Cassidy Kinsella poses with the MacEwan female athlete of the year award at the annual awards banquet on Thursday (Ryan Gurnett photo).

April 4, 2018

Three Stars: Kinsella, Njaa, Wells earn final honours of the season

MacEwan Athletics

EDMONTON – Cassidy Kinsella is the final MacEwan Athletics first star of the season after winning the university's female athlete of the year award last Thursday.

The women's volleyball star captured the honour during the annual MacEwan University Athletics Awards Banquet at the Sutton Place Hotel.

Other athletes recognized this week include second star Brett Njaa of the men's hockey team and third star Erin Wells of the curling team.

This is the sixth time that Kinsella made the three stars list during the 2017-18 season, also netting first star honours on Feb. 13 and Feb. 20, second star on Jan. 16, and third star on Oct. 24 and Nov. 28.

Njaa is making the list for the third time this season, having previously been named second star on March 20 and third star on Feb. 13.

Wells appears on the list for the first time this season.

1^st star: Cassidy Kinsella, OH, women's volleyball

Leduc, AB, fifth-year, Science

The graduating senior is wrapping up a five-year career that is the greatest the MacEwan Griffins women's volleyball program has ever seen. And last Thursday night, she went out in style, winning the team's most outstanding player award for a fourth-straight season before capturing the prestigious MacEwan female athlete of the year honour.

Kinsella holds every MacEwan University women's volleyball career record (12 of them) except assists. During the 2017-18 season, she moved into second all-time in the Canada West conference in career kills (1293) and points (1477.5). She also sits eighth all-time in career kills/set (3.460) and 17th in career digs (919), even though she doesn't play the libero position. During the 2017-18 season, Kinsella finished fourth in Canada West in kills (338), seventh in both kills per set (3.48) and points (384.5). She didn't miss a single minute of action on the court this season and set the bar for the team in training and physical conditioning.

2^nd star: Brett Njaa, F, men's hockey

Birch Hills, SK, third-year, Commerce

After leading the Griffins in scoring for a third-straight season with 32 points in 28 games, Njaa

was named the ACAC's Most Outstanding Player and also earned a spot on the conference's first all-star team.

On Thursday night, he was named MacEwan's male athlete of the year and the Griffins men's hockey team's most outstanding player.

Since 2015, no other player in the ACAC has more points than Njaa, who has 94 points over that span. After being named the ACAC playoff MVP in 2017, scoring two game-winners against NAIT, he factored big into the repeat with a huge passing play that set up the winning goal in Game 3 to seal a second-straight title for the Griffins.

Besides his offensive production, Njaa also led the Griffins in faceoff percentage.

Brett Njaa poses with the MacEwan male athlete of the year award last Thursday (Ryan Gurnett photo).

3^rd star: Erin Wells, curling

Fort McMurray, AB, first-year, Paralegal Studies

Wells had a terrific stint in Leduc last week as she led the Griffins women's curling rink to a fourth-place finish at the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association national championship.

With a 71 per cent shooting percentage, she topped all female players at the third position and was named to the CCAA's tournament all-star team last Wednesday.

Wells' best game came in Draw 2 when she curled 91 per cent to help the Griffins whip Holland College 12-3.

MacEwan came up just shy of a medal when they lost 8-6 to NAIT in last Wednesday's bronze-medal match.