CIS HOCKEY: GEE-GEES GOOSED IN NATIONALS OPENER

Fiona Aiston and her Laurier Golden Hawks teammates wasted no time last night showing the Ottawa Gee-Gees and their large, loud complement of fans what the OUA has to offer.

Ottawa's own Aiston scored twice in the opening period of a 5-0 win at the 2007 smart Canada CIS women’s hockey championship as Laurier overwhelmed the Gee-Gees early, mostly with their purple swarm of a forecheck. Suffice to say, there were a lot of nods when a Golden Hawks fans bellowed, "Give Fiona the car!" when the tourney's title sponsor rolled out one of its cute eco-friendly models for the postgame award presentations.

"If you want to beat Laurier, you better be able to move the puck really quick," Laurier coach Rick Osborne said. "A player like Fiona, that's our team, the way she plays. She got everybody going."

Aiston, who had some 20 family and friends in the packed U of O rink, credited Laurier's fast start to Osborne lobbying for a second warmup after both teams stood on the benches during the event's opening ceremony: "Rick was really pushing hard to have that extra 10 minutes. When you're standing out there, you can get really cold. We were able to warm up and refocus. It was all about controlling the distractions."

It was also all about leaving the host Gee-Gees in a tight spot when it comes to playing for a medal on Monday -- they'll have to beat defending champion Alberta tonight (7:30, SSN Canada). Laurier gets a practice day before Sunday night's showdown with the Pandas, whom it's faced in the past two CIS finals.

"We were a little tight there with nerves at the start of the game," Gee-Gees coach Shelley Coolidge said. "Overall, it was a good experience and learning opportunity for them to build up tomorrow's game ... I don't think the difference was anything more than bounces. We had equally good chance and Laurier was able to finish on their rebounds."

The Gee-Gees were done in by a Goose, a goalpost and the just plain ghoulish. Osborne said of Golden Hawks goalie Morgan Weilgosz that, "Goose allowed us to look like a dominant team tonight," and she was at her best when she denied Kayla Hottot (by far Ottawa's best player on the night) on a first-period breakaway. Amber Foster had a chance to make it 2-1 in the final two minutes of the first, beating Weilgosz but hitting the crossbar. As for ghoulish, how else to explain that second goal, where two Gee-Gees ran into each other with no one else nearby? Aiston had time to count the puck marks in the end boards before she fired a slapshot past Julie Lalonde, her old minor hockey teammate.

It just wasn't the Gee-Gees' night, but they could hold their heads high for skating hard to the end. A better result against Alberta won't be easy, but they're due.

ALL-ONTARIO, MORE OFTEN

Laurier has a big cheering section -- love those "We've Got Big Hawks!" shirts -- and took full advantage of being in a cosy rink instead their 4,500-seat home arena in Waterloo, which is designed for Junior A. The garnet-and-grey crowd was loud too, even when the score was 4-0 and 5-0.

So why can't we have this more often? Thing is, the logistics make it hard, and if it's the practical reality that less travel leads to more schools funding women's varsity teams, so be it. Osborne said having the Ontario and Quebec conference teams playing games that count in the standings is a non-starter right now.

"We have 10 teams in the OUA right now. Ottawa's welcome to join, I'd like to see that, but how do you fit that in when there's a cap on the games?

"There's a cap at 34, and we have a 27-game (conference) schedule. That doesn't leave us much room for interlock or exhibition."

Yours truly was both a between-periods guest on the SSN webcast (thanks to Dan Blouin and Mark Masters, who are writing a very good blog) and comic entertainment for most of the Laurier team. Leaving the rink meant weaving through the hallway they were using for the postgame cooldown and hopping over -- as best as a 240-lb. white guy weighed down (further) by the laptop in his backpack can manage -- a Hawks player who was stretched out on the floor. Everyone had a good laugh. Happy to oblige.

It's kind of a R&R weekend here -- the plan is to check out the Sunday night Alberta-Laurier game if we can squeeze in it; alas, work commitments mean watching Monday's final on TV or the Internet.

Related:
Gee-Gees are too kind (Chris Stevenson, Ottawa Sun)
Gee-Gees can't put one past Hawks' Weilgosz (Darren Desaulniers, Ottawa Citizen)

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