CIS CORNER: SHINNY SIDES UP FOR GAELS, GEE-GEES

Here's the kind of weekend it was for our university athletes of interest in the 613 (basketball got its own post):

• Rookie goalie Ryan Gibb made 42 saves Saturday in Queen's 2-1 win over the Ottawa Gee-Gees, whom they'll likely meet in the first round of the OUA playoffs. Gibb helped the Gaels survive 11 power plays (the CFRC play-by-play guys could talk about little else other than the officiating), allowing only a breakaway goal to Ottawa's Kevin Glode late in the first. Pat McDonnough and Jeff Ovens sandwiched goals for the Gaels around Glode's salvo as Queen's moved within a point of Ottawa for the No. 4 playoff seed and home-ice advantage in a first-round playoff matchup. Queen's still has to play division leaders Toronto and Trois-Rivieres among its four remaining games.
  
  The RMC Paladins -- the quintessential plucky underdog in OUA hockey -- lost both this weekend and have just a one-point lead over the Concordia Stingers for the final playoff spot. Concordia's at RMC on Friday.
  
  Friday, the Gaels lost 3-1 to McGill with Gatineau's Mathieu Poitras stopping 23 of 24 shots for the Redmen. Meantime, the Gee-Gees topped RMC 6-2 (Kevin Gagné and Chris Priolo each had a pair).
• WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Thanks to the reader who pointed this out: the No. 5-ranked U of O Gee-Gees women's were a busy bunch on the weekend, winning four games in three days.
  
  Coach Shelley Coolidge's crew's last win out of the four, a 4-3 win over national power St. Francis Xavier on Sunday, was probably the most impressive as Ottawa went 3-0 in the Atlantic Challenge cross-over tourney.
  
  Hours before beating St. FX, the Gee-Gees scored a a 3-2 league win over Carleton ( rookie Kayla Hottot had two points for the U of O, while Ravens rookie Caitlin Cadeau of Belleville scored in the game). The weekend began with shutout wins over Dalhousie (7-0, with Hottot scoring twice) and Saint Mary's (2-0, with Kim Kerr getting the game-winner.)
• Speaking of rookie Gaels goalies, Katie Boyd of the Queen's women's team might get some consideration for various athlete of the week awards after stopping 46 shots Friday to steal a point in a 2-2 tie with No. 4 Laurier. It would be really cute if she and Gibb from the men's team were an item, but let's not force anything on them.
  
  The Gaels (11-4-1-2) beat York 3-2 last night thanks to two goals from Liz Kench of Gananoque, so their hold on second place in the OUA women's loop is fairly firm. Thing is, the OUA only gets one berth to the March's national championship in Ottawa.
• Some other Gananoquans, brothers Matt and Patrick Tunnicliffe, were seventh and 11th respectively in boardercross on Friday at the World University Games. Matt Tunnicliffe, who attends UBC, was a pretty fair lefty hurler in fastpitch during his teens in Gan.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.