THIS WEEK IN COUGAR ATHLETICS
Women’s Hockey – The Cougars split a home-and-home with the Saskatchewan Huskies on the weekend, with each team taking a win in the other’s home rink. The Huskies won 2-1 on Friday night before the Cougars bounced back for a 1-0 win on Saturday. Lilla Carpenter-Boesch scored the winner in the rematch while Jane Kish posted her third shutout of the season. The Cougars (10-10-3-1) are on home ice for the final time in the Canada West regular season schedule this weekend, fighting for a home playoff weekend against the No. 1-ranked UBC Thunderbirds.
Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars host their final home matches of the 2016-17 season this weekend, with MacEwan in town for Friday and Saturday matches at the Centre for Kinesiology, Health & Sport. Both teams come into the series looking to snap two-game losing skids, as the Cougars (3-15) lost twice at Thompson Rivers last weekend and MacEwan (4-14) suffered two road losses at Mount Royal. The teams play at 6 p.m. on Friday night and 5 p.m. on Saturday night.
Men’s Volleyball – The Cougars took out Thompson Rivers in a five-set thriller on Friday for their first Canada West win of the season, getting a career-high 19 kills from Matthew Aubrey and winning 16-14 in the fifth set to seal the victory. The U of R (1-17) nearly completed a weekend sweep on Saturday, but lost in five after coming back to force a deciding set despite losing the first two sets of the match. The Cougars host MacEwan (2-16) this weekend at the CKHS.
Women’s Basketball (U SPORTS Ranking: No. 2) – The Cougars (14-2) improved their winning streak to eight games after a pair of big wins over Calgary, defeating the Dinos by an 85-59 score on Friday and by an 83-46 count on Saturday. Regina is preparing for a tough test this weekend on the road against a Winnipeg team that’s lost just one Canada West game this year and is ranked No. 7 in the nation. The Cougars and the Wesmen (15-1) will tip off on Friday at 6 p.m. and on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Men’s Basketball – In one of the more memorable games in recent history at the CKHS, the Cougars stormed back from a 20-point deficit against No. 5 Calgary on Saturday to win by one point. Regina went up 82-81 on a Johneil Johnson bucket with nine seconds to go, and a defensive stop on the ensuing Calgary possession sealed the win for the Cougars. The victory gave Regina (7-11) a weekend split with the Dinos as the Cougars continue to battle for a Canada West playoff spot. The U of R heads east this weekend for two games at Winnipeg (10-6).
Men’s Hockey – The Cougars were swept by the Saskatchewan Huskies on the weekend, dropping to 3-19-2 on the season. Defenceman Tyler King had an assist on Friday and notched a goal and a helper on Saturday evening. Regina will hit the road this weekend to take on the fifth-place UBC Thunderbirds, who the Cougars swept in November with 6-1 and 4-3 wins at The Co-operators Centre. UBC enters the weekend series with an 8-13-3 record and is four points back of Lethbridge for the last Canada West playoff berth.
Swimming (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 10) – The Cougars will compete in their last major meet this weekend before the U SPORTS Championships later this month, as the men’s and women’s teams will head to Calgary for the two-day Colleges Cup competition. The Université de Sherbrooke will host the national championship meet from Feb. 24 to Feb. 26.
Track & Field (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 9) – After a weekend off for almost the entire team, the Cougars will be back in action this weekend at the Bison Classic in Winnipeg. The two-day meet starts Friday and wraps up Saturday as the U of R begins its final preparations for both the Canada West Championships (Feb. 24-25 in Regina) and the U SPORTS Championships (Mar. 9-11 in Edmonton).
Wrestling (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 4 / Men’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 7) – The Cougars sent seven wrestlers to the Cascades Classic hosted by the University of the Fraser Valley on Sunday afternoon. The top finisher on the men’s side was Daniel Amberson, who wrestled his way to a silver medal in the 54-kilogram class. For the women wrestlers, Olivia-Ann McDonnell placed third in the 72-kg division. The Cougars will take a weekend off before competing in the Canada West Championships hosted by the University of Saskatchewan starting on Feb. 10.
(Courtesy Braden Konshuh/Cougar Athletics)
