The U15 and U18 Sharks hockey teams have all had successful seasons and are on the brink of playoffs (Submitted Photo/Nolan Horbach).

By Austin Mattes

U15/18 Sharks Hockey

Into the deep: Sharks prepare for playoffs

Feb 26, 2025 | 8:14 AM

It’s been nothing short of an exciting year for the U15 and U18 Sharks hockey teams and now after months of hard work and their regulars season coming to an end, they’ve earned their spots in the playoffs and are ready to make a mark in the post season.

North West U15 AA Sharks

The U15 AA Sharks finished off their season second overall in the North Division with a 17-6-3-1 league record for 38 points and earned themselves a bye in the first round of playoffs. They also got listed as the 10th best team in the country by myhockeyrankings.com, boasting an overall record on the season of 29-9-3, along with a couple tournament wins.

U15 Sharks Head Coach, Kim Kramer credits the team’s success to the compete level of the girls and said that he hopes it will carry into the playoffs.

“They’re a tight group, they push each other, they work hard, and they are very well balanced. They’ve been competing hard all year, so if they keep up the work ethic and the compete level and that combined with that willingness to win, hopefully it’ll push us for a deep playoff run,” he said.

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The team is currently being led by forward Brooke Weber, who leads the league in scoring with 63 goals and 32 assists for 95 points in just 27 games.

“She is an exceptional player, great off the ice, great player on the ice and just an excellent teammate and good in the room. We just overall have a strong vet core, and the young players have improved a lot too and they all work so well together,” said Kim.

The second round of playoffs for the Sharks will take place March 3-9 and their opponent will be determined based on the winners of the first round.

North West U18 AA Sharks

After coming off a provincial championship last season, the U18 AA Sharks had a solid finish to the 2024/25 regular season, ending off the campaign with 12-10-4-1 record for third place in the North Division.

Head Coach Brendan Kramer said that even though there were ups and downs during the season, he is confident and excited for the team going into the playoffs.

“We’ve had some ups and downs, and I know we’re sitting in third, but I feel it’s a good place to be in third. Looking at our scores throughout the season, they’ve all been relatively close so I know e can compete with any team, and I think playoffs is a whole new season and it should be exciting to get underway,” he said.

Despite winning the championship last year, Brendan said that they can’t look ahead and need to take things game by game if they want to see success.

“We’ll take it one step at a time, sometimes you get caught looking at the end of the line and get lost in between, so we just need to get that consistent effort and drive out of all 20 players on the team, whether they’re playing on special teams or regular shift, or they don’t see the ice as much, everybody’s got to do their job and compete,” Brendan said.

The Sharks will now take on the #6 North East Aces in a three games series in the first round of playoff with game one starting Wednesday, Feb. 26 at the Access Communications Centre at 7:15 p.m.

Battlefords U18 AAA Sharks

It’s been an historic season for the AAA Sharks as they are currently the number one team in Sask. Female U18 Hockey League and ranked as the number two team in the country with an overall record of 31-5-1. Now, with playoffs just around the corner, Head Coach Nolan Horbach said that he hopes the team continues to improve.

“We’ve done a lot of things well, like our goals against average has really been great. We’ve also got a lot of offensive threats, and I think we skate really well. We’ve got a lot of girls that can really shoot the puck, but ultimately if we’re willing to do what we need in our own end and keep getting better, I think we’ll be good for playoffs. It’s been a great season, and we are happy with where we are, but we still got room to grow.”

The big story on the team this season has been forward, Danika Dureau, who recently received a DI scholarship to Merrimack College and leads the league in points with 26 goals and 26 assists in 27 games.

On top of that, the team is also packed full of young talented players as well as a solid goalie tandem in Cypress Classen and Mackenzie Seth.

“There’s so many great stories on our team like our rookie defenseman, they’ve all done exceptionally well, our goaltending both by Mackenzie and Cypress and just the whole team, they continue to battle and give us games when we need them and to see these girls’ contribute on a night-to-night basis is pretty rewarding,” said Horbach.

The Sharks have already guaranteed a first-place playoff spot, and now only they have three games remaining in the regular season. Their next game is this Thursday, Feb. 27th against the Saskatoon Stars in Saskatoon at 7:30 p.m.

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Austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes