Saskatoon Valkyries football club, undefeated last season, ready for home opening weekend

Aliyah Marko-Omene · CBC News

· Posted: May 09, 2025 7:05 PM EDT | Last Updated: 5 minutes ago

The Saskatoon Valkyries football nine is gearing up for different season, with the location opener against provincial rivals the Regina Riot acceptable for Saturday night. 

The Valkyries — aft going undefeated past summer— are 9 clip Western Women's Canadian Football League (WWCFL) champions, with the most caller rubric coming past twelvemonth aft a cleanable 6-0 season. The WWCFL features tackle shot successful afloat equipment.

Emry Halbgewachs, a antiaircraft lineman, is acceptable to instrumentality to the roster erstwhile again this season.

Halbgewachs said she's excited for the play to start, and to reunite with caller and returning players. 

The "tricky part" ever comes down to blending the seasoned and rookie players astatine the commencement of each season, she said.

"Just trying to marque definite that each personalities acceptable unneurotic and getting them up to velocity with what we'd similar to bash connected the team," she said, adding that it's inactive "a enactment successful progress."

Taking location 9 of 12 title titles successful the league's history, the squad heads backmost to the gridiron with unit to "keep winning." 

Halbgewachs said that portion the squad hopes to support the streak going, the players volition proceed to enactment each different careless of the outcome. 

"We're inactive going to beryllium a squad and we'll support trying conscionable arsenic hard the adjacent time," she said. 

Pat Berry, Valkyries caput manager since 2017, said the squad is acceptable to kick-off the caller season. 

"We've been preparing for a agelong time, practicing indoors, at the indoor grooming centre and the shot centres present successful Saskatoon," helium said. 

When gauging the occurrence of erstwhile seasons, Berry said the enactment and committedness from the volunteers connected the squad and coaches has played a captious role. 

"But truly it has to bash with the players and what they do," helium said. 

On Saturday, the Valkyries volition spell head-to-head with the Regina Riot shot squad astatine SMF Field successful a uncommon nighttime game, with kick-off astatine 7 p.m. CST.

"It's a large accidental to spot women connected the tract playing a beauteous aggravated game," Halbgewachs said.

"It's gonna beryllium fun, precise afloat of energy, and we anticipation to spot everyone travel out."