Trojans head into playoffs in style

CALGARY, ALTA., (Feb. 22, 2020) - With a playoff berth already secured, the SAIT Trojans women's hockey team achieved something they have not done in nearly a decade.

The Trojans hosted the Olds College Broncos in Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference (ACAC) action on Saturday night, and beat their guests 7-2. The seven-goal mark is the first time SAIT has scored that many goals in a regular season game since beating the MacEwan Griffins 9-2 on Jan. 7, 2011.

"I think they had the pressure off of them quite a bit," said Trojans head coach Tom Molloy. "We're 5-5 in our last 10 games and starting to believe in ourselves. Which is good at this time of the year."

SAIT wraps their regular season with a 7-16-1 record, which has placed them in fourth place in the ACAC standings. As the No. 4 seed, they will draw No. 1 MacEwan in the first round of the playoffs, which start next Thursday night in Edmonton.

MacEwan entered the season as the three-time defending champions, and will be favoured in the series. That said, Molloy feels pretty good about the matchup.

"They beat us by one goal three out of the last four times we played them, and we're playing extremely well now, so I think we have a shot," he said.

Before the game, the Trojans honoured a trio of players finishing up their fifth and final season of post-secondary athletics. Misty Seastrom (5th year, Creston, BC, Bachelor of Business Administration), Karmen Mooney (5th year, Squamish, BC, Construction Project Management) and Tashel Scantlebury (5th year, Foxwarren, Man., Community Economic Development).

Scantlebury and Mooney stood out, as they played all five years of their athletic careers at SAIT. To cerebrate the milestone, each of them scored in the game.

"Tash is just a fantastic captain; she's calm and knows what to do out there," Molloy said. "And Karmen, this weekend there was no way she was going to not get us into the playoffs. I'm happy for them both that we are able to move on and play for a title.

Brittany MacDonald (3rd year, Calgary, Medical Radiologic Technology) scored twice for the Trojans. Also scoring was Brynn Ferguson (1st year, Regina, Sask., Rehabilitation Therapy Assistant), Aislynn Nachtegaele (2nd year, Edmonton, Alta., Health Fundamentals) and Ashton Holmes (3rd year, Bassano, Alta., Business Administration).

Replying for Olds College was Jesse Jack and Abby Webster.

Rookie goalie Cassidy Brown (1st year, Calgary, Health Fundamentals) turned aside 18 of 20 shots to earn the win in net.