Huskies to return to play Feb. 18, as AUS releases schedule
After a nearly three month break due to COVID-19 restrictions, the Saint Mary's Huskies winter sports teams will have the opportunity to finish off their season, with games beginning on February 18.
With the recent updates to public health restrictions in Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, Atlantic University Sport (AUS) is pleased to release its revised regular season schedule for winter 2022. League play across all sports, in all provinces, will officially resume as of Friday, February 18.
"We couldn't be happier to be sharing this news with our student-athletes, who've shown outstanding perseverance during this time," says AUS executive director Phil Currie. "We're also incredibly grateful for the continued efforts of our provincial public health authorities, none of this would be possible without their commitment to our region's safety."
This news follows last week's announcement regarding new dates for the winter 2022 AUS championships. As part of the AUS's schedule revisions, this year all participating teams will be granted playoff berths. Further information on modified playoff formats for team sports will be announced at a later date.
Let's take a look at where the 2021-22 regular season left off for our Huskies team's and what we have to look forward to in the coming weeks!
WOMEN'S HOCKEY
U SPORTS leading scorer Shae Demale (#21) and the #2 ranked Huskies women's hockey team will look to continue a special season when they return to the ice on Friday, Feb. 18 to host the St. FX X-Women.
The Huskies women's hockey team will look to continue a special season when they return to the ice on Friday, Feb. 18 to host the St. FX X-Women.
Heading into the return to play, the Huskies are the #2 ranked team in U SPORTS and currently atop the AUS standings with a 13-2-1 record.
"Our players are really pumped to have the chance to play for something meaningful," said Huskies head coach Chris Larade. "I think this last wave has really tested everyone's mental health, and they've been resilient through it all. From a coach's standpoint, all you ever want to see is your team get the chance they deserve, and the AUS has done a terrific job at trying to get us back on track."
The Huskies will have a tough test in their first game back, as they take on the X-Women, ranked #6 in U SPORTS with an 11-5 record. Coach Larade likened it to 'a four-year-old jumping off the diving board into the deep end'.
"It's crazy to think we got close to three months off in the middle of our season, and we dive right back into a game against one of the top teams in the country," said Larade. "But we're grateful for the challenge and can't wait to get back to business."
The Huskies will continue to be led by third year forward Shae Demale (Red Deer, AB), who currently leads all of U SPORTS in goals (13) and points (22).
Other key Huskies forwards include 2019-20 AUS All-Star Miranda Hatt, who ranks third in the conference with 12 assists, 2019-20 AUS Rookie of the Year Ellen Laurence (Kentville, N.S.), first-year Kara MacLean (Antigonish, N.S.), third-year Mary McDonald (Calgary, AB) and veteran assistant captains Siobhan Birch (Mississauga, ON) and Laura Horwood (Grand Falls-Windsor, N.L.)
Captain Alexa McMillan (Edmonton, AB), leads the Huskies defence group that includes assistant captain Caleigh Meraw (Red Deer, AB), and first-years Maddy McCleary (Swift Current, SK) who leads AUS in +/- at +13, and Maddy Corbett (Sydney, N.S.), who is fourth in AUS defenceman scoring with 10 points.
Fourth year goaltender Dagny Hudspeth (Burlington, ON) leads the conference in wins (9), and is among the league leaders with a 1.67 goals against average and .926 save percentage.
The Huskies schedule is as follows (home games in bold):
Friday, Feb. 18 vs. St. FX, 7 p.m. @ Dauphinee Centre
Sunday, Feb. 20 @ St. Thomas, 2 p.m. @ The Grant-Harvey Centre
Wednesday, Feb. 23 vs. Dalhousie, 7 p.m. @ Dauphinee Centre
Sunday, Feb. 27 vs. Mount Allison, 3 p.m. @ Dauphinee Centre
Saturday, March 5 @ UPEI, 2 p.m. @ MacLauchlan Arena
Sunday, March 6 @ UNB, 2 p.m. @ Aitken University Centre
WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL
Heading into the return to play, the Huskies women's volleyball team are ranked #9 in U SPORTS and are atop the AUS Volleyball standings with an 8-1 record.
Heading into the return to play, the Huskies women's volleyball team are ranked #9 in U SPORTS and are atop the AUS Volleyball standings with an 8-1 record.
"Our players and coaches are all really excited to be back on the court," says head coach Darren Russell. "It's been an up-and-down couple of months, and at times it was difficult to keep motivated when you didn't know what was happening but our players have done a great job of keeping focused and optimistic."
The Huskies are expected to be led by their experienced line-up of middles Bethany Smith (Moncton, N.B.) and Mariama Syll (Charters Settlement, N.B.), outside hitters Olivia Bell (LaHave, N.S.), Megan Bruhm (Hubley, N.S.), and Anica Jestratijevic (Arandjelovac, Serbia) setter Jakobie Friesen (Barrie, ON), and libero Renee Cleveland (Saint-Martin, N.S.).
"Overall, I think our atmosphere is upbeat and ready to go. Tuesday was our first day on the court together as a whole team since November, and the competitive juices were already flowing," adds Russell. "We might be a little bit rusty but we get to play the game we love, and hopefully we can continue our momentum from the first term and finish strong."
Nine games into the AUS season, Syll leads the AUS in both solo blocks (19) and total blocks (27), while Smith, a two-time AUS All-Star ranks second in solo blocks (17) and third in total blocks (24).
Bell, a 2020 AUS First Team All-Star, ranks third in the AUS in kills (100) and kills per set (3.03), and seventh in digs (96), while 2020 AUS All-Rookie selection Bruhm ranks fourth in kills (93), fifth in kills per set (2.82), third in service aces (14) and eighth in digs (88).
Friesen leads the conference in assists (317), and Cleveland, a 2020 AUS All-Star, is fifth in the conference with 120 digs.
The Huskies also expect increased contributions from talented first-year outside hitters Nada Hamdy (Cairo, Egypt) and Madeline Watson (Brampton, ON), both of whom were beginning to make a larger impact in games before the season was shut down. The Huskies roster is rounded out by outside hitters Sydney Fader (Dartmouth, N.S.), Jaden Jamieson (Lawrencetown, N.S.) and Stephanie Wallace (Antigonish, N.S.), middles Madison Hann (Conquerrall Mills, N.S.) and Paige Deering (Calgary, AB), setters Olivia Day (Upper Sackville, N.S.) and Olivia Kokkinen (Uxbridge, ON), and libero Morgan Hoskins (Bishop's Falls, NL).
The Huskies are six-time Atlantic University Sport volleyball champions, most recently winning in 2012.
The Huskies schedule is as follows (home games in bold):
Saturday, Feb. 19 vs. UNB, 2 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Sunday, Feb. 20 vs. Acadia, 2 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Saturday, Feb. 26 @ Acadia, 4 p.m. @ War Memorial Gymnasium
Sunday, Feb. 27 vs. Dalhousie, 2 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Wednesday, March 2 @ Acadia, 7 p.m. @ War Memorial Gymnasium
Sunday, March 6 @ Moncton, 2 p.m. @ CEPS Louis-J.-Robichaud
MEN'S HOCKEY
The Huskies men's hockey team will look to get back to their winning ways when their season resumes on Friday, Feb. 18.
The Huskies men's hockey team will look to get back to their winning ways when their season resumes on Friday, Feb. 18, as they head to Antigonish to take on the St. FX X-Men, ranked #6 in U SPORTS.
The Huskies had pieced together a 7-6-1 record heading into the final week of November, but lost four consecutive games before the winter break, dropping them to fifth in the AUS with a 7-9-2 record.
"It's just exciting for our athletes," says interim head coach Tyler Naugler. "It's been a difficult two years really, but our hockey team has stayed very focused and disciplined."
Naugler says he's excited about the condensed schedule with every team making the playoffs.
"We are treating every game like a playoff game, and that's really exciting. We are looking forward to playoff hockey immediately ."
A young Huskies team are led in scoring by a trio of returning first years, forward Cedric Ralph (Peterborough, ON) and defencemen Justin MacPherson (Newmarket, ON) and Dennis Busby (Barrie, ON). Second year forwards Joel Bishop (St. John's, NL), Keith Getson (Bridgewater, N.S.) and Jonathan Hampton (Richmond Hill, ON) will also be asked to pick up scoring responsibilities, while first year goaltender Matt Welsh (Halifax, N.S.) leads the AUS in saves (512) and minutes played (1022:35).
The Huskies schedule is as follows (home games in bold):
Friday, Feb. 18 @ St. FX, 7 p.m. @ Keating Centre
Saturday, Feb. 19 vs. Dalhousie, 7 p.m. @ Dauphinee Centre
Friday, Feb. 25 vs. Moncton, 7 p.m. @ Dauphinee Centre
Saturday, Feb. 26 vs. UNB @ Dauphinee Centre
Wednesday, March 2 vs. Acadia, 7 p.m. @ Dauphinee Centre
Friday, March 4 @ UPEI, 7 p.m. @ MacLauchlan Arena
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Nikita Kasongo and the Huskies men's basketball team are excited to get back to action next week.
The Huskies men's basketball team will look to get back to their winning ways when their season resumes on Friday, Feb. 18, as they host the defending AUS Champions and crosstown rivals the Dalhousie Tigers at the Homburg Centre.
"We're excited to get back to it. It's been a long couple years for our student-athletes, and we're just to get the chance to finish our season," said Huskies head coach Jonah Taussig.
The Huskies started the season with a perfect 5-0 record before getting bitten by the injury bug, as starters Dontae Mitchell (Vaughan, ON), Jace Colley (East Preston, NS) and Johneil Johnson (Lake Echo, NS) all went down with injuries. The shorthanded Huskies dropped their last four games of 2021 and went into the break with a 5-4 record, good for fifth in the AUS standings.
"It was an up and down first half, but we're excited to right some of our wrongs. With every team making playoffs, anything can happen, so we just want to be playing our best basketball down the stretch," said Taussig, who added that health will be a big factor.
The trio of Colley, Johnson and Mitchell have recovered, but unfortunately the Huskies have lost forward Qyemah Gibson (Nassau, Bahamas) to a season-ending injury.
The Huskies are led in scoring by Colley, the 6'7" NCAA D1 transfer who averaged 20.1 points per game, and is also among the conference leaders in field goal percentage (55%, 3rd), rebounding (6.7 rebounds per game, 10th), and blocks (1.7 blocks per game, 1st). Fourth year guard Nikita Kasongo (Chateauguay, PQ) continues to stuff the stat sheet, ranking top 10 in the AUS in scoring (17.0 points per game, 8th), rebounding (7.4 rebounds per game (7th), assists (3.8 assists per game, 4th) and blocks (0.8 blocks per game, 7th).
The return of Johnson, a 2019-20 first team All-Star, and Mitchell will solidify a deep and talented Huskies backcourt. Third year guard Shae Linton-Brown (Toronto, ON), has shown to be an all-around playmaker in his first year with the Huskies, leading the team in rebounding (8.0 rebounds per game) and steals (2.6 per game), and is second in assists (3.7 assists per game) and fourth in scoring (15.1 points per game). First year guard Jayrell Diggs (East Preston, N.S.) has to be considered one of the favourites for AUS Rookie of the Year, ranking second among rookies in scoring with 13 points per game, and leading the AUS with a ridiculous 52.4% clip from three-point land.
The Huskies depth also includes third year guard Trayvone Clayton (Halifax, N.S.), second year forward Sam Gillett (Halifax, N.S.), first year guard Aidan MacDonald (Timberlea, N.S.) and first year forwards Jonah Crowther (Dartmouth, N.S.) , Jackson Enyinna (Port Harcourt, Nigeria) and Hanif Oyegoke (Calgary, AB), all of whom are expected to have opportunities to contribute as the Huskies finish the season with seven games in 22 days.
The Huskies schedule is as follows (home games in bold):
Friday, Feb. 18 vs. Dalhousie, 8 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Friday, Feb. 25 vs. Acadia, 8 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Sunday, Feb. 27 @ Acadia, 3 p.m. @ War Memorial Gymnasium
Saturday, March 5 vs. Memorial, 8 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Sunday, March 6 vs. Memorial 2 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Friday, March 11 @ UNB, 8 p.m. @ Richard J. Currie Centre
Saturday, March 11 @ UNB, 8 p.m. @ Richard J. Currie Centre
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Alaina McMillan and the Huskies women's basketball team will look to keep their winning season going.
The Huskies women's basketball team will look to get back to their winning ways when their season resumes on Friday, Feb. 18, as they host their crosstown rivals the Dalhousie Tigers at the Homburg Centre.
"The team is excited. We've been stopping and starting a lot over the last couple years, and having to adjust our practices to restrictions, but the team has continued working hard and are really happy to have the chance to finish off the season," says Huskies head coach Scott Munro.
With seven games over a 22 day stretch, Munro says that he'll quickly figure out what his team needs to do to be at their best heading into the playoffs, scheduled to take place March 18-20 in Halifax.
"You've basically got a month to try to ramp up and hopefully be able to peak and play your best basketball that weekend," says Munro.
The Huskies started the season with a 6-1 record, and were atop the AUS standings heading into the final week of November, when they dropped back-to-back four point games to the AUS defending champion UPEI Panthers and an overtime thriller to the Cape Breton Capers.
"We're going to have to shoot the ball well, we didn't shoot great in games before the break, but we're going to try to make some adjustments to get some better looks, and defending and rebounding are always very important keys to our success," says Munro.
The Huskies have had a balanced scoring output with four starters averaging in double figures, led by 2019-20 AUS All-Star Alaina McMillan at 15.8 points per game (seventh in the AUS). A pair of second year Huskies continue to stuff the stat sheet with forward Lucina Beaumont (Fredericton, N.B.) averaging 11.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 0.9 blocks, while guard Clara Gascoigne (Dartmouth, N.S.) averages 10.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists and impressively leads the conference in both steals (2.7 steals per game) and blocks (1.8 blocks per game).
Guards Arianna Macias (Tampa, FL) and Courtney Donaldson (Kelowna, BC) provide shooting and playmaking to the team, while guard Aki Kobayashi (Hyogo, Japan) was inserted into the Huskies starting lineup midway through the season as a defensive specialist, but scored a season high 13 points in the final game of 2021.
The Huskies roster is rounded out by forwards Katelyn Power (Bayside, N.S.), Marlo Steenbakkers (Ottawa, ON) and Jade Curwin (Dartmouth, N.S.), and guards Sarah Forgie (New Westminster, B.C.), Aiyanna Emprigham (Middle Sackville, N.S.), Isabella MacKay (New Glasgow, N.S.), Sarah Burnell (Airdrie, AB) and Jada Mofford (Brampton, ON), all of whom are expected to have opportunities to contribute as the Huskies finish the season with seven games in 22 days.
The Huskies schedule is as follows (home games in bold):
Friday, Feb. 18 vs. Dalhousie, 6 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Friday, Feb. 25 vs. Acadia, 6 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Sunday, Feb. 27 @ Acadia, 1 p.m. @ War Memorial Gymnasium
Saturday, March 5 vs. Memorial, 6 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Sunday, March 6 vs. Memorial 12 p.m. @ Homburg Centre
Friday, March 11 @ UNB, 6 p.m. @ Richard J. Currie Centre
Saturday, March 11 @ UNB, 6 p.m. @ Richard J. Currie Centre