Coming off record-breaking season, Choucair leads Griffins into home playoff weekend
Jefferson Hagen, MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – A twitter post by Canada West statistician Paul Cartledge last week clued Suekiana Choucair into the fact she was closing in on an impressive conference Ironwoman streak.
70 career regular season games.
It's a rare mark that only two players in Canada West history reached before the MacEwan Griffins midfielder did last Sunday. Do the math and that's 5x14 – a sum only reached by student-athletes who played in every game of their five-year university careers.
In other words, unless the schedule is expanded, it will never be broken.
Choucair's 2015-19 run might have been the most impressive the conference has ever seen, though, because she started every single one of the 70 games.
"I didn't even clue in and realize that I had played all the games in my career," said the fifth-year midfielder until she saw the post. "I'm pretty proud of that because I think not sustaining any injuries, I was able to play all those games.
"I'm glad I made the most out of my whole five years that I could have."
Did she ever. This fall, Choucair set the program record for points (13) and assists (8) in a Canada West season and, in the process, now holds every single Canada West career record for a MacEwan Griffins player.
"I'm happy that I did have my best season in my fifth year to close it out," she said. "But a lot of it's due to the team because we've gotten so much better as a team. We are scoring more goals, which is causing everyone to be getting more points.
"I think it's really good because, obviously, those points contributed to us winning. We just all want to be here to win."
With that in mind, the Griffins head into the playoffs on a mission, looking to win a Canada West championship and advance to the U SPORTS nationals both for the first time in program history. They will need to make the conference final to advance.
After the Griffins wrapped up a 9-2-3 season to reach 30 points for the first time, their playoff road begins at home as one of four Play-In/Quarter-finals hosts around the conference.
They will host Sunday's quarter-final (2 p.m., Clarke Stadium) against the winner of 8-3-3 Victoria (Pacific #4) and 3-8-3 Regina (Prairie #5), who meet in Friday's Play-In match (2 p.m., Clarke Stadium, both games Canada West TV presented by Co-op).
"We're a little bit more familiar with Regina because they're in our division and we tend to play them fairly consistently here," said head coach Dean Cordeiro of a team they just met last Sunday in the Saskatchewan city, winning 2-1. "We didn't have the opportunity to play Victoria this year – we played them last year (MacEwan won 2-1) – but things change.
"The biggest thing is us clicking and us doing what we need to do to prepare. We want to clean up a few things that we saw last weekend. Again, we do the preparation for the other teams but we're more focused on what we need to do to be successful."
Part of that is rest. The Griffins finished the season with five games in eight days – all of them coming immediately after a handful of their top players played at the national club championship in Newfoundland.
"I think we're just going to be really prepared," said Choucair. "Now we get the full week of training to prep. Just to have a few days to relax and recharge from all the games we had over the last couple of weeks, it's nice. I feel like we're on the front foot going in instead of on the back foot trying to scrape out a win. Hopefully, we get the job done."
If they do, Choucair will most likely play a big part in it. She drew a point on 37 per cent of MacEwan's goals and had a hand in more than that with her impressive corner kick, free kick and midfield threading abilities.
"Suek's clutch," said Cordeiro. "Any big game, she's always providing us with an opportunity to win. We know something can come off her foot, whether it be that final ball or that finish, she's a gamer. Her compete on the field is from Minute 1 to Minute 90. She's been a huge part of what we do."
So, it's no wonder why she's started ever since her first career game – a 64-minute, five-shot effort against Lethbridge on Sept. 12, 2015.
"It goes to show you that even from Day 1, she's someone we relied on heavily," said Cordeiro. "Just to be healthy and consistent throughout all that time is something that's remarkable.
"There's still hopefully a long season ahead and we know Suek's going to step up just like her fellow fifth-years and everybody on the team."
Should MacEwan emerge out of their three-team pool this weekend, they would host the Canada West Final Four weekend (semifinals and final) on Nov. 1-2. The top two teams advance to the U SPORTS national championship on Nov. 7-10 in Victoria, along with the host Vikes.
