On February 19^th, St. Mary’s University hosted our final women’s and men’s basketball games before playoffs. The games were dedicated to our seniors of the night who will be graduating or completing their eligibility this year. We devoted time between games for a special presentation to recognize these athletes who have been memorable additions to our program as their commitment and passion to our program has been incredible.

The head coach of the women’s team, Steve Shoults, prepared speeches for his senior athletes, #13 Danya Osterling, #5 Madi Gladstone, #6 Chayle Clark and #20 Macyn Morning Bull. Head coach of the men’s team, Nathan Ruff, prepared a speech for his senior athlete #7 Ryan Morck. All athletes were gifted flowers and personalized gifts from their coaches.

Here at St. Mary’s University, we like to celebrate our upcoming alumni for their current successes and what’s to come for them in their future. Thank you senior athletes for your dedication and hard work during your time as Lightning student-athletes.

Cordell Minnifee

In our 2018-2019 season, we had the pleasure of honouring Cordell Minnifee as the first male basketball player to complete his 5-year eligibility at StMU. This was a milestone moment for the Lightning and Cordell has remained a treasured alumnus. “When I graduated I was still in contact with the coaching staff and with a few of the players that I played with so I was able to kind of live vicariously through them and you know what they were doing.” Cordell states.

Cordell has shown his dedication to our program post- athletic career by attending a handful of our home games this season and keeping watch on what’s happening.

“Watching the progression of the program this season has been very exciting for me. The mix of experienced guys and young guys who are willing to do whatever the team needs of them in order to succeed. Seeing my guy Averie who is like family to me, one of the most skilled players I’ve known and that I played with for a semester really digging in and doing what the team needs from him whether it’s scoring, rebounding, or facilitating in order to be successful.

Great additions like Ryan who has the ability to block shots and extend the defense by hitting threes, and seemingly always hits huge shots when the team needs it most. It’s also been really exciting for me to see Caleb develop into the player that he is and to see him step into a leadership role. There’s a lot of guys that deserve a shout out that I missed and that play a huge role that not everyone is willing to play, but they’ve taken that role because they’ve put the team’s success before themselves and it shows in the results. It’s been super exciting to see some of the milestones that those guys have hit this season going undefeated in the first half of the season, being recognized and ranked nationally, and most importantly securing a playoff spot three weeks before the end of the season.” Cordell expresses.

There are so many important lessons that can be learned in sports and some really stick to athletes. Cordell shares one important lesson he learned during his time as a student athlete that he would like to share with the current teams going into playoffs.

“Communication, trust and hard work lead to success. And if I could give the guys any piece of advice as they start to prepare for the playoffs I would tell them that no matter what the situation is to trust one another, to trust the coaching staff, and most importantly to trust themselves and all the hard work that they’ve put in. I truly believe that if these guys communicate with each other, trust in themselves, and the coaches that they can beat anybody in the country. Go Lightning!”

We are very proud at St. Mary’s University to hear and share stories about our alumni. Stay tuned for a feature on Cordell Minnifee who will share his story after graduation! If you would like to share your stories please reach out to Randi.palyga@stmu.ca. We would love to hear what you’ve been up to since graduating at StMU!