MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Curling student-athlete Rebecca Bartz is the MacEwan Athletics' first star of the week after leading the Griffins mixed rink to an ACAC Championship over the weekend in Red Deer.
Bartz and her rink of third Brandt Holt, second Brennin Turner, lead Zale Zabolotniuk and alternates Rachael Hansen and Joel MacDonald defeated the NAIT Ooks 6-2 on Sunday to win the seventh mixed and 16th overall ACAC Championship in MacEwan history.
Other stars recognized this week include second star Carley Jewell of women's hockey and third star Marc-Olivier Daigle of men's hockey.
All three are being honoured for the first time this season.
1st STAR: Rebecca Bartz, skip, mixed curling
Fort Saskatchewan, AB, fourth-year, Nursing
With excellent strategy and solid shot-making, Rebecca Bartz led the MacEwan Griffins mixed curling rink to a gold medal, trophy and banner at the ACAC Championship in Red Deer.
Bartz outplayed her NAIT counterpart at the skip position by "almost 30 percentage points," noted head coach Tom Kitagawa after they beat the Ooks 6-2 in Sunday's final.
The fourth-year skip and her teammates, third Brandt Holt, second Brennin Turner, lead Zale Zabolotniuk and alternates Rachael Hansen and Joel MacDonald captured the seventh mixed championship in program history and second in the past three years.
It's also the 16th banner in program history.
For Bartz, it's her fourth-consecutive year with a medal from the ACAC Championship, following a mixed bronze in 2017, a mixed gold in 2018 and a women's team gold in 2019.
2nd STAR: Carley Jewell, D, women's hockey
Winnipeg, AB, fifth-year, Science
The strong play of Carley Jewell at both ends of the ice led the Griffins to a sweep of the SAIT Trojans in the opening round of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women's hockey playoffs.
Jewell blocked shots and boxed out SAIT's top scorers in helping limit the Trojans to just three goals in the two-game semifinal series.
The veteran Griffins defenceman also recorded two assists in the weekend series.
In MacEwan's 4-2 win in Game 1 on Thursday, Jewell set up the opening goal by sending a slap pass from the point to the back side for Chantal Ricker to shovel past goalie Kaylin Schellenberg.
In Friday's 5-1 Game 2 victory, Jewell walked in off the point and fed Ricker for a one-timer that would prove to be the game-winner.
Jewell now leads the Griffins into the ACAC Championship best-of-five final against NAIT. Game 1 (Thursday, 7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena) and Game 2 (Saturday, 6 p.m., NAIT Arena) are this weekend before the rest of the series takes place March 13-15.
Carley Jewell set up two key goals in MacEwan's ACAC semifinal sweep of SAIT and played a huge role in limiting the Trojans to just three goals in two games (Joel Kingston photo).
3rd STAR: Marc-Olivier Daigle, G, men's hockey
Delson, QC, fifth-year, Commerce
On Friday night after he was honoured as MacEwan's lone graduating senior in a pre-game ceremony, goaltender Marc-Olivier Daigle stole the show in a 3-2 victory over the NAIT Ooks.
Daigle stopped 47 of 49 shots for a save percentage of .959 in the contest.
He followed that up with 19 saves on 21 shots in a 3-1 loss at NAIT on Saturday as the Griffins finished the regular season with a 20-7-1-0 record, good for third place in the ACAC standings.
Daigle finished the season with a 2.35 goals against average and .930 save percentage.
He leads the Griffins into the opening round of the ACAC playoffs against cross-town rival Concordia this weekend. Game 1 of the best-of-three quarter-final is set for Friday (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena), Game 2 is Saturday (7 p.m., Clareview Arena) and Game 3, if necessary, is set for Sunday (1 p.m., DCA).
Marc-Olivier Daigle came through with a huge game against NAIT last Friday, leading the Griffins to a 3-2 victory by stopping 47 of 49 shots (Joel Kingston photo).
