Trojan: A SAIT athlete with courageous, determination and fighting spirit.
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- 場所:
- Calgary, AB, T2M 0L4
- 電話番号:
- 403.284.8187
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2009年3月20日19:00
CALGARY — Sonja Olson probably could have teed up a formidable college golf career down south. But the co-captain of the SAIT Trojans women’s volleyball team has never seen the sport as her life’s missing link . . . er, links.
“At one time, my dream was to go play golf at (Arizona State University). We have a place down in Phoenix, and I’ve played the course a million times,” says Olson, 21, a fourth-year middle with the Trojans. “We’re a golfing family, and I like to think I’m a pretty good golfer. My brother (Byron) was down in the States on a full-ride golf scholarship (at Montana Tech). He was the captain of the golf team. He did really well down there, led the (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) for a bit.
“If I wanted to, I probably could still go golf somewhere” on scholarship, adds Olson, who participated in the 2004 Canadian junior girls’ golf championship and once held a spot on the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour’s Order of Merit ranking system. “But when I got to Grade 12, it was like: ‘OK, time to choose a sport.’ I had the height advantage (she stands six feet tall), and I really enjoyed the people in volleyball. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, being really close to the team.
“I still golf every summer. We’re members at Bearspaw (Country Club). It’s one of those things . . . I knew I could golf my whole life, but volleyball’s the kind of sport I won’t be able to participate in when I get older.”
Olson and the Trojans (2-6), who’ve won two straight matches, meet their archrivals, the Mount Royal University Cougars (4-2), this weekend in an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference twin bill. The series begins Friday, Nov. 27 at Mount Royal’s Kenyon Court, and relocates to SAIT’s Campus Centre on Saturday, Nov. 28. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.
Olson, now in her second season as SAIT’s co-captain, in fact had a multitude of sporting options during her final year at Calgary’s Sir Winston Churchill High School, having also played high-level girls’ hockey and lacrosse. A catastrophic incident on the court made her decision for her, but Olson has never regretted the fateful event.
“During the Grade 12 club season, I was on the (Canuck Stuff club’s) top team and we were going to this big scouting tournament in Las Vegas. The night before we left, we had an exhibition game against SAIT; a girl came under the net, and I broke my ankle,” she recalls. “After that, I didn’t really have anywhere to go, because I took a long time to heal.”
Then-Trojans head coach Brian Slot, “who was the only coach who knew what I could do, said to me, ‘Well, if you don’t hate us, you can come play for SAIT,’ ” recalls Olson with a smile. “It was the probably the best thing that ever came out of a broken ankle.
“I’m not the kind of person who would want to go to a school and sit on the bench somewhere. I’m glad I got to come to SAIT when it was still a developing program, and really got to have an impact on it. I brought one of my best friends, (left-side) Daly (Donaghy), from Mount Royal, and we’ve never been closer.”
Olson is 11th among block leaders in the ACAC’s South Division, but first-year Trojans coach Diane Clarke notes that Olson’s greatest strengths are not necessarily based on statistics.
“As a player, she’s very versatile, so she’s put on the floor as a middle and a right-side for us. Last year, she would even set for us on occasion when we ran into injury difficulty,” says Clarke. “To be honest, what she brings is the intangible that you can’t really talk about. It’s the leadership quality; she somehow calms the girls when she’s on the floor with them.
“She knows the game. She knows the league. She’s been through it all before,” adds Clarke. “And she understands the big picture, and that we ultimately have a long season to work through.”
“At one time, my dream was to go play golf at (Arizona State University). We have a place down in Phoenix, and I’ve played the course a million times,” says Olson, 21, a fourth-year middle with the Trojans. “We’re a golfing family, and I like to think I’m a pretty good golfer. My brother (Byron) was down in the States on a full-ride golf scholarship (at Montana Tech). He was the captain of the golf team. He did really well down there, led the (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) for a bit.
“If I wanted to, I probably could still go golf somewhere” on scholarship, adds Olson, who participated in the 2004 Canadian junior girls’ golf championship and once held a spot on the Maple Leaf Junior Golf Tour’s Order of Merit ranking system. “But when I got to Grade 12, it was like: ‘OK, time to choose a sport.’ I had the height advantage (she stands six feet tall), and I really enjoyed the people in volleyball. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, being really close to the team.
“I still golf every summer. We’re members at Bearspaw (Country Club). It’s one of those things . . . I knew I could golf my whole life, but volleyball’s the kind of sport I won’t be able to participate in when I get older.”
Olson and the Trojans (2-6), who’ve won two straight matches, meet their archrivals, the Mount Royal University Cougars (4-2), this weekend in an Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference twin bill. The series begins Friday, Nov. 27 at Mount Royal’s Kenyon Court, and relocates to SAIT’s Campus Centre on Saturday, Nov. 28. Both matches begin at 6 p.m.
Olson, now in her second season as SAIT’s co-captain, in fact had a multitude of sporting options during her final year at Calgary’s Sir Winston Churchill High School, having also played high-level girls’ hockey and lacrosse. A catastrophic incident on the court made her decision for her, but Olson has never regretted the fateful event.
“During the Grade 12 club season, I was on the (Canuck Stuff club’s) top team and we were going to this big scouting tournament in Las Vegas. The night before we left, we had an exhibition game against SAIT; a girl came under the net, and I broke my ankle,” she recalls. “After that, I didn’t really have anywhere to go, because I took a long time to heal.”
Then-Trojans head coach Brian Slot, “who was the only coach who knew what I could do, said to me, ‘Well, if you don’t hate us, you can come play for SAIT,’ ” recalls Olson with a smile. “It was the probably the best thing that ever came out of a broken ankle.
“I’m not the kind of person who would want to go to a school and sit on the bench somewhere. I’m glad I got to come to SAIT when it was still a developing program, and really got to have an impact on it. I brought one of my best friends, (left-side) Daly (Donaghy), from Mount Royal, and we’ve never been closer.”
Olson is 11th among block leaders in the ACAC’s South Division, but first-year Trojans coach Diane Clarke notes that Olson’s greatest strengths are not necessarily based on statistics.
“As a player, she’s very versatile, so she’s put on the floor as a middle and a right-side for us. Last year, she would even set for us on occasion when we ran into injury difficulty,” says Clarke. “To be honest, what she brings is the intangible that you can’t really talk about. It’s the leadership quality; she somehow calms the girls when she’s on the floor with them.
“She knows the game. She knows the league. She’s been through it all before,” adds Clarke. “And she understands the big picture, and that we ultimately have a long season to work through.”
Male Athlete of the Week:
Shane Lust – Men’s Hockey (Forward #23)
Third year forward Shane Lust was a key component in the weekend games against the NAIT Ooks. In an 8-2 victory at NAIT on Friday, Lust recorded three goals and two assists. On home ice the following night, he scored the game winning goal bringing the Trojans back from a 2-0 deficit. In 13 games, Lust obtained 12 goals and eight assists placing him in a tie for first in goal scoring in the ACAC. In addition, Lust proved to be a well rounded player, demonstrating strong defensive play. He is enrolled in Business Administration (Finance Major) at SAIT Polytechnic.
Female Athlete of the Week:
Kim Lee – Women’s Basketball (Guard # 8)
Kim Lee, the 5’10” Trojan rookie, led the women’s basketball team to two victories over the Mount Royal Cougars this past weekend. On Friday at SAIT, Lee was awarded Player of the Game with 24 points, six rebounds, and six assists. At MRU on Saturday, she again led the team in scoring with 21 points, five rebounds, two steals, and two blocked shots. In addition, Lee defended Mount Royal‘s top scorer, holding her to 11 points. Lee is leading the ACAC South Division in scoring, is second in steals and fourth in assists. In her fifth year of eligibility, Lee is from Toronto, ON and is taking Business Administration at SAIT Polytechnic.
Trojan of the Week:
Brock Michalsky – Men’s Hockey (Defence #20)
Trojans’ Captian, Brock Michalsky, displayed the Courage, Determination and Spirit of a true Trojan in the weekend’s games against the NAIT Ooks. Logging 25 minutes of play on Friday’s game, Michalsky blocked two shots and put forth a great defensive effort which proved effective when he was able to shut down NAIT’s top line. In Saturday’s game at home, Michalsky blocked three shots during a NAIT power play and recorded an assist in 30 minutes of play. He played very physical all weekend and was the team hit leader without receiving any penalties. Michalsky is from Caroline, AB and is enrolled in Mechanical Engineering Technology at SAIT Polytechnic.
Team of the Week:
Women’s Basketball
The Trojans wept the cross town rivals, Mount Royal Cougars, this past weekend. They finished out the first half with a pair of runaway wins, 83-59 on Friday at home and 88-57 on Saturday at MRU. Ranked third in the nation, the Women of Troy are now tied for first place in the ACAC’s South at 9-1 with the Lethbridge Kodiaks. The women’s basketball team is next in action Jan. 15 and 16 against the Cougars.
CALGARY — Two weekends ago, the rivalry resumed on ice. Last weekend, it took over the parquet floor. This weekend, the big bangers on the SAIT Trojans and Mount Royal Cougars men’s volleyball teams will collide — and for the Trojans, there’s more at stake than just pride.
The Trojans (6-2) are tied for top spot in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference’s South Division. And with a sweep of the Cougars (4-2), they’ll clinch a spot as hosts of the 2009-10 ACAC provincial men’s championship from Feb. 26 to 28, an honour that is automatically bestowed on the team sitting atop the South at the end of the 10-match, first-half seeding round.
“We have to beat Mount Royal twice, in my opinion, to solidify the host spot,” third-year Trojans head coach Ryan Marsden had said following his club’s last action, a two-match sweep of the Lethbridge Kodiaks on Nov. 13 and 14. “That’s so critical, because we’re undefeated in our own gym. So that’s our goal — to focus on Mount Royal. We’ll have two good, long weeks of preparing for the Cougars.”
The critical twin bill begins Friday, Nov. 27 at MRU’s Kenyon Court, and concludes Saturday, Nov. 28 at SAIT’s Campus Centre gym. First serve is at 8 p.m. both nights. The SAIT Trojans men’s hockey, women’s hockey and women’s volleyball teams also play at home this weekend.
At the tail end of this week’s release, for your convenience, you’ll find a slate of this week’s SAIT Trojans home games for use in any daily or weekly event listings you may publish or broadcast.
And don’t forget our weekly Trojan Media Hour, a new SAIT Trojans public relations initiative, held every Tuesday during the ACAC season at Nick’s Steakhouse and Pizza (2430 Crowchild Trail N.W.), from approximately 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Selected Trojan coaches and players will be made available for interviews, and lunch will be served. We will also do our best to accommodate media requests for certain players that are made with enough advance notice. For inquiries regarding coach and player interviews and availability, please contact SAIT Trojans media consultant Todd Kimberley at 403.815.2752.
Men’s Volleyball
Ryan Marsden’s Trojans (6-2), who were idle last weekend, square off for a twin bill with the Mount Royal University Cougars — Friday, Nov. 27 at MRU’s Kenyon Court at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 28 at SAIT’s Campus Centre, also at 8 p.m.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Once upon a time, six-foot-six middle Landon Losey of Champion, Alta., was blocking and banging with the best of them as a member of the Langley, B.C.-based Trinity Western University Spartans in CIS play. After an eight-year competitive absence, Losey has returned to the court with the Trojans, and taking apprentice plumbing at SAIT.
• The Trojans are still in the running to host the ACAC’s provincial tournament. First place in the ACAC’s South Division at the conclusion of this season’s first-half seeding round automatically earns that host position, and SAIT (6-2) is tied atop ACAC South standings with the Red Deer Kings (6-2).
• The Trojan men’s volleyball team has sibling stories galore. Second-year power hitter Devon Van Nistelrooy’s sister, Diyon, is a middle with the MRU women’s volleyball team. Fifth-year middle Dustin Fox’s sister, Dana, played two years on the Red Deer College women’s volleyball team. And second-year setter Justin Kilb’s brother, Brett, is a former member of the University of Calgary golf team.
• Power hitter Dylan White, 6-3, from Bowness High School, headlines the Trojans’ crop of new recruits this season. “He’s got a cannon of an arm. He hits the ball harder than any first-year guy I’ve ever seen,” says head coach Ryan Marsden.
This week’s ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 8 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practice this week on Monday from 8 to 10 p.m., Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m., Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m., and Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m. at the SAIT gym.
Women’s Volleyball
Diane Clarke’s Trojans (2-6) had a schedule bye last weekend, but wrap up the first half of the season this weekend against the Mount Royal University Cougars. The two-game series begins Friday, Nov. 27 at MRU’s Keynon Court at 6 p.m., and returns to SAIT’s Campus Centre on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 6 p.m.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Colleen Bourque, a graduate of Central Memorial High School, is a former ACAC all-star setter with Red Deer College. She’s returning to the college court after a two-year absence.
• Left-side Daly Donaghy, a William Aberhart HS grad, is also resuming her college volleyball career after being named SAIT’s top freshman during the 2007-08 season. Donaghy put plenty of stamps in her passport, travelling to southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, during her court absence.
• Ujena Zarachowicz, a left-side from Grande Prairie, Alta., is making good on her belated ACAC rookie season. Zarachowicz, 20, had spent two seasons away from the court after graduating from high school, and head coach Diane Clarke called her Trojans debut on Oct. 30 “fabulous . . . she brought an energy that we needed.”
This week’s ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 6 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practice this week on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m., Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m., Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m., and Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the SAIT gym.
Men’s Hockey
The Trojans picked up a pair of weekend wins against their Edmonton archrivals, the NAIT Ooks, with an 8-2 rout on Friday up north and a 3-2 comeback victory on Saturday at the SAIT Arena. The three-time defending league champion Trojans (10-2-1), two points back of the Mount Royal University Cougars for top spot in the ACAC, play a pair this weekend against the Grant MacEwan University Griffins — starting Friday, Nov. 27 at SAIT Arena at 7 p.m., and concluding Saturday, Nov. 28 at 8:45 p.m. at Leduc.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Captain and third-year defenceman Brock Michalsky will likely be in the AJHL record books for a long, long time. He set a league “iron man” record for playing 293 regular-season games, all of them with the Canmore Eagles.
• Rookie forward Geoff Rollins, an Okotoks native who played with the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks, has finally come home after a long and winding road on the minor professional circuit. In the past five years, Rollins has plied his trade in such cities as Victoria, B.C. (ECHL); Austin, Texas (CHL); Jacksonville, Fla. (SPHL); Winston-Salem, N.C. (SPHL); Columbia, S.C. (ECHL); Bloomington, Minn. (IHL); and Richmond, Va. (SPHL). Rollins, who’d been recovering from a knee injury, tallied eight points in two games on Oct. 30 and 31 at Briercrest to make a splash in his ACAC debut.
• First-year defenceman Ashford McMaster of Siksika, Alta., has dreams of being an outrider on the professional chuckwagon circuit in the summer, and has been preparing for the chance by travelling the wagon trail the past few seasons with cousin Shawn Calf Robe, an outriding all-star. McMaster is also a cousin of both Landon McHugh, a SAIT men’s basketball recruit, and Megan Yellowfly, a SAIT women’s basketball rookie.
• Third-year goaltender Landon Kroeker has had to wait his turn, but is finally getting rewarded. After spending much of the past two years on the bench watching Reese St. Goddard tend the twine, the native of Steinbach, Man., now tops the ACAC leaderboard in goals-against average (2.09) and save percentage (92.6), and has become the Trojans’ No. 1 netminder.
• Head coach Ken Babey became the first ACAC coach to hit the 400-victory plateau in regular season and playoffs on Oct. 23; in 22-plus seasons, Babey has 346 regular-season wins and 60 more in the playoffs. He’s also 15 victories shy of tying legendary University of Alberta bench boss Clare Drake as the winningest coach in Canadian post-secondary men’s hockey history. Including six at CCAA nationals, which are no longer held, Babey has an aggregate total of 412 career wins, compared to Drake’s career total of 427.
• The Trojans are bidding this season to become only the second ACAC team to win four straight league titles. The NAIT Ooks did it from 1983 to ’87.
This week’s ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 MacEwan @ SAIT SAIT Arena 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 SAIT @ MacEwan Leduc Rec Ctr 8:45 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practice this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the SAIT Arena.
Women’s Hockey
Terry Larson’s Trojans fell out of first place in ACAC standings after getting swept over the weekend by their crosstown rivals, the Mount Royal University Cougars. The Women of Troy were blanked 2-0 by the Cougars at home on Friday night, and dropped a 3-1 decision at Calgary Centennial Arenas on Saturday. SAIT (5-4-1), which has lost four of its past five, tangles twice with the Grant MacEwan University Griffins this weekend, beginning Saturday, Nov. 28 up in Leduc and returning to the SAIT Arena for a 4 p.m. game on Sunday, Nov. 29.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Fourth-year Trojans defender Nicole Hunter of Victoria, B.C., comes from elite athletic bloodlines. Her uncle, Bob Molle, won an Olympic silver medal in wrestling at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games just 18 days after major back surgery, and won a pair of Grey Cups as an offensive lineman with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1988 and 1990. And her cousin, Bob’s son Ryan Molle, is a fourth-year WHL defenceman with the Kootenay Ice.
• Tonya Faasse, the Trojans’ fifth-year forward, defending team MVP and the ACAC’s scoring champ in two of the past three seasons, is on pace to catch MRC’s Melissa Welton for career ACAC offensive totals. With 14 games left on SAIT’s regular-season schedule, Faasse needs 14 goals, 10 assists and 24 points to catch Welton in all three of those categories. Welton, who played from 2000 to ’04, chalked up 73 goals, 49 assists and 122 points in her ACAC career. Faasse leads the ACAC this season in goals (10) and points (15).
• Second-year head coach Terry Larson is asking a little extra from everyone this season. The Trojans are regularly icing a 16-player lineup, four shy of the customary 20-player level, during the first semester, with three more players expected to join the squad in January.
• Second-year forward Rylie Padjen, from Canberra, Australia, is a member of the Aussie national women’s hockey team, which is coached by her father, and won a gold medal at the IIHF’s 2006 world Division 3 championship, held in England.
• There’s a SAIT-NAIT sister act in the ACAC this season. Second-year Trojans defender Amanda Williams of Souris, Man., will square off six times against sister Laura Williams, a first-year forward with the Ooks. Both are graduates of the Westman Wildcats midget ‘AAA’ program.
This week’s ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Saturday, Nov. 28 SAIT @ MacEwan Leduc Rec Ctr 8:45 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 29 MacEwan @ SAIT SAIT Arena 4 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practise this week on Monday from 4 to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 a.m., and Thursday from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m., at SAIT Arena.
Women’s Basketball
Donovan Martin’s Trojans finished out the first half with a pair of runaway wins against the Mount Royal University Cougars, 83-59 on Friday and 88-57 on Saturday. With a share of first place in the ACAC’s South at 9-1, the Trojans are next in action Jan. 15 and 16 against the Cougars.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Orlandrea Moore was an honourable mention for NAIA all-American status while playing for the West Virginia Tech Lady Golden Bears. Moore helped WV Tech to a Mid-South Conference title in 2007, and will be playing for the Trojans this winter after a two-year court hiatus. Moore’s coach at WV Tech was Reg Carrick, the assistant to SAIT bench boss Donovan Martin.
• Calgary’s Rachel Niven has come home for her final season of college hoops, after spending four years with the St. Lawrence College Vikings of Kingston, Ont. Last season, the all-Canadian point guard was named the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) player of the year while averaging 22.29 points a game, the fourth-highest average in OCAA history.
• The Trojans have a big three-point threat this year in Toronto’s Kim Lee, who spent the past four seasons with the University of Waterloo Warriors (Canadian Interuniversity Sport). The 5-10 shooting guard is “incredibly athletic,” says Martin. “Athletic to the point that you don’t normally see in the ACAC, and a terrific three-point shooter. She’s a three-point shot off the dribble, from well behind the arc.”
• SAIT has a brother-sister hoops combination this year. Wing Brittany Pekar, a former ACAC South Division second-team all-star, has moved over to the Trojans after spending the past two seasons at MRU, while younger brother Brett, a forward, is a recent high school graduate out of St. Mary’s who’s cracked the men’s roster.
• Rookie guard Megan Yellow Fly, of Siksika Nation, Alta., is a cousin of both Ashford McMaster, a first-year defenceman on the Trojan men’s hockey team, and Landon McHugh, a SAIT men’s basketball recruit at forward.
Upcoming ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Jan. 15 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 6 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 16 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 6 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
Head coach Donovan Martin and the Trojans practise this week on Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m., and Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m., at the SAIT gym.
Men’s Basketball
The Trojans under head coach Mike Stevens split a weekend series with the defending national champion Mount Royal University Cougars, losing at home 68-62 on Friday but winning on the road Saturday, 71-69. That second decision marked MRU’s first loss of the season, and put the Trojans (8-2) back atop the ACAC’s South Division. With the first half now complete, SAIT will next play ACAC league games Jan. 15 and 16 vs. the Cougars.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• SAIT Polytechnic will be hosting the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) national men’s basketball championship from March 18 to 20, 2010. This marks SAIT’s first turn as host since the CCAA finals began in 1975, and it’s also the first time the national college men’s hoops championship is being held in Calgary since 1982.
• Fifth-year post Branden Stewart also has a gridiron background, having played football for current U of C Dinos coach Blake Nill with the St. Mary’s Huskies in Halifax, red-shirting as a defensive tackle for two CIS seasons. His father Dwight played hoops for Mount Royal University, while mom Colleen played roundball with the Trojans.
• Emmanuel Chiek has really been around since winning a Calgary city high school championship with Lester B. Pearson in 2002 — the Trojans, the Mount Royal University Cougars, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, even the short-lived Calgary Drillers of the American Basketball Association. Now, the 6-8 forward is back for his second go-round with the Trojans, adding some veteran leadership for the national tournament hosts.
• Third-year head coach Mike Stevens is bringing aboard a familiar face for the Trojans’ national host season. Ted Harrison was SAIT’s head coach from 1996 to ’99, and an assistant in ’95-96, when the Trojans won an ACAC title and went on to a national silver medal.
• SAIT has a brother-sister hoops combination this year. Brett, a forward, is a recent high school graduate out of St. Mary’s, and has cracked the men’s roster, while older sister Brittany Pekar, a former ACAC South Division second-team all-star, has moved over to the Trojans at wing after spending the past two seasons at MRU.
• Landon McHugh, a six-foot-six Trojans forward recruit out of Siksika Nation, Alta., is a cousin of both rookie guard Megan Yellow Fly, on the SAIT women’s basketball team, and Ashford McMaster, a first-year defenceman on the Trojan men’s hockey team.
Upcoming ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Jan. 15 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 16 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 8 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practise this week on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m., and Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m. at the SAIT gym.
This Week’s Local SAIT Trojans Games
Here’s a summary of SAIT Trojans games in and around Calgary, from
Nov. 23 to 29.
MEN’S HOCKEY
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 MacEwan @ SAIT SAIT Arena 7 p.m.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Sunday, Nov. 29 MacEwan @ SAIT SAIT Arena 4 p.m.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 6 p.m.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 8 p.m.
The Trojans (6-2) are tied for top spot in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference’s South Division. And with a sweep of the Cougars (4-2), they’ll clinch a spot as hosts of the 2009-10 ACAC provincial men’s championship from Feb. 26 to 28, an honour that is automatically bestowed on the team sitting atop the South at the end of the 10-match, first-half seeding round.
“We have to beat Mount Royal twice, in my opinion, to solidify the host spot,” third-year Trojans head coach Ryan Marsden had said following his club’s last action, a two-match sweep of the Lethbridge Kodiaks on Nov. 13 and 14. “That’s so critical, because we’re undefeated in our own gym. So that’s our goal — to focus on Mount Royal. We’ll have two good, long weeks of preparing for the Cougars.”
The critical twin bill begins Friday, Nov. 27 at MRU’s Kenyon Court, and concludes Saturday, Nov. 28 at SAIT’s Campus Centre gym. First serve is at 8 p.m. both nights. The SAIT Trojans men’s hockey, women’s hockey and women’s volleyball teams also play at home this weekend.
At the tail end of this week’s release, for your convenience, you’ll find a slate of this week’s SAIT Trojans home games for use in any daily or weekly event listings you may publish or broadcast.
And don’t forget our weekly Trojan Media Hour, a new SAIT Trojans public relations initiative, held every Tuesday during the ACAC season at Nick’s Steakhouse and Pizza (2430 Crowchild Trail N.W.), from approximately 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Selected Trojan coaches and players will be made available for interviews, and lunch will be served. We will also do our best to accommodate media requests for certain players that are made with enough advance notice. For inquiries regarding coach and player interviews and availability, please contact SAIT Trojans media consultant Todd Kimberley at 403.815.2752.
Men’s Volleyball
Ryan Marsden’s Trojans (6-2), who were idle last weekend, square off for a twin bill with the Mount Royal University Cougars — Friday, Nov. 27 at MRU’s Kenyon Court at 8 p.m., and Saturday, Nov. 28 at SAIT’s Campus Centre, also at 8 p.m.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Once upon a time, six-foot-six middle Landon Losey of Champion, Alta., was blocking and banging with the best of them as a member of the Langley, B.C.-based Trinity Western University Spartans in CIS play. After an eight-year competitive absence, Losey has returned to the court with the Trojans, and taking apprentice plumbing at SAIT.
• The Trojans are still in the running to host the ACAC’s provincial tournament. First place in the ACAC’s South Division at the conclusion of this season’s first-half seeding round automatically earns that host position, and SAIT (6-2) is tied atop ACAC South standings with the Red Deer Kings (6-2).
• The Trojan men’s volleyball team has sibling stories galore. Second-year power hitter Devon Van Nistelrooy’s sister, Diyon, is a middle with the MRU women’s volleyball team. Fifth-year middle Dustin Fox’s sister, Dana, played two years on the Red Deer College women’s volleyball team. And second-year setter Justin Kilb’s brother, Brett, is a former member of the University of Calgary golf team.
• Power hitter Dylan White, 6-3, from Bowness High School, headlines the Trojans’ crop of new recruits this season. “He’s got a cannon of an arm. He hits the ball harder than any first-year guy I’ve ever seen,” says head coach Ryan Marsden.
This week’s ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 8 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practice this week on Monday from 8 to 10 p.m., Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m., Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m., and Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m. at the SAIT gym.
Women’s Volleyball
Diane Clarke’s Trojans (2-6) had a schedule bye last weekend, but wrap up the first half of the season this weekend against the Mount Royal University Cougars. The two-game series begins Friday, Nov. 27 at MRU’s Keynon Court at 6 p.m., and returns to SAIT’s Campus Centre on Saturday, Nov. 28 at 6 p.m.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Colleen Bourque, a graduate of Central Memorial High School, is a former ACAC all-star setter with Red Deer College. She’s returning to the college court after a two-year absence.
• Left-side Daly Donaghy, a William Aberhart HS grad, is also resuming her college volleyball career after being named SAIT’s top freshman during the 2007-08 season. Donaghy put plenty of stamps in her passport, travelling to southeast Asian countries such as Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, during her court absence.
• Ujena Zarachowicz, a left-side from Grande Prairie, Alta., is making good on her belated ACAC rookie season. Zarachowicz, 20, had spent two seasons away from the court after graduating from high school, and head coach Diane Clarke called her Trojans debut on Oct. 30 “fabulous . . . she brought an energy that we needed.”
This week’s ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 6 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practice this week on Monday from 6 to 8 p.m., Tuesday from 8 to 10 p.m., Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m., and Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at the SAIT gym.
Men’s Hockey
The Trojans picked up a pair of weekend wins against their Edmonton archrivals, the NAIT Ooks, with an 8-2 rout on Friday up north and a 3-2 comeback victory on Saturday at the SAIT Arena. The three-time defending league champion Trojans (10-2-1), two points back of the Mount Royal University Cougars for top spot in the ACAC, play a pair this weekend against the Grant MacEwan University Griffins — starting Friday, Nov. 27 at SAIT Arena at 7 p.m., and concluding Saturday, Nov. 28 at 8:45 p.m. at Leduc.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Captain and third-year defenceman Brock Michalsky will likely be in the AJHL record books for a long, long time. He set a league “iron man” record for playing 293 regular-season games, all of them with the Canmore Eagles.
• Rookie forward Geoff Rollins, an Okotoks native who played with the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks, has finally come home after a long and winding road on the minor professional circuit. In the past five years, Rollins has plied his trade in such cities as Victoria, B.C. (ECHL); Austin, Texas (CHL); Jacksonville, Fla. (SPHL); Winston-Salem, N.C. (SPHL); Columbia, S.C. (ECHL); Bloomington, Minn. (IHL); and Richmond, Va. (SPHL). Rollins, who’d been recovering from a knee injury, tallied eight points in two games on Oct. 30 and 31 at Briercrest to make a splash in his ACAC debut.
• First-year defenceman Ashford McMaster of Siksika, Alta., has dreams of being an outrider on the professional chuckwagon circuit in the summer, and has been preparing for the chance by travelling the wagon trail the past few seasons with cousin Shawn Calf Robe, an outriding all-star. McMaster is also a cousin of both Landon McHugh, a SAIT men’s basketball recruit, and Megan Yellowfly, a SAIT women’s basketball rookie.
• Third-year goaltender Landon Kroeker has had to wait his turn, but is finally getting rewarded. After spending much of the past two years on the bench watching Reese St. Goddard tend the twine, the native of Steinbach, Man., now tops the ACAC leaderboard in goals-against average (2.09) and save percentage (92.6), and has become the Trojans’ No. 1 netminder.
• Head coach Ken Babey became the first ACAC coach to hit the 400-victory plateau in regular season and playoffs on Oct. 23; in 22-plus seasons, Babey has 346 regular-season wins and 60 more in the playoffs. He’s also 15 victories shy of tying legendary University of Alberta bench boss Clare Drake as the winningest coach in Canadian post-secondary men’s hockey history. Including six at CCAA nationals, which are no longer held, Babey has an aggregate total of 412 career wins, compared to Drake’s career total of 427.
• The Trojans are bidding this season to become only the second ACAC team to win four straight league titles. The NAIT Ooks did it from 1983 to ’87.
This week’s ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 MacEwan @ SAIT SAIT Arena 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 SAIT @ MacEwan Leduc Rec Ctr 8:45 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practice this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at the SAIT Arena.
Women’s Hockey
Terry Larson’s Trojans fell out of first place in ACAC standings after getting swept over the weekend by their crosstown rivals, the Mount Royal University Cougars. The Women of Troy were blanked 2-0 by the Cougars at home on Friday night, and dropped a 3-1 decision at Calgary Centennial Arenas on Saturday. SAIT (5-4-1), which has lost four of its past five, tangles twice with the Grant MacEwan University Griffins this weekend, beginning Saturday, Nov. 28 up in Leduc and returning to the SAIT Arena for a 4 p.m. game on Sunday, Nov. 29.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Fourth-year Trojans defender Nicole Hunter of Victoria, B.C., comes from elite athletic bloodlines. Her uncle, Bob Molle, won an Olympic silver medal in wrestling at the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games just 18 days after major back surgery, and won a pair of Grey Cups as an offensive lineman with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 1988 and 1990. And her cousin, Bob’s son Ryan Molle, is a fourth-year WHL defenceman with the Kootenay Ice.
• Tonya Faasse, the Trojans’ fifth-year forward, defending team MVP and the ACAC’s scoring champ in two of the past three seasons, is on pace to catch MRC’s Melissa Welton for career ACAC offensive totals. With 14 games left on SAIT’s regular-season schedule, Faasse needs 14 goals, 10 assists and 24 points to catch Welton in all three of those categories. Welton, who played from 2000 to ’04, chalked up 73 goals, 49 assists and 122 points in her ACAC career. Faasse leads the ACAC this season in goals (10) and points (15).
• Second-year head coach Terry Larson is asking a little extra from everyone this season. The Trojans are regularly icing a 16-player lineup, four shy of the customary 20-player level, during the first semester, with three more players expected to join the squad in January.
• Second-year forward Rylie Padjen, from Canberra, Australia, is a member of the Aussie national women’s hockey team, which is coached by her father, and won a gold medal at the IIHF’s 2006 world Division 3 championship, held in England.
• There’s a SAIT-NAIT sister act in the ACAC this season. Second-year Trojans defender Amanda Williams of Souris, Man., will square off six times against sister Laura Williams, a first-year forward with the Ooks. Both are graduates of the Westman Wildcats midget ‘AAA’ program.
This week’s ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Saturday, Nov. 28 SAIT @ MacEwan Leduc Rec Ctr 8:45 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 29 MacEwan @ SAIT SAIT Arena 4 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practise this week on Monday from 4 to 5:30 p.m., Wednesday from 6 to 7:30 a.m., and Thursday from 6:30 to 7:45 p.m., at SAIT Arena.
Women’s Basketball
Donovan Martin’s Trojans finished out the first half with a pair of runaway wins against the Mount Royal University Cougars, 83-59 on Friday and 88-57 on Saturday. With a share of first place in the ACAC’s South at 9-1, the Trojans are next in action Jan. 15 and 16 against the Cougars.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• Orlandrea Moore was an honourable mention for NAIA all-American status while playing for the West Virginia Tech Lady Golden Bears. Moore helped WV Tech to a Mid-South Conference title in 2007, and will be playing for the Trojans this winter after a two-year court hiatus. Moore’s coach at WV Tech was Reg Carrick, the assistant to SAIT bench boss Donovan Martin.
• Calgary’s Rachel Niven has come home for her final season of college hoops, after spending four years with the St. Lawrence College Vikings of Kingston, Ont. Last season, the all-Canadian point guard was named the Ontario Colleges Athletic Association (OCAA) player of the year while averaging 22.29 points a game, the fourth-highest average in OCAA history.
• The Trojans have a big three-point threat this year in Toronto’s Kim Lee, who spent the past four seasons with the University of Waterloo Warriors (Canadian Interuniversity Sport). The 5-10 shooting guard is “incredibly athletic,” says Martin. “Athletic to the point that you don’t normally see in the ACAC, and a terrific three-point shooter. She’s a three-point shot off the dribble, from well behind the arc.”
• SAIT has a brother-sister hoops combination this year. Wing Brittany Pekar, a former ACAC South Division second-team all-star, has moved over to the Trojans after spending the past two seasons at MRU, while younger brother Brett, a forward, is a recent high school graduate out of St. Mary’s who’s cracked the men’s roster.
• Rookie guard Megan Yellow Fly, of Siksika Nation, Alta., is a cousin of both Ashford McMaster, a first-year defenceman on the Trojan men’s hockey team, and Landon McHugh, a SAIT men’s basketball recruit at forward.
Upcoming ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Jan. 15 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 6 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 16 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 6 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
Head coach Donovan Martin and the Trojans practise this week on Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m., and Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m., at the SAIT gym.
Men’s Basketball
The Trojans under head coach Mike Stevens split a weekend series with the defending national champion Mount Royal University Cougars, losing at home 68-62 on Friday but winning on the road Saturday, 71-69. That second decision marked MRU’s first loss of the season, and put the Trojans (8-2) back atop the ACAC’s South Division. With the first half now complete, SAIT will next play ACAC league games Jan. 15 and 16 vs. the Cougars.
Story ideas for the 2009-10 season:
• SAIT Polytechnic will be hosting the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association (CCAA) national men’s basketball championship from March 18 to 20, 2010. This marks SAIT’s first turn as host since the CCAA finals began in 1975, and it’s also the first time the national college men’s hoops championship is being held in Calgary since 1982.
• Fifth-year post Branden Stewart also has a gridiron background, having played football for current U of C Dinos coach Blake Nill with the St. Mary’s Huskies in Halifax, red-shirting as a defensive tackle for two CIS seasons. His father Dwight played hoops for Mount Royal University, while mom Colleen played roundball with the Trojans.
• Emmanuel Chiek has really been around since winning a Calgary city high school championship with Lester B. Pearson in 2002 — the Trojans, the Mount Royal University Cougars, the University of Saskatchewan Huskies, even the short-lived Calgary Drillers of the American Basketball Association. Now, the 6-8 forward is back for his second go-round with the Trojans, adding some veteran leadership for the national tournament hosts.
• Third-year head coach Mike Stevens is bringing aboard a familiar face for the Trojans’ national host season. Ted Harrison was SAIT’s head coach from 1996 to ’99, and an assistant in ’95-96, when the Trojans won an ACAC title and went on to a national silver medal.
• SAIT has a brother-sister hoops combination this year. Brett, a forward, is a recent high school graduate out of St. Mary’s, and has cracked the men’s roster, while older sister Brittany Pekar, a former ACAC South Division second-team all-star, has moved over to the Trojans at wing after spending the past two seasons at MRU.
• Landon McHugh, a six-foot-six Trojans forward recruit out of Siksika Nation, Alta., is a cousin of both rookie guard Megan Yellow Fly, on the SAIT women’s basketball team, and Ashford McMaster, a first-year defenceman on the Trojan men’s hockey team.
Upcoming ACAC league games:
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Jan. 15 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 8 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 16 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 8 p.m.
This week’s practice schedule:
The Trojans practise this week on Tuesday from 6 to 8 p.m., Wednesday from 6 to 8 p.m., and Thursday from 8 to 10 p.m. at the SAIT gym.
This Week’s Local SAIT Trojans Games
Here’s a summary of SAIT Trojans games in and around Calgary, from
Nov. 23 to 29.
MEN’S HOCKEY
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 MacEwan @ SAIT SAIT Arena 7 p.m.
WOMEN’S HOCKEY
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Sunday, Nov. 29 MacEwan @ SAIT SAIT Arena 4 p.m.
WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 6 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 6 p.m.
MEN’S VOLLEYBALL
Date Visitor @ Home Venue Time
Friday, Nov. 27 SAIT @ MRU Kenyon Court 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 28 MRU @ SAIT SAIT Campus Ctr 8 p.m.
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