I'll be live-blogging the McMaster-Guelph game today, which is on The Score's University Rush program at 1 p.m. Eastern/10 a.m. Pacific. I'll also have some thoughts on other CIS football games around the league, including the Queen's - Laurier clash, which I'll be listening to on CFRC. Come join after the jump for any and all CIS football talk! If the CFL is more your thing, I'll also be live-blogging the B.C. - Saskatchewan clash at 5 p.m. Eastern/2 p.m. Pacific.
Showing posts with label 2009 CIS Final 8. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2009 CIS Final 8. Show all posts
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Monday, March 23, 2009
International court to hear case of 'Rubber vs. Glue'
Please avoid the folly of taking unserious people seriously.
That story you heard about the four goofs on Fox News -- each one of whom is about as funny as a instructional video on how to clean a clarinet -- mocking the Canadian Forces, should be water off a duck's back. Sure, it's infuriating on some level, but you should take comfort knowing that, whatever Americans say about our military, at least our banks aren't a joke.
(Incidentally, think it's really host Greg Gutfeld on Twitter? "My apologies to the Canadian military, they probably could at least beat the Belgians."
Anyway, Doug Benson, the goof who says, "I didn't even know they were in the war ... I thought that was where you went if you didn't want to fight," is due to perform in Edmonton next week, April 2-5, according to his MySpace page (over age 16, and he has a MySpace page?). Thankfully for him, there are no military personnel based near Edmonton.
It seems best to invoke the Haisuk rule, even speaking as the grandson of a World War II veteran. Don't get riled up and run the risk of legitimizing some twitbag without working the Google on the Internet machine for 10-15 minutes and finding out where they're coming from.
The one twit, Bill Schulz, going by his MySpace, thinks it's the height of hilarity to list his occupation as "registered sex offender." He would probably say, "where's your sense of humour?", the usual reflex of promoters of self (et tu, Sagert?) who bring little to the table beyond a boundless ego. However, if that's what you think is funny and cheeky, where is your sense of humour, sir?
Point being, Schulz and the host, Greg Gutfeld, are former editors at Stuff and Maxim magazines. (One wonders how that can be justified when Fox News is so closely allied with the Republican Party and its family-values agenda, but bear in mind, some people are conservative just because they want taxes cut, criminals brutalized, and be ruled like a king by someone who is part Santa Claus, part Genghis Khan.)
That's not meant to dismiss people's opinions out of hand based on where they work, since regular readers know where I work.
However, you should take solace in knowing there is no virtue in being the idiot with the shrillest opinion in the room, even if in weak moments, you wonder that the real dopes are the ones who bother trying to have the most considered opinions. That's how you end up with that walking advertisement for Queen's University, Ashleigh Banfield, getting paid, and paid well, to advance the numbbrained argument that teenagers should be charged with felonies for sending lurid text messages ("sexting," as it's known in the buzzword-obsessed media). Well done, Ms. Banfield. You're aware, no doubt, that efforts to legislate moral behaviour have almost never worked in North America.
Ultimately, the beauty of this age is there are so entertainment options that you can safely ignore the ones who nothing to contribute. That would seems to apply to those who appear on Fox News at 3 in the morning, when God knows who's watching (since the stoners who are usually up at that hour are probably all in jail, thanks to the War on Drugs).
The only nauseating aspect is seeng that Americans have this notion of Canada as a bunch of namby-pambies. That might speaks to how we teach high school history in this country. People come though our education system not knowing what we've done in wars and thinking all we've ever done is play peacekeeper.
For anyone from the States reading this, it is cold, hard fact that Canada entered both world wars before the U.S. and suffered more casualties on a per-capita basis. We didn't join in Vietnam or the Iraq conquest because those countries were no threat to us or you for that matter (several Canadians, as individuals, fought in Vietnam). To Canadians, remember, water off a duck's back.
The universe tends to unfold exactly as it should. This too shall pass and in time, hopefully so will Fox News' chances at relevance. Meantime, do what you will with Greg Gutfeld's Wiki.
That story you heard about the four goofs on Fox News -- each one of whom is about as funny as a instructional video on how to clean a clarinet -- mocking the Canadian Forces, should be water off a duck's back. Sure, it's infuriating on some level, but you should take comfort knowing that, whatever Americans say about our military, at least our banks aren't a joke.
(Incidentally, think it's really host Greg Gutfeld on Twitter? "My apologies to the Canadian military, they probably could at least beat the Belgians."
Anyway, Doug Benson, the goof who says, "I didn't even know they were in the war ... I thought that was where you went if you didn't want to fight," is due to perform in Edmonton next week, April 2-5, according to his MySpace page (over age 16, and he has a MySpace page?). Thankfully for him, there are no military personnel based near Edmonton.
It seems best to invoke the Haisuk rule, even speaking as the grandson of a World War II veteran. Don't get riled up and run the risk of legitimizing some twitbag without working the Google on the Internet machine for 10-15 minutes and finding out where they're coming from.The one twit, Bill Schulz, going by his MySpace, thinks it's the height of hilarity to list his occupation as "registered sex offender." He would probably say, "where's your sense of humour?", the usual reflex of promoters of self (et tu, Sagert?) who bring little to the table beyond a boundless ego. However, if that's what you think is funny and cheeky, where is your sense of humour, sir?
Point being, Schulz and the host, Greg Gutfeld, are former editors at Stuff and Maxim magazines. (One wonders how that can be justified when Fox News is so closely allied with the Republican Party and its family-values agenda, but bear in mind, some people are conservative just because they want taxes cut, criminals brutalized, and be ruled like a king by someone who is part Santa Claus, part Genghis Khan.)
That's not meant to dismiss people's opinions out of hand based on where they work, since regular readers know where I work.
However, you should take solace in knowing there is no virtue in being the idiot with the shrillest opinion in the room, even if in weak moments, you wonder that the real dopes are the ones who bother trying to have the most considered opinions. That's how you end up with that walking advertisement for Queen's University, Ashleigh Banfield, getting paid, and paid well, to advance the numbbrained argument that teenagers should be charged with felonies for sending lurid text messages ("sexting," as it's known in the buzzword-obsessed media). Well done, Ms. Banfield. You're aware, no doubt, that efforts to legislate moral behaviour have almost never worked in North America.
Ultimately, the beauty of this age is there are so entertainment options that you can safely ignore the ones who nothing to contribute. That would seems to apply to those who appear on Fox News at 3 in the morning, when God knows who's watching (since the stoners who are usually up at that hour are probably all in jail, thanks to the War on Drugs).
The only nauseating aspect is seeng that Americans have this notion of Canada as a bunch of namby-pambies. That might speaks to how we teach high school history in this country. People come though our education system not knowing what we've done in wars and thinking all we've ever done is play peacekeeper.
For anyone from the States reading this, it is cold, hard fact that Canada entered both world wars before the U.S. and suffered more casualties on a per-capita basis. We didn't join in Vietnam or the Iraq conquest because those countries were no threat to us or you for that matter (several Canadians, as individuals, fought in Vietnam). To Canadians, remember, water off a duck's back.
The universe tends to unfold exactly as it should. This too shall pass and in time, hopefully so will Fox News' chances at relevance. Meantime, do what you will with Greg Gutfeld's Wiki.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
CIS Final 8: Championship live blog
This one's for all the marbles! It's the national championship game, live from Scotiabank Place. The top-ranked Carleton Ravens are taking on the third-seeded UBC Thunderbirds. Join us in the live blog below!
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: Stu's shot
Stu Turnbull rode the biggest 4.9 seconds of his basketball life like a skeleton horse through the gates of hell.
The Carleton Ravens' man of the match and Kingston native made a Will Ferrell reference following his buzzer-beater that vanquished the Western Mustangs, 66-65 last night. That means it is apropos to allude to the Amy Adams speech from Talladega Nights. He started it. He also ended it for Western, putting Carleton into today's championship game vs. the UBC Thunderbirds (4 p.m., The Score, SSN Canada).
Please know that as much as it was a shooter's shot, a fadeaway jumper from 12 feet over Western's Matt Curtis, it was a byproduct of Carleton's flinty Eastern Ontario toughness. The psychological aspect of facing Carleton has put more than one team over the cliff during Dave Smart's decade as their head coach, and Western, like Acadia 364 days earlier, practically had them dead to rights.
It goes against the grain in an age when we're all dollar-store psychologists to figure out what it is about The 613, outside of how well Carleton is coached, that has made it such a fecund ground for tough-as-nails basketball players. One way to look at it is that Carleton, more than any CIS team, including some which have more talent, embody the whole notion that sport has little to do with the concept of a game (thank you, Chuck Klosterman). They will not quit. Something was forged a long time ago, way before Smart arrived at Carleton, when Stu, Aaron Doornekamp and Rob Saunders were learning to play the game, getting schooled sometimes by their older siblings.
With the way the game unfolded, Carleton was certainly given outs. Western is damn good. The officiating, quite frankly, was not national semi-final quality, with the refs calling 49 fouls. Meantime, there were constant harbingers of last season, from foul trouble to a very long defender, Western's 6-foot-10 Colin Laforme, doing a good job vs. Aaron Doornekamp (16 points and eight rebounds, but on 4-of-15 shooting, near the 4-of-23 he had in that Acadia game).
Still, they responded, getting big buckets in the third quarter from Elliot Thompson and Cole Hobin coming off the bench. Despite having four starters limited, Smart managed to keep three in the game for the duration and his team shot 50% across the second 20 minutes after making only 27% in the opening half. That, by the way, makes a genius of Greg Layson, who said a while back over e-mail, "You heard it here first and now again: Western is the best team in the OUA but they will be outcoached by Smart."
On merit, Western could be playing today against UBC. They're tough, talented and well-coached and showed their resolve by twice fighting back from five-point deficits in the fourth quarter, on the wings on some sick three-pointers down the stretch from Alex Brzozowicz and graduating forward Bradley Smith which kept them in the hunt. One's heart can only go out to their point guard and coach, Curtis (who was in his final CIS game) and Ottawa-born Brad Campbell. They did everything right, even had close to textbook defence.
The sun would still come up today no matter what, but simply put, thinking of the people who are believers in how Carleton approaches basketball, the real stunner might have been if Turnbull hadn't had that shot go down. His reaction as it traced through the air was classic; he sort of half-turned toward the bench, as if teammates' reaction would give confirmation, then he just collapsed flat on his back. Personally, from SSN's broadcast position a few feet away, it was pretty hard to remain detached, thinking how as much as Turnbull made that shot for himself to put Carleton into today's final, it was for a lot of people in a very extended basketball family.
Rob Pettapiece, who was clutch in his own right last night, noted this over cisblog.ca, when Turnbull was waiting to do an on-court interview with Cabbie Richards from The Score, he actually had to rest against the scorer's table. It was if some energy had gone out of him when he hit that buzzer-beater, as well it should have. Someone who plays for Carleton and comes from Kingston need not be asked to leave it all on the floor, or to do it again in a little more than 16 hours against UBC and Chris Dyck.
Related:
Turnbull’s last-second jumper lifts Ravens into final (Wayne Kondro, Canwest News Service)
Ravens dodge Mustang rally; Turnbull hits game-winning shot at buzzer, giving Carleton chance at sixth CIS title in seven years (Shane Ross, Sun Media)
Gee-Gees moving for-Ward (Shane Ross, Sun Media)
The Carleton Ravens' man of the match and Kingston native made a Will Ferrell reference following his buzzer-beater that vanquished the Western Mustangs, 66-65 last night. That means it is apropos to allude to the Amy Adams speech from Talladega Nights. He started it. He also ended it for Western, putting Carleton into today's championship game vs. the UBC Thunderbirds (4 p.m., The Score, SSN Canada).
Please know that as much as it was a shooter's shot, a fadeaway jumper from 12 feet over Western's Matt Curtis, it was a byproduct of Carleton's flinty Eastern Ontario toughness. The psychological aspect of facing Carleton has put more than one team over the cliff during Dave Smart's decade as their head coach, and Western, like Acadia 364 days earlier, practically had them dead to rights.
It goes against the grain in an age when we're all dollar-store psychologists to figure out what it is about The 613, outside of how well Carleton is coached, that has made it such a fecund ground for tough-as-nails basketball players. One way to look at it is that Carleton, more than any CIS team, including some which have more talent, embody the whole notion that sport has little to do with the concept of a game (thank you, Chuck Klosterman). They will not quit. Something was forged a long time ago, way before Smart arrived at Carleton, when Stu, Aaron Doornekamp and Rob Saunders were learning to play the game, getting schooled sometimes by their older siblings.
With the way the game unfolded, Carleton was certainly given outs. Western is damn good. The officiating, quite frankly, was not national semi-final quality, with the refs calling 49 fouls. Meantime, there were constant harbingers of last season, from foul trouble to a very long defender, Western's 6-foot-10 Colin Laforme, doing a good job vs. Aaron Doornekamp (16 points and eight rebounds, but on 4-of-15 shooting, near the 4-of-23 he had in that Acadia game).
Still, they responded, getting big buckets in the third quarter from Elliot Thompson and Cole Hobin coming off the bench. Despite having four starters limited, Smart managed to keep three in the game for the duration and his team shot 50% across the second 20 minutes after making only 27% in the opening half. That, by the way, makes a genius of Greg Layson, who said a while back over e-mail, "You heard it here first and now again: Western is the best team in the OUA but they will be outcoached by Smart."
On merit, Western could be playing today against UBC. They're tough, talented and well-coached and showed their resolve by twice fighting back from five-point deficits in the fourth quarter, on the wings on some sick three-pointers down the stretch from Alex Brzozowicz and graduating forward Bradley Smith which kept them in the hunt. One's heart can only go out to their point guard and coach, Curtis (who was in his final CIS game) and Ottawa-born Brad Campbell. They did everything right, even had close to textbook defence.
The sun would still come up today no matter what, but simply put, thinking of the people who are believers in how Carleton approaches basketball, the real stunner might have been if Turnbull hadn't had that shot go down. His reaction as it traced through the air was classic; he sort of half-turned toward the bench, as if teammates' reaction would give confirmation, then he just collapsed flat on his back. Personally, from SSN's broadcast position a few feet away, it was pretty hard to remain detached, thinking how as much as Turnbull made that shot for himself to put Carleton into today's final, it was for a lot of people in a very extended basketball family.
Rob Pettapiece, who was clutch in his own right last night, noted this over cisblog.ca, when Turnbull was waiting to do an on-court interview with Cabbie Richards from The Score, he actually had to rest against the scorer's table. It was if some energy had gone out of him when he hit that buzzer-beater, as well it should have. Someone who plays for Carleton and comes from Kingston need not be asked to leave it all on the floor, or to do it again in a little more than 16 hours against UBC and Chris Dyck.
Related:
Turnbull’s last-second jumper lifts Ravens into final (Wayne Kondro, Canwest News Service)
Ravens dodge Mustang rally; Turnbull hits game-winning shot at buzzer, giving Carleton chance at sixth CIS title in seven years (Shane Ross, Sun Media)
Gee-Gees moving for-Ward (Shane Ross, Sun Media)
Saturday, March 14, 2009
CIS Final 8: Semifinal liveblog, Carleton vs. Western
After a great first game, it's an OUA Replay for the second game. Carleton, Western, live from Scotiabank Place. Join us below!
CIS Final 8: Semifinal liveblog, UBC vs. Calgary
We're up and running here at Out of Left Field now--apologies for the delay, tech problems--so stick around for our second-half live blog!
CIS Corner: Heading into semi-final Saturday
Thanks to everyone who came by Friday to help out Andrew Bucholtz, Rob Pettapiece and Jared Book with the live blogging from CIS Final 8 at Scotiabank Place on Friday, where Carleton advanced to semi-final Saturday while Ottawa was ousted by Western, with extreme prejudice.
Out of Left Field's sister site cisblog.ca set a single-day traffic record. There will be live blogs of the semis, UBC-Calgary and Western-Carleton, starting around 6 p.m. tonight. I'll join play-by-play man Mark Masters and sideline reporter Alison Sandor on the Streaming Sports Network Canada webcast at ssncanada.ca.
Anything blog-worthy will be on either of those two sites, so apologies if this ends up being a quiet weekend on this site for other matters. (What's up with Syracuse only playing one overtime tonight?)
Incidentally, Carleton's rout of St. Francis Xavier had an even stronger Kingston connection than usual. Stu Turnbull's father, area coaching legend Tom Turnbull, was interviewed during the game by The Score's Adnan Virk, one of his former students at Ernestown Secondary School. That was a sight-and-a-half to see.
Out of Left Field's sister site cisblog.ca set a single-day traffic record. There will be live blogs of the semis, UBC-Calgary and Western-Carleton, starting around 6 p.m. tonight. I'll join play-by-play man Mark Masters and sideline reporter Alison Sandor on the Streaming Sports Network Canada webcast at ssncanada.ca.
Anything blog-worthy will be on either of those two sites, so apologies if this ends up being a quiet weekend on this site for other matters. (What's up with Syracuse only playing one overtime tonight?)
Incidentally, Carleton's rout of St. Francis Xavier had an even stronger Kingston connection than usual. Stu Turnbull's father, area coaching legend Tom Turnbull, was interviewed during the game by The Score's Adnan Virk, one of his former students at Ernestown Secondary School. That was a sight-and-a-half to see.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Carleton - St. FX live blog
The final game of the day sees the top-seeded Carleton Ravens take on the wild-card St. Francis Xavier X-Men. Join the live blog below!
Western - Ottawa live blog
It's the Battle of Ontario, CIS hoops-style! The Western Mustangs take on the Ottawa Gee-Gees at 6 p.m. tonight, live on The Score. The winner will play whoever comes out of tonight's late game between Carleton and St. FX. Join us in the live blog below starting at 6!
Calgary - Concordia live blog
Sorry about the delay in getting this up: ran into an unbelievable amount of technical gremlins along the way! Join us in the live blog below!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Blog blast past:
The CIS Final 8 tips off tomorrow at Scotiabank Place, with the Carleton Ravens, led by their Kingston trio of Aaron Doornekamp, Rob Saunders and Stu Turnbull and coached by Dave Smart, with assistant coach, Rob Smart Jr. are out to reclaim the national title, although they might have to get by the Ottawa Gee-Gees, whose lineup includes Kingston's Donnie Gibson. They've made some memories, but there were rough patches back well before the days when Carleton winning national titles. First published May 7, 2003, some minor revisions have been made.:
Reading Jim Caple's column about watching his old high school in the state tournament was bound to stir up some latent memories from this athletic supporter.
(Embarrassing, embarrassing first sentence, but remember this was 2003. We're reading Jim Caple, but youuuuuuuuuuuu bought Bush's justification for going into Iraq.)
Seven years ago today, March 7, 1996, I was a benchwarmer for the Ernestown Eagles at the Ontario 'AA' basketball championship. Seeded 11th, we were matched up against the top-seeded team, Windsor Forster, in our preliminary game. It was supposed to be a mismatch
Early in the game, their guard strips our all-everything point guard, Rob Smart (who now plays the same position for Canada's top-ranked university team, Carleton University) and throws an alley-oop to the centre for a dunk. The gym flips out.
Although our posts, Jeff Brierley and Phil Leonard, are giving up between two and five inches and no small amount of athletic ability to their Windsor counterparts, we stay in the game. Smartie finds his shot, and Brierley has his man in foul trouble, even though he's having trouble making the free throws. Early in the second quarter, my friend Wegs, who constitutes a one-man bench, spots up for a three, draws his man out, steps inside the arc, hits the jumper while being bumped and hits the free throw, a move he'd been working on all season but only recently started to bust out. At the half, we're winning 35-29, and the gymnasium at Nicholson Catholic College in Belleville is backing the longshots.
Windsor starts to come on in the third quarter, using their quickness to wear us down. In the dying seconds of the period, from the corner, off his wrong leg, our small forward, Gavin Stainton, tosses in a three-pointer to give us a 52-48 lead.
Starting the fourth quarter, the lead goes from four points to two, to switching hands every minute or so. With about 50 seconds to go, Windsor goes up one. Rob Smart brings the ball upcourt, working the clock. Phil pops out to set a screen. Robbie drives inside and gets fouled with 18.6 ticks left.
On the bench, Wegs turns to me and whispers, "This is just like in the movies." Game on the line, ball in the star player's hand. As if there was any doubt, Rob drains the shots for his 34th and 35th points of the night, giving us a 68-67 lead.
(Sadly, the same guy who forgets to pay his cable bill on time remembers Smart was 12-of-18 of the field that night. Claude Scilley from the Kingston Whig-Standard was very good about compiling boxscores, and well, let's not get into why a young man would pore over the boxscores of basketball games in which he had been a participant, and on rare occasions, even actually played.)
Forster calls timeout to set up a play, which it hadn't had much reason to do all night. As the seconds tick away, a guard goes backdoor on Gavin Stainton, and flips in a runner with five seconds left. Phil scoops up the ball and inbounds to Rob, who with seemingly half of southwestern Ontario closing in on him, turns and throws a half-court-length pass to Gavin, who had alertly taken off for the other end after losing his man on defence. With two seconds left, he takes off from the foul line for a layup ... and the bloody ball clanks off the back of the rim.
(The way it's remembered is there was a beat between the ball bouncing off and the buzzer. Maybe there was time for one more dribble, but for a high school player, it might have been a good play just to get in that position. My sister, Trina, said later that the only problem was that the only player we had who could make that shot was the one who threw the pass.)
Game over. We lose, 69-68. It doesn't seem real.
The next day we meet Peterborough, who we had beaten back at Christmastime. We find ourselves down 24-0 in the first quarter. Smartie fouled out in the third quarter after picking up four offensive fouls. It was a debacle, but the real burn was from the night before. We shot 0-for-10 from downtown, with seven of the misses coming from Wegs.
With two minutes left, we're playing out the string when Phil takes the ball out of bounds after a free throw and puts it in to Rob Wilson. (Wegs always remembered that Rob actually got the ball after grabbing a rebound.) Normally, Wilson is known as "Teflon" because nothing seems to sticks to his hands, and for the season, he's about 1-for-10 at the line. But this time his aim is true, and he lays the ball in off the glass into his OWN BASKET.
Claude Scilley of the Kingston Whig-Standard summed up the own-basket thusly:
Reading Jim Caple's column about watching his old high school in the state tournament was bound to stir up some latent memories from this athletic supporter.
(Embarrassing, embarrassing first sentence, but remember this was 2003. We're reading Jim Caple, but youuuuuuuuuuuu bought Bush's justification for going into Iraq.)
Seven years ago today, March 7, 1996, I was a benchwarmer for the Ernestown Eagles at the Ontario 'AA' basketball championship. Seeded 11th, we were matched up against the top-seeded team, Windsor Forster, in our preliminary game. It was supposed to be a mismatch
Early in the game, their guard strips our all-everything point guard, Rob Smart (who now plays the same position for Canada's top-ranked university team, Carleton University) and throws an alley-oop to the centre for a dunk. The gym flips out.
Although our posts, Jeff Brierley and Phil Leonard, are giving up between two and five inches and no small amount of athletic ability to their Windsor counterparts, we stay in the game. Smartie finds his shot, and Brierley has his man in foul trouble, even though he's having trouble making the free throws. Early in the second quarter, my friend Wegs, who constitutes a one-man bench, spots up for a three, draws his man out, steps inside the arc, hits the jumper while being bumped and hits the free throw, a move he'd been working on all season but only recently started to bust out. At the half, we're winning 35-29, and the gymnasium at Nicholson Catholic College in Belleville is backing the longshots.
Windsor starts to come on in the third quarter, using their quickness to wear us down. In the dying seconds of the period, from the corner, off his wrong leg, our small forward, Gavin Stainton, tosses in a three-pointer to give us a 52-48 lead.
Starting the fourth quarter, the lead goes from four points to two, to switching hands every minute or so. With about 50 seconds to go, Windsor goes up one. Rob Smart brings the ball upcourt, working the clock. Phil pops out to set a screen. Robbie drives inside and gets fouled with 18.6 ticks left.
On the bench, Wegs turns to me and whispers, "This is just like in the movies." Game on the line, ball in the star player's hand. As if there was any doubt, Rob drains the shots for his 34th and 35th points of the night, giving us a 68-67 lead.
(Sadly, the same guy who forgets to pay his cable bill on time remembers Smart was 12-of-18 of the field that night. Claude Scilley from the Kingston Whig-Standard was very good about compiling boxscores, and well, let's not get into why a young man would pore over the boxscores of basketball games in which he had been a participant, and on rare occasions, even actually played.)
Forster calls timeout to set up a play, which it hadn't had much reason to do all night. As the seconds tick away, a guard goes backdoor on Gavin Stainton, and flips in a runner with five seconds left. Phil scoops up the ball and inbounds to Rob, who with seemingly half of southwestern Ontario closing in on him, turns and throws a half-court-length pass to Gavin, who had alertly taken off for the other end after losing his man on defence. With two seconds left, he takes off from the foul line for a layup ... and the bloody ball clanks off the back of the rim.
(The way it's remembered is there was a beat between the ball bouncing off and the buzzer. Maybe there was time for one more dribble, but for a high school player, it might have been a good play just to get in that position. My sister, Trina, said later that the only problem was that the only player we had who could make that shot was the one who threw the pass.)
Game over. We lose, 69-68. It doesn't seem real.
The next day we meet Peterborough, who we had beaten back at Christmastime. We find ourselves down 24-0 in the first quarter. Smartie fouled out in the third quarter after picking up four offensive fouls. It was a debacle, but the real burn was from the night before. We shot 0-for-10 from downtown, with seven of the misses coming from Wegs.
With two minutes left, we're playing out the string when Phil takes the ball out of bounds after a free throw and puts it in to Rob Wilson. (Wegs always remembered that Rob actually got the ball after grabbing a rebound.) Normally, Wilson is known as "Teflon" because nothing seems to sticks to his hands, and for the season, he's about 1-for-10 at the line. But this time his aim is true, and he lays the ball in off the glass into his OWN BASKET.
Claude Scilley of the Kingston Whig-Standard summed up the own-basket thusly:
"There was a not a single sign of displeasure among the Ernestown Eagles yesterday when Rob Wilson took an inbounds pass, gracefully pivoted, and put the ball into his own basket.Guess who that guy on the bench was?
"Actually, it was perfect.
" 'One of the guys on the bench said to me, 'Coach, if that had been me, I'd have missed the shot,'" said Eagles coach Tom Turnbull. 'I thought, No, the way things went today, there's no way we would have missed that shot.' "
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
CIS Corner: St. FX star to miss nationals vs. Ravens
Carleton's first-round foe at the CIS Final 8 will go with a short bench. t. Francis Xavier, Tyler Richards, who's facing an assault charge in connection with an incident at an Antigonish, N.S., bar 2½ weeks ago, has not been reinstated, along with two reserves, including Ottawa native William Donkoh:
St. Francis Xavier already faced long enough odds vs. No. 1 seed Carleton.
(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca, which will be abuzz all week, promise.)
Related:
Richards won't play for St. F.X. at Final 8; AD says school's investigation into alleged assault 'far from complete' (Chad Lucas, Halifax Herald)
"St. F.X. athletic director Leo MacPherson said that Richards and rookies William Donkoh and Eamon Morrissy will remain out of the lineup this weekend. All three are charged with assault stemming from an incident in Antigonish on Feb. 21 that sent a man to hospital with undisclosed injuries.It's pretty much the resolution, or lack of one, that we expected in the lead-up to nationals. There was just no way St. FX could sell angry alumni on dressing three players who had a brust with the law.
" '(The investigation) is continuing and unfortunately these things can't get resolved to a point early enough that we can make changes to our original decision,' MacPherson said.
St. Francis Xavier already faced long enough odds vs. No. 1 seed Carleton.
(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca, which will be abuzz all week, promise.)
Related:
Richards won't play for St. F.X. at Final 8; AD says school's investigation into alleged assault 'far from complete' (Chad Lucas, Halifax Herald)
Sunday, March 08, 2009
CIS Corner: Rantin' and Raven about Final 8 seeding
It is a point of pride that none of us had the Final 8 seedings bang on.
Three OUA teams on one side of the bracket, Western-Ottawa in the 4-5 game, with the winner possibly facing No. 1-seeded Carleton in a semi-final, frankly, stinks on every conceivable level.
It stinks because it might hurt attendance for the national semi-final since the Ravens, if they win Friday, will face a team they have already beaten more than once this season. The perception might be out there that it's a fait accompli for Carleton (talk to any Raven for 10 seconds and you'll be disabused of that notion). If people don't come out for semi-final Saturday, they might not return Sunday for the final. It also stinks because it seems like there was more mind paid to last season's big Ontari-ario-rama in the semi-final than to how this season has unfolded.
It stinks because there is a clear double standard. The guideline that conference foes should not meet in the first round was followed for the women's Final 8, where Cape Breton ended up seeded No. 7 when there was a strong argument they were better than No. 6 Saskatchewan. It also stinks because it smacks of the petty regionalism which has held back university sports for far, far too long.
It is understandable if there's a backlash against Carleton for being in automatically as the host team. However, visiting it upon the heads of Ottawa and Western is absolutely brutal. Coach Dave DeAveiro's Gee-Gees and Brad Campbell's Mustangs (that's right, OOLF is sticking up for Country Club U; Queen's is more like a yacht club since Kingston has better sailing) at least rate a shot at the best of the rest of Canada and a chance to succeed or fail on their own merits. Both of them are Top 5 teams. Ottawa has just four losses since November, all of them vs. the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds for the Final 8. Western has only lost four, two to the No. 1 team. Give them a shot at someone from outside their province, just as a true test.
Brock did come in with 13 losses last season, but at least it rated such a chance as the third team coming out of the OUA, since it was the 7 seed. Where teams are seeded isn't as big as having good matchups.
You know the rest of the story. The Badgers beat a team from the West Coast, Western took out one from the East Coast, Carleton beat one from the Prairies and the semi-finals ended up being a big Ontar-ari-ariorama, three teams from Upper Canada and one from the Maritimes (Acadia). Far be it to think that led to some teeth-gnashing everywhere else in between Halifax and Vancouver.
(Irony: That petty regionalism is a big reason why UBC wants to join the NCAA. The T-Birds end up with Final 8 first-timers Dalhousie instead of either Concordia, Ottawa or Western, who might be a tougher matchup. Prove this alumnus wrong, Dal.)
There is no easy out for why, for one basketball tournament, the seedings are arranged so Canada West teams don't meet in the first round, and why for the other, it's set up so it cannot be an all-Ontario final. There might be some aspect of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing;
One conference, which has produced the national championship team six years running, has three of the Top 5 teams in the country. Two of its schools can sell 10,000 tickets for a regular-season game in the dead of January in the midst of the longest transit strike in their city's history. We should be proud, as Canadians, that we have built up our collegiate basketball to such a point and instead something like this happens. With all due respect, it is hard to understand the logic behind these choices, and I'll prefer to think there is more to due with that than it running counter to our choices from last night.
Here are the seedings. For point of comparison, here
(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)
Three OUA teams on one side of the bracket, Western-Ottawa in the 4-5 game, with the winner possibly facing No. 1-seeded Carleton in a semi-final, frankly, stinks on every conceivable level.
It stinks because it might hurt attendance for the national semi-final since the Ravens, if they win Friday, will face a team they have already beaten more than once this season. The perception might be out there that it's a fait accompli for Carleton (talk to any Raven for 10 seconds and you'll be disabused of that notion). If people don't come out for semi-final Saturday, they might not return Sunday for the final. It also stinks because it seems like there was more mind paid to last season's big Ontari-ario-rama in the semi-final than to how this season has unfolded.
It stinks because there is a clear double standard. The guideline that conference foes should not meet in the first round was followed for the women's Final 8, where Cape Breton ended up seeded No. 7 when there was a strong argument they were better than No. 6 Saskatchewan. It also stinks because it smacks of the petty regionalism which has held back university sports for far, far too long.
It is understandable if there's a backlash against Carleton for being in automatically as the host team. However, visiting it upon the heads of Ottawa and Western is absolutely brutal. Coach Dave DeAveiro's Gee-Gees and Brad Campbell's Mustangs (that's right, OOLF is sticking up for Country Club U; Queen's is more like a yacht club since Kingston has better sailing) at least rate a shot at the best of the rest of Canada and a chance to succeed or fail on their own merits. Both of them are Top 5 teams. Ottawa has just four losses since November, all of them vs. the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds for the Final 8. Western has only lost four, two to the No. 1 team. Give them a shot at someone from outside their province, just as a true test.
Brock did come in with 13 losses last season, but at least it rated such a chance as the third team coming out of the OUA, since it was the 7 seed. Where teams are seeded isn't as big as having good matchups.
You know the rest of the story. The Badgers beat a team from the West Coast, Western took out one from the East Coast, Carleton beat one from the Prairies and the semi-finals ended up being a big Ontar-ari-ariorama, three teams from Upper Canada and one from the Maritimes (Acadia). Far be it to think that led to some teeth-gnashing everywhere else in between Halifax and Vancouver.
(Irony: That petty regionalism is a big reason why UBC wants to join the NCAA. The T-Birds end up with Final 8 first-timers Dalhousie instead of either Concordia, Ottawa or Western, who might be a tougher matchup. Prove this alumnus wrong, Dal.)
There is no easy out for why, for one basketball tournament, the seedings are arranged so Canada West teams don't meet in the first round, and why for the other, it's set up so it cannot be an all-Ontario final. There might be some aspect of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing;
One conference, which has produced the national championship team six years running, has three of the Top 5 teams in the country. Two of its schools can sell 10,000 tickets for a regular-season game in the dead of January in the midst of the longest transit strike in their city's history. We should be proud, as Canadians, that we have built up our collegiate basketball to such a point and instead something like this happens. With all due respect, it is hard to understand the logic behind these choices, and I'll prefer to think there is more to due with that than it running counter to our choices from last night.
Here are the seedings. For point of comparison, here
- Carleton (Host/OUA champion)
- Calgary (Canada West champion)
- UBC (Canada West silver medallist)
- Western (OUA West champion)
- Ottawa (OUA bronze medallist)
- Dalhousie (AUS champion)
- Concordia (Quebec champion)
- St. Francis Xavier (wild card)
(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)
Friday, March 06, 2009
CIS Corner: Must avoid ... March Madness/Avril wordplay
Nice feature in the Van Province on Simon Fraser Clan centre Matteke Hutzler "from tiny Napanee, Ont.," whose No. 1-seeded Clan face the Ottawa Gee-Gees in the first game of the CIS Final 8 women's basketball championship.
(Update: Simon Fraser won, 89-42, with Hutzler producing a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double. Hannah Sunley-Paisley had 17 & 10 for Ottawa; tough way for Gee-Gees such as Katie Laurie to go out.)
Related:
Muddy sees clearly now, Clan forward playing her best basketball as CIS nats set to begin (Howard Tsumura, Little Man at Campus)
"And the new Hutzler's attitude hasn't been lost on Clan head coach Bruce Langford.Napanee is tiny, yes, but it stands to add another name to its roll call of Gee-Gees nemeses which begins with Carleton coach Dave Smart. It would be great if Ottawa pulled it off somehow, but loyalty to my birthplace has to come first.
"' It's taken her a while to get hooked on the game of basketball, but right now, she is hooked,' he said. "Is she just scratching the surface? I think she's still beneath the surface, maybe just starting to stick her head up for air.' "
(Update: Simon Fraser won, 89-42, with Hutzler producing a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double. Hannah Sunley-Paisley had 17 & 10 for Ottawa; tough way for Gee-Gees such as Katie Laurie to go out.)
Related:
Muddy sees clearly now, Clan forward playing her best basketball as CIS nats set to begin (Howard Tsumura, Little Man at Campus)
Thursday, March 05, 2009
CIS Corner: Ravens rip through Round 3; GGs face third-place game
OUA East final: No. 1 Carleton 82, No. 3 Ottawa 61 — The Ravens often find a way of cutting to the quick, eh?
When you walk into the Ravens' Nest, your head is full of all sorts of ifs to contemplate, especially when you're rooting for the story. Carleton made it seem so slap-your-forehead simple. The Ravens got open looks, held the Gee-Gees' JJs, Josh Gibson-Bascombe and Josh Wright, to just one basket between them in the first 20 minutes and the game was done by halftime. It was only a 15-point margin, but like Dave DeAveiro said, "there's no playing catch-up against that team."
Ottawa, as both Dave Smart and Aaron Doornekamp said, might be the second-best team in Canada. It just had no chance of taking down Carleton in the final home game for the Kingston trio of Doornekamp, Stu Turnbull and Rob Saunders, even though the Ravens, as Final 8 hosts, had nothing tangible on the line last night.
"We don't have to win these games (tonight's and the Wilson Cup vs. Western on Saturday), but we have to get better every day," Doornekamp said after putting up 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists. "You don't often get a situation like this, where you have a great atmosphere and you're playing the No. 2 team in the country, at worst No. 3, so tonight was very good for us."
Carleton had 16-4 and 16-3 runs in the first 20 minutes, never trailing after a pair of threes in quick succession from Mike Kenny (11 points) near the end of the first quarter and Ottawa started to recede, inch by inch, which might not wear well on the Final 8 seeding committee. The Gee-Gees, who have averaged nearly 84 points per game vs. the rest of the OUA, have been held to 72, 69 and 59 in their three losses to the Ravens.
"I still think they (Ottawa) are the second-best team in Canada and if they beat us in 10 days, they'll be the best team in Canada," Smart said. "They got some good looks that didn't go in. I think they're the second-best team in Canada."
Carleton's five-man game was in full effect. You know the drill. One shot per possession, make the other team beat you with its third and fourth-best scorers. Kenny, Saunders and Turnbull did a job vs. Wright (13 points on 5-of-16 shooting) and Gibson-Bascombe (12). The halftime boxscore didn't even credit JGB with taking a shot (he had two trips to the foul line). When was the last time that happened to him?
"We just tried to play the percentages with them because they have so much talent," said Saunders, the OUA East defensive player of the year who had 11 points, including some big baskets early in the second quarter when it was still a one-shot game. "Sometimes they're going to make shots. We have to give a lot of credit to the posts, because they let us take some chances. There's a lot of trust there."
That second run in the first half, highlighted some some slick interior passing with most of the points coming through Doornekamp and Kevin McCleery (17 points, six rebounds), pretty much did in Ottawa.
"I thought we did a decent job of executing," Smart said. "I thought we were aggressive against their pressure and their switches. When you play Ottawa, you want to contain their transition and we were able to do that, for the most part."
The Gee-Gees have now lost the last four times they were in a game where the winner qualified for the Final 8, but three were against Carleton. Talk about a cross to bear. One would wonder how they keep coming back from that. Gibson-Bascombe said the right things about having to regroup. DeAveiro, as you might expect, wasn't putting a ton of stock in Ottawa's regular-season win in Windsor's gym, since that was four months ago (Josh Wright wasn't yet playing for Ottawa).
All in all, Carleton looked impressive. They won by more than 20 despite a rough shooting night for Turnbull, who was 2-of-16 for six points just hours after being named OUA East player of the year.
Ottawa should like its chances against Windsor, considering that they will have the two best guards in the game and will be at home to a team which has a reputation as an easier mark on the road. Ottawa has only five losses all season, all to Top 5 teams, but when three are to a team you share a city with, it might be tough to keep that in perspective.
(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)
When you walk into the Ravens' Nest, your head is full of all sorts of ifs to contemplate, especially when you're rooting for the story. Carleton made it seem so slap-your-forehead simple. The Ravens got open looks, held the Gee-Gees' JJs, Josh Gibson-Bascombe and Josh Wright, to just one basket between them in the first 20 minutes and the game was done by halftime. It was only a 15-point margin, but like Dave DeAveiro said, "there's no playing catch-up against that team."
Ottawa, as both Dave Smart and Aaron Doornekamp said, might be the second-best team in Canada. It just had no chance of taking down Carleton in the final home game for the Kingston trio of Doornekamp, Stu Turnbull and Rob Saunders, even though the Ravens, as Final 8 hosts, had nothing tangible on the line last night.
"We don't have to win these games (tonight's and the Wilson Cup vs. Western on Saturday), but we have to get better every day," Doornekamp said after putting up 25 points, nine rebounds and six assists. "You don't often get a situation like this, where you have a great atmosphere and you're playing the No. 2 team in the country, at worst No. 3, so tonight was very good for us."
Carleton had 16-4 and 16-3 runs in the first 20 minutes, never trailing after a pair of threes in quick succession from Mike Kenny (11 points) near the end of the first quarter and Ottawa started to recede, inch by inch, which might not wear well on the Final 8 seeding committee. The Gee-Gees, who have averaged nearly 84 points per game vs. the rest of the OUA, have been held to 72, 69 and 59 in their three losses to the Ravens.
"I still think they (Ottawa) are the second-best team in Canada and if they beat us in 10 days, they'll be the best team in Canada," Smart said. "They got some good looks that didn't go in. I think they're the second-best team in Canada."
Carleton's five-man game was in full effect. You know the drill. One shot per possession, make the other team beat you with its third and fourth-best scorers. Kenny, Saunders and Turnbull did a job vs. Wright (13 points on 5-of-16 shooting) and Gibson-Bascombe (12). The halftime boxscore didn't even credit JGB with taking a shot (he had two trips to the foul line). When was the last time that happened to him?
"We just tried to play the percentages with them because they have so much talent," said Saunders, the OUA East defensive player of the year who had 11 points, including some big baskets early in the second quarter when it was still a one-shot game. "Sometimes they're going to make shots. We have to give a lot of credit to the posts, because they let us take some chances. There's a lot of trust there."
That second run in the first half, highlighted some some slick interior passing with most of the points coming through Doornekamp and Kevin McCleery (17 points, six rebounds), pretty much did in Ottawa.
"I thought we did a decent job of executing," Smart said. "I thought we were aggressive against their pressure and their switches. When you play Ottawa, you want to contain their transition and we were able to do that, for the most part."
The Gee-Gees have now lost the last four times they were in a game where the winner qualified for the Final 8, but three were against Carleton. Talk about a cross to bear. One would wonder how they keep coming back from that. Gibson-Bascombe said the right things about having to regroup. DeAveiro, as you might expect, wasn't putting a ton of stock in Ottawa's regular-season win in Windsor's gym, since that was four months ago (Josh Wright wasn't yet playing for Ottawa).
All in all, Carleton looked impressive. They won by more than 20 despite a rough shooting night for Turnbull, who was 2-of-16 for six points just hours after being named OUA East player of the year.
Ottawa should like its chances against Windsor, considering that they will have the two best guards in the game and will be at home to a team which has a reputation as an easier mark on the road. Ottawa has only five losses all season, all to Top 5 teams, but when three are to a team you share a city with, it might be tough to keep that in perspective.
(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)
Monday, March 02, 2009
CIS Corner: Ottawa baller facing assault charge
Notes on our athletes/teams of interest from The 613 ...
Nepean native William Donkoh, who played at Notre Dame High School and was recruited by Carleton, is among a trio of St. Francis Xavier players facing charges of assault causing bodily harm:
The young men have their rights. There stands to be public relations fallout for St. FX if it is perceived as putting winning above principles, so it has to make a tough call.
The players have a May 4 court date. It is possible X could say one has little to do with the other and let them play this weekend, but then again, you wouldn't be hearing about it if they weren't St. FX basketball players.
(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)
Related:
Three members of St. FX men's hoops team charged (The Canadian Press)
Nepean native William Donkoh, who played at Notre Dame High School and was recruited by Carleton, is among a trio of St. Francis Xavier players facing charges of assault causing bodily harm:
"The RCMP says the charges stem from an incident in Antigonish, N.S., on Feb. 21 that sent a man to hospital with undisclosed injuries.This comes just a few days ahead of the AUS Final 6. St. FX, as you know, already has the unfortunate incident involving now ex-assistant coach Garry Gallimore fresh in people's minds.
"No other details about the incident have been released.
"Charged are Tyler Richards, 22, of Halifax; William Donkoh, 19, of Nepean, Ont., and Eamon Morrissy, 19, also of Halifax." — The Canadian Press
The young men have their rights. There stands to be public relations fallout for St. FX if it is perceived as putting winning above principles, so it has to make a tough call.
The players have a May 4 court date. It is possible X could say one has little to do with the other and let them play this weekend, but then again, you wouldn't be hearing about it if they weren't St. FX basketball players.
(Cross-posted to cisblog.ca.)
Related:
Three members of St. FX men's hoops team charged (The Canadian Press)
Monday, February 23, 2009
Snark break...
Corey Koskie possibly making a comeback in the World Baseball Classic, what do you think about that? OK, the Crosby-Ovechkin stuff...
Ron MacLean straining for a pun ("It was one thing for Henry David Thoreau to simply on Walden Pond, but it's another thing to simply on Bell Centre pond and Don Cherry's "bitch" comments were the huh? moments of Hockey Day in Canada, but it works.
It's a small quibble, but does anyone else wonder if MacLean, who was broadcasting in New Brunswick, could have mentioned the Bathurst basketball team? It was true to the spirit of the day. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a hockey guy through and through, saluted the Phantoms.
Incidentally, a major eye-roll is due to Carleton University for inviting President Barack Obama to hoop it up with the No. 1-ranked Ravens on his state pop-in. Carleton should focus on getting the PM out to a game, especially if his alma mater, Calgary, is playing in the CIS Final 8 next month at Scotiabank Place. Granted, if he did, when would he have time to finish that book about hockey he "still claims to be working on?" (Dave Feschuk, Toronto Star)
The Dallas Cowboys absolutely must acquired Ray Lewis. Signing a guy who once faced a murder rap (plea-bargained) would improve the Cowboys' image.
This is nothing to joke about it, but dozens of people became sick recently due to air poisoning caused by a faulty ice-making machine at a rink in Quebec. Perish the thought that getting sick from what you were exposed to at the rink could be dubbed Spezzaitis.
That's playing hardball: The Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning, now a U.S. senator, sees great opportunity rising out of a Supreme Court justice having cancer:
This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:
Ron MacLean straining for a pun ("It was one thing for Henry David Thoreau to simply on Walden Pond, but it's another thing to simply on Bell Centre pond and Don Cherry's "bitch" comments were the huh? moments of Hockey Day in Canada, but it works.
It's a small quibble, but does anyone else wonder if MacLean, who was broadcasting in New Brunswick, could have mentioned the Bathurst basketball team? It was true to the spirit of the day. Prime Minister Stephen Harper, a hockey guy through and through, saluted the Phantoms.
Incidentally, a major eye-roll is due to Carleton University for inviting President Barack Obama to hoop it up with the No. 1-ranked Ravens on his state pop-in. Carleton should focus on getting the PM out to a game, especially if his alma mater, Calgary, is playing in the CIS Final 8 next month at Scotiabank Place. Granted, if he did, when would he have time to finish that book about hockey he "still claims to be working on?" (Dave Feschuk, Toronto Star)
The Dallas Cowboys absolutely must acquired Ray Lewis. Signing a guy who once faced a murder rap (plea-bargained) would improve the Cowboys' image.
This is nothing to joke about it, but dozens of people became sick recently due to air poisoning caused by a faulty ice-making machine at a rink in Quebec. Perish the thought that getting sick from what you were exposed to at the rink could be dubbed Spezzaitis.
That's playing hardball: The Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning, now a U.S. senator, sees great opportunity rising out of a Supreme Court justice having cancer:
" 'Bad cancer. The kind you don’t get better from,' Bunning went on. 'Even though she was operated on, usually nine months is the longest that anybody would live after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.' "There are some things you just don't say, man.
This post is worth nothing, but this is worth noting:
- It is only three weeks to March Madness, so start reading up on bracket-busters such as Utah State, even though it lost on Saturday.
- TSN.ca has a list of all Canadians playing NCAA Division 1 basketball. The next step: List female players, such as Ottawa's Steph MacDonald (Canisius), Jenna Gilbert (La Salle) and Courtnay Pilypaitis (Vermont), among others.
- Last, but not least, birthday wishes to my mother and brother-in-law, Kathie Sager and Amer Murad, who each had theirs yesterday, thus making it even more unforgivable that I forgot.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
CIS Corner: Ravens shut door minus Doornekamp; historic hockey win
Notes on our athletes/teams from The 613...
MEN'S HOOPS
MEN'S HOOPS
- Ravens: There's been some questions raised over at cisblog.ca over the nature of the foot injury which kept Aaron Doornekamp out of Carleton's 76-69 win on Saturday (full disclosure: Yours truly was at work, and the cable carrier there isn't Rogers, so it was SOL for following a very good game).
The upshot is the Ravens' potential next two games, the OUA East semi-final and final, are meaningful to them, but maybe more meaningful for eventual West Division runner-up. Should Ottawa end up winning the East, that berth that Brock took advantage goes poof and it's hard to see the CIS Final 8 wild-card berth going to an OUA team when there are great arguments out there for Cape Breton or Trinity Western.
Saturday, Ottawa made a great third-quarter run that might dredge up the same rubric from last season about Carleton's depth. (Note: When we say this, it means people will ask, not that it is necessarily the case.) - Gee-Gees: Chances are it will be a Toronto-Ottawa semi-final next weekend. Josh Gibson-Bascombe had 19 points and nine rebounds and the one solace for Ottawa is they kept within seven despite Josh Wright shooting just 5-for-18.
- Gee-Gees: At first glance, point guard Allison Forbes (12 points, six assists, five rebounds) was the X factor in Ottawa's 56-49 OUA East semi-final win over Carleton.
Forbes had a good game in Ottawa's loss in the Capital Hoops Classic, before encountering foul trouble. Hannah Sunley-Paisley also had a productive afternoon (12 rebounds, eight points), as Ottawa will face Toronto in the OUA East championship game on Wednesday.
The Ravens' talisman, Tanya Perry, rolled her ankle 3:23 into the third quarter and never returned to the game. That was a kick in the pants for the Ravens.
A tip of the cap is due to Andy Sparks and his coaching staff for turning around Ottawa quickly after late season's 3-19 nightmare. They're only just getting started, one would hope.
Ottawa lost both regular-season games to Toronto, but the second game was by just six points. They're close, but would probably need an outlier performance (Kelly Weir, maybe?) to pull the upset and go to the Final 8, which is March 6-8 in Regina. - Ravens: It's unclear what was Carleton's undoing; perhaps they overachieved and suffered a correction down the stretch.
The upshot is Taffe Charles' team is losing its top two players, Ines Jelic in the post and Perry at guard (along with Julie Hoo, a very handy reserve), but they have a good system and the program's reputation has been enhanced. The bottom line, from a fan's point of view, is the team is in a much better place than it was 24 months ago. There seems to be more interest in the women's teams, when there wasn't not so long ago. - It should have covered off earlier, but what would have been the best way to handle having a women's playoff game and men's regular-season game on the same day?
A few commenters here weren't too happy with the three-hour gap between games, considering it a missed opportunity to promote.
The U of O has a real time crunch with its facilities. There is also the matter of the OUA charges different admission prices for playoff games vis-Ã -vis the regular season, but some people would call the forest-for-the-trees stuff.
Windsor had the same situation. For point of comparison, Windsor's men team played at 1 p.m., with the women's semi-final (each played Laurier) tipping off at 4 p.m., enough time to clear the gym, but not so much that it inconvenienced anyone who wanted to watch both games.
Again, though, this really comes back to demand exceeding supply when it comes to gym time at Ottawa. - Eastern Ontario stands to have some representation at the CIS Final 8 women's championship regardless of the Ottawa-Toronto result.
Anneka Bakker, the Ashbury alumna, had a team-high 17 points Sunday to help the Alberta Pandas beat Saskatchewan in the decider of their division final and advance to the Canada West Final Four.
Napanee's own Matteke Hutzler and her Simon Fraser Clan teammates host the tournament. Hutzler chipped in 12 points Saturday in SFU's series-clinching win over UBC. - Ottawa native Bess Lennox, who already set the OUA single-season rebounding record, had another 13 boards in Western's playoff win over McMaster on Saturday. A 47% free-throw shooter, she also ended up going 7-of-7 at the free-throw line.
- Ravens: More great headlines that cannot be written — "Self realization for Carleton."
Andrew Self, the member of the Belleville Bulls' Memorial Cup team last season, scored the game-winners in each of Carleton's victories in their playoff series win over Concordia, including a 3-2 decision today. That was what they got him for, no doubt about it.
It would be remiss, considering all the years that Carleton skipper Fred Parker coached in the CJHL, not to point out that Derek Wells, formerly of the Smith Falls Bears, provided great secondary scoring in series. He had two goals, which matched his output from 20 regular-season games.
Carleton will face No. 5 Trois-Rivières in the East semi-final, likely starting Wednesday at Le Colisée, where they were waxed 10-1 two weeks ago. They found a way to steal a win in Concordia's barn. - Gee-Gees: Ottawa can hold its heads up for hanging in with McGill for three games, although going down 2-1 in the decisive Game 3 today must hurt.
Riley Whitlock was very good in the last two games for Ottawa, stopping 84 shots. Ottawa stands to lose three forwards — captain Martin Herard, centres Dan McDonald and Kevin Glode — along with five-year goalie Martin Bricault — off this season's team.
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