Road Preview: Basketball teams off to Winnipeg, WHKY heads to Regina
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – After a momentary stop at home to do laundry, attend class and knock out a few practices, the MacEwan basketball teams head back out on the road this weekend.
Bound for Winnipeg, they'll get in two games each against the Wesmen.
For the Griffins men's basketball team, the road barely gets any easier than last weekend when they visited U SPORTS No. 3 Calgary – who have since risen to No. 2 – as Winnipeg is currently ranked fifth in the country.
For women's basketball, the test will also be a solid one against a Wesmen team that's won two of three games so far this season.
Meanwhile, the MacEwan women's hockey squad is also going out of province for a weekend series as they're set to meet Regina for the first time since going to a shootout twice against them in October at the Downtown Community Arena.
Read our full previews below.
Women's Basketball
On Tap
Friday: at Winnipeg, 5 p.m. MT, Canada West TV
Saturday: at Winnipeg, 6 p.m. MT, Canada West TV
Standings
MacEwan: 0-4 – 9th Prairie Division
Winnipeg: 2-1 – 6th Prairie Division
Last meeting
Jan. 27, 2024: MacEwan 49 at Winnipeg 65
Last game
Nov. 16: MacEwan 32 at Calgary 88
Nov. 16: Winnipeg 55 at Mount Royal 72
Katherine Adams' coach's quote:
"They're a veteran team. They have some very experienced, savvy players. So it's just for us to refocus after last weekend, focus on what we do well and find our stride. I think that's where everyone's at right now as we prepare to head to Winnipeg."
Players to watch
MacEwan: Morgan Clark – The rookie forward led the Griffins with 13 points in their last outing against U SPORTS No. 7 Calgary, which marked her biggest performance to date. The Griffins are averaging just 44.8 points a game so far, so they're looking for scorers to step up and Clark seems primed to contribute regularly.
Winnipeg: Jazmin Birch – The Wesmen forward is leading them in scoring, averaging 14.0 points/game, which is 10th in Canada West. Her consistency has been on point with 14 against Brandon Nov. 1, and 13- and 15-point efforts vs. Mount Royal last weekend.
Notable
Unity Obasuyi is leading the Griffins in scoring, averaging 11.8 points/game, tied for 20th in Canada West … Sofia Makinen saw her first action of 2024-25 last weekend after missing all of preseason and the home-opening weekend against Mount Royal with an injury … Samantha Hickey is grabbing rebounds at a rate of 8.3/game, which, if extrapolated over a whole season, would be the fifth best average by a Griffins player in Canada West play – a category led by the 11.3 rebounds/game Kelly Fagan averaged during the 2014-15 season.
Griffins' rookie point guard Diego Presingular, seen guarding Noah Wharton last weekend in Calgary, will be playing in front of family and friends against the Wesmen this weekend (David Moll photo).
Men's Basketball
On Tap
Friday: at Winnipeg, 7 p.m. MT, Canada West TV
Saturday: at Winnipeg, 4 p.m. MT, Canada West TV
Standings
MacEwan: 0-4 – 9th Prairie Division
Winnipeg: 3-0 – T3rd Prairie Division
Last meeting
Jan. 27, 2024: MacEwan 63 at Winnipeg 87
Last game
Nov. 16: MacEwan 74 at Calgary 99
Nov. 16: Winnipeg 62 at Mount Royal 52
Mike Connolly's coach's quote:
"We are playing an experienced good team in the Wesmen. They have represented Canada West the past two years at nationals. They have some very talented players, led by all-conference point guard Shawn Maranan (2023-24 CW second team). They are probably the best 'team' in Canada West. They play together. They play hard and compete above most opponents. They have good chemistry and are well coached.
"We need to match their compete level in our approach while executing our game plan. It's a good opportunity for us to keep putting together good moments and plays to build for future games and continue to grow."
Players to watch
MacEwan: Milan Jaksic – Coming off a tremendous weekend where he recorded 40 points and 17 rebounds in a pair of games at U SPORTS No. 3 Calgary, the veteran forward needs one more double double to break the program's career record in Canada West play.
Winnipeg: Ryan Luke – The forward leads the Wesmen in scoring, averaging 16.3 points/game (tied for 12thin Canada West), which includes a sizzling 69 per cent rate of success from the field.
Notable
In MacEwan's first game at Calgary on Nov. 15, Milan Jaksic hit his 50th career three-pointer … In the same game, Job Janda reached 100 career free throws … Rookie point guard Diego Presingular is from Winnipeg – a product of Central Canada Prep – so expect a good cheering section for the Griffins this weekend. He's coming off his best game offensively when he scored 12 points against the Dinos last Saturday, including hitting three three-pointers.
Brianna Sank can break the all-time program minutes played record in her next start (Rebecca Chelmick photo).
Women's Hockey
On Tap
Friday: at Regina, 6 p.m. MT, Canada West TV
Saturday: at Regina, 4 p.m. MT, Canada West TV
Standings
MacEwan: 1-9-2 - 5th East Division
Regina: 6-3-3 - 2nd East Division
Last meeting
Oct. 12, 2024: Regina 2 at MacEwan 3 (SO)
Last game
Nov. 16: Trinity Western 3 at MacEwan 0
Nov. 16: Regina 1 at Alberta 2 (OT)
Chris Leeming's coach's quote:
"We really just want to go into this weekend and focus on executing our game. It's been something that's been a little inconsistent with us lately from the U of A weekend into to facing Trinity (Western). We really want to make sure regardless of who we're playing that we're dialed into the execution part of our game."
Players to watch
MacEwan: Brianna Sank – The fifth-year goaltender is within reach of the program's all-time minutes played record and could set the record in her next start. Sank enters the weekend with 4,167:16 minutes played in her career stretching back to 2019. The record is held by Sandy Heim, who played 4,184:11 regular season minutes from 2015-19.
Regina: Paige Hubbard – The fifth-year forward leads Regina in scoring with four goals and six points in 12 games. She scored in MacEwan's last game against the Cougars, and also scored in the shootout, so she's definitely on the radar of the Griffins' defence this weekend.
Notable
The previous series between the East Division rivals featured two games that both went to shootouts with each team winning one of them. Regina won 2-1 on Oct. 11 in controversial fashion as MacEwan goaltender Lindsey Johnson made the decisive save in the third round of the shootout on Paige Hubbard and the Griffins came off the bench to celebrate before the official made a little-seen ruling that Johnson had come off her goal-line before Hubbard touched the puck at centre ice. A redo was awarded and Hubbard scored to extend the shootout that was eventually won in the sixth round by the Cougars … MacEwan rallied from a 2-0 deficit the next night, though, and won the shootout on two goals by Sydney Jack.
