BURLINGTON, Ont. - For the fifth time during the 2021-22 season, a Guelph Gryphon varsity athlete has been named OUA Athlete of the Week.
Martina Fedel, a first-year animal biology major at the University of Guelph and a rookie goalie with the Gryphons women's hockey team, has been named OUA Athlete of the Week for the period covering Nov. 22-28, 2021.
OUA Athletes of the Week (Nov. 22-28, 2021)
Martina Fedel, Women's Hockey, Guelph Gryphons
Ali Sow, Men's Basketball, Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks
David Lapins, Men's Water Polo, Carleton Ravens
Just three games into her OUA career, rookie goalie
Martina Fedel has already made quite the impression in her brief time with the Guelph Gryphons women's hockey team. Fedel, an 18-year-old animal biology major who is currently in her first-year of studies at the University of Guelph, recorded a pair of shutouts this past week to help the Gryphons women's hockey team sweep a home-and-home series with the Brock Badgers.
On Thursday night (Nov. 25) in St. Catharines, Fedel turned away all 28 shots sent her way to help lead the Gryphons to a 1-0 road win over the Badgers.
Two days later, Fedel was once again back in between the pipes for the Gryphons on home ice, this time making 24 saves during regulation and overtime, to help send Saturday's game (Nov. 27) to a shootout with the score tied 0-0. In the shootout, Fedel continued to blank the Badgers, denying all three Brock shooters to help the Gryphons secure a 1-0 shootout win.
On the season, the Gryphons women's hockey team is now 6-1-1 (wins-losses-OT/shootout losses) and are tied with the Waterloo Warriors for the most points (15) in the six-team OUA West Division. For Fedel, who will turn 19-years-old on December 20, the journey to the University of Guelph has been a long one. The native of Trento, Italy, who aspires to one day become a veterinarian, was drawn to the University of Guelph because of the school's academic offerings, with U of G serving as the home of Canada's oldest veterinary school (the University of Guelph's
Ontario Veterinary College is one of just five veterinary schools in the country to offer the Doctor of Veterinary Medicine program). After earning a spot out of training camp to be on the Gryphons 2021-22 women's hockey roster, Fedel has been perfect in the first three starts of her OUA career, recording three straight shutouts to begin her collegiate career (Nov. 6 – shutout at Western, Nov. 25 & 27 – shutouts versus Brock). On the season, Fedel is 3-0-0, with a Goals Against Average of 0.00, and 66 saves in 187 minutes of ice time.
Prior to arriving at the University of Guelph, Fedel had
recently represented Italy at the international level (U18 Women's World Championships). With Italy set to host the Winter Olympics in 2026, Fedel is already on the radar as a potential option in net for the Italians for the 2026 Olympic Games.
For more information on the OUA Athletes of the Week, visit oua.ca.
Gryphons Named "OUA Athletes of the Week" in 2021-22
* was also named U SPORTS Athlete of the Week *
