By Hockey Saskatchewan

REGINA, Sask. – The Saskatchewan Hockey Association (SHA) will be teaming up with the University of Regina Women’s Hockey Team to hold the 1st-ever Mandi Schwartz Challenge. This tournament will see Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Manitoba’s Provincial Under-18 Teams competing along with the Universities of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Regina.

In conjunction with the tournament, SHA will be hosting their annual U13 Female Fall Festival. The weekend for these young, aspiring females will also be held at the Cooperators Centre. The players will be taking part in a series of ice sessions with the key emphasis being on skill development; they will also participate in games during the weekend. These young players will be coached by some of SHA’s finest, along with different female players from Team Saskatchewan, U of R and U of S. With over 170 girls participating in the festival, this should be a great weekend for Female Hockey with lots of action around the rink!

The SHA and University of Regina Cougars (Women’s Hockey Team) have named the tournament after former Team Saskatchewan player Mandi Schwartz. Mandi was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia back in December of 2008. She entered remission in May of 2009 and headed back to Yale to continue her education and hockey in January of 2010. Mandi was re-diagnosed in April of 2010 and since has been battling with being in and out of remission. Recently, Mandi has been back in remission and is in Seattle waiting to undergo the transplant of the 2 vials of cord blood which are a 5/6 match for Mandi. She is in good spirits and staying positive.

SHA along with the University of Regina will be holding a silent auction throughout the course of the weekend with all funds raised from the auction going to Mandi and her family to help with some of the costs involved. There will be no charge for the games; however there will be a place to make donations if you so choose to do so.

For more information on Mandi and her progress you can visit the Yale Bulldogs website at http://www.yalebulldogs.com/mandi. You can also help by donating blood at your local blood donor clinic.

We look forward to seeing you around the rink on September 24th-26th, 2010, to take in the action!