Tommies women’s hockey captain Kelty Apperson and Team Canada will play for world supremacy at the 2017 Winter Universiade in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Canada will face Team Russia in the gold medal game on Monday, Feb. 6 at 8 p.m. local time (10 a.m. Atlantic).
Apperson picked up an assist on Canada’s fifth goal against Team United States during the semifinals on Saturday, which Canada won 8-1.
In round robin action, Apperson scored twice and added a helper in Canada’s 11-0 thumping of the Universiade hosts, Team Kazakhstan, on Wednesday, Feb. 1.
The fifth-year St. Thomas University forward was held off the scoreboard on Monday, Jan. 30, when Canada blasted the United Kingdom 14-0. But she recorded a pair of assists in Canada’s tournament opener on Saturday, Jan. 28, when the Canadians downed China 9-1.
In total, the dynamic player from Kingston, Ont., notched six points (two goals, four assists) in four contests. Apperson was also one of three alternate captains for Team Canada at the tournament overseas.
Canada’s perfect preliminary round earned the squad its berth in the gold medal game, while Russia defeated the U.S. 7-1 and beat Japan 10-1 in early tournament play before cruising to a 10-1 win over China in the semis to advance.
Along with Apperson, the Atlantic University Sport conference is being represented on Team Canada by forward Daley Oddy of the St. Francis Xavier University X-Women.
Other players, along with coaching and mission staff, were picked from the other conferences that form U Sports, the official brand and governing body of most university sports in Canada.
Monday’s gold medal game will be a rematch of the 2015 Winter Universiade women’s final, which was held in Granada, Spain. Canada will look to get revenge on the Russians, who won 3-0 in the championship two years ago.
The contest will be live-streamed on livefisu.tv.
Jones named Athlete of the Month
Deidra Jones of women’s volleyball was named the Tommies Coastal Graphics Athlete of the Month for January 2017.
A fourth-year left side hitter from Sydney, N.S., Jones recorded 52 kills, 70 digs and 21 service aces in six matches to help STU improve to 5-9 on the season.
In 16 matches, Jones has 116 kills, 34 service aces and 151 digs.
Millier, Blinn recognized
Hannah Millier of women’s volleyball and Stephane Blinn of the STU men’s volleyball team were the Tommies Coors Light Athletes of the Week for Jan. 30.
Millier, a first-year middle from Fredericton, had a .474 kill percentage, along with 10 kills and one error, in the Tommies’ contest on Jan. 28 against the Holland College Hurricanes. STU lost 3-1.
Millier also recorded six service aces, six digs and two blocks in the match.
Blinn, a fourth-year outside hitter, hails from Nasonworth – a small community outside Fredericton. He earned 50 kills, 24 digs and three blocks in STU’s games against Holland College on Jan. 28 and 29.
The Tommies dropped the first match 3-2 before winning the second one by the same margin.
Track and field records fall
Brandon LeBlanc set a STU record and personal best in the 400-metre dash at the 2017 Subway New Brunswick Indoor Championships on Saturday, Feb. 4 in Oromocto.
LeBlanc’s time was 54:04.
In the 3,000-metre run, Ryan Terry placed first overall and set a personal best. His time was 9:28:14.
Terry also finished first, established a new STU record and personal best in the 1,500-metre run with 4:25:05.
Cowan Donovan’s personal best and Tommies benchmark of 12.71 were achieved in the weight throw competition.
In the 200-metre event, personal bests were attained by STU runners Connor Coelho (27.55), Connor Ryan (26.86), Matt Dumont (27.63) and Nathaniel Legere (29.46).
In the 400-metre dash, Ryan’s personal best was 59.46, while Dumont was clocked at 8.29 and Will Leek came in at 7.96 (good for personal bests for both runners) in the 60-metre sprint.
Several individual achievements were also recorded on the women’s side.
Noelle Gouchie finished in 1:58.26 in the 4×200-metre relay, good for a STU record. She also took 2:04:06 to complete the 600-metre sprint.
Jenson Elliott’s time in the 600-metre event was 2:04:30, while Anisha Romany’s weight throw distance was 9.36.
Other results include Katie Merritt with 6.4, Laura Whitty with 8.19, Lucretia Deware with 6.57 and Olivia Ricketts with 8.46 in the shot put, along with Whitty recording an 8.98 and Ricketts with 10.1 in the weight throw.
Also competing in the weight throw for STU was Shannon Cornelius, whose distance was 7.69.
