Goaltending was just something Kierra Minto fell into, when she agreed to fill a vacant goalie's spot on her Atom hockey team.

Several years later, Minto is among those representing Saskatchewan at the 2003 Canada Winter Games, Feb. 22-March 9, as one of two goaltenders on the provincial women's hockey team.

This 16-year-old Milestone native has been playing hockey for 12 years, practically her entire life. Her family is big into the sport; she has two brothers playing hockey, and her mother was also a goaltender, making Minto a second-generation netminder.

Minto plays a variety of sports, including volleyball, swimming and rollerblading; it can't be argued, however, that hockey is her main obsession.

Minto said she likes the sport because it's fun and challenging, though she became a goaltender in her Peewee year more by accident than by design.

"I really enjoyed it, so I stuck with it," she said.

Minto has had a few noteworthy accomplishments in her hockey career: she was a member of Milestone's Peewee Southeast League Championship team during the 1999-2000 team, and more recently was a member of the 2000-2001 Regina Female Bantam City Championship team.

The Canada Winter Games, however, are by far the biggest event she has participated in.

Team Saskatchewan enters the Games as one of the pre-tournament favourites; in two exhibition matches against Alberta and Manitoba, Kierra said they won both convincingly.

It's possible this Team Saskatchewan may go farther than the 1999 team, which finished fourth after a heart-breaking triple-overtime loss to Alberta in the bronze medal match. The only strike against the team may be the relatively young age of most of its members.

Minto herself is cautiously optimistic about their chances. "I think we could come back with a medal," she said, adding, "Ontario and those big cities are going to be tough."

Given that female hockey is still a relatively small circle in the sports world, Minto knows and has played with most of the girls on Team Saskatchewan. Still, the experience has been a blast thus far.

"Oh, it's been awesome," said Minto. "The girl are, like, the best in the province."

The Canada Winter Games takes place in the cities of Bathurst and Dalhousie, N.B. Girls' hockey is in the second week of the Games, from March 2-8.

Minto will be heading to a three-day camp in Saskatoon from Feb. 26-28, before departing for New Brunswick on March 1.