Cougars head coach Sarah Hodges.

The University of Regina Cougars Women's Hockey team will be in the Friendly City over the weekend as they host a clinic with female minor hockey players and go through some team building exercises before the start of their season next month.

"We did a little session for minor hockey in Moose Jaw last year with some of our players and it went really well and they asked us to do it again," explained Sarah Hodges, the Cougars head coach.  "We were looking to do something where we could do some team building and we thought why not bring everybody out and do it around that minor hockey session.

"We're using it to get everyone on the same page team-wise, but also tactically.  Once we get into school it's hard to get everybody together and on the same track, so this is the best weekend for us to get going on it."

The team will in town for three busy days according to Hodges, "We're out at 15 Wing Moose Jaw on Friday, then on Saturday, we've got a practice; the minor hockey session; we're doing some class room sessions; and then we've got the game against NAIT, which I think the girls are really looking forward to."

After getting their first game action on Saturday night, the team will compete against each other in a fun triathlon on Sunday.

However, the main point of the weekend is to show the female hockey players in Moose Jaw what it takes to get to the next level -- and that there is a next level -- which is something Hodges says just wasn't around when she was growing up.

"A lot of (players) know that they want to go to the CIS, or they want to play university hockey, or they want play on the National team, but if you never see what that level is than you don't really know how hard, or what things are that you have to improve on to get there, so I think it's really important for the girls to see where they can go with it, but also what's involved in getting to that level."

All the on-ice sessions and the exhibition game against NAIT will be held out in Caronport at the Barkman Arena.  The game goes on Saturday night at 7:00pm.