Three Stars: Janda, Croft, Sank earn honours
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Men's basketball student-athlete Job Janda is the MacEwan Athletics' first star of the week after scoring 51 points in a two-game weekend series against Brandon.
Janda's signature outing was a 29-point effort in Saturday's landmark 90-88 victory over the Bobcats to help deliver the Griffins' first Canada West regular season victory in five years.
Men's volleyball outside hitter Mitchell Croft and women's hockey goaltender Brianna Sank are the second and third stars, respectively.
Janda is making his second appearance of the season on the Three Stars after being named third star on Nov. 5.
Both Croft and Sank are making the list for the third time in 2024-25. Croft was second star Oct. 29 and first star on Nov. 12. And was named second star Nov. 12 and third star on Nov. 26.
Job Janda scored 29 points in MacEwan's 90-88 win over Brandon on Saturday - tied for the seventh-most by a Griffins player in a Canada West game (James Maclennan photo).
1st STAR: Job Janda, W, men's basketball
Calgary, AB, fourth-year, Commerce
On a weekend, the Griffins men's basketball team will remember forever as they won their first Canada West regular season game in five years – 90-88 over Brandon last Saturday – Janda had a career-best performance, scoring a combined 51 points in the two games.
In Friday's 84-80 loss, the fourth-year Calgarian co-led the Griffins with 22 points, adding 12 rebounds for the double double.
In Saturday's 90-88 win, Janda scored 29 points – tied for the seventh-most by a Griffin in a Canada West game – and added seven rebounds.
He also came up huge defensively in both games for the Griffins.
For the season, the Griffins' captain is second on the team with a 14.9 points/game average – 17th in Canada West – and is also second in rebounds/game with 6.8 (12th in the conference).
Janda and the Griffins head into the semester break and will return to action Jan. 10-11 at Regina.
Mitch Croft hammers one of his 14 kills on Friday through the UBC block. He averaged 4.5 kills/set on the road against the No. 7 team in the country (Rich Lam photo).
2nd STAR: Mitchell Croft, OH, men's volleyball
Melbourne, AUS, first-year, Open Studies
As the Griffins closed out a tough first semester schedule with a visit to U SPORTS No. 7 UBC – the third top-10 team in Canada that they've met out of four weekends so far – the rookie outside hitter again stepped up to the challenge.
Croft finished the weekend with 27 kills in six sets (an average of 4.5 kills/set).
In Friday's 3-0 loss, he produced a match-high 14 kills on a .407 hitting percentage, adding five digs and accounting for 14.0 points.
In Saturday's 3-0 loss, Croft led the Griffins with 13 kills on a .125, adding an ace and four digs, while again accounting for 14.0 points.
For the season, Croft is third in Canada West in kills/set (3.79) and fifth in points/set (4.1).
The Griffins are now into semester break and will return to action on Jan. 10-11 vs. UFV (5 p.m. and 2 p.m., respectively, both David Atkinson Gym, Canada West TV).
Brianna Sank stopped 60 of 64 Saskatchewan shots sent her way on the weekend, impressively not allowing a single goal against during five-on-five play (James Maclennan photo).
3rd STAR: Brianna Sank, G, women's hockey
Ardrossan, AB, fifth-year, Arts
Sank repeats as the MacEwan Athletics' third star of the week after continuing her hot November play against Saskatchewan on the weekend.
The fifth-year goaltender stopped 60 of 64 shots she faced in the two-game series for a .938 save percentage on the weekend.
Friday's game was her signature performance as she stopped all 32 shots she faced in regulation to get MacEwan into overtime before the Huskies scored the winner. The Griffins were outshot 36-27 in the contest as Sank made 35 saves.
On Saturday, Sank stopped 25 in a 3-0 loss with all three goals against coming on special teams.
For the season, Sank has a 2.17 GAA (ninth in Canada West) and .930 save percentage (tied for fifth).
The Griffins will return to action Jan. 3 vs. Alberta (7 p.m., Downtown Community Arena) and Jan. 4 at Alberta (2 p.m., Clare Drake Arena, both Canada West TV).
