Amanda Stenson
Women’s Hockey
Amanda Stenson had an outstanding weekend helping the Queen’s women’s hockey team to two one-goal wins over U of T.
Stenson, a second-year geography student and top defender for the Gaels, scored the game-winning goal in overtime on Saturday afternoon to down the Varsity Blues 2-1. It was her second of the game and she finished the back-to-back series against Toronto with three goals.
Stenson gave credit for both the team’s success and her own individual success to her teammates.
“We have an extremely hard-working team this year and we have a complete overall team effort,” she said. “The team also helped me score the overtime goal—good drop from [Alison] Bagg—I give her the credit for the goal.”
Stenson said she has seen her role on the ice changing.
“Last year it wasn’t my job to score goals,” she said. “The way it is going this year, I have become a scorer.”
This year the offensive philosophy for the Gaels is about getting the puck back to the point. Now that she’s rolling on offense, she said she is eager to get on the ice and continue to contribute.
“Now that I have scored, I expect to score a couple more goals before December,” she said. “But I do not need to be a scorer. We have a lot of goal scorers on this team.”
Stenson used her experience last weekend against Toronto to her advantage. U of T is one of the Golden Gaels’ biggest rivals and also one of the top teams in women’s hockey.
“We knew going into the game it was going to be tough,” she said. “The rookies had no idea how big this weekend was.”
Stenson is now fourth in team scoring with eight points in 10 games. Queen’s is tied for second in the OUA with a 7-2-1 record, trailing only the undefeated Laurier Golden Hawks.
Danny Brannagan
Men’s Football
This week’s male Athlete of the Week didn’t have to suit up in his pads to earn the Journal’s nod. All Danny Brannagan had to do was drive to Toronto, put on a shirt and tie and accept the Norm Marshall trophy as the OUA’s top rookie.
Brannagan, a first-year Commerce student from Assumption High School in Burlington, becomes the first Queen’s player to win OUA Rookie of the Year and notches his second Athlete of the Week win. He finished second in the OUA in ing yards with 1,860 yards.
The award ceremony took place last week in Hamilton at the Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Brannagan said he was honoured to receive an award alongside the other top players.
“It was a big honour to go down to the Hall of Fame and sit beside some of the older players,” he said. “It was nice to be honored in the same group as these players.”
Brannagan said he was surprised to be included in the group.
“I could have done much better,” he said. “I did not expect to win this award—there are a lot of other talented first years in the OUA.”
Brannagan started the season as the backup to incumbent Ali Clarkson but emerged as the go-to guy after a good performance in the fourth quarter against Laurier.
Brannagan did not let his hot start get to his head, however.
“Individual success is a reflection of team performance,” he said. “It is about the O-line blocking, the receivers catching the ball, the running backs running the ball. All the people around me have made my job easier.”
Not once in Journal or CFRC radio interviews this season has the team-oriented Brannagan talked about his own success, and he is hard on himself as a competitor.
“The only real aspirations are team aspirations,” he said. “I want to win some football games.”
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].