It has long been said that you can’t win a championship without a great goaltender.
Well, there is no doubt that the Manitoba Women’s Junior Hockey League champion Silvertips had a great goaltender. In fact, the play of Cortney Marko was very likely the reason the ‘Tips had a season to remember.
Marko, the regular season Most Valuable Player, put up some eye-popping numbers in the playoffs. A heavy equipment operator with Sigfusson-Northern who missed a number of games this season because she was working on a construction project in Northwestern Ontario, did much of the heavy lifting for the ‘Tips as she finished the playoffs with a record of 6-1, a goals-against average of 1.40 and a save percentage of .947. She allowed only 10 goals in seven games on 189 shots.
“Cortney was massive for our team in the playoffs,” said her head coach Ryan Hrankowski. “But, of course, she was massive all year. During the regular season, because she was away working, she only played 10 games, but went 9-1-0 with a save percentage of .965 and an awesome goals-against average of 0.90. The confidence the team has when she’s in the net is high anyway, but during the playoffs, she was dialed in and focused. It was her last year in the Junior League and she was huge for us. There isn’t much more you can say when a goalie has a GAA below 1.00.”
Without question, Marko and her teammate, defender Amelia Martin, not only led the Silvertips to the provincial title in 2023, but also dominated the announcements at the MWJHL’s final awards celebration.
Marko was the regular season MVP and Top Goaltender while Martin was the playoff MVP and the regular season’s Top Defenceman. When you include Rookie of the Year Brooke Wadge of the ‘Tips into that award-winning mix, it’s no wonder the Silvertips won both the league championship and the provincial crown.
Marko, who aged out of the MWJHL this year, has had an exceptional hockey experience.
She started playing ringette in St. James when she was four, and then played both ringette and girls’ hockey when she was seven. She played goal for a year and then went back to being a player. However, after a move to Stonewall at age nine, she was a player for half a year and then halfway through that first season, switched to goal. She’s been a goalie ever since. She played two seasons of Peewee when she moved to Stonewall, two years of AAA U16, two years of AA U18 and then came to the MWJHL in 2018 with the Gray Owls. She played for the Gray Owls, then Polar Ice and joined the Silvertips in 2021.
And there is nothing she likes better than meaningful playoff hockey.
“I like the adrenaline,” she said a few seasons ago. “I find I play better in a high-pressure situation. Like during playoffs when the games really mean something, I find I play to my highest potential. I think it’s the excitement of being the last one there.”
Martin, meanwhile, was the unquestionable team leader for the Silvertips throughout the season and the playoffs. In fact, according to Hrankowski, Martin had a superb postseason. Not only did she score the golden goal in the shootout in Game 5 of the final, but she also scored a winner in Game 2 of the final with just three seconds remaining in regulation time. During the regular season, she tied for 10th in league scoring with five goals and 23 points in 32 games.
“Amelia, our captain, is by far the best player in our league,” said the coach. “She was a dominant player all season and throughout the playoffs and more importantly, she’s a great teammate.”
The third Silvertips’ individual award winner was 2022-23 Rookie of the Year Brooke Wadge. Wadge had a tremendous freshman season in the MWJHL, finishing in the Top 20 in scoring with 10 goals and 20 points in 29 games.
A 19-year-old University of Manitoba student, Wadge and her twin brother started playing hockey together. She played boys’ hockey until she was 12 and then she decided to switch exclusively to girls’ hockey. However, at the time, there was no girls’ hockey in her hometown of Stonewall.
“All of my friends played ringette and I decided to play ringette for a year and I hated it,” she said with a laugh. “That’s when my friends and I decided to make a hockey team. It’s still a team today in Stonewall. I then played Interlake AAA for a year, then spent a year at the RINK Hockey Academy, then went back to Interlake for grades 11 and 12 and got drafted by the Silvertips this year. It’s been a great year.”
To be fair, the Silvertips didn’t win all the major individual awards this year.
University of Manitoba science student Jillian Henry of the Manitoba Blizzard won the Point Leader trophy while Taylor Wuirch-Coombs of the Western Predators was the league’s Best Forward and Emerson McAuley of the Preds was the Most Sportsmanlike Player.
Henry, who has played five seasons in the MWJHL (including the suspended COVID year of 2020-21) has long been one of the MWJHL’s top players and this past season, had 14 goals and 29 points in 22 games.
She has been playing hockey since she was seven and started out playing boys’ hockey in Gimli with the Vikings. In Grade 5, she switched to girls’ hockey with the Interlake Roadrunners and when she got to middle school, she was playing with the AAA Interlake Ice. Next came the U18 AAA Interlake Lightning and then the MWJHL’s Blizzard.
Wuirch-Coombs, who finished the regular season with 19 goals and 27 points in 27 games, was named the MWJHL’s Top Forward.
Wuirch-Coombs, who is also an outstanding softball player, didn’t start playing hockey until she was in the fifth grade. Not many 11-year-olds blossom quickly into top players, but Wuirch-Coombs did because she had the skating ability developed after a couple of seasons of ringette.
“It was kind of late but I had played ringette so I was a fairly strong skater on my team, the Springfield Ice Hawks, right from my first year,” said the 21-year-old University of Manitoba student. “We ended up winning provincials that year so the next year I moved into the city and tried out for the Saints AA program. I ended up making it and played Saints AA for the next four years.”
“That’s when I heard about AAA hockey,” she added. “I didn’t realize girls could play AAA, so I looked into it and tried out for the Avros. I made the team that year and played with the Avros for the next three years.”
Last, but certainly not least, the MWJHL’s Most Sportsmanlike Player was 19-year-old McAuley of the Western Predators.
Another top player from Stonewall and a graduate of the MFHL U18 AAA’s Interlake Lightning, McAuley entered the league in 2021 as an AP with the Gray Owls. That same year, she was captain of the Lightning.
“I don’t think she had a penalty minute all year,” said the Preds head coach Ashton Liskie. “She was a rookie this year and was just great to coach. She always has a smile on her face and is very coachable. She’s always willing to try new things and, hey, she’s a centre, maybe the Jets could use her. She’s really good in the faceoff circle and she’s very responsible on both ends of the ice. She’s just a great person, a pleasure to coach last season and a very deserving winner of the Most Sportsmanlike Player Award.”
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