Yamazaki and Couture named Acadia athletes of the week

WOLFVILLE – Thomas Couture (men’s hockey) and Rio Yamazaki (women’s basketball) have been named Acadia athletes of the week for the period ending February 18.

Couture, a first-year business administration student, made 133 saves over two games in the Axemen’s quarter-final series against StFX. This included playing in the second longest men’s hockey game in U SPORTS history on Saturday, a fourth overtime loss to the X-Men, which took 58:19 of overtime (118:19) to determine a winner. Game 1 of the series in Antigonish went to a third overtime period. Through the opening round he had the best save percentage at .950, played the most time 208:38 and made the most saves.

Yamazaki, a fourth-year business student, helped the Axewomen to a split against the UNB Reds as she put up an AUS career high 27 points in an 83-76 victory on Wednesday. The win kept the Axewomen’s hopes of a second place finish alive going into Saturday’s road game in Fredericton against UNB, which saw Yamazaki finish with 19 points and seven rebounds in a 91-87 overtime loss. Her double-digit output in back-to-back games was also the first time she hit double digits since November 11 against Cape Breton.

This week the volleyball team welcomes UNB on Thursday night for Game 1 of their AUS semifinal series, while the women’s basketball program faces Memorial on Friday night in Halifax in their AUS quarter-final game.

The swim team is also in action this week as they are in Halifax at Dalplex for the AUS swimming championship.

The Acadia athletes of the week are presented by McDonald's.