U18 Feature Goaltender: Samantha Goodbranson

GDI Prairies would like to recognize one of Manitoba's Top Female U-18 Prospect - Sam Goodbrandson.

Sam was most recently selected by Hockey Manitoba to attend the Program of Excellence Top 40 Camp at the end of May. Heading into the selection camp she brings a work ethic that goes above and beyond what many expect from a goaltender.

Key areas to note from her game include:

- Has the ability to maintain balance on her feet and react as she goes down
- Is active outside of the net communicating with her defense and transitioning the puck up ice
- Strong stick usage on all low shots
- Competes down low by using a spread that covers all low areas of the net, covering from the ice up

The Under-18 players who have been selected to attend the Program of Excellence (POE) TOP-40 Camp, held May 26-29, 2011 in Winnipeg. The players selected to attend the POE TOP-40 Camp have advanced from the pool of 102 players who competed at the POE Spring Tournament which was held April 15-17, 2011 at Max Bell Centre in Winnipeg.

The POE TOP-40 Camp is the third phase of the Program of Excellence which is the selection process for the U-18 Team Manitoba roster that will compete at the 2011 National U-18 Women's Championships in Saguenay, Que this November.

For more information Click Here.

U18 Feature Goaltender: Samantha Goodbranson

Pushka Recieves George Allard Scholarship

The 97th annual Hockey Manitoba Awards Luncheon was held on May 7th.

GDI goaltender, Amanda Pushka, was the recipient of one of Hockey Manitoba's highest scholarships. The George Allard Scholarship.

Amanda played for both the AA Female Assiniboine Park Rangers and the Oak Park Raiders Highschool Hockey team. Having a successful season, Amanda won the Provincial Championship for Oak Park Highschool and was a finalist with the Rangers.

Along with competing on the ice, she was also the captain for the high school volleyball team. She is a member of the Outdoors Club and traveled to Guatemala with the Mission Team. She has spent time volunteering at Winnipeg Harvest, Siloam Mission and the Habitat for Humanity Restore. She also coaches youth basketball and softball. Looking to the future, Amanda sets her sights on attending the University of Manitoba to study Civil Engineering.

Pushka Recieves George Allard Scholarship

Pushka Shuts Out St. Marys in Championship Final

Oak Park beat St. Mary's Academy 2-0 in the CTV A -Division Final of the Winnipeg Women's High School Hockey championships.

GDI goaltender Amanada Pushka helped defend the net for the Oak Park Raiders and was the backbone that helped the team fight their way back from being down after game 1 to win leading to the next two games of the best of three series.

Pushka was a wall in the deciding two games as she allowed one goal in a tight 2-1 game two win, and recorded a shutout in the final game for the championship series victory. A standpoint in the series was the Raiders penalty kill as they were close to perfect allowing few goals against that allowed little momentum to sway to St. Mary's side.

As a high school graduate this year, Pushka also led the Assiniboine Park Rangers to the finals for a consecutive year in the AA Female Midget League. After training diligently through the past two years with GDI success followed after many hours of hardwork on the ice. Congrats again Amanda!

Pushka Shuts Out St. Marys in Championship Final