By Kristi Patton /
While the SAIT Trojans men’s hockey team is well versed in winning championships, as they enter this season, there will be 12 eager new faces waiting to sing in that chorus.
The Trojans are looking to hold onto the Alberta College Athletic Conference title for the fourth year in a row and already those new players are showing their stock.
The rookie line of Shadoe Stoodley (Strathmore, AJHL Olds), Robert Nocera (Calgary, AJHL Drumheller) and Travis Bradshaw (Calgary, AJHL Calgary Royals) accounted for one goal and plenty of panache as the Trojans, three-time defending Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference champions, kicked off the 2009/10 season by clobbering the Grant MacEwan University Griffins 6-0 at SAIT Arena.
“The AJ line, I call it,” chuckled SAIT head coach Ken Babey. “I liked them. I’ve watched all three of those players for two years, going to my son’s games (Joe Babey plays for the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Calgary Royals). They’re quick. They’re good forecheckers. And they seem to have a nice little chemistry, between the three of them.
“And I must tell you, as the coach, they’ve been some of the hardest working guys I’ve had at training camp and in the pre-season.”
Through 44 years of ACAC men’s hockey only one team has hoisted the championship trophy four years in a row. The three-time defending champion Trojans know it won’t be an easy task ahead of them.
“It’s going to be very competitive again. Every team has upgraded over the summer, in terms of recruiting. There were a lot of good 20-year-olds available,” adds Babey. “But we think we have a team that can be a contender for the title again this year. We’re going to go for it.”
WOMEN’S TEAM HUNGRY FOR ANOTHER CHANCE
For the SAIT Trojans women’s hockey team, this will be a year of redemption. After unsuccessfully battling their cross-town rival, Mount Royal University College, for the ACAC championships, the players are looking to even the score.
“We’ve got some unfinished business this year,” said second-year defender Amanda Williams. “We learned that just because you finish first in the regular season doesn’t mean anything.”
The Trojans lost one of their top scorers from last year in Emily Burton but have filled the vacancy with three highly qualified forwards in Mikayla Bencun (Calgary), Rylee Scott (Bentley) and Lundie Graham (Stettler). These additions, along with the return of Tonya Faasse — last year’s team MVP and second-team ACAC all-star.
“I think we have a better team this year than last year,” said Trojans coach Terry Larson. “No, not think — we do have a better team than last year. And our goals are to build off that.”
TROJAN NOTES
Trojan men’s hockey coach Ken Babey needs 25 more wins to tie as the winningest coach in Canadian post-secondary men’s hockey history.
THe University of Calgary Dinos women’s hockey team have moved back to the Canadian INteruniversity Sport, leaving five teams in the ACAC. Trojans forward Faasse needs 24 more goals to tie the record for most in the ACAC (73 goals). |