The Penhold Amazons are true warriors on the ice.
Since their entry into the Alberta Junior Female Hockey League (AJFHL) in the 2008-2009 season, they won the 2010-2011 provincial championships and placed second in 2012-2013. This season they placed third and are looking towards a solid playoff run.
“We start playoffs the first weekend of March, tackling the Calgary Warriors who placed second in the south division,” said Tracy Lieper, Amazons general manager. “Our three-game series will be in Calgary, Red Deer, and Calgary. If we win those, we play the winner of the first- and fourth-place team series. That would be either the Lethbridge Eagles who were first or the Calgary Titans who placed fourth in league play.”
She added that the winner of the south division would play the north division winner towards the end of March. They have been there before, winning the south division twice to date.
“The present Amazons are a group of girls from Red Deer, Innisfail, Elnora, Ponoka and Lacombe,” said Lieper. “Locally, we have Cassanda Kirkham of Innisfail on defence, and fast forwards Charissa Kadar and Allie Silbernagel from Elnora.”
Lieper said the team plays in a technically non-contact league, but there is a certain amount of elbowing and the referees do not call rough stuff that goes on.
This is not the first Amazons team to play in Central Alberta said Lieper. In the 1920s and '30s women's hockey had begun to expand and it became highly organized. There were senior and intermediate divisions by the early 1930s.
The Amazons won the Coffey Memorial Cup in 1933 and 1934, then went to nationals and won the Canadian championship in 1935. During the late '30s the team disappeared only to be reborn as the Central Alberta Amazons 70-plus years later, playing out of the Penhold Multiplex instead of Red Deer.
“We have tried to involve the community as much as possible in our team,” added Lieper. “The senior hockey hounds help us with the box office and our 50-50 draw every game. Our volunteer pool is large and we give back to Penhold at every opportunity.
“This is going to be an exciting playoff run and we hope to hoist the provincial cup one more time,” said Lieper.
