Canada West Communications

Highlights:

• Calgary’s Kelsie MacDonald, Trinity Western’s Danae Derksen, and Manitoba’s Venla Hovi are the women’s three stars
• Saskatchewan’s Josh Roach, Mount Royal’s Brad Kennedy, and Alberta’s Easton Ongaro are the men’s three stars of the week
• MacDonald posted a six-point weekend, including five goals as the Dinos women’s soccer team improved to 6-3-3, while Roach recorded three goals and three assists, as the Huskies men’s hockey earned a pair of home wins

EDMONTON – A pair of scoring outbursts have landed Kelsie MacDonald and Josh Roach Canada West first star honours for the week ending October. 15.

MacDonald posted five goals and an assist over the weekend in women’s soccer action, as the second-year forward guided the Calgary Dinos to a pair of wins in women’s soccer. 

Meanwhile on the ice, Saskatchewan’s Josh Roach continued his torrid offensive start, registering three goals and three assists, as the Huskies men’s hockey squad earned a pair of home wins over the Lethbridge Pronghorns. 

MacDonald and the Dinos return to the pitch this weekend when they wrap up the regular season with home games against Mount Royal and Alberta, while Roach and the Huskies travel to Manitoba to take on the Bisons Friday and Saturday. 

You can catch every Canada West hockey game this season, along with select soccer games by tuning into Canada West TV.

Women’s first star – Kelsie MacDonald

Calgary Dinos soccer

Forward

2nd-year

Calgary, Alta.

Science 

Game log: Saturday, Oct. 14 – two goals and an assist in 3-1 W @ UBC Okanagan / Sunday, Oct. 15 – three goals in a 4-0 W @ Thompson Rivers.

The University of Calgary Dinos women’s soccer team filled the scoresheet this weekend, scoring seven goals during a pair of road victories in the BC interior.

Five of those goals came off the foot of second-year forward Kelsie MacDonald, who finished the weekend with six points.

On Saturday in Kelowna, MacDonald scored the game’s first two goals to give the Dinos a 2-0 lead over the UBCO Heat. After the Heat cut the lead in half, MacDonald set up an insurance goal to round out the scoring in a 3-1 win. 

MacDonald continued to be a force the following day when the Dinos visited the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack. In the final 12 minutes of the match, the Calgary native recorded a natural hat trick to cap off a 4-0 win for her team. 

The Dinos women’s soccer team is at home for their next two games. They take on the crosstown rival Mount Royal University Cougars on Oct. 21 and host the University of Alberta Pandas on Oct. 22. Both games kickoff at 12 p.m.

Men’s first star – Josh Roach

Saskatchewan Huskies hockey

Forward

5th-year

Saskatoon, Sask.

Education 

Game log: Friday, Oct. 13 – goal and an assist in 4-3 2OT W vs. Lethbridge / Saturday, Oct. 14 – two goals and two assists in 5-2 W vs. Lethbridge.

University of Saskatchewan forward Josh Roach helped keep the Huskies perfect in the Canada West men's hockey season recording six points in a weekend sweep over the Lethbridge Pronghorns. 

In Friday's 4-3 double overtime win, the fifth-year Education student scored the Huskies' second goal at 10:28 in the first and assisted the second goal. A night later in a 5-2 victory, Roach scored at 18:11 on the power play in the second period and at 13:39 in the third period. He also assisted on the first and third goals.

Roach and the No. 3-ranked Huskies (4-0) travel to Winnipeg to meet the Manitoba Bisons next weekend.

Women’s second star – Danae Derksen

Trinity Western Spartans soccer

Forward

4th-year

Delta, B.C.

General Studies 

Game log: Friday, Oct. 13 – two goals and an assist in 5-0 W vs. Regina / Saturday, Oct. 14 – goal in 5-0 W vs. Saskatchewan. 

Fourth-year striker Danae Derksen scored three goals and added an assist to lead the Spartans to back-to-back 5-0 wins over Regina and Saskatchewan.

As she has throughout much of the season, Derksen came off the bench midway through the first half and provided an offensive spark, tallying two goals and an assist in Friday’s win over Regina and then adding her third goal of the weekend against Saskatchewan. 

Derksen now has a career-high six goals on the season and is second on her team in scoring and tied for sixth in the conference. Along with her offensive foray, Derksen also helped the Spartans set a Canada West record for consecutive clean sheets, at nine, as TWU has earned nine straight shutout victories. 

The Spartans sit atop the Pacific Division standings with a 10-2-0 record and will now prepare for a season-ending road trip to play Victoria Friday and UBC Saturday.

Men’s second star – Brad Kennedy

Mount Royal Cougars hockey

Forward

1st-year

Antigonish, N.S.

Business 

Game log: Friday, Oct. 13 – two goals in 7-6 SOL vs. Regina / Saturday, Oct. 14 – two goals in 5-4 SOW vs. Regina. 

Rookie Brad Kennedy scored his first goals as a Cougar over the weekend when he netted four in two games to split the weekend series with Regina.

His first came on the power play in the first period Friday to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead. Later in the game, he scored his second to tie the game up at five. With the score tied up after two overtime periods, Kennedy scored the only shootout goal for the Cougars in their loss to Regina to open the weekend. The following day, Kennedy continued to impress, scoring two goals back-to-back in the second period. Another tie game forced a shootout where Kennedy scored once again. Mount Royal won the contest 5-4.

The Cougars men’s hockey team plays a home-and-home series against the Lethbridge Pronghorns this weekend with the second game of the matchup set for 6 p.m. at Flames Community Arenas on Saturday.

Women’s third star – Venla Hovi

Manitoba Bisons hockey

Forward

4th-year  

Tampere, Finland

Extended Education 

Game log: Friday, Oct. 13 – three assists in 4-3 L vs. Alberta / Saturday, Oct. 14 – two assists in 4-2 W vs. Alberta. 

For the second consecutive weekend, the No. 8-ranked Bison women’s hockey team played one of the nation’s top two teams, earning a home weekend spilt against the No. 1-ranked Alberta Pandas on October 13-14. 

Bison fourth-year forward Venla Hovi was a major contributor to the hard fought weekend split, as she recorded five assists and was named second star of the game twice during the two games at Wayne Fleming Arena. 

To begin the weekend, the Tampere, Finland native was a force with three assists and three shots, as Manitoba battled but lost on a last second goal in a 4-3 loss on Friday. The next night, the five-foot-10 forward continue to be a playmaker, adding two more assists in a 4-2 victory on Saturday. 

Hovi leads the conference in scoring with eight points (1G-7A) while playing in four CW regular season games so far this season.

The Bisons (2-2-0-0) travel to play Saskatchewan (2-1-0-1) this weekend.

Men’s third star – Easton Ongaro

Alberta Golden Bears soccer

Forward

2nd-year  

Edmonton, Alta.

Arts

Game log: Saturday, Oct. 14 – two goals in 5-1 W @ MacEwan / Sunday, Oct. 15 – goal and an assist in 5-0 W vs. MacEwan.

Rookie University of Alberta Golden Bears soccer forward Easton Ongaro is the Canada West third star following his four-point performance in a weekend sweep of the MacEwan Griffins.

Ongaro led the Bears with three goals and four points, as the Bears earned a pair of decisive wins over their cross-town foes this past weekend. The pair of wins also clinched the Prairie Division for Alberta, who now own a 9-1-2 record in 2017. 

Despite playing just 54 minutes on Saturday, Ongaro was an offensive catalyst for the Bears. The rookie Bear scored two goals 14 minutes apart in the first half, the second and third goals of his young career.

Ongaro was just as dynamic on Sunday at Foote Field, finishing off a nice feed from Ajeej Sarkaria in the box for his third goal of the weekend, before setting up Sarkaria for his third assist of the season.

Ongaro now sits third overall on the Bears with seven points in 10 conference games. The conference-leading Bears will be back in action this weekend, as they host Mount Royal and Calgary to Foote Field.