This Week In Cougar Athletics

Away Events – Friday
Women’s Hockey – at Mount Royal, 2:30 PM MT (Calgary, Alta.)
Women’s Basketball – at Victoria, 6:00 PM PT (Victoria, B.C.)
Women’s Volleyball – at Alberta, 7:30 PM MT (Edmonton, Alta.)
Men’s Basketball – at Lethbridge, 8:00 PM MT (Lethbridge, Alta.)

Away Events – Saturday
Women’s Hockey – at Mount Royal, 2:30 PM MT (Calgary, Alta.)
Women’s Volleyball – at Alberta, 6:00 PM MT (Edmonton, Alta.)

Away Events – Sunday
Women’s Hockey – at Mount Royal, 2:30 PM MT (Calgary, Alta.) *if necessary

Women’s Hockey – After a weekend split with Saskatchewan, the Cougars head into the Canada West playoffs as the No. 5 seed and will match up against Mount Royal in a best-of-three conference quarterfinal series in Calgary. Friday’s Game 1 will mark the first ever postseason meeting between the two teams, with Game 2 set for Saturday and Game 3 – if it’s needed – will be played on Sunday. All games will start at 2:30 PM at the Flames Community Arenas.

Men’s Basketball – The Cougars scored a nice 87-70 road win on Friday to break up what had been a nine-game winning streak for Fraser Valley, but lost 85-74 to settle for a weekend split and a 10-10 conference record for the year. Regina goes into the Canada West postseason as the No. 9 seed and will hit the road to square off with No. 8-seeded Lethbridge in a conference play-in game on Friday night. The winner advances to the Canada West quarterfinals next weekend, which will be hosted by either top-seeded Alberta or No. 2 seed Calgary.

Women’s Basketball – The Cougars finished off the Canada West schedule with a pair of road losses at Fraser Valley, falling 63-60 to the Cascades on Friday and 74-65 on Saturday. That sends Regina (8-12) into the playoffs as the conference’s No. 10 seed, which will match up the Cougars with No. 7 Victoria in a play-in game on Friday night in Victoria. It’s a familiar situation for both teams as it’s the seventh time in the last 10 seasons that they’ve met in the postseason. Regina has a streak of 10 straight playoff wins over the Vikes, but only one of those games – a U SPORTS consolation semifinal contest in 2017 – was in Victoria.

Track & Field (Women’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 5) – The Cougars had a brilliant outing at the Windsor Team Challenge on Sunday, setting two new school records (Joely Welburn in the 60-metre hurdles and Ron MacLean in the 1500-metre run) and four U SPORTS standards (Welburn and MacLean’s record-setting performances, Erika Stockhorst in the triple jump, and Welburn in the high jump). The Cougars, who had eight podium finishes at the meet, will have next weekend off from competition before the Canada West Championships are hosted by Saskatchewan on Feb. 21 and Feb. 22.

Swimming (Men’s U SPORTS Ranking: No. 10) – The Cougars got a seventh qualifier for the U SPORTS Championships at the last possible meet as Brenan Alejado travelled up to Saskatoon for the Goldfins Invitational and hit a U SPORTS standard with a long-course time of 56.48 seconds in the 100-metre butterfly. Alejado will join Mitchell Brough, Bree Crookshanks, Brian Palaschuk, Etienne Paquin-Foisy, Kareem Tarek Mohammed, and Brendan Van Herk at the national meet hosted by the University of Victoria later this month.

Women’s Volleyball – The Cougars lost twice to No. 5-ranked Mount Royal in their final two home matches of the season on Friday and Saturday. They’ll head up to Edmonton to finish off the 2019-20 campaign with two matches against No. 6 Alberta in what will be the final time in a U of R uniform for graduating players Diana Lumbala and Kirstin Greve.

Men’s Hockey – The Cougars went into the final weekend of the Canada West schedule knowing they’d likely need at least three points in their last two games to qualify for the postseason, but lost 4-0 and 6-2 in a home-and-home series against a Saskatchewan team that ranks No. 2 in the nation. Regina, which finishes just out of the playoffs despite collecting 13 out of a possible 16 points during one eight-game stretch in January, honoured fifth-year players Dawson MacAuley and Landon Peel and graduating fourth-year player Isaac Schacher prior to Saturday’s game.