By Peter Watts /

Female hockey in Winnipeg is showing signs of life, if the recent Festival for Girls Hockey in the city is any indication.

A town that has produced national team players like Delaney Collins, Sammi-Jo Small, and Jennifer Botterill continues to provide opportunities for young women to play the game.

Even speed skating star Cindy Klassen played the game until she switched to long track as a teenager.

Collins and Small were both in Winnipeg recently to attend the Girls Festival and to pass along their knowledge and experience to a new generation of young players.

Botterill had to pass on attending because she’s trying to help Canada win a gold medal in women’s hockey at the Olympic Games in Vancouver.

More than 280 young women took in the day-long clinic.

“The goal was to expose young women to the hockey opportunities in Winnipeg,” says Diane Woods, who runs the city’s minor hockey program.

“We’re seeing continued growth at the atom and peewee levels but it seems to have leveled off a bit at the midget level. So we put together a number of clinics for coaches, players, and officials as a way of trying to grow the sport. We are really pleased with the response.”

Next on the agenda is the Manitoba Winter Games, set for March 8 to 14 in Portage La Prairie. The girls’ competition will start the week and involve bantam players under the age of 16. The boys’ program will follow for players under the age of 14.

“We’ve changed the format a bit,” said Hockey Manitoba’s development director Bernie Reichardt. “We’ve gone to select teams for each of the regions in an effort to raise the level of competition. These teams will provide the players for next year’s Canada Winter Games in Halifax. The feeling is that we can produce stronger teams for the Canada Games and we hope we can move up to medal contention as a result.”

The changes have been pretty well received in the various zones across Manitoba. The competition in Portage will involve eight teams in each of the boys and girls divisions. The competitions are staggered because the town of 15,000 has to accommodate hundreds of youngsters in a variety of sports and there’s only so much accommodation available in the high school gymnasium and classrooms that will house the athletes.

“For many of these athletes, it’s their first taste of a multi-sport Games,” says Reichardt.  “We’re hoping that they enjoy the experience.”

Meantime, playoffs are about to get underway in minor hockey and the province continues its preparations to host two national championships in May. Brandon gets the Memorial Cup and Dauphin will stage the RBC Cup.

Those two clubs get in as the hosts but the Wheat Kings, in particular, are showing signs of being able to win the Western Hockey League title in their own right.

If they do, it will mean that the WHL’s western conference champions will get a trip to Manitoba as well.