CIS CORNER: GOALIE COMES BACK TO SAVE GEE-GEES

Quick notes on the weekend for our teams of interest from the 613:

• WOMEN'S HOCKEY: It's been a long, strange trip for Megan Takeda (pictured).
  
  The former all-star goalie at the CIS championship who played just four regular-season games this year due to injury made 30 saves today, helping the Ottawa Gee-Gees polish off those plucky Carleton Ravens 5-1 in the decisive Game 3 of a first-round Quebec conference playoff series that wasn't supposed to go the distance.
  
  The Toronto native's Ravens counterpart Valerie Charbonneau was responsible for making this a series. She made 152 saves in three games, but Takeda might have made the save with her team down a goal late in Game 2 on Friday, giving her team a chance to tie it up and win in overtime. After that, The Decider today was a relative piece of cake, with Gee-Gees' Kim Kerr scoring twice in the first 20 on her way to a hat trick.
  
  Takeda was the all-star goalie at the CIS championship as an 18-year-old rookie three years ago when the U of O made a surprise run to the final — she kept the Alberta Pandas juggernaut at bay for almost two periods in the championship game, making 47 saves in a 2-0 loss. This season, Julie Lalonde's played most of the time, but when she gave up four goals across two periods in the opener, Takeda went in and never came out.
  
  Thanks in large part to the Toronto native, the Gee-Gees will get a few more games in against No. 1 McGill in the Quebec final, before the March 16-18 CIS championship. Playing McGill, whom Ottawa handed its only loss a few weeks back, should help whip up interest for the nationals — and the Gee-Gees have two goalies they can count on.
  
  (UPDATE, March 5 1:20 p.m.: Four Gee-Gees have been named Quebec conference all-stars: Kerr, who's from Nepean and defenceman and co-captain Danika Smith on the first team; Kayla Hottot and Gatineau's Christine Allen on the second team.)
  
  The Queen's Golden Gaels face U of T in the OUA semi-final Saturday in London. Rookie of the year Liz Kench and Rebecca Conroy tallied in the first period to carry the No. 8-ranked Gaels to a 3-1 quarter-final win vs. the Waterloo Warriors. Hey, at least they closed down Jock Harty Arena with a victory.
  
  (UPDATE, March 5 12:05 p.m.: in Claude Scilley's article in today's Whig-Standard, it's noted that it's appropriate the last game at the Jock was a women's match. Former player Janean Sergeant, now a sports administrator, noted there not only was a women's hockey team at Queen's in the 1970s, but it had its own dressing room facilities -- things that were much longer in developing at other universities.)
  
  It's Laurier-Guelph in the other semi. The OUA only gets one berth into the nationals, which seems like a bit of a rip since the league makes up one-third of the CIS, but c'est la vie.
  
  Queen's has two wins and an overtime loss this year against the U of T.


• WOMEN'S V-BALL: The Gee-Gees women's finished a respectable sixth at the nationals in Calgary after a three-set loss to the Montréal Carabins in the consolation final. Gee-Gees all-Canadian Christine Lamey had 14 kills today vs. Montréal and the U of O deserves praise for winning an unlikely OUA title after finishing fifth in the regular season. They're also expecting to have the entire nucleus back next season.
  
  The Alberta Pandas won the championship, beating Laval in Saturday's final.
• MEN'S V-BALL: The alma mater did the "two and barbeque" at the men's nationals in Hamilton -- Queen's exited after losing in four to the Laval Rouge et Or. Daniel McCrae had a team-high 13 kills for the Gaels, who were the consolation champs in '06.
  
• OCAA HOOPS: The Algonquin Thunder women's team took the bronze medal on their home floor Saturday with a 60-59 victory over Kingston's St. Lawrence Vikings. Anyone who has ever played for Vikings coach Tom Turnbull knows he's not the type to dwell on a one-point loss. Toronto's Seneca Sting ended up taking the title.
  
  The St. Lawrence men lost 71-65 in the gold medal game to London's Fanshawe Falcons. Having both hoops squad finishing top-4 in Ontario is no doubt a high-water mark for St. Lawrence, so a tip of the cap to "Coach T" and men's coach Barry Smith.

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