Three Stars: Simard, Casson, Daigle earn honours
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Women's curling student-athlete Ashton Simard is the MacEwan Athletics first star of the week after leading the Griffins to the ACAC Championship on Sunday.
Simard was cool under pressure, rallying MacEwan back from a 5-0 deficit for an 8-5 victory over UAlberta-Augustana in the final and was named the ACAC women's curling athlete of the year afterward.
Other athletes recognized this week include second star Morgan Casson of the women's hockey team and third star Marc-Olivier Daigle of the men's hockey team.
It's the third time this season that Simard has made the three stars honour roll, also being named second star on Nov. 27 and first star on Jan. 29. Daigle appears for the fourth time, also netting third star honours on Oct. 16 and Nov. 27, and was named first star on Jan. 15. Casson makes the list for the first time in 2018-19.
1st star: Ashton Simard, skip, women's curling
Chauvin, AB, fourth-year, Commerce
The fourth-year skip was cool under pressure on the weekend in Olds as she led the MacEwan Griffins women's curling rink to the 2018-19 ACAC Championship.
With her team trailing 5-0 through five ends of the final against UAlberta-Augustana, Simard didn't panic, sticking to the process as the Griffins out-curled the Vikings the rest of the way, perfecting their draw weight under changing ice conditions to score an 8-5 win.
With the win, Simard and her rink of third Erin Wells, second Andie Kurjata, and alternating leads Taitan Hagglund and Rebecca Bartz claimed the sixth ACAC women's curling championship in Griffins history and first since 2016.
Simard, who was named the ACAC's All-Conference female skip at Friday's championship banquet, closed out the weekend with the prestigious ACAC female curling athlete of the year award.
2nd star: Morgan Casson, F, women's hockey
Edmonton, AB, fourth-year, Science
Harkening back to the 2017 playoffs when she played the hero for the Griffins with the golden goal in the final against SAIT, Casson turned on the jets against the Olds College Broncos last Thursday night.
Scoring twice in the third period, the fourth-year forward led MacEwan to a 4-1 victory and earned player of the game honours.
In the rematch on Saturday night in Edmonton, she added an assist in a 2-0 win over the Broncos, as well as playing her usual brand of solid defensive hockey.
For the season, Casson has three goals and seven points in 24 games.
Morgan Casson scored twice during a big performance against the Olds College Broncos last Thursday (Matthew Jacula photo).
3rd star: Marc-Olivier Daigle, G, men's hockey
Delson, QC, fourth-year, Commerce
Stopping 51 of 54 shots he faced in a pair of games last week, the veteran goaltender gave the Griffins a chance with his play in the net.
MacEwan earned a split of their games on the docket – a 4-1 win over SAIT, followed by a 3-0 loss to Red Deer College. Both were makeup games from earlier postponed contests.
Against SAIT last Wednesday night at the Downtown Community Arena, Daigle stopped 22 of 23 shots as MacEwan skated away with a dominant 4-1 win.
In an afternoon contest in Sylvan Lake on Friday against the Kings, he earned player of the game honours for the Griffins with 29 saves on 31 shots in a 3-0 defeat.
For the season, Daigle leads the ACAC with a 1.75 goals against average and .939 save percentage.
Marc-Olivier Daigle stopped 51 of 54 shots sent his way during games against SAIT, above, and Red Deer College last week (Matthew Jacula photo).
