MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – After a sizzling month in the net for the MacEwan Griffins women's hockey team, goaltender Brianna Sank has been named the Sandman Player of the Month for January.

Sank wins a free night's stay at the Sandman Signature Hotel Downtown Edmonton.

The third-year Ardrossan, Alta. product has been lights out of late, stopping 198 out of 213 shots for a .930 save percentage in starting seven of MacEwan's eight games in January.

Sank had three wins, including a 19-save shutout over the Regina Cougars on Jan. 14, and was twice named MacEwan Athletics' first star of the week, including for her play last weekend when she stopped 77 of 83 shots against U SPORTS No. 1 UBC.

"It's been fun to watch, honestly," said Griffins interim head coach Chris Leeming. "As a goalie, she's the last line of defence and it's not an easy position, that's for sure. I think she's done a great job this year, especially with the workload that she hasn't had before."

For the season, Sank has a .916 save percentage, 2.48 goals against average in logging the third-most minutes in the conference (1,257:04), all while facing the second-most shots of any goaltender in Canada West (618).

"Every day, she comes to work and makes our players better in practice," said Leeming. "The games she's played for us, she's just got poise. I don't ever see her panic. 

"Her being solid in the net gives us confidence as a team that we're going to have an opportunity to be in the game." 

Sank will lead the Griffins into a home-and-home series against Mount Royal University on Friday (7 p.m. in Calgary) and Saturday (5 p.m., Downtown Community Arena, Canada West TV).