Players Bench Athletes of the Week: Jan. 27 – Feb. 2

The MRU Cougars competed in eight games last weekend, with the volleyball teams hosting the MacEwan University Griffins on Kenyon Court and the hockey teams taking on the University of Calgary Dinos in the final Crowchild Classic series of the season. The hockey teams split their weekend by earning a pair of Saturday night wins after conceding two losses on Friday, while the volleyball teams dominated all weekend long, winning three of their four matches. Find out who made the cut for this week’s Players Bench Athlete of the Week honours below.

Players Bench Female Athlete of the Week: Aliya Jomha (WHKY)

The Cougars women’s hockey team suffered a narrow loss in their Crowchild Classic matchup against the University of Calgary Dinos on Friday night, but quickly redeemed themselves with a dominant showing on Saturday. Aliya Jomha was a huge performer in both games, firing five shots on goal on Friday before scoring two goals and dropping two assists on Saturday for a weekend total of four points.

Friday night was rough for Cougars hockey fans as both teams lost to their cross-town rivals. Despite scoring first and hanging on to a 1-0 lead for the majority of the game, the women’s hockey team conceded defeat in a sudden-death shootout, failing to score on any of their three attempts. Jomha was the final skater in that shootout, and after being stopped by Amelia Awad, the MRU forward skated onto the ice at Flames Community Arena on Saturday night thirsting for vengeance.

Jomha started her revenge tour in the first period, providing a secondary assist on the Cougars first goal of the night late in the first period, scored by Allee Gerrard. The Dinos tied the game with a power-play goal in the second period, but Jomha seized the lead back for her squad by scoring two goals in under three minutes. She scored her final point of the night with yet another secondary assist, this time to Sydney Benko, and the Cougars ended the second period with a 4-1 lead.

The Dinos scored one more goal in the third period, but the Cougars struck back late in the period as Abigail Borbandy potted home an empty netter to secure a 5-2 win in the final match between the two arch nemeses.

Jomha and the rest of the Cougars women’s hockey team will continue their playoff preparations with their next game against the University of Regina Cougars on Friday, Feb. 7 at 6 p.m. in Regina and live on Canada West TV. 

Players Bench Male Athlete of the Week: Cody Hudson (MVB)

The Cougars men’s volleyball team hosted the winless MacEwan Griffins in a grueling two game series, picking up a win on Friday night but conceding a loss on Saturday. That being said, Cody Hudson was a consistent force all weekend, posting 25 kills, one solo block and six block assists to score 29 points in two games.

 
On Friday night, MRU swept the Griffins 3-0 behind a marvelously efficient offensive showing from Hudson, who scored nine kills on just 11 attacks with only one error for an efficiency rate of 72.7 per cent. Hudson was also a factor on the defensive end, making no blocking errors while manning the front line with a solo block and block assist and ending the night with 18.5 points.

 Saturday night’s match was much longer as the Cougars fell down 2-0 early. MRU won the next two sets, but could not complete the comeback as MacEwan handed them a 2-3 loss on the way to earning their first win of the season. On the bright side, Hudson was a dominant performer all night long as he posted 16 kills on 27 attacks with only two errors for an efficiency rating of 51.9 per cent. Hudson also picked up a pair of offensive assists and five block assists in addition to making five digs and totaling 10.5 points in the Cougars’ loss.

 The Cougars men’s volleyball team will continue their playoff hunt as they take on the Thompson Rivers University Wolfpack on Friday, Feb. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in Kamloops, B.C. and live on Canada West TV.