CIS Corner: Ottawa's Galas is Als right

Notes on our teams/athletes from The 613...

FOOTBALL

• Erik Galas, the McGill second-team all-Canadian receiver who set an all-time record for career pass catches, has signed with the Montreal Alouettes, the school announced this morning. He'll have a tough road on a team with Ben Cahoon and Dave Stala enconsced among its Canadian receivers, so wish him well.
• Manotick's Scott Mitchell and his Rice Owls teammates won't have to travel far for their bowl game. Rice, with Mitchell starting at left tackle, is headed to the Texas Bowl, right at Houston's Reliant Stadium, where they sometimes practise.
  
  The Dec. 30 game will be on the NFL Network, so for any Ottawa readers, it might be worth tuning in, especially if Rice ends up playing Notre Dame.
  
  Mitchell's a good story, just in terms of how quickly he's matured in two seasons at Rice. He started at left tackle for Rice as a true freshman in the second half of last season. He was playing at only 234 lbs. absurdly light for a left tackle in high school, let alone a NCAA D-1 program.

HOCKEY

• The OHL put out a press release Thursday afternoon detailing the 300-some players who are receiving scholarship money while attending a Canadian university. It might (or might not) be worth noting that 67's forward Corey Cowick and backup goalie Adam Courchaine are already attending Carleton.
  
  The Ravens have 11 OHL alumni on their roster (and goalie Alex Archibald played four years in the WHL). Queen's, in contrast, has just three ex-OHLers; the Gee-Gees aren't listed.
• Since no one is actually playing again until January, here are the baseball standings for the eastern half of the OUA, with each team's remaining games in brackets:
  
  
  1. UQTR: -- (11)
  2. Toronto: 8 (13)
  3. Concordia: 5½ (13)
  4. Carleton: 5½ (12)
  5. Ottawa 6 (15)
  6. McGill: 6½ (14)
     
  7. Queen's: 8½ (11)
  8. RMC: 10 (12)
  9. Ryerson: 11 (14)
     
     
  The way the standings read, Carleton is in the No. 3 seed, but Concordia (one point back with a game in hand) gets listed ahead of them. A Carleton-Ottawa playoff series would really do a lot for university hockey in this city, at least one would hope. It's never going to hold a candle to the 67's when it comes to the public's attention, but hey, that might just be an expression of good taste.
  
  Queen's situation is even more dire than the standings suggest. Their first five games in the New Year are against Lakehead (twice), Laurier, Waterloo and Carleton, each of whom is in or has been in the Top 10 this season. One hopes they didn't use up all their karma with that upset win of Trois-Rivieres last weekend.