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A jam-packed week of MRU Cougars Athletics that started with an incredible Crowchild Classic with an unmatched energy from a "sea of blue" at the Scotiabank Saddledome, followed by rematches up and down the city causeway rematches, men's volleyball senior night and hoops in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia. In the week's edition, we'll run down all of the away games the various Mount Royal squads played.

Bouchard reaches 50 points, Cougars earn Crowchild Classic sweep

After securing a pivotal 3-2 shootout win in front of more than 10,000 fans at the 'Dome on Wednesday, Mount Royal's men's hockey team looked ahead to an equally important game in the Dinos' home rink on Friday.

The Cougars returned to a traditional 12-forward, 6-defenceman lineup on Friday, previously working with an unbalanced 11-and-7 earlier in the week. The change gave MRU just enough of a spark to narrowly beat their bitter rivals up the expressway for the second game in a row.

Robbie Holmes opened the scoring for the Cougars midway through the first. The gritty winger sniped home his patented one-timer while Mount Royal was on the man-advantage for his 13th of the season.

The Dinos tied it up in the second following a defensive breakdown from the Cougars and the two teams went into the third knotted at one.

Just over a minute into the final frame, history was witnessed. Connor Bouchard fed a terrific breakout pass to a streaking Connor Blake who went bar down to give the Cougars the lead. The assist marked Bouchard's 50th point of the season, the first time a Canada West player has achieved the half-century threshold since the 2000-01 season where former Alberta Golden Bear Russ Hewson had 56.

Blake's goal gave MRU the advantage and came in his 100th career regular season game as a Cougar.

Almost five minutes into the period, Mount Royal extended their lead. Bouchard notched point number 51 when he found Jaden Senkoe on an odd-man rush. Senkoe sniped the puck over the shoulder of the Dinos netminder for his fourth goal in the last three games. After playing just a few games as a rookie last year, Senkoe has had a breakout season thus far in 2023-24.

The Dinos got one back after the Cougars took a major penalty for kneeing. Ultimately, Mount Royal would hold on for the 3-2 victory, earning a massive two points in the Canada West standings.

Watts' big weekend leads Mount Royal to two straight wins over Spartans

The Cougars men's basketball team played the second half of a four-game road stretch as they headed to Langley, B.C. to tip off against the Trinity Western Spartans. 

In Friday's weekend opener, the Cougars battled through a tight first half. MRU veteran centre Mawien Mawien strung together some valuable minutes for MRU, scoring inside while also stretching the defence with his three point range.

The Cougars went into the halftime break up by nine thanks to a fadeaway jumper from Holt Tomie just before the buzzer.

In the third quarter, Keivonte Watts erupted on offence. Scoring 13 points in the first half, Watts went off for 16 points in the third as a part of the Cougars' staggering 37 points in the quarter. The fourth year guard from Mississippi shot a perfect 7-for-7 from the field in the quarter, ultimately finishing with 31 points.

Although the fourth quarter saw Mount Royal take their foot off the gas, they had built up a big lead and secured a 95-77 win for their first victory of 2024.

24 hours later in Saturday's rematch, the Cougars picked up right where they left off. 

Led by Watts and sharp-shooter Sam Barnie, MRU went a perfect 8-for-8 from three-point distance to start the game.

However, after the Spartans rebounded in the second quarter, the Cougars led by just one point at the half.

Just as he had done the night before, Keivonte Watts showed out for another impressive third quarter. The guard scored 11 in the period, cushioning the Cougars lead.

In the fourth, Holt Tomie took over. Tomie added a few buckets to his eventual total of 20 points. MRU's captain also grabbed 12 boards for his second straight double-double.

The Cougars held on for a 93-81 result for a two-game sweep over Trinity Western and improve to 7-9 on the year.

Luca shines on offence but Cougars fall to Spartans twice

Mount Royal's women's basketball team suffered a couple of tough losses while visiting the Trinity Western Spartans over the weekend.

In the first game, the Cougars played fantastically in the opening half. Jenika Martens continued her strong play since returning from an injury, scoring 10 of her 15 points in the first half including a James Harden-esque runner at the buzzer to put MRU up by nine with two quarters left to play.

After the Cougars had their way on offence in the first half, the Spartans put the clamps on. Trinity Western held Mount Royal to just 15 points in the last two quarters, while also leaping in front on offence.

The home team wrapped up the game, prevailing 76-59 over the visiting Cougars. Along with Martens' strong game, Nora Luca excelled for Mount Royal with a team-high 16 points.
Looking to avenge the Friday night setback, Mount Royal opened the game outscoring the Spartans 18-9 in the first quarter. 

However, Trinity Western flipped the script in the second, allowing just a two point lead for the Cougars at the half.

MRU couldn't contain an offensive outburst by TWU in the third and found themselves down with just 10 minutes to play in the game. 

Nora Luca's consistent scoring and Isabella Faba's versatility wouldn't be enough to guide the Cougars to victory as they were swept aside by the Spartans by a 65-54 score.

Luca led the Cougars in scoring with 17 points. Faba recorded a career-high 10 points while logging a colossal 37 minutes.

After starting the season with an admirable 6-2 record, Mount Royal has fallen victim to a eight-game losing skid and gives them a 6-10 record in Canada West.

Next Weekend

After a brief hiatus, Cougars basketball returns to Kenyon Court! The men's and women's squads hit the hardwood for several games against the University of Fraser Valley Cascades.

The third-place MRU men's hockey team hosts the Saskatchewan Huskies at Flames Community Arenas for a pair of crucial games and a chance to overtake their crosstown rival Calgary Dinos in the standings. The women's hockey team looks to get back to their winning ways as they visit the Huskies in Saskatoon.

Finally, the men's and women's volleyball teams go back on the road for the first time in a few weeks for a date with the Brandon University Bobcats.

Tickets to Cougars home games can be purchased online and all the action can be streamed live on Canada West TV.