This winter the clubs in Winnipeg - Bushido and Neptunes - are trying something new; the Metro League for women and weekly inter club scrimmages for men.
The women are able to play a league due to the relative similarity between the young Cadet players who have fitness and developing skill and the older Open teams who have experience and only moderate fitness. There are four teams that play a round robin with weekly games and then a final right before the Provincial Championships in April.
There are two levels of play with the male teams - 16 & Under and 17 & Older. The Cadet Boys from both clubs play each other and Bushido Youth play the Neptune Open Men. The Bushido Boys are using a large roster of 15 players allowing some Bantams to join the action each week. This helps keep games close as the Neptunes also have many younger players they work through the games to keep learning at the forefront and ahead of results.
Scores from games on January 26 were;
Bushido Open Women 9 vs Neptunes Open Women 2
Bushido Youth Men 12 vs Neptune Open Men 5
Bushido Cadet Girls 4 vs Neptune Cadet Girls 1
Bushido Cadet Boys 10 vs Neptunes Cadet Boys 5
Next week the same male teams play, but likely with a few different players joining the line ups as there are some Neptune veterans who have yet to appear with the Open team. The women's games will be clubs playing each other as Bushido has our Cadet team playing the Open women and Neptunes Cadets play their Open.
I am looking forward to seeing Sarah Whitmore try to do what no Cadet Girls at last years Nationals could do - keep a lid on Breda Vosters explosive left arm.
Photo Credit www.BourneSportsPhotography.com
