CIS CORNER: GEE-GEES GET LAURIER IN NATIONALS OPENER; NAPANEEAN A NATIONAL CHAMPION

Notes on players and teams of interest from the 613:

WOMEN'S HOCKEY: The Ottawa Gee-Gees are in a pool with the two most recent national champions at the 2007 SMART CIS women's hockey championship which begins Friday at the U of O Sports Complex.

Coach Shelley Coolidge's Gee-Gees face the Laurier Golden Hawks (who won two years ago) in their first round-robin game (7:30, U of O Sports Complex). The losing team plays the defending champs, Alberta, on Saturday. The winner gets a rest day and plays the powerhouse Pandas on Sunday. The Gee-Gees do have some experience in this setting -- regulars such as forwards Kim Kerr, Kim Blain, Mandi Duhamel (four goals in the first-round series vs. Carleton), defenceman Cassi Hanmore of Kingston and goalie Megan Takeda were underclasswomen when the Gee-Gees made a run to the championship game in '04, losing to Alberta.

The nationals are a homecoming for Laurier left wing Fiona Aiston. The Nepean High alumna had a couple assists Sunday in Laurier's 5-1 trouncing of the Queen's Golden Gaels in the OUA final.

The other pool is the 3M bracket -- the McGill Martlets, Manitoba Bisons and Moncton Aigles Bleues. The Martlets, led by Olympic team goalie Charline Labonte, got a pretty good draw, since they're in a pool with a pair of first-timers at nationals. Moncton has a player named Valerie Boisclair who averaged nearly two points a game in the regular season. Manitoba got in as the wild card since it was designated to Canada West. Between the Bisons making it here and Manitoba's men's and women's teams each winning silver medals at the Canada Winter Games, that province's hockey fortunes seem to be on the rise.

The final is 7 p.m. Monday on The Score.

OUA Final: Any hope of the Tricolour making the short trip to the capital was dashed pretty early, as the Hawks went up three goals 12 minutes into the game and cruised to their 5-1 win. Victoria Kaufman, who had both Gaels goals in Saturday's 2-1 semi-final win over the U of T, got the Tricolour on the board midway through the second. Laurier's Andrea Bevan got her second goal of the day less than two minutes later and that was that. Congrats to coach Harold Parsons' Gaels for coming so close.

WOMEN'S HOOPS: Napanee has another CIS champion in basketball -- Matteke Hutzler, a freshman post, helped cut down the nets after her Simon Fraser Clan beat Alberta 72-68 to win the Bronze Baby on Sunday at the nationals in St. John's.

The 6-foot-2 Hutzler contributed six points, three rebounds and a blocked shot in 18 minutes yesterday. She joins her cousin, Carleton Ravens forward Aaron Doornekamp, as Lennox & Addington Guardsmen graduates who have been part of a national championship team as rookies. Hutzler, who played her high school hoops at Holy Cross in Kingston, also had a team-high eight rebounds in Simon Fraser's 78-52 semi-final win over Dalhousie on Saturday.

The hometown school, Memorial, won the bronze -- which for some Newfoundlanders, will take away a bit of the sting of Brad Gushue's loss at the Brier.

Congrats to Ottawa's Laura Pitfield; the Bishop's Gaiters standout was named an all-Canadian this week. Kanata's Cassandra Carpenter, the Ontario conference scoring leader who plays for Laurentian, was named second-team all-Canadian.

MEN'S HOCKEY: Gee-Gees centre Ben McLeod was named the Eastern Conference's most sportsmanlike player. Queen's Golden Gaels goalie Ryan Gibb was selected rookie of the year. Both are candidates for the national awards.

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