CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – The Holland College Hurricanes basketball teams tipoff the Atlantic Collegiate Athletic Association (ACAA) regular season Saturday when they host the St. Thomas Tommies.
The women’s game begins at 4 p.m. with the men to follow at 6 p.m.
The men’s Hurricanes are coming off their third straight Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) bronze medal and their sixth straight ACAA championship last season. The run of six straight titles is tied for the longest in men’s ACAA basketball history.
The ‘Canes went 20-1 during last year’s regular season before winning the ACAA championship and going 3-1 at nationals. They finished with a 25-2 season record.
The ‘Canes return a core of their roster with the reigning ACAA rookie of the year, Jace Colley, along with Roosevelt (Chicken) Whyley, Antonio Kostakos and Connor Therrien. Joining the Hurricanes are four notable recruits in Jordan Holness, Martin Campbell, Demeric Mercer and Agak Lual, who’s brother Manok played for the UPEI Panthers from 2007-08 to 2011-12. Islanders Cameron Paynter, Isaac Cheverie and Josh Bourque are also on the Hurricanes.
Colley is eager to get the season started after a long pre-season.
“Everyone’s restless for the start of the season,” he said. “We’re excited to go out there and try to win.”
“We’re looking forward to getting league play started. We’ve had a strong pre-season and our expectation are high for this group.”
Josh Whitty, Holland College men's basketball coach.
The Hurricanes went 2-0 at the UNB Eric Garland tournament, a third-place finish at the Dawson Classic in Montreal going 3-1, a perfect 3-0 record at the Mickey Place Tournament at UPEI before finishing their pre-season with a victory over the Panthers Sunday at the Holland College.
The Tommies finished seventh last season with a 4-17 record.
“I’m really looking forward to getting our regular season started this weekend,” Kostakos said. “We have a great group of guys who work very hard and enjoy playing together. We set a goal at the start of the season and our journey to accomplishing it begins on Saturday.”
Women
The ‘Canes women’s team is coming off an 11-7 regular season and a third-place finish last season. They defeated the UNBSJ Seawolves in the quarter-finals before falling in the semifinals to the eventual conference champions, the Mount Allison Mounties.
The Tommies went 11-7 last season before losing to the Mount Saint Vincent Mystics in the semifinal.
“I feel that we are making big strides in the right direction and am excited to get the ACAA regular season underway. STU presents an exciting challenge to start with, as coach Connors always has a group of hard-working players who will leave it all on the court. We will need to be ready for a high-pace game and take care of the ball. Rebounding at our end of the floor and execution with our offensive principles continue to be focus points; and we will be working hard in practice this week to be as prepared as possible for the weekend.”
Jared Cheverie, Holland College women's basketball coach
Holland College’s women return six players from last season’s roster including reigning ACAA rookie of the year in Lexi MacInnis, along with Jayla Verney, Keionia Beals, Tyleigha Nelson, Tekera Smith and Sydney Goode.
New players to the roster include Ashley Plaggenhoef, Kassandra Little, Antenique Young, Desiree Oakley and Briontae Riley.
MacInnis, Plaggenhoef and Little are from Prince Edward Island. Plaggenhoef said she is eager to begin her collegiate basketball career on home soil after helping Charlottetown Rural win the past three Prince Edward Island School Athletic Association titles.
“Going into this season, I believe if we compete hard as a team we will be successful in achieving our goals.”
Her former Charlottetown Rural teammate agrees.
“If we play like I know we can, then we should have a successful year,” MacInnis said. “We just have to work hard and play together.”
During the pre-season, the Hurricanes played games in Quebec and the St. FX X-Women and UPEI Panthers as well as a game with the King’s Edgehill Prep School.
Nelson said she is happy with the improvements the team made during the pre-season.
“We have been training hard and faced some challenges during our pre-season. Each day we’re continuing to progress and I can’t wait to see what we can do as a team this season.”
