Bleeding Tricolour: Sheahan on the 'well-orchestrated loss'

Remember when Queen's lost its regular-season finale 25-13 to Laurier and dropped from No. 2 to No. 4 in the last Top 10 poll prior to the OUA playoffs? Gaels coach Pat Sheahan, in Belleville, Ont., to speak at sports dinner (defensive coordinator Pat Tracey attended high school in the Friendly City, as did defensive back-kick returner Jimmy Allin) had a colourful way of describing that game:

"Queen's was already guaranteed top seed in the OUA playoffs.

"'So, in the final regular season game against Wilfrid Laurier, at 7-and-0 and learning from last year, anybody with a bruise did not play in Week 8,' said Sheahan. 'And, even though we didn't want to tip-toe into the playoffs, sometimes a well-orchestrated loss can pay off.' "

Suffice to say, it worked out a lot better than the Seinfeld episode in which Jerry took a dive ("who wants to laugh?") in an effort to sabotage a hack comedian named Kenny Bania.

Putting on the Queen's hat, there was a sort of calm descending after that result. (I made a point to attend a Windsor-Ottawa game to eliminate the distraction.) Neither of the top two tailbacks, Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien, dressed, and there was a feeling afterward that they would be fine in the playoffs so long as the offence could convert in situations like, say, second-and-5 and third-and-1. It seemed like it worked out.

Few seemed to figure it out what was happening at the time. Queen's dropped two spots in the polls for losing a nothing game. The same old questions were raised. Ottawa fans actually cheered when it was announced at Frank Clair Stadium that Laurier was beating Queen's, even though if a memory serves, a Golden Hawks might have helped the Gee-Gees' playoff seeding.

On a Queen's related-note, there is word defensive end Neil Puffer has earned a CFL free-agent shot with the Edmonton Eskimos. Unfortuanately, inside receiver Chris Ioannides will apparently not attend training camp with the B.C. Lions. Each player posted Facebook updates recently.

(The Seinfeld reference is apt. Remember the early episodes when Jerry sometimes worry a T-shirt from his alma mater, Queens College in New York City?)

Related:
Queen's coach praises Belleville duo; Sheahan says Allin, Tracey instrumental in Vanier Cup victory(Paul Svoboda, Belleville Intelligencer)

Bleeding Tricolour: Queen's-Ottawa liveblog

CFL 2009: On Canada Day, 111 reasons to follow Canadian university football

On a per-team basis, Canada West is best at providing a pipeline to the CFL.

Last year this time, Duane Rollins provided a complete list of Canadian-trained players on CFL rosters. It provides a thumbnail sketch about how Canadian Interuniversity Sport players are faring in the pros. It's timely, with alumni such as Andy Fantuz (Western, pictured near right) becoming an impact receiver for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and likes of UBC grad Shea Emry (right photo) getting a start at middle linebacker tonight for the Montréal Alouettes. By our count, there are 111 CIS players either on an active roster or the nine-game injured list.

However, this list also might suggest this country's universities could be doing a better job. It's not clear if there's a cause-and-effect, but the two teams with the least CIS representation were also in the Grey Cup last fall. The full breakdown is after the jump.

By team — Saskatchewan Roughriders 21, Winnipeg Blue Bombers 17, Toronto Argonauts 17, Hamilton Tiger-Cats 14, Edmonton Eskimos 13, Montréal Alouettes 11, Calgary Stampeders 9, B.C. Lions 9.

By CIS conference — Canada West 41 (5.9 per team), OUA 41 (4.1), Québec 18 (3), Atlantic 11 (2.8).

By CIS school —

10 — McMaster
8 — Regina
7 — Laval, Manitoba, Queen's, Saint Mary's, Saskatchewan
6 — Simon Fraser
5 — UBC, Calgary, Laurier, Ottawa, Western
4 — Concordia, Windsor
3 — Alberta, Bishop's, McGill, York
2 — Acadia, St. FX
1 — Guelph, Sherbrooke, Waterloo
0 — Montréal, Mount Allison, U of T

Here's the complete list:Saskatchewan Roughriders (21)

Offence — Jason Clermont, SB, Regina; Andy Fantuz, WR, Western; Chris Getzlaf, SB, Regina; Rob Bagg, WR, Queen's; Adam Nicolson, WR, Ottawa; Dave McKoy, WR, Guelph (injured); Neal Hughes, FB, Regina; Gene Makowsky, G, Saskatchewan; Chris Best, G, Waterloo, Nick Hutchins, OL, Regina; Jordan Rempel, OL, Saskatchewan.

Defence — Kevin Scott, DT, Queen's; Sasha Glavic, LB, Windsor; Mike McCullough, LB, St. FX; Tamon George, CB, Regina; Jeff Zelinski, DB, Saint Mary's; Sebastian Clovis, DB, Saint Mary's; Leron Mitchell, DB, Western (injured).

Specialists — Jamie Boreham, P, Manitoba; Luca Congi, K, SFU; Jocelyn Frenette, LS, Ottawa

Winnipeg Blue Bombers (17)

Offence — Daryl Stephenson, RB, Windsor; Arjei Franklin, SB, Windsor; Aaron Hargreaves, WR, SFU; Ibrahim Khan, OL, SFU; Kelly Bates, G, Saskatchewan; Ryan Donnelly, OL, McMaster; Brendon LaBatte, OL, Regina; Steve Morley, OL, Saint Mary's; Lorne Plante, C, Manitoba.

Defence — Doug Brown, DT, SFU; Don Oramasionwu, DT, Manitoba; Pierre-Luc Labbé, LB, Sherbrooke; Brady Browne, DB, Manitoba; Steven Holness, DB, Ottawa; Ian Logan, S, Laurier.

Specialist — Chris Cvetkovic, LS, Concordia; Mike Renaud, P, Concordia.

Toronto Argonauts (17)

Offence — Bryan Crawford, RB, Queen's; André Durie, RB, York; Jeff Johnson, FB-RB, York (injured); Mike Bradwell, SB, McMaster; Tyler Scott, WR, Western; Brad Smith, WR, Queen's; Andre Talbot, WR, Laurier (injured); Dominic Picard, C, Laval; Jeff Keeping, G, Western; Mark Dewit, G, Calgary.

Defence — Adrian Davis, tackle, Concordia; Étienne Légaré, tackle, Laval;
Randy Srochenski, LB, Regina; Jason Pottinger, LB, McMaster; Jean-Nicolas Carrière, LB, McGill (injured); Delroy Clarke, CB, Ottawa (injured); James Green, S, Calgary.

Hamilton Tiger-Cats (14)

Offence — Simeon Rottier, OL, Alberta; Alexandre Gauthier, OL, Laval; Chris Bauman, WR, Regina; Dave Stala, WR-K, Saint Mary's; Darcy Brown, FB, Saint Mary's; Andre Sadeghian, RB, McMaster.

Defence — Matt Kirk, DT, Queen's; Agustin Barrenchea, LB, Calgary; Ray Mariuz, LB, McMaster; Yannick Carter, LB, Laurier; Dylan Barker, DB, Saskatchewan; Marc Beswick, DB, Saint Mary's; Sandy Beveridge, DB, UBC.

Specialist — Matt Robichaud, LS, Bishop's.

Edmonton Eskimos (13)

Offence — Jesse Lumsden, RB, McMaster; Chris Ciezki, RB, UBC; Mathieu Bertrand, FB, Laval; Graeme Bell, FB, Saskatchewan; John Comiskey, C, Windsor; Kyle Koch, OL, McMaster; Gordon Hinse, OL, Alberta.

Defence — Dee Sterling, tackle, Queen's; Justin Cooper, DE, Manitoba; Tim St. Pierre, LB, Saint Mary's, Elliott Richardson, DB, Acadia; Scott Gordon, DB, Ottawa.
Specialist — Derek Schiavone, K-P, Western (injured).

Montréal Alouettes (11)

Offence — Luc Brodeur-Jourdain, C, Laval; Scott Flory, G, Saskatchewan; Mike Giffin, FB, Queen's; Dylan Steenbergen, T, Calgary (injured).

Defence — Jeff Robertshaw, DE, McMaster; Shea Emry, LB, UBC; Joel Wright, LB, Laurier; Cory Huclack, LB, Manitoba (injured); Mathieu Proulx, S, Laval; Doug Goldsby, S, UBC; Paul Woldu, CB, Saskatchewan.

B.C. Lions (9)

Offence — Greg Hetherington, SB, McGill; Angus Reid, C, SFU; Dean Valli, G, SFU; Andrew Jones, OL, McMaster.

Defence — Ricky Foley, DE, York; Javy Glatt, LB, UBC; James Yurichuk, LB, Bishop's; Jason Arakgi, S, McMaster.

Specialist — Dan McCullough, LS, Bishop's.

Calgary Stampeders (9)

Offence — Brett Ralph, WR, Alberta; Godfrey Ellis, G, Acadia; Tim O'Neill, C, Calgary; Derek Armstrong, G, St. FX (injured).
Defence — Miguel Robede, DT, Laval; Justin Phillips, DE, Laurier; Wes Lysack, DB, Manitoba
Specialist — Burke Dales, P, Concordia; Randy Chevrier, LS, McGill.

For point of comparison, there are numbers available which count practice-squad players. This list counts players on the active roster and nine-game injured list.

(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)

CIS Corner: Dig this, Queen's to host v-ball nationals

This might make Kinger's head explode, but whatthehell: Queen's has been awarded the 2012 CIS men's volleyball championship, eight weeks to the day of the opening of the Queen's Centre.

The opulent new digs (shame on you for doubting our ability to make a volleyball pun) have not been without their controversies. Regardless, it is a pretty big coup for Gaels coach Brenda Willis and AD Leslie Dal Cin. It will be the first time Queen's has hosted a national championship in a winter team sport. Several of their current players, such as outside Joren Zeeman and two Ottawa natives, middle Anthony Pitfield and libero Alex Oneid (who played for Glebe when it won the OFSAA quad-A title in 2007), could potentially still be on the team.

Via the press release:

"The entire Eastern Ontario region has a strong core of avid volleyball followers," said Dal Cin. "Our new venue combined with additional areas of athlete support and general excitement about volleyball in Kingston will make this a memorable event for participants and fans alike."

The Queen's Centre, with 2,000 seats, is also optimal size for a major women's basketball event, just saying. The women's tournament is moving to a 16-team, two-weekend format for this season and next, so if the highers-up opt to stay with that beyond 2011, there would be ample opportunity for Queen's to host a regional.

The construction of the Queen's Centre has had the usual controversies (cost overruns, the decision to scrap an arena and the way some student fees that went to the construction were passed). Kinger has vehemed about it at great length from time to time on Kingston's most-listened-to hour-long sports show, Offsides (which has two editions left).

However, getting a national championship is something new for the university and for Kingston. The region has been on a building booms with arenas; in fact, the three big junior hockey teams, the OHL's Kingston Frontenacs, OJHL's Kingston Kimco Voyaguers and the Junior C Napanee Raiders all play in arenas which are less than five years old. (Kingston Mayor Harvey Rosen said last night that he is confident the Voyageurs will host the RBC Cup in three years ago, so there could be more big stuff going on in K-town in 2012.)

Queen's has the CIS cross-country championships this fall; previously, the only nationals they had hosted were cross-country in '99 and men's soccer back in '91.

(It was almost cold enough that day in '99 for cross-country to count as a winter sport.)

Gee-Gees: Congratulations are in order for Ottawa women's basketball assistant coach Mario Gaetano, who was honoured by the National Capital Secondary Schools Athletic Association for his many years in hoops.

CIS Corner: Hoops hotshots Hinz, Faulkner commit to CU; reports

Two out of three ain't bad for Dave Smart and the Carleton Ravens.

Much vaunted forward Tyson Hinz of Orleans according to Hoopstars Canada, is committed to Carleton. Six-foot-5 swingman Greg Faulkner out of Kingston, also a Hoopstars Canada top 50 player, is headed to Carleton, the Kingston Whig-Standard reported this morning.

Hinz' decision was probably the most closely watched in Ottawa basketall circles, since he led his St. Matthew Tigers to a 45-1 season and the Ontario AAA title. His dad, Will Hinz, was a superb player at McGill during the 1980s, where he has a Rhodes Scholar at McGill, which sparked talk his son would follow in his footsteps, plus Redmen coach Craig Norman has often recruited in the Ottawa area (Orleans' Kevin Dulude was the lynchpin when Norman had RMC playing winning basketball in the first half of the 2000s.)

Tyson Hinz is a bit of a combo forward who does everything well, so some Aaron Doornekamp comparisons will be inevitable.

Incidentally, Faulkner's club coaches were Rob Smart Sr. and Duncan Cowan, the Queen's coaches. His literary namesake should concoct such a subplot.

"Duncan and Rob have done a lot for me to get me where I am. It's just that I want to move on and try something different."
— Faulkner, via Whig sports editor Mike Koreen

The estimable Koreen also caught up with Acadia-bound post player Owen Klassen, who played club ball with Faulkner on the Kingston Impact and against him in high school. Klassen's high school coach at Bayridge Secondary, Geoff Stewart, told The Whig:

"Owen can make a significant impact. I've compared him to Aaron Doornekamp. He has a similar skill set, he's tall and co-ordinated and he can play inside and outside like Aaron."

Klassen would have been a great get. The upshot is the Ravens are getting the second- and third-best players out of Eastern Ontario, although ratings aren't the be-all, end-all.

HOCKEY

Gee-Gees: Ottawa forward Dan McDonald, who joined the ECHL's Utah Grizzlies after the CIS season ended, had a four-goal game last Saturday ("the mortorboard trick") vs. the Alaska Aces. The former Kingston Frontenac (for 2½ seasons) has had a decent pro debut with 13 points (seven goals, six assists) in 16 games.

The plan is for McDonald to return to Ottawa, write his exams and rejoin Utah for the playoffs. (Please don't wonder how it is that athletes at other Ontario universities located in and around London, Ont., can be off working out for NFL teams during examination periods.)

Ravens: Former Carleton d-man Brodie Beard is reportedly committed to play at Nipissing University, the new expansion entry in the OUA, according to BayToday.ca.

(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca. Thanks to a commenter for the hook-up on Hinz; thanks to Gee-Gees coach Dave Leger for the McDonald note.)

CIS Final 8: Consolation final live blog

Live from Scotiabank Place, it's the consolation final of the Final 8! The Concordia Stingers are taking on the Ottawa Gee-Gees. Join us in the live blog below!

CIS Corner: One-sentence posts on the best news heard all day

Friend of the blog and roundball lover Mark Wacyk is back up and posting at cishoops.ca in time for the CIS Final 8.

(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)