It was basically a double whammy for Queen's, Carleton and Ottawa: An empty weekend coupled with Concordia and Toronto picking up points. You have to love the OUA Mid East division, where Toronto went from being out of the playoffs to the division leader and No. 2 seed in one night.
- Trois-Rivières: 35, 6 (division leader)
- Toronto: 23, 5 (division leader)
- McGill: 29, 8
- Concordia: 23, 6
- Queen's: 23, 5
- Carleton: 22, 6
- Ottawa: 22, 5
- RMC: 18, 6
- Ryerson: 17, 6
- Gee-Gees: Remember the endgame from Ottawa's 2-1 loss to UQTR on Friday if they end up a point out at the end of the year. If they had scored with about 1:30 left (they hit the post) instead of with 1:11 to go, they might have had enough time to get the equalizer. After that goal, still with a 6-on-4 advantage, Dan McDonald had the puck at that point when the Patriotes' Frederic St-Denis knocked a broken stick into his path and no penalty was called. Seconds later, Ottawa's Nick Vernelli hit the post.
Coach Dave Leger's grind-it-out team cannot be counted out since every game is so tight that a bounce here or there usually tips the game to one team. That game on Friday was the Gee-Gees' 14th one-goal game this season (counting games decided by empty-netters). UQTR won 4-1 on Saturday, as the Gee-Gees, judging by the penalties, were probably more than a little frustrated. - Gaels: The upcoming weekend (at Toronto, home to Carleton) is pretty much a must-win. If they can't get six, seven points out of a closing schedule of RMC (twice), Ryerson, Carleton on home ice and Toronto, they shouldn't be the playoffs.
- Ravens: Justin Carauna and Francis Walker, who seems to produce every game, tallied in Friday's 5-2 loss at Concordia. The Ravens are on the road for four more games.
Everything points to a Carleton-Ottawa showdown with the playoffs on the line on Feb. 9, Hockey Day in Canada.
- Gaels: At least Queen's is showing progress; U of T won 83-76 on Saturday, meaning the Gaels kept it close against the No. 3 team (in RPI) in Canada despite having only eight players in uniform. Simon Mitchell had a 29-point night.
Frosh swingman Jon Ogden had 18 points (including four of the Gaels' 12 threes) in Friday's 77-69 win over Ryerson. Mitch Leger added 19 points and nine rebounds. The older one in the Rams' brother act, Igor Bakovic, didn't hit a basket as he continued to come back slowly from an injury. - Gee-Gees: A tighter-than-expected game vs. York (73-64) broke the monotony a bit. In a sense, dragging butt in the second game of the weekend might not be such a bad thing -- it might make the U of O focus a bit more in practice ahead of a Carleton-Queen's week.
Kingston's own Donnie Gibson scored in double digits in each game this weekend. He's back. - Ravens: Not much to say other than the Ottawa game can't come soon enough. Forward-centre Kevin McCleery had 15 points and nine boards against York as he continues coming back from an early-season injury, which is nice to see.
Hat tip to the Ravens women for coming so close, losing by 10 at Laurentian and by three vs. a ranked York team. Those are games they would have lost by 20, 30 points before Taffe Charles took over the program. Kelly Lyons, the second-most famous sportsperson from Bright's Grove, Ont., had 17 points vs. Luarentian.
Posts
5 comments:
Thanks for giving local CIS hockey some coverage...noboby else seems to. I've gone to a couple of Ravens games this year, and I've thoroughly entertained. Really looking forward the end of season game vs UofO.
You're right about Queen's needing to turn it around in the stretch, Neate, but personally I'd say the Gaels' tougher schedule earlier on both makes them look worse than they actually are and bodes well for their playoff chances.
When you look at the divisional rivals and playoff contenders, they've all got the tougher swings coming up - Toronto has 2 of their remaining 5 against powerhouse Lakehead, Carleton with 2 versus UQTR and games with McGill and Concordia (who just beat McGill), Ottawa yet to get their drubbing from the Redmen, RMC yet to get two such drubbings, and Ryerson with Brock and Guelph to contend with, the Gaels' schedule stacks up magnificently.
So you're right that any team with a shot of advancing in the playoffs *should* get at least 6 or 7 points out of that remaining schedule - but they might not even have to.
Ah, you're probably right, TK ... let's just say it would take 6 or 7 points to feel comfortable about them getting in ... Carleton and Ottawa have tough slates too, but you never know.
But yeah, they might pull this off yet.
I think Igor Bakovic's still hurt: he didn't play at all when Queen's hosted Ryerson, and he only got 17 minutes Friday. He's an amazing rebounder when healthy, though. Also, the official Queen's basketball site lists Jon Ogden as a forward, not a guard: he plays more like a small forward who shoots a lot of threes from what I've seen.
Andrew, I'll grant you "swingman," for Ogden... now, be judicious with the corrections over small faces. We already have *one* Tyler.
Post a Comment