The AAA Sharks play game one of the semi-finals this Saturday, March 15 at the Battlefords Arena with puck drop at 5:00 p.m. (Byron Hildebrand/Facebook).

By Austin Mattes

AAA Sharks

‘We’re excited and ready to go’: Sharks prepared for playoffs following historic regular season

Mar 15, 2025 | 8:00 AM

From multiple tournament wins to best in the league and a national ranking, the U18 Battlefords AAA Sharks are now getting prepared for the semi-finals this weekend after earning a bye in the first round of the playoffs.

The Sharks ended the regular season in the Saskatchewan Female U18 AAA Hockey League with a 23-3-2-2 record (W-L-OTW-OTL), giving them first place in the league for the first time ever.

Now, going into the playoffs, Sharks head coach Nolan Horbach gave credit to the girls for the success throughout the regular season.

“I think it started as a bunch of players that really wanted to be here and be part of what we were building and that just kind of took off. The girls started to believe that if we stick to the process that we’re working on, good things will happen. We never focused on just wins, it was all about getting better and learning how to play the game, which has been good for us. We’re excited and ready to go,” he said.

The Sharks will be taking on the Notre Dame Hounds in a best three-games series that starts this weekend, with the winner advancing to the finals. The Hounds finished the regular season in seventh place with an 8-17-2-3 record and only won one game against the Sharks in their five matchups, coming back on Oct. 6 in overtime.

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Despite their winning record against the Hounds, Horbach said they expect a good matchup against them.

“Definitely their strength I would say is they got some good defensemen, and then we’ll have to really work hard to beat their goalie. They also just work hard, like all the teams in our league do, so it’s a good matchup for us,” he said.

Horbach added that for the Sharks, their focus will be on the back end.

“One of the things that we really worked on all year and we kind of just revisited is our play away from the puck. We are very proud of our girls from the defensive side, that is something they’ll never stop learning but just being able to shut down teams, which takes a huge commitment to do so, we just got to tighten up some things there,” said Horbach.

Apart from getting a bye in the playoffs, another big accomplishment for the Sharks is the number of university and college commitments by the players on the team.

Danika Dureau was the first, committing to Merrimack College(NCAA DI) back in November, but since then Anneka Aspaas has committed to the Rochester Institute of Technology (NCAA DI), Ayden Kehrig has committed to Mount Royal University (USports), Sarah McNabb committed to the University of Alberta (USports), Sophie Brecht and Maggie Rauckman both committed to the University of British Columbia (USports), and Cambree Legge also committed to the University of Saskatchewan (USports).

The Sharks first game of the semi-final series is this Saturday, March 15 at the Battlefords Arena with puck drop at 5:00 p.m.

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Austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes