Giroux and manager Kim Walters-Caletti.