Hockey Photos

SAIT vs MRU Rematch

No love lost between bitter Rivals

Curtis Taylor

Polytechnic Press 

A full eight months removed from their epic ACAC championship, the SAIT Trojans and MRU Cougars took to the ice once again this past weekend.

And although there were plenty of new faces this time around, but the inner city rivalry certainly lived up to its expectations.

“It was a lot fun,” said first year Trojans forward Nolan Souchotte, who got his first taste of the MRU SAIT rivalry.

“You always hear about the rivalry, I didn’t really know what to expect, and it was exactly like everyone talked about, intense and great hockey.”

The Trojans were embarrassed in their home rink on Friday, losing the opening game by a score of 8-4.  It was a physical affair, with both teams combining for 191 penalty minutes in the first game alone.

The Trojans seemed very frustrated at times, taking undisciplined penalties, which ultimately led to their downfall.

“I think our hearts were there (on Friday) but maybe our minds weren’t because we were just too wound up from the eight months,” said head coach Ken Babey.

“When you’re going in with all that emotion and you get down a couple goals there’s a big drop, I wasn’t happy with our performance and I don’t think the guys were after.”

The Trojans had little time to regroup following the loss, and knew they had to come out with a better effort in the second game at Mount Royal.

Ken Babey’s message to the team following the loss was simple.

“Simplify the game, relax, and play hard.  These guys are good hockey players, just play.  I told the guys they were maybe a little ripe for the picking after that 8-4 loss, I’m happy with the way we responded.”

After jumping out to an early 3-0 lead, the Trojans never looked back, eventually taking the game by a score of 7-1. 

“We realized in the second game that we just had to calm down and stick to the system, and that really paid off for us,” said Souchotte.

On this night, it was the Cougars’ turn to be undisciplined.  The Trojans kept their composure and took advantage of this, going 4/11 on the powerplay, and put the game out of reach in the second period.

“Discipline is huge and there’s going to be games where things aren’t going our way at the start, we may need to battle back and come back in the game, and we have to be able to do that down the stretch,” said Trojans forward Clinton Pettapiece.

“When you are staying disciplined you are more calm emotionally and you tend to play a little better on the ice.”

Babey was very pleased with the way his team responded, and thinks it will help their confidence moving forward.

“I’m building on that game as a coach, it’s a big rebound game, to emotionally turn it around in 24 hours I think was pretty good for a young team.”

Matt Stefanishion carried the Trojans offensively over the weekend, recording two goals and two assists in each of the games.  The eight points over the weekend series gives him 20 points on the season in just eight games played, and now sits second in ACAC scoring one point behind teammate Clinton Pettapiece.

The MRU Cougars currently sit atop the ACAC standings with 24 points, and the Trojans sit tied for second with Augustana, three points back of MRU with a game in hand.

The two teams will play again in the final two games of the season.  Trojan and Cougar fans alike can expect a much closer matchup next time around, as both teams will try to build off their convincing road wins.

“I can’t wait to play them again,” said Pettapiece.  

Women's Hockey Story

Trojans sweep the Queens

Curtis Taylor

Polytechnic Press

After a slow start to the season, the SAIT Trojans women’s hockey team seems to be back to their championship form.

The defending ACAC champion Trojans won back-to-back games for the first time this season, sweeping their two game series with the Red Deer Queens.  They capped it off with a 3-2 come from behind overtime victory at home.

“The four points was huge, it put us in a spot where we can head into the second half of the season in second place.  It showed determination within the team to come back and win those games when we were down,” said captain Rylee Scott

With the score tied 2-2 in the extra frame, Melanie Vincent emerged from the corner looking for the cross crease pass to Lindsay Audia.  The Red Deer defender played pass all the way, allowing Vincent to the front of the net untouched where she deposited a backhand high over the blocker side.

“I thought Mel showed great composure, she is one of our senior players and she showed it on the ice,” said Larson.

“She knew to make eye contact with Becca in front to make the defender over commit, and that opened the ice for her.  She was looking at all her options, and showed her experience on that play.”

With 11 new players on the team this season, the Trojans knew it would be difficult to develop chemistry early on.  But 10 games into the season, the girls feel much more comfortable with each other both on and off the ice.

Head coach Terry Larson says that slow starts are nothing new to the Trojans.  Because most of the programs at SAIT are only two years in length, it means that players do not have as much time to play together.

“If you look at every year, it is usually around Christmas time when we really start gelling as a team,” said Larson.

After juggling through line combinations the first half of the season, the Trojans now have set lines and defense pairings and this newfound chemistry has translated into wins.

“We are starting to get more consistent with our lines and D partners so there is more chemistry on the ice,” said Scott.

The Trojans now sit at 4-4-4 on the season, well within striking distance of first place Mount Royal. 

With two more games remaining before Christmas, the Trojans look to keep their winning ways heading into the break.

Cross Country Running Story

Home field advantage for the Trojans

Curtis Taylor

Polytechnic Press

The SAIT Trojans cross country team hopes home field advantage will translate into success in the upcoming provincial finals.

On October 29, SAIT will be hosting the ACAC cross-country provincial finals for the first time ever at Canmore Park.

Both the men’s and women’s team have been training hard in preparation for the race, and have high expectations for themselves running on their home course.

The men’s team has faced stiff competition all year, and if they can improve on the season’s final standings they will be satisfied.

“If we can get within the top ten that would be ideal, because we have been sitting around tenth all year,” said Trevor Hofbauer.

Hofbauer is currently injured, but expects to be back just in time to run in the final race of the season.

Growing up in Calgary, Hofbauer is very familiar with Canmore Park and feels that it will give the Trojans an advantage.

“Throughout highschool Charlie (Gretton) and I ran together and all we did was run at Canmore park.  To know the course will give us a strong advantage throughout our run,” he said.

The women’s team is looking to cap off a strong season, and Lisa Curle thinks the team is in their best shape of the year heading into the biggest race of the season.

“I think that we are pretty much in top shape, I’m feeling pretty confident.  The team overall is looking really strong,” said Curle.

For the women’s cross country team, finishing third has become a trend throughout the season.  Grant McEwan has a very strong team, and have won the majority of the races this season.  Red Deer College is also very strong, and sit in second place heading into the ACAC finals.

“I’m hoping to maintain our results as a team, we have performed well throughout the year.  It’s been pretty much the same (result) at every meet so far this season,” said Curle.

Curle and the rest of the team will be training hard at Canmore Park leading up to the finals, and have developed a strategy to running the course.

“We’ve been familiarizing ourselves with the track ever since we started training, and we know the course very well we run on it at least once a week,” said Curle. “By doing that we have really prepared ourselves, we know where the tough parts are and we know where we can put in some attack so we should be in good shape.”

Men's Hockey Story

John Malin named captain of the Trojans

Curtis Taylor

Polytechnic Press

A new generation of SAIT Trojans hockey has begun, as on Wednesday head coach Ken Babey announced his new captain and assistants for the upcoming season.

Defenceman John Malin was named as the new team captain.  Forwards Garrett Watson, Travis Bradshaw, and Matt Stefanishion were named as assistants.

Head coach Ken Babey was left with a hole to fill in the leadership department after the departing of previous captain Kevin Lessard, and assistants Shane Lust, Mike Ullrich, and Ryan Hyland.

However, Babey believes his new set of leaders are great role models for the team both on and off the ice.

“All those four young men are great examples of what we like in a leader,” said Babey. “They lead by example, they’re all key players for our team and they are good students.”

Ken Babey has always had the same system when picking his captains and assistants.  They are picked based on a vote amongst the players, and the coaches vote as well. 

As it turns out, the coaches and the players had the exact same four in mind for this year’s leadership.

“Those guys were impressive to the coaches, but more importantly they were impressive to their teammates,” said Babey.

John Malin is entering his fourth year of eligibility for the Trojans   

Malin was named to the ACAC all conference second team all star last season, and is the team’s top shutdown defenceman.  A hulking frame at 6’5’’, Malin makes up half of the “twin towers” with defence partner Joel Woznikoski, who is also 6’5”.

“I need to be more vocal, and lead by example,” said Malin. “We have a lot of new faces out there this year, 15 new guys, you have to lead them by example and vocally so they can learn the SAIT way and learn the ropes.”

Alongside having a leadership role, the assistant captains for the Trojans will be counted on to put the puck in the net.

Lust and Ullrich were among the ACAC’s leading scorers last season, and their departure gives an opportunity for others to step up offensively

Garrett Watson had a very productive preseason, and tallied eight points over his final two games.

“They left us a big hole from last season,” said Watson. “There’s definitely a few guys who need to help out (offensively) and looking around the dressing room I think we have that.”

Though Matt Stefanishion is a rookie this year for the Trojans, he played professionally for many different teams down in the United States and thinks that experience can help the younger rookies on the team.

“With the experience that I bring, I can hopefully lend that to some younger guys,” said Stefanishion. “If they have questions, or if I can tell them about the life of hockey and if it’s everything they think its cracked up to be.”

Third year forward Travis Bradshaw knows what it takes to win, as he won a championship with the Trojans in his first year with the team.

“I think leadership is really important to bring, we’ve got a lot of young guys this year, I’ve won a championship here so I think it’s important to help show the way,” said Bradshaw.

The Trojans are looking for redemption after last year’s loss in the finals against Mount Royal.  SAIT hockey fans can rest assured that the team is in good hands with this new era of veteran leadership.

Men's Soccer Story

Weekend win a confidence boost for Trojans

Curtis Taylor

Polytechnic Press

The SAIT Trojans Men’s soccer team went into this weekend in desperate need of a win to keep pace in the ACAC playoff race.

With the regular season only consisting of 10 games, time was working against the Trojans to get into the win column.

After losing a hard fought game against Red Deer on Saturday, the team bounced back Sunday against Lakeside to record their first win of the season by a score of 1-0.

The win was a big confidence boost for the Trojans, and it gives them some momentum heading into Saturday’s matchup with Lethbridge.

“It was a huge win.  It was great for morale,” said Seamus Smyth, a first year defender for the Trojans. “

The two teams traded chances in a scoreless first half, but it was the Trojans who finally broke through in the 75^th minute on a lucky bounce.

Midfielder Jaron Broom’s corner kick got caught up in the wind and eluded the Lakeside goaltender, giving the Trojans a lead they would never relinquish.

It was a long overdue break for the Trojans, who played hard in their first two games but just weren’t getting any bounces.

“In the Red Deer game we had some tough breaks against us, goals that just trickled over the line,” said Smyth. “I think we definitely deserved that break against Lakeside.

For a team with so many new faces, a road trip may have been just what the doctor ordered for the Trojans to gain some familiarity amongst each other both on and off the field

“It’s a good group of guys, from all over the map,” said Smyth. “Everybody’s here to play, and everybody has a love for the game.”

When the team was put together three weeks ago, there was a strong sense of unfamiliarity amongst the players.

And while it may have taken a little while to learn one another’s name and playing style, the Trojans seemed to have developed some chemistry amongst the players and it is starting to show on the field.

The big difference for the Trojans in both games this weekend was their ability to generate more offense.

“Everybody is playing stronger to their positions, and conditioning has definitely improved amongst the team,” said Smyth. “Everybody is coming familiar with the way each other plays.  It think we are starting to realize that we do have a strong team, from our offense right to our goaltending.”

While things are starting to look up for the Trojans, there is still plenty of work to be done until this team can be considered a legitimate contender within the ACAC conference.