Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – The historic moment happened 1,912 days ago.
MacEwan's first Canada West men's basketball game ended in a narrow loss to the Mount Royal University Cougars before they won their first contest in the new conference a night later at the David Atkinson Gym.
Six seasons later, Deonte Doslov-Doctor – a rookie out of Archbishop MacDonald high school then – still abides.
With the unique perspective of having been on the team for every one of the Griffins' Canada West matches, the veteran guard heads into his final home games at MacEwan this weekend.
The only graduating senior on the squad will be feted as part of the program's Senior Night celebrations following the second game of their series against Lethbridge (Friday, 8 p.m. and Saturday, 7 p.m., both David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
"It's been really awesome," said Doslov-Doctor. "I obviously wasn't here for ACAC, but from the start of U SPORTS till now, we've developed a lot as a team and as a program. I've seen the university grow over the years. It's a new building every year. It's been awesome."
Along the way, he's quietly played the most minutes of any player in the program's Canada West history, entering the weekend with 1,940 under his belt, after passing Denzel James (1,806) earlier this month when the Griffins played in Winnipeg.
A third-year redshirt season allowed Doslov-Doctor to remain with the program six years.
"I think everything's kind of come together to its completion," said Griffins head coach Mike Connolly. "I think it's a huge credit to him that he's been able to participate in something that's at a high level and do it for so long. Now, he's finishing that journey and moving on to another journey. I just think that shows what kind of character the young man has and what kind of commitment level he has.
"Deonte's been a pleasure to coach, even though it's only been one year (for me). He's a great young man, has a great attitude and he's fully about the team. We just wish him the best of luck in the future."
Entering the weekend, Doslov-Doctor is third in Griffins' career Canada West scoring with 648 points, second in assists (160), is tied for second in rebounds (279), fourth in steals (58) and has drained the fourth-most three-pointers (78). He chalks up the production to growing confidence in his abilities.
"I wasn't as confident my first year or two, but I think I've grown into that a lot more over the years, for sure," he said. "That would be my biggest (growth from Year 1)."
There's no doubt all of his experience is a tremendous benefit to the younger Griffins players.
"He brings the knowledge he has being around (the level)," said Connolly. "He sees how highly competitive it is. He's been able to push to the younger kids how hard they have to work and the extra efforts they have to do to be successful.
"I think his knowledge and experience has just allowed people to listen to him because he's been there and not a lot of guys on the team have."
Deonte Doslov-Doctor enters his final home weekend among the program's career leaders in Canada West production (Robert Antoniuk photo).
It's been a long time since he was the new guy, but soon Doslov-Doctor will be joining his old friends and teammates in the program's alumni group.
"It'll probably be, in a funny way, starting back all over again as a rookie because that's how they've probably always seen me," he chuckled. "But it will be exciting to join them. Looking forward to it."
He will also soon head out into the world, set to graduate this spring in MacEwan's Commerce program. Doslov-Doctor is aiming for a career as an entrepreneur. But the memories of his time as a Griffins student-athlete – particularly the camaraderie with teammates – will never leave him. He'd love to finish off his home career with some wins this weekend.
"Play together as a team, play hard and make it a memorable senior night – get some wins out of this," he said of the goals. "That's our team focus right now – just playing together, playing hard. If we play as a unit, we'll be very successful."
And the torch that he's passing on to the younger generation of MacEwan basketball players?
"I think he's setting our culture in that he's a good person and a nice individual who cares about his teammates, who does well in his school and academics," said Connolly.
"That's where we want to start is that type of a person who takes care of their academics, takes care of their stuff off the court and is a solid citizen and good teammate. It's just nice to see a person grow and that this is where it all accumulates to."
The Griffins enter the weekend still alive in the playoff race after being credited with two wins on Friday after Trinity Western was stripped of its Nov. 29-30 victories over MacEwan due to having an ineligible player on their roster.
That officially puts an end to what was a 19-game losing streak for the Griffins' program, stretching back to Jan. 25, 2019.
It also moves MacEwan to 2-14 in the standings, just two back of 4-12 UNBC who occupy the final playoff spot in Canada West. Mount Royal University (3-13), Brandon (3-13) and UBC-Okanagan (3-15) all sit between them and that mark, though. This weekend's opponent Lethbridge (6-10) is currently 11th in the conference.
