Northern Bears getting familiar with new home following offseason changes

Head coach Steve Young said the new dressing room is important to management as the players now have their own personal space, something they lacked at the Art Hauser Centre.

“It’s very important that the girls have their own place they can call home, and that’s why we moved to the Leisure Centre. We modified the dressing room a bit to better suit their needs, and I think everybody’s excited about that.”

The move also eliminates the risk of double-booking ice times at the Art Hauser Centre, as they shared the arena with the Prince Albert Raiders, the AAA Mintos and the speeding skating club.

Young added that the team has already been practicing in their new digs ahead of their first games next week. The team is off to Calgary for the annual Firestarter Tournament, which features 12 of the best AAA teams from across Western Canada.

“We’ll have a weekend here to rest a bit and then a couple of practices,” he said. “That’s always a good tournament to start with. It gets your team together on the road right away, so the girls have to get used to that.”

While the vets know what that experience is like, the rookies will be getting their first taste of AAA travel. That includes eight new faces to the Black and Orange. The club picked up forwards Ryker Slabaida, Amelia Bernier, Riley Merz, Jayce Miazga and Meeya Tait-Sjogren, and defenceman Bria Ludwig, along with a brand-new goaltending tandem in Tess Kelly and Kailyn Coulter.

Coulter is one year older than Kelly, and Young said that was intentional when looking at goaltenders to sign.

“In the last couple of years, we’ve lost both our goalies at the same time, [and] you always want to make sure they’re different ages. We scouted these two in Tess and Kailyn [and] they’re capable of coming in and doing the job that we need them to do to have some success.”

The team also added a familiar face to their coaching staff with the return of Paige Dawson.

Dawson, who hails from Prince Albert, previously played for the Bears from 2018-2022, appearing in 90 career games and netting 21 points (10G-11A). She also represented P.A. during the 2022 Esso Cup in Okotoks, Alta., where she registered two assists in five games.

After graduating from the Bears, she attended Missouri’s Maryville University where she spent three years with the Saints, scoring 20 points (6G-14A) playing in 80 career games in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA).

“I think it’s important that someone has some familiarity with the organization and the team,” said Young. “Paige is from Prince Albert here, she played with the Bears and moved on and played some college hockey. So all those things add up that we’re looking forward to Paige helping this organization move forward.”

Following the Calgary Firestarter tournament, which runs Sept. 10-13, the team will open the new Sask. Female U18 AAA Hockey League (SFU18AAAHL) season in their new home against the Weyburn Gold Wings. The Bears will host Weyburn for a doubleheader with the season opener slated for Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. Game two will be played a day later on Sept. 27 at 1 p.m.

A full season schedule can be found by clicking here.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

by Logan Lehmann

Northern Bears getting familiar with new home following offseason changes

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