CIS CORNER: MISSED OPPORTUNITY FOR GAELS

Here's how went down for the 613's university hoops and hockey squads of interest over the weekend (most of this was posted last night):

ON THE ICE

• The No. 6-ranked Queen's Golden Gaels women's team earned a split vs. the Windsor Lancers today, with Miranda Costie getting the go-ahead goal 67 seconds into the third and Kingston's Amanda Stenson adding the insurance marker in a 4-2 win. Saturday, Queen's dropped the first of a two-game series against the last-place Lancers, who won 4-3 thanks largely to rookie goalie Jamie Tessier's 44 saves.
• The No. 5-ranked U of O women's team came up short in their big showdown with the No. 1 McGill Martlets, losing 5-2. Kingston's Rebecca Martindale had a three-point day for the unbeaten Martlets, which included the clinching goal. Credit Carleton for beating Concordia 4-3 in overtime
• Three days after the shootout in the Carr-Harris Cup, the RMC Paladins scored an official OUA win over Queen's, with goalie Blair Robertson making 53 saves in 4-3 win. RMC captain Tyler McTavish got the game-winner -- short-handed, after a too many men penalty --with 4:27 left, barely two minutes after Smith Falls' Pat Doyle had tied the game for the Gaels (4-10-5-1). Ottawa native Greg Cregan had two points for RMC (6-12-2-0).
  
  Kingston Whig-Standard sports ed. Claude Scilley has a great retrospective on the RMC-West Point hockey series which has been discontinued. It doesn't seem to be on the paper's website as of this writing.

HOOPS

Call it Separation Saturday in Ontario University Athletics East men's basketball. Carleton opened a two-game lead over Ottawa, who themselves stayed two games ahead in the race for the second place and the other first-round playoff bye:

• Heartbreaker for the Queen's Golden Gaels on Saturday: U of Toronto's Dwayne Grant forced overtime with a three in the final seconds and the Varsity Blues went on to an 83-76 win. Ryan Hairsine (14 points, 4-for-5 on threes) helped keep the Gaels (8-4) in it, but they were outrebounded and outscored 24-6 at the free-throw line. Not a good combo.
• Tough night for the Tricolour women -- got behind nine points early and lost 73-59 to the U of T, whose 6-foot-2 post Christine Cho had 18 points and seven boards. Gaels wing Sarah Barnes had a nice night -- 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Weird stat: The teams were a combined 17-for-17 on foul shots; trouble for Queen's was they took only five of those charity shots.
• Oz Jeanty had his usual all-around game -- 20-plus points, close to double figures in rebounds -- to help the No. 1 Carleton Ravens rally in the second half to beat Laurentian 74-65 and improve to 12-0 in OUA play.
• As noted, the Ottawa Gee-Gees lost for the first time in 10 conference games, 64-61 to the York Lions. Ottawa's fortunes in close games were probably due to even out after last weekend's narrow escape against U of T and now Dave DeAveiro's club will have to sweep the season series vs. Carleton (Jan. 23 at Scotiabank Place and Feb. 17 on their home floor) to finish first. York moved into a third-place tie with the Gaels; their game in Toronto on Feb. 3 may decide whether or not Queen's gets to host a playoff game.

Again, CIS Hoops Blog kicks ass in this area.

Anyone looking for a good niche blog, by the way, should consider writing one about women's hockey -- there's a void to be filled there. That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.