As announced last week, Diamond Energy Female Midget AAA Wildcats captain Taylor Kirwan was selected to Team Canada's roster for the 2018 IIHF U18 Women's World Championship.

It was certainly good news on a day off from hockey, back working on the family farm.

"I was home in Gull Lake, I noticed I was getting a phone call from some Ontario number, and ran inside because I was out doing chores," Kirwan said. "I got the call and I was kind of still out of breath from running inside, but I was pretty shocked and it didn't sink in for a couple of days after that."

As is the case in rural Saskatchewan, word of the defenceman's news spread quickly through her hometown.

"Just walking in the rink, it felt pretty cool. Everybody was like 'Oh there's Tay, congrats Tay!' - you can't walk two steps without being congratulated and it's so exciting and such a great opportunity. It just gives you butterflies when everybody is so proud of you and everything."

Kirwan's selection to the Women's World Championship roster marks the first time a Diamond Energy Wildcats player has cracked the final cuts of the women's world junior team since their creation in 2006, news that also instilled pride in Wildcats head coach Terry Pavely:

With two league games, an exhibition tournament at Notre Dame and a recently-announced berth as one of 15 female teams at the Mac's Midget AAA World Invitational Tournament (December 26 - Jan 1) standing between Kirwan and the 2018 tournament, preparation is definitely on the blueliner's mind.

"I try not to think about it (the tournament itself) yet, I mean it's still quite a ways away - a month and a half," Kirwan said. "Just now, I'm really into making sure I get my workouts in, making sure I get the proper amount of sleep, eating good, and staying caught up on school and everything because I'll miss quite a bit from that."

Kirwan, who has 75 points (29 G, 46 A) in 120 career SFMAAAHL regular season and playoff games combined, will join Team Canada in Dmitrov, Russia for the tournament, which runs from January 6-13.