Men's Basketball: Top 10: Top 6 stay put, Carleton's really good

We're right in the heart of the season, and with only a few weeks to go in most conferences, we're getting a better idea of who the contenders and pretenders are. Here's our evaluation of the teams moving up, moving down and staying put in this week's CIS top ten.

RPI and other numbers here; CIS top ten here.

STAYING PUT:

Carleton Ravens (15-0 OUA, 21-0 CIS, RPI #5, SRS +23.6)

Despite being quite obviously the best team in the country, Carleton is no. 4 in the RPI, a little tidbit that has rankled some of the CIS faithful. This is mainly due to their strength of schedule being ranked 38th and the fact that RPI doesn't consider margin of victory (SRS does; they're doing pretty ok in that department, way ahead of everyone else), but I won’t spend any time trying to justify the RPI’s merit – I’ll leave that to Rob, or at least someone who won’t make a fool of themselves trying to explain math.

Instead, I’ll try to make my own case that Carleton is, in fact, the best team in the country.

- Since beating McMaster on opening night by 16 points, the Ravens have won every single game they’ve played by an average of 39.8 points (including a 3-point win over Lakehead and an 82-point win over RMC, the latter of which shouldn’t really count). Again, RPI doesn't care by how much they've won.

- The Tyson Hinz-surrounded-by-shooters routine that the Ravens play so well is even more terrifying than we thought. Hinz is shooting nearly 62 per cent from the field with his crafty post game while having also developed excellent three-point range (40 per cent). Meanwhile, two high-volume shooters (Phil Scrubb and Elliot Thompson) are shooting better than 50 per cent from long range, followed by Willy Manigat’s 44 per cent and Cole Hobin’s terrible (note: not terrible) 39 per cent. Forget that this team has superb defensive schemes and rarely has lapses in focus; they have a simple, effective offence with the right personnel in place to make it terrifying.

- This is a little rock-jock, but they’re the national champions and have showed no signs of slowing down. So, eat it, RPI.


Lakehead Thunderwolves (12-2 OUA, 20-2 CIS, RPI #10, SRS +12.4)

One of the McMaster poo-bahs told the Sil’s sports editor before the Marauders’ impending visit to the Thunderdome for two days last weekend that his young team had “no idea how intense it would be playing there.”
If there’s a better home court advantage in the CIS, including the flights/long drives to Thunder Bay, and passionate/slightly crazy local fans, I don’t know where it is.


UBC Thunderbirds (10-2 Canada West, 16-3 CIS, RPI #6, SRS +12.5)

An OT win over 6-8 Manitoba and a one-point squeaker over Winnipeg suggests the Thunderbirds aren’t exactly cruising right now, and they’re depending on their few veterans more than ever. On the bright side, Malcolm Williams somehow scored 10 points in four minutes.


St. FX X-Men (9-2 AUS, 19-2 CIS, RPI #2, SRS +9.3)

Beating Cape Breton handily despite Jeremy Dunn shooting 2-17? That’s pretty cool, I guess. But if X is going to keep this going into the playoffs, they’ll have to do better from long range: They’ve taken fewer than 19 threes in a game just once this season, but have shot worse than 35 per cent on those attempts in eight of their 11 games. That kind of inefficiency is tough to depend on when the games matter.


Saskatchewan Huskies (9-4 Canada West, 14-5 CIS, RPI #3, SRS +13.0)

Can we say Jamelle Barrett is back yet? In his past three games (all Saskatchewan wins) he’s shooting 63 per cent from the field while averaging 39.5 points per 40 minutes. The Huskies go as Barrett does, and if he keeps it up they’ll be a team to watch out for.


Laurier Golden Hawks (12-2 OUA, 18-6 CIS, RPI #8, SRS +10.2)

Despite having a few issues giving up turnovers and the occasional slow night from three-point range, Laurier has found a way to find the bottom of the bucket pretty consistently. Since their, 88-83 loss to Lakehead on Jan. 13, they’ve shot between 48.6 and 49.4 per cent from the field in each of their three games – all wins.


Fraser Valley Cascades (9-5 Canada West, 13-5 CIS, RPI #14, SRS +5.0)

The Cascades are breathing easier about their playoff chances, but they’ll have to finish strong to lock up a spot in the postseason dance: their four remaining games are against UBC and Trinity Western, who sit at 8-6 having won six games in a row.


MOVING UP:


Alberta Golden Bears (10-4 Canada West, 12-5 CIS, RPI #1, SRS +11.0)

The object of ire for RPI haters looks to have found some consistency, having won four in a row and vaulted themselves to the top in said statistical ranking. They’ve done it despite struggles from last year’s top scorer Daniel Ferguson, who has averaged just 15.3 points on 36 per cent shooting in those wins. But hey, if you’re number one, I guess that doesn’t really matter.


Concordia Stingers (7-0 QUBL, 14-4 CIS, RPI #4, SRS +6.0)

They shot 33 per cent and still didn’t lose to McGill? Instead of the Kyle Desmarais show, Decee Krah and Evens Laroche have turned Concordia into a three-headed monster, or stinger, or whatever has three heads and is really good at basketball.


MOVING DOWN:


Victoria Vikes (11-3 Canada West, 12-5 CIS, RPI #7, SRS +10.6)

Three losses in the new year, the latest being a 75-71 defeat at the hands of the suddenly resurgent Winnipeg Wesmen, have the Vikes wishing 2012 never came around. They’ll have three games on the road and one at home to try to figure things out before the playoffs; those will also tell us whether the Vikes’ hot start was a flash in the pan or a real turnaround.
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Hockey: AUS Weekly Update

The AUS standings certainly tightened up on this busy week, thanks in no small part to UNB’s goaltending woes and their problematic power play. Someone other than the V-Reds are in first place for the first time this season, and that special someone is Acadia. Moncton and UNB are just one point back in a tie for second place, and importantly, both teams have a game in hand on the Axemen. Saint Mary’s is just two points back in fourth place, but Moncton and UNB also have a game in hand on the Huskies. That game in hand will be made up on the last Wednesday of the regular season. UPEI is lurking two points back in fifth. StFX is barely holding onto the last playoff spot, 11 points behind the Panthers and just one point ahead of Dalhousie. STU are five points back of Dal, and need to see a lot of X-Men and Tigers losses for any hope at the postseason.

Remember us?

Acadia has been a good team flying under the national radar (not that there’s a lot of that …) for a couple of years now, as attention has tended to focus on UNB, SMU and StFX. Understandable, as those are the teams advancing out of the AUS the last while. But Acadia did push UNB to four games in the conference semis last year, including a CIS-record quadruple overtime game. They had a young D who are more experienced this year, and they’ve added some key recruits up front. Wednesday Acadia traded goals with resurgent Dal and Andrew Clark won it in overtime. Friday they had a dominant first period against StFX, saw the X-Men come back in the second and then won it in the third period on a power play goal from d-man Michael Ward. After both teams had Saturday for a travel day, they had the rematch in Antigonish Sunday at 4:00 pm and Acadia squeaked out a win thanks to Carter’s 13th goal. Rookie Evan Mosher got the shutout, his second of the season. Three wins in the week and there the Axemen are at the top of the AUS standings for all to see. No hiding now.

Wednesday – Acadia 3 @ Dal 2 OT
Friday – StFX 3 @ Acadia 4
Sunday – Acadia 1 @ StFX 0

No one said it was going to be easy

Before the start of the season, goaltending looked to be a strength for the Varsity Reds in their quest to repeat as CIS champs. Travis Fullerton has two University Cup rings already and UNB added Dan LaCosta, who once upon a time won two games in the NHL. No need for a third-string ‘tender to push the incumbents. However the regular season has turned into a goalie nightmare for head coach Gardiner MacDougall and the team’s supporters. In the first half LaCosta, who red-shirted last season and didn’t play any hockey, battled a nagging groin problem, but that was still okay for UNB because Fullerton was the hottest goalie in the AUS. Then Fullerton had that emergency appendectomy operation on November 4 and the V-Reds have been scrambling ever since. Grad student Matt Davis was hastily added to the roster to get UNB through that weekend and a couple of Junior B guys on campus were added as his back-ups. LaCosta suited up the next weekend on the road, but had to leave after the first period in the second game and Davis was back in, and he got UNB all the way to a shoot out against Acadia. Now Davis did play CIS hockey three seasons for St. Thomas, including all 28 games in 2007-08, but his last AUS game before this season was Feb. 11, 2009, and he’s only been playing beer league hockey since as he turned his focus to work and the MBA degree program at UNB.

Fullerton returned just 28 days after his operation and won on Dec. 2 and all was good again in V-Reds Nation. However, the Ottawa Gee-Gees crashed the net several times in an exhibition game on Dec. 30 and after the game we learned Fullerton had “tweaked something.” He hasn’t played since and now the team is admitting he’s got a knee issue. No problem, because LaCosta seemed finally to be in fine form and appeared to relish the workload. That is until Friday night when he struggled physically in the third period and came out with about 3 minutes left in the game and the Moncton lead pretty well insurmountable. LaCosta start\ed the game against UPEI on Saturday, but after one period that’s it, and the job was handed to Davis for the first time since mid-November. He had a tough go of it, and yet UNB still almost won that wild game.

If UNB doesn’t get a healthy Fullerton or LaCosta back, they’re probably not going to win the AUS and/or the CIS championship this year. Davis is a gamer, but I don’t know if he has time to regain his 2008 form by playoffs, and the AUS is too competitive for a team to advance without a sharp goalie. The V-Reds have enough depth to compete without the 7 or 8 skaters who are injured now, and their competitors have injuries too, so there’s no sympathy for the Red ‘n Black. That’s hockey. But trying to win a national championship with a rusty third-string goalie whose first-string days are probably behind him? That might be Mission Impossible: March in the Aitken Centre.

Wednesday – UNB 5 @ STU 1 
Friday – UNB 1 @ UdeM 5 
Saturday – UPEI 8 @ UNB 7 

We CAN beat UNB

Wednesday Moncton was across the Fixed Link to play their bitter rivals in Charlottetown. There were lots of power plays, but only one PP goal. UPEI got the first goal in the game, but UdeM answered with four. Friday was the BIG game, against arch-rival UNB who had won the last 12 meetings. The V-Reds had the edge in play in the first period, but Moncton was up 2-1 after 20 minutes. UdeM’s Kevin Charland scored at 7:18 when the teams were 4-on-4, and then the V-Reds were handed a golden opportunity when Francis Rochon was given two minors and a ten-misconduct for a high hit on Taylor MacDougall at 8:46. The UNB PP came up blank for the first two minutes, with their best point shot chance smoking captain Kyle Bailey in the back of the leg. Then Moncton’s captain Dean Ouellet was called for tripping and UNB had two minutes of 5-on-3. No joy. Turning point in the game. Les Aigles Bleus were flying high after that extended penalty kill while the V-Reds looked a bit deflated. Lacosta struggled physically in net in the third period and Moncton added two more goals. The home crowd was more than a little excited. Saturday the Tommies arrived in town and were picked apart, with Eric Faille (AUS male athlete of the week) notching the hat trick. Certainly a big weekend win for Moncton in the endless provincial rivalry with Fredericton.

Wednesday – UdeM 4 @ UPEI 2 
Friday – UNB 1 @ UdeM 5 
Saturday – STU 2 @ UdeM 7

They’ll take a 3-point weekend about now

Saint Mary’s didn’t have a Wednesday date. They are the only AUS team that doesn’t have to play a Wednesday in the second half. The weekend was the Battle of Halifax, instalments III and IV. Friday in Dal’s soon to be demolished barn, the Tigers were up two zip early in the second before the Huskies put a furious push on to tie the game, outshooting them 17-8 in the process. The teams traded goals two minutes apart in the third period and Tiger Jordan Villeneuve-Gagné scored the winner early in overtime. In the rematch on Saturday at the Forum, there were lots of penalties and lots of power play goals. SMU was up 6-2 when a brouhaha broke out at 15:26 which saw Dal’s Daniel Bartek got five and a game for charging while five other players picked up ten-minute misconducts and assorted other minors,. Somehow the Tigers ended up on the power play. Pierre-Alexandre Vandall got a goal on the PP, and added a shorty 71 seconds later in the classic too little-too late.

Friday – SMU 3 @ Dal 4 OT 
Saturday – Dal 4 @ SMU 6 

Panthers still in the hunt 

The week didn’t start off well for UPEI at home with that loss to Moncton on Wednesday. However their weekend in Fredericton went just great. Well, they did appear to have discipline (or referee) issues on Friday depending on who you talked to at the Lady Beaverbrook Rink with STU getting 11 power plays to their four. UPEI’s Jared Gomes tied the game at 18:06 in the third, and then 34 seconds later was assessed two-and-ten for contact to the head high sticking. Eighteen seconds into the PK Chris Desousa was sent off for apparently chirping at the ref. Really!? So the four-on-four overtime started out with a 40-second five-on-three situation for the Tommies. No one scored in the ten-minute overtime, so they went to the shootout and only Desousa scored. Karma?

Saturday’s game just up the hill at the Aitken University Centre was wild. The Panthers went 3-for-3 on the power play in the first period versus UNB’s LaCosta, and added two shorthanded goals and an even strength goal against substitute Davis by the 8:05 mark of the second period. Then came the improbably UNB pushback, with three goals on the struggling PP and two even strength markers sandwiched around a Desousa goal. There were nine goals in that second period. UNB’s Luke Gallant added a shorty at 3:30 of the third and the comeback was complete. However there was no fairy tale ending for the V-Reds, as despite the UNB territorial dominance in the final period UPEI did manage a couple of forays into the other zone, and on one of them late in the period Gomes managed to beat Davis with a backhand to the short side. UPEI was outshot 45-28 but goalie Mavric Parks managed “to steal an 8-7 game” to quote coach Forbes MacPherson.

Wednesday – UdeM 4 @ UPEI 2 
Friday – UPEI 4 @ STU 3 OT-SO 
Saturday – UPEI 8 @ UNB 7 

Not a great weekend for the X-Men 

Two losses against Acadia propelled the Axemen to the top of the AUS standings, and left StFX dangerously exposed to missing the playoffs. Gut check time in Antigonish.

Friday – StFX 3 @ Acadia 4 
Sunday – Acadia 1 @ StFX 0 

Turnaround for the Tigers

Dalhousie slid into the Christmas break riding an 11 game losing streak. In January they’re 4-2-1 and now just one point back of StFX for the last playoff spot. Wow. I guess coaching changes can make a difference, especially when a number of players return from injuries.

Friday – SMU 3 @ Dal 4 OT 
Saturday – Dal 4 @ SMU 6 

Tough times for Tommies
 
On Wednesday STU hosted UNB, with their cross-campus rivals not pleased after picking up only one point the previous weekend. It was all V-Reds the first two periods, with UNB outshooting St. Thomas 29-11 and scoring three times, twice on the power play. STU had a better third period, and some hope, when Randy Cameron scored at 7:59, but UNB’s PP was clicking late in the game and they scored twice in 22 seconds to salt away the win. Friday enigmatic Yuri Cheremetiev scored his first two goals of the season in the first period, the Tommies power play was 0-for-11 in the game and UPEI won it in the shootout. On Saturday they again had a two-goal lead, but Moncton roared back with seven unanswered goals. Charles Lavigne took all three losses in nets for the Tommies.

Wednesday – UNB 5 @ STU 1 
Friday – UPEI 4 @ STU 3 OT-SO 
Saturday – STU 2 @ UdeM 7

This week
The game of the week is the battle for first place between Acadia and UNB on Friday, with the V-Reds holding a game in hand on the Axemen. Saturday the struggling Varsity Reds could help decide whether there is a postseason for Dalhousie. Moncton is off to Nova Scotia to play StFX and SMU with the potential to leapfrog Acadia if they should stumble against UNB or UPEI. UdeM’s travel partner is STU, so they’re basically in spoiler role against SMU and StFX. While first place may be a bit of a long shot for UPEI, they could make it interesting if they win against Dal and Acadia. As for Dal, the playoffs are now possible so they probably need to at least split their games to stay in contact with StFX.
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Men's Basketball: OUA West Weekly Roundup

Another week in the OUA West has gone by, and once again, another team has started to fall from top of the West. Last week it was Brock and Guelph, this week it’s McMaster’s turn. They stayed in tight with Lakehead on Friday night, but were blown out on Saturday by 20 points. The weekend sweep by Lakehead has pushed McMaster into fourth place in the West. Laurier and Lakehead remain tied with Windsor third. This week also saw Lakehead move from third in the CIS into second and Laurier from seventh to sixth.

Games In-Depth

Wednesday, Jan. 18

Laurier 97 vs. Guelph 91

Guelph can’t buy a break since the CIS returned from Christmas. It seems like week after week Daniel McCarthy and either Adam Bering or Kareem Malcolm put up 20 points, but still come up short. Friday night at Guelph was no different. This time, though, Bering had 20 points and 8 rebounds, McCarthy had 23 points and 6 rebounds, while Malcolm finished with 19 points 8 rebounds. The rest of the team: 29 points.

This game wasn’t exactly one for fans of defence with 4 players on both teams reaching double digits. And, if you’re going to forget defence against Laurier, they’re going to burn you. Laurier’s bench had 32 points to Guelph’s 16, which is rarely a stat you can lose and still win a game. Laurier’s Kale Harrison had an off night by his standards with 15 points and 5 rebounds. Max Allin ended with game highs with 27 points and 11 rebounds.

Friday, Jan. 20

McMaster 76 vs. Lakehead 83
Heading into Thunder Bay, McMaster had a chance to make up some ground and challenge for top in the West. Well, at least that was the plan until they ran into a Lakehead squad that has hit full stride. McMaster threw everything they could at Lakehead. They tied or beat them in most offensive and defensive categories, had full contribution from their entire line-up (40 points off the bench) and went into the fourth quarter with the game tied. So, what was the difference? I don’t think I’m going out on a limb when I say turnovers. McMaster had 18 to Lakehead’s 7, which Lakehead turned into 13 points.

Cam Michaud led the way for McMaster with 14 points and 7 rebounds, while Adam Presutti finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists and a team high 31 minutes. Venzal Russell ended the game with 19 points, 5 steals and 3 assists. Yoosrie Salhia had 15 points and a game high 13 rebounds.

Saturday, Jan. 21

Brock 57 vs. Windsor 78

With both Laurier and Lakehead sweeping their weekend games, Windsor needed to keep pace, especially with an upcoming series against Lakehead this weekend. Windsor took it to Brock, who continues to free fall further from the top of the West. The Lancers were also helped by 27 points coming off the bench compared to the Badgers 11. It also helps when you outrebound a team 60 to 41 like Windsor did. Andrew Kraus finished with 11 points and 5 assists for Brock, while Rotimi Osuntola Jr. had 17 points and 8 rebounds. Also, Lien Phillip absolutely dominated inside the paint with 15 rebounds for the Lancers, which 12 were defensive. Phillip also added 12 points for Windsor.

Player of the Week

Max Allin stepped up in a big way this weekend for Laurier. He had 27 points and 11 rebounds against Guelph. He followed it up with 23 points and 8 assists against Western on Saturday night. Laurier relies on their offence more than any other team in the West and when your best scorer, Kale Harrison, has a couple of so-so games (15 points against Guelph and 2 against Western) someone has to pick up their game and Allin answered the call. His weekend totals were 50 points, 15 rebounds, 14 assists and he only had 4 turnovers in 74 minutes of playing time. This weekend was, by far, the Maxwell Allin show.

Upcoming Game(s) of the Week

Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday, Jan. 28: Lakehead vs. Windsor

The West is down to three teams challenging for first in the West. After these two games, it could be down to two. The Thunderwolves are tied with Laurier for first place and Windsor has third to themselves. If Windsor is going to take over first they need a weekend sweep over Lakehead, which isn’t likely going to happen. If Windsor comes away with one win I think they’ll be happy. Lakehead though, they need a sweep. Laurier has a fairly easy week against Brock and Western. Lakehead can ill-afford to fall behind Laurier this close to the playoffs. I’m expecting the Thunderwolves to come out with one of their best defensive weekends since the season started.
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Introducing "CIS Name Of The Year"

Inspired, of course, by Name of the Year, but also wishing to return that august competition to its collegiate roots, we've decided to run a similar contest this year, choosing the best name in CIS.

We have some names in mind already (Ilarion Bonhomme, you can expect a high seed), but with so many CIS athletes across the country, we're going to miss some.

This is where you come in. In the nomination form below, enter the name of an athlete you wish to nominate for the Name Of The Year tournament (and, if possible, a link to the roster to verify that athlete exists). The seeding committee will review the nominees and issue a tournament bracket in due course.

Please note that you only have to submit the name once ... we are not giving more consideration to names submitted multiple times, so ballot-box stuffing will not have any effect on seeding.



(Our apologies to Monty Hardware for not running this contest while he was still eligible.)
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Men's hockey: Top 10 tracker: Plenty of top-ten matchups to cure the Januaries in all of us

This week's action (schedule, rankings) for the top 10 hockey teams...

1. UNB (+2.2 SRS, RPI #2) — W 5-1 at STU, L 5-1 at Moncton, L 8-7 vs. UPEI
   
   Not much to say from afar about the St. Thomas game, though it was 3-1 until UNB's third and fourth powerplay goals came in the last 90 seconds of the third.
   
   Friday was certainly not what UNB expected. After trading goals in the first, Moncton's Charles Bergeron broke through on the power play against and they didn't give up the lead again (or another goal). Dan LaCosta has had the best save percentage of any of the three goaltenders UNB have used this year, but not on this night, allowing 5 goals on 27 shots.
   
   Saturday was also quite unexpected, if only because you don't see 15 goals all that often. The Panthers had a 6-1 lead after three shorties in the second, and that's about all I think I can say, because there are goalie discrepancies between the two boxscores available. Over at the CIS site, it says Travis Fullerton and Seamus Bowen appeared for UNB, while the AUS site says it was LaCosta and Matthew Davis (which is likely correct). While they figure that out, we'll move on to the other teams.
   
   
2. McGill (+0.8 SRS RPI #1) — W 1-0 (SO) vs. Carleton
   
   They scored just one even-strength goal in their 4-3 loss to Toronto last week. One assumes that wouldn't happen against Carleton, in front of an expected sellout crowd, but it was actually worse than that: they didn't score a goal at all until the shootout. Of course, they didn't allow one either, coming away with the shootout win (or as we call it around here, a tie). Hubert Morin made 32 of 32 saves and stopped all three Carleton shooters.
   
   
3. Saskatchewan (+1.0 SRS, RPI #6) — L 4-2 at Manitoba, L 3-1 at Manitoba
   
   Series of the week? Sure, why not. Give Manitoba the sweep. On Friday, the Huskies didn't score until the second half of the third period, when they were down 2-0, and to make matters worse after scoring both their goals they allowed another one within a minute each time. (Only 451 people went to see this game? Really?) On Saturday, they didn't score until what we're going to call garbage time, 58:42 of a 3-0 game. Not the best week for Saskatchewan.
   
   
4. Western (+0.8 SRS, RPI #9) — W 1-0 at Lakehead, W 1-0 at Lakehead
   
   (Friday link goes to the OUA boxscore, since it's not on the CIS site yet.) There was only one goal all game here, from Keaton Turkiewicz on the PP in the second. Repeat the same sentence, but with "Zach Harnden" and "the first", and you've got Saturday's game. (Harnden would later get two and 10 for checking to the head.)
   
   
5. Alberta (+0.7 SRS, RPI #3) — W 5-0 vs. Lethbridge, W 6-1 vs. Lethbridge
   
   In his last game, Lethbridge's Scott Bowles played the first period then was pulled after allowing 3 on 10 shots. In this weekend's games, Bowles was left in for all 11, facing 78 shots in total.
   
   Johnny Lazo scored two for Alberta on Friday (putting him, I believe, fifth in goals in Canada West); Alex Rodgers and Kruise Reddick had two assists each. Lazo scored again on Saturday, and the Bears also got two from Jordan Hickmott in what was another rather lifeless game for Lethbridge.
   
   
6. Acadia (+1.5 SRS, RPI #16) — W 4-3 vs. St. F-X, W 1-0 at St. F-X
   
   Another typically above-average Acadia season seems ready to continue against the X-Men (shootout win over UNB or no shootout win over UNB). The Axemen did need a few powerplays and 49:36 to take the lead for good, but they did. Andrew Clark assisted on all four goals, his sixth multi-assist game of the year and his 11th with two points or more.
   
   Sunday it looked close there for a minute, with the Axemen's one-goal lead withstanding a short powerplay in the third that ended 34 seconds after it began when X's Bryce Swan took a slashing call. Oops. Given how little Acadia had tried to attack that period (three shots, even though they had nearly four minutes of 5-on-4), that could have been the difference here. Two one-goal wins for Acadia, though.
   
   
7. Moncton (+1.3 SRS, RPI #17) — W 4-2 at UPEI, W 5-1 vs. UNB, W 7-2 vs. St. Thomas
   
   Three wins in four days, outscoring their opponents 14-5, combined with UNB's two losses, put those Blue Eagles into a tie for first place. I don't know my AUS tiebreakers, but UNB's behind on wins so I'm going with that. It'll also make the season finale between these teams, on Feb. 11, that much more interesting.
   
   
8. Lakehead (+0.5 SRS, RPI #8) — L 1-0 vs. Western, L 1-0 vs. Western
   
   Poor Jeff Bosch. He's faced 38 UOIT shots this year and allowed 10 goals (including seven in last week's 8-5 loss), for a horrid save percentage of .737. Yet against everyone else he has a .909. It's probably going to be Alex Dupuis for both of these road games against the good-but-not-that-much-better-than-Lakehead Mustangs.
   
   Dupuis did his best in both games, but it's hard to win without scoring (or, at the very least, when you have more ten-minute misconducts than goals).
   
   This is why you read the Lakehead recaps of games: most other schools would just say "Matt Caria was given a game misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct", if they mention such a penalty at all, not "mouthing off to the official." It's a small thing but it at least lets you know (more about) what happened.
   
   UPDATE: But, apparently, that's not all that happened. Caria has been suspended for two games for "a racial slur." (Thanks to Always OUA for the pointer.)
   
   
9. Manitoba (+1.0 SRS, RPI #4) — W 4-2 vs. Saskatchewan, W 3-1 vs. Saskatchewan
   
   Ten Bisons got on the scoresheet in their Friday win over Saskatchewan, with both Matthew Lowry and Blair Macaulay receiving a goal and an assist. First conference win over Sask. for Manitoba since Feb. 26 of last year. They liked it so much, they did it again. Joe Caligiuri was in goal for both games, stopping 64 of 67, a few months after he let in 5 of 32 against these same Huskies.
   
   
10. Saint Mary's (+1.6 SRS, RPI #5) — L 4-3 (OT) at Dalhousie, W 6-4 vs. Dalhousie
    
    A home-and-home against Dalhousie without any travel is a good opportunity for the Huskies to keep pace with the UNBs and Acadias of the AUS. Dal's opponents have a save percentage of .915, which, if they were a team, would lead the AUS. (Am I just an idiot, or can I not see the individual leaders for save percentage in the AUS?)
    
    However, Dal's Friday opponent, those Huskies, managed a save percentage of merely .818, losing 4-3 in overtime. It's almost like teams can upset other teams or something. Jordan Villeneuve-Gagne scored the OT winner here. Another loss would hurt that RPI quite a bit...but they didn't lose again, putting up 5 to Dal's 1 after three powerplay goals in the third, and just sort of hanging on for the rest of the game.
    
    (I would really like someone to explain to me how, in the Saturday game, the Huskies recorded a shot on goal on an empty net but did not score...)

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Men's basketball: Tracking Carleton's dominance

You may remember that we ran a pair of football prediction contests here in the fall (1, 2). We were going to do the same for men's basketball, but time ran out on us, so instead we're just running this one simple contest: what will Carleton's average margin of victory be in their 14 OUA East regular-season games?

After receiving a grand total of 27 entries, we have an average prediction of 29.5 points. (For reference, last year Carleton won their OUA East games by an average of 36.1 points; in 2009-10, they averaged +26.9, including their loss to York.)

Through seven games, the Ravens are averaging a winning margin of 43.1.

• Jan. 6: Beat York by 36
• Jan. 7: Beat Laurentian by 47
• Jan. 13: Beat Ryerson by 31
• Jan. 14: Beat Toronto by 34
• Jan. 18: Beat Ottawa by 40
• Jan. 20: Beat Queen's by 32
• Jan. 21: Beat RMC by 82

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Men's basketball: Top 10 tracker: Carleton wins by 40 (and not against a last-place team); Saskatchewan beats up on the QUBL (in a way)

This week's schedules and results for the top 10 teams (RPI here) ... there are 21 distinct games involving the top 10 teams this week, since nobody plays each other.

1. Carleton (12-0 OUA, 18-0 CIS, RPI #3, SRS +25.6) — W 74-34 vs. Ottawa, W 96-64 vs. Queen's, W 120-38 vs. RMC
   
   The only remaining undefeated team is going up against two teams that are winless against everyone but themselves, and are dead last and next-to-dead last in RPI. I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Cole Hobin sees more minutes tonight than in both Queen's/RMC games put together (which almost happened: 25 vs. 27; I should have said Tyson Hinz, who didn't even see the floor vs. RMC). There's got to be a Tom Brady-vs.-the-Broncos principle at play here. Someone get Dave Smart an ugly hoodie with the sleeves cut off. On second thought, don't do that.
   
   Here I thought their first game might actually be a game. Nope. Well, it was, kind of, until the second half. The Gee-Gees shot 25%. Yeah.
   
   Queen's did better* but were outrebounded 22 to 3 on their offensive glass, and nearly outrebounded on Carleton's too (11 to 10). Carleton shot an effective 76%. Who does that?
   
   RMC did worse. Much, much worse. I can't say anything else.
   
   * The Gaels shot an effective 57%? Has anyone shot that well against Carleton? Certainly not this year. Ironically, coach Steph Barrie told Wayne Kondro that they "haven’t shot the ball well all year."
   
   
2. Lakehead (10-2 OUA, 18-2 CIS, RPI #10, SRS +11.7) — W 83-76 vs. McMaster, W 91-71 vs. McMaster
   
   Lakehead's two losses have been by a combined six points, and were both to top-10 teams. Not bad. They happen to be behind 16-6 Laurier in RPI because their preseason (Brandon, Regina, Winnipeg) didn't feature the quality of teams that Laurier's did (Concordia, CBU, UBC, UFV).
   
   This series is the second of three straight for the GGOD[T]s against the dangerous half of the OUA West. They already hold the tiebreaker over Laurier, and a sweep or a favourable-point-differential split against Mac and Windsor will put them in the driver's seat for good. A more-than-2-to-1 turnover differential in Lakehead's favour helped in this one, as did Lakehead's 52 second-half points to Mac's 36. But what probably got to the Mac coach the most (I'm just guessing here) was his team's eight trips to the line vs. Lakehead's 24 — the 11-point differential there was basically twice the margin of victory.
   
   A 10-of-20 night on threes, with Ben Johnson shooting 4/6 himself, paced the 'Wolves to an easy win Saturday. Two double-doubles on the weekend for Yoosrie Salhia, and 28 on Saturday for Venzal Russell, albeit on 12/26 shooting.
   
   
3. UBC (8-2 CW, 14-3 CIS, RPI #6, SRS +14.4) — W 93-84 (OT) at Manitoba, W 74-73 at Winnipeg
   
   Close, close weekend for UBC. Just one more basket against them in either game and they're 0-2. Six straight wins, yes, but with at least half an asterisk. Respect for the Wesmen, who nearly beat two top 10 teams.
   
   One of UBC's smaller advantages is their ability to get to the line, and they slipped slightly in that respect in their loss to Lethbridge, who are themselves quite good at it too. This will likely not matter this weekend, though...or it will, because they essentially managed to add a point per every three field-goal attempts (24 FT / 75 FGA), whereas the Bisons only had 10 FT on 79 shots. Kamar Burke scored 15 and added 15 boards, Doug Plumb had 16 and 10 of his own, and Tommy Nixon scored 20 of his own.
   
   
4. StFX (7-2 AUS, 17-2 CIS, RPI #2, SRS +8.6) — W 79-66 vs. Dal, W 90-71 vs. Cape Breton
   
   According to coach Steve Konchalski, the reason for the seven one-game suspensions on Sunday was that the players "went out":
   
   “They went out on a night three days before the game, and that’s against team rules. We have a team rule that says within three days of a game, you’re not allowed to go out. You’re not allowed to go out to a pub. You’re not allowed to go anywhere.”
   
   Now, the midweek/weekend schedule that is a common part of AUS play means the games are often only three or four days apart. So for anyone who is curious, and assuming we're reading the rule correctly, no St. F-X players are allowed "to go anywhere" from Jan. 3 to Jan. 21, and again from Feb. 8 to Feb. 19. It's not the policy I would adopt, but then again the players presumably knew what they signed up for.
   
   In any case, they won this game, with at least 10 players not going out between Sunday and Wednesday. 22 from Jeremy Dunn led X over Dal, with three others topping 10.
   
   Saturday's rivalry game wasn't really one, with nearly a 30-point lead for the X-Men after three. Although these teams have played three times this year in conference play, each winning at least once, the games haven't exactly come down to the wire. We're spoiled after last year.
   
   
5. Saskatchewan (7-4 CW, 12-5 CIS, RPI #4, SRS +11.0) — W 96-67 vs. UBC Okanagan, W 92-55 vs. TRU
   
   A pair of absolute blowouts by the Huskies. Maybe they can play Carleton next year at this time instead, and give TRU, UBC-O, RMC, and Queen's a weekend off.
   
   Did you know Michael Lieffers has 2.7 steals per game, more than Jamelle Barrett's 2.5? Lieffers' shooting is down (he led the league last year and is down about six or seven points to 56%), yet I am going to be very interested to see where he lands in this year's PER rankings.
   
   Lieffers only scored eight against UBC-O but then again he only played 22 minutes. The bench got a lot of minutes here, with Saskatchewan leading 52-36 at the half.
   
   I thought the Heat might go 5-17 this year (when I assumed it was a 22-game schedule) so they'll need to go 4-14 this year, or 2-4 in their remaining games, which won't probably happen (he said, looking at their remaining schedule).
   
   
6. Laurier (10-2 OUA, 16-6 CIS, RPI #8, SRS +11.0) — W 97-91 at Guelph, W 89-73 at Western
   
   You never want to assume a 10-2 OUA West team will always lose to a 7-5 OUA West team, but Guelph (and 4-8 Western) better have a really friggin' good defensive game plan to keep that from happening, because this WLU side has the best offence (on a per-possession basis as well as per-game) behind the Ravens and they turn the ball over much, much less than anyone else. Much less. If UBC played Laurier, the UBC coaches would be screaming "ball pressure!" more or less continuously throughout the game, instead of more or less continuously throughout 70% of the game.
   
   Guelph didn't really stop Laurier's vaunted offence (27 from Max Allin with 11 boards and six assists, 15 from Kale Harrison on just five field-goal attempts, 9/17 from long range as a team) but they gave them a run anyway. Laurier's 11-point margin in the second quarter was enough for them to hold on in the second half. Sounds like it was a good one in Guelph.
   
   Western, on the other hand, had a first-quarter lead but there's a reason these games are 40 minutes long instead of 10. Of note in this game: (1) Kale Harrison scored just two points and (2) Matt Buckley grabbed 462 rebounds. Or 18. Something like that. (Cam has Buckley in the MUBL, but has never played him. Cam is also in last place in the MUBL. Just sayin'.)
   
   
7. Victoria (10-2 CW, 11-4 CIS, RPI #5, SRS +10.9) — L 71-75 at Winnipeg, W 101-79 at Manitoba
   
   Third-best offence in the country so far? None other than these Vikes. (Third-worst uniform colours? Well...) It's going to be a really interesting weekend for Manitoba. And of course after focusing on Manitoba, it's Winnipeg who provide the upset. A 60-47 lead with 10 minutes to go is not often in danger, but so it went for UVic.
   
   It went much better on Saturday, with a 22-point win over the not-upsetting-anyone-this-weekend Bisons. Terrell Evans hit a pair of season highs, with 19 points in 26 minutes off the bench. The local paper has a recap written by Ron Rauch, which I read as "Jon Rauch" and I was, understandably, quite terrified.
   
   
8. Alberta (8-4 CW, 10-5 CIS, RPI #1, SRS +9.9) — W 77-69 vs. TRU, W 87-54 against UBC Okanagan
   
   The other half of the TRU/UBC-O road trip went about as well as the Saskatchewan half did for the B.C. teams.
   
   RPI isn't the final word, especially not in January, but it's really interesting that Alberta, and not Carleton or anyone else, is No. 1. They have a 10-5 record, not as gaudy as others, but they've faced the toughest schedule in the country. Half their scoring comes from Daniel Ferguson and Jordan Baker, and maybe it's that reliance that led to a two-point loss to Manitoba, a one-point loss to Winnipeg, and single-digit losses to UBC and UVic the weekend before last.
   
   They must have heard me, because Rob Dewar led both teams in scoring with 21 against the WolfPack. Baker scored 15 and had 10 rebounds — seven defensive, more than the entire TRU team had on their offensive glass. Justin King did the same thing to the Bears in reverse (13 d-boards vs. 9). Then they shot nearly 60% against the Heat and Matthew Cardoza scored 14, one more than Ferguson.
   
   
9. Concordia (5-0 RSEQ, 12-4 CIS, RPI #7, SRS +6.1) — W 78-66 at Laval, W 69-61 vs. McGill
   
   Two games in the same week? What is this witchcraft?
   
   Something weird is going on the QUBL so far. Last week I noted that Concordia were shooting rather poorly yet still beating teams, and it seems that's because everyone has forgotten what they're supposed to do with the orange round thing. Quebec teams as a whole are shooting an effective 40%, and are scoring only 86 points per 100 possessions, while turning it over nearly 28% of the time. Collectively, they're basically UBC Okanagan, no offence to the Heat, which means Concordia's opponents are collectively worse than UBC-O.
   
   And look! More of the same. 43 combined turnovers in the Laval game. Concordia shot an effective 45%. Then they shot 38% — and won — against McGill. If explorers were braving the St. Lawrence today, looking for quality men's basketball programs instead of lumber or beaver pelts or whatever, they'd reach what is now the Welland Canal, give up, and head back to the old country, taking Kyle Desmarais with them as proof that the journey wasn't totally fruitless.
   
   
10. UFV (7-5 CW, 11-5 CIS, RPI #13, SRS +5.2) — W 86-73 at Regina, W 85-75 at Brandon
    
    Another underrated offence here (17th per-game, but 6th per-possession). Their best shooter so far has been transfer Michael James, who was previously a top-100 player with Winnipeg (in '08-09; he was ranked 204th in '09-10), but he's only their fifth-leading scorer. It'll be interesting to see what happens to UFV if he gets more minutes.
    
    Kyle Grewal and Sam Freeman each scored 23 against the reeling Cougars (who dropped five spots in the RPI after last week's sweep at Manitoba and sit dead-last in a division where five of the eight teams are below .500). Grewal had 21 more against Brandon, going to the line 13 times, and Jasper Moedt put up 15 and 15 in the 10-point win that required a 28 to 15 fourth quarter.

In other news...

• Since Windsor's not in the top 10 anymore, we've been missing out on This Week in Chris Oliver, so let's get that in here now. "Keeping people at a distance doesn't allow them to hurt you, but they can not help you either."

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Hockey: Canada West weekly roundup

If there was any doubt which team heads the Canada West pack heading into the home stretch of the regular season, there isn’t anymore thanks to the Saskatchewan Huskies sweep of the Alberta Golden Bears this past weekend.

Here’s a look at some of the headlines from this past weekend of action.

Huskies make a statement

In a series with first-place on the line, the Saskatchewan Huskies came out and made a statement at home. The now number-three ranked Huskies earned a 5-2 win Friday night in Saskatoon before following that effort up with a gutsy 5-4 victory in a Saturday matinee.

The Huskies Saturday win was especially impressive after the home team used four second period goals to erase a 3-1 Alberta lead after 20 minutes of play. Captain Kyle Ross led the way with the hat-trick performance Saturday in front of just over 1,200 fans at Credit Union Centre.

With the pair of wins Saskatchewan takes sole possession of first in the conference opening up a four-point lead on Alberta. That gap isn’t insurmountable, but is unquestionably significant.

Friday – Alberta 2 at Saskatchewan 5
Saturday – Alberta 4 at Saskatchewan 5

Bisons still in the running

First-place isn’t guaranteed to go the way of Saskatchewan, but if any team is going to catch them it could be Manitoba. The Herd are a full six points back, but have two games in hand on both Saskatchewan and Alberta.

While a clean regulation split between the Bears and Huskies would’ve been ideal for head coach Mike Sirant’s team, at least the Huskies didn’t leave any scraps for Alberta to distance the Bears from the Bisons.

This coming weekend will determine whether, or not Manitoba has any chance at first, as they host the Huskies in Winnipeg.

Bears specialty teams slacking

If there’s one number that points to why Alberta lost both their games against Saskatchewan this past weekend, perhaps it’s the number five. The Bears surrendered five goals both games, but more importantly were -5 in the specialty teams department scoring only one PP marker while giving up six. Saskatchewan went 6-for-15 on the PP against Alberta, including scoring four of their five goals Saturday on the man advantage.

Those numbers don’t bode well for the Bears if they hope to make something happen in the Canada West playoffs, which in all likelihood will end in Saskatoon one way, or another.

Friday – Alberta 2 at Saskatchewan 5
Saturday – Alberta 4 at Saskatchewan 5

Basement dwellers still slumping

While both the Lethbridge Pronghorns and Regina Cougars had solid outings Friday night — the ‘Horns won 3-2 in OT against Calgary and Regina lost a close 4-2 contest to UBC — neither team put up much a fight the following night, both suffering convincing losses.

Lethbridge’s single point to the Cougars zero this past weekend means there is now a three-point gap between the two, with the ‘Horns in the lead for the final playoff spot. The southern Alberta squad should make the postseason, but with six of their final eight games against nationally ranked teams — four of the six are against Alberta — Lethbridge’s road to the playoffs won’t be easy.

Working to the Pronghorns advantage is the fact that they’ll control their destiny playing their other two games against Regina, and the fact that the Cougars still have games against Saskatchewan on the schedule (that being said Regina has played their provincial rivals tough in recent times).

Friday – Regina 2 at UBC 4
Saturday – Regina 0 at UBC 4

Friday – Calgary 2 at Lethbridge 3
Saturday – Lethbridge 1 at Calgary 4

First win continues to evade DeSerres

Rookie netminder Jacob DeSerres can’t catch a break in the Calgary net this season. The Memorial Cup champion hasn’t seen much ice in Cowtown for the Dinos, getting only his third start of the season this past Friday in the loss to Lethbridge. DeSerres wasn’t to blame stopping 35 of 38 shots, but still that’s little consolation for the former junior standout who’s .875 SV% and 3.97 GAA along with his 0-3 record aren’t picturesque.

Two poor performances from the first half of the season are largely to blame for his numbers, but for DeSerres being part of a three-headed goalie monster can’t be good for his game.

Friday – Calgary 2 at Lethbridge 3
Saturday – Lethbridge 1 at Calgary 4
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Canada West Men's Basketball: Jan 12-14 Update

This was the second week of play in the new year, but the first where students were back in class and able to catch some action. UBC climbed two spots in the national CIS rankings after winning on the road twice at Thompson Rivers, while Alberta jumped a pair of spots in RPI with a home sweep against Lethbridge. They're the top team in the country, according to fancy math.

Anyway, there were seven double-header series this week.

Calgary 83 vs. Saskatchewan 79 | Calgary 83 vs. Saskatchewan 90

The Dinos also had a pretty good week, jumping four RPI spots and knocking off the 4th-ranked Huskies at home (who have since fallen to 5th). The Dinos, who got Boris Bakovic back last week, had Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson in the lineup Friday for the first time since November 12. Jackson had a game-high 37 minutes and 21 points, shooting 7-for-17 from the field and hitting two treys.

On Saturday night, Saskatchewan's big-scorer Jamelle Barrett showed up in a way he hadn't in the first half, going 15-for-23 including 4-for-8 for three and scoring a season-high 40 points, also earning 9 assists and 4 steals. The Huskies, after dropping a close decision the night before, rolled over Calgary in the first three quarters. Despite scoring 90 and out-rebounding the Dinos 42-33, not a single member of the Huskies earned a double-double.

Victoria 70 vs. Fraser Valley 79 | Victoria 91 vs. Fraser Valley 67

After losing their first game last week to Saskatchewan, the Vikes split another weekend at home in a pretty good pair of tilts against the UFV Cascades. Joel Friesen and Sam Freeman, as usual, took the bulk of the shots and they were going in, the pair combining for 32 on the night.

Saturday, the tables turned back in the direction of the favourites. Victoria's depth and rebounding prowess shone, as they got 32 points from the bench and out-rebounded the Abbotsford visitors 35-27. Zac Andrus picked up 16. Oddly quiet on the weekend was Ryan Mackinnon, who had been averaging above 20 per game coming into the weekend, putting up just 9 and 15 in the two games.

Thompson Rivers 66 vs. UBC 83 | Thompson Rivers 54 vs. UBC 78

I thought that maybe, at home, TRU could compete in both of these games and perhaps earn a split, but their shooting this weekend was just awful. Not in a "UBC just wasn't giving them any open looks" sort of way, but more of a "everything isn't even going near the hoop" sort of way. The WolfPack shot a total of 30.5% on the weekend. I think I'll blame the gym they were playing in. A high-school wrestling tournament took over the Tournament Capital Centre in Kamloops so we were relegated to watching this game in our downtrodden campus gym, the former home of the University College of the Cariboo Sun Demons.

On Friday, Doug Plumb put down 23 for the Thunderbirds, whose own shooting misfortunes in the first half kept this game somewhat close, but they eventually pulled away thanks to a couple of daggers from long-range from Malcolm Williams and cruised in the second half. Notable: TRU didn't score a point until there was 4:29 left in the first quarter.

Saturday night's affair was less close. UBC's speed on defense kept the 'Pack from moving the ball. Even worse for the WolfPack is they were without leading scorer Justin King, who appeared to bang his hand (that was already taped up) in Friday's contest. Tommy Nixon had game highs in points (22) rebounds (13) and led the T-Birds to an easier win this time over TRU, leading by 15 points at the half.

Alberta 91 vs. Lethbridge 83 | Alberta 85 vs. Lethbridge 77

Probably two closer games than Alberta would have liked, especially at home, but the Golden Bears earned the sweep despite two more good performances from Dominyc Coward and Daryl Cooper. Coward had 23 points and 12 boards Friday and Cooper had a team-high 24 on Saturday.

Alberta, up by just 3 at the end of the third quarter on Friday, got two early buckets from Lyndon Taylor and Jordan Baker, who had 25 on the night, sealed it with a jumper to put the Bears up by 10 with 2:40 remaining.

Saturday, the score line was closer than the game was, and it was Daniel Ferguson leading the way for the Bears with 26 points, capitalizing on some good team ball-movement allowing Alberta to run over the Pronghorns' suspect defense.

UBC-Okanagan 77 vs. Trinity Western 83 | UBC-Okanagan 56 vs. Trinity Western 83

Also, closer than Trinity would have liked, particularly for a team so dry of wins in the first half of the season. Trinity improved to 6-6 on the year, inching them into a playoff spot, surviving a furious comeback Friday in Kelowna. After leading by 15 with 30 seconds left in the third quarter, UBC-O, led by Simon Pelland and Yassine Ghomari, tied it up with 2:06 remaining. Kyle Coston and Tristan Smith hit foul shots to restore a lead, as the team saw some stingy defense and rebounding from that point on.

Saturday went as Saturday is expected. Fresh off the hotel breakfast, the Langley visitors got 17 from Sean Peter and rebounding down the lineup, using a lot of bench players and, well, taking advantage of the fact that the Heat are a first year team in over their heads against a pretty good Spartans team, apparently.

Brandon 70 vs. Winnipeg 56 | Winnipeg 66 vs. Brandon 61

Brandon had a good chance here to move back to .500 and put themselves in good playoff standing, but provincial rival Wesmen spoiled the party on Saturday with an excellent fourth quarter performance from Brayden Duff, who had 5 points, 2 rebounds, a block and a steal. It was Mark McNee carrying the Wesmen the rest of the way, who won on late free throws (exciting!) after the game was tied late.

On Friday, Brandon got double-doubles from Ali Mounir and Donovan Gayle and rolled with a six-deep bench. Neither team shot particularly well (both under 36%) but the Bobcats took it thanks to eight three-pointers, and the fact that Winnipeg had 19 turnovers.

Manitoba 116 vs. Regina 89 | Manitoba 94 vs. Regina 83

Manitoba's above-average offense turned into an elite offense, and both teams are now at opposite ends of the table in respective "points" and "points allowed" rankings. It's not even that Manitoba shot an outrageously high percentage (53%) on Friday, but they did take an awesome amount of three-point shots (30, scoring on 13 of them). Keith Oliver hit five of those and finished with a game-high 23 points on Friday.

Saturday, Manitoba "only" scored 94 but Oliver again was on his game, hitting four from long-range and racking up 24 points. Now 8-4 and boasting the top offense in the country, having won six straight, are they a contending team? They're 14th in RPI in the nation and 6th in the conference.
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Hockey: AUS Weekly Update

If there are any doubters still out there, this weekend should have shown that the AUS is very competitive, and it is not just UNB and everyone else. The first place Varsity Reds only came away with one point on their weekend in Nova Scotia. Saint Mary’s picked up two wins against teams that beat them last week and now find themselves back in second place, tied with Acadia who split their weekend. Moncton also split to stay one point back in fourth place, as did UPEI in fifth place. StFX got one win and are just four points of surging Dalhousie for the last playoff spot. It was a tough weekend for STU, who might have seen their faint hopes for a playoff spot quashed with two losses.

How and when is UNB going to fix their broken power play?

It is mind boggling that a team as deep and skilled as the Varsity Reds saw their power play go 0-for-the-weekend (not for the first time) and slide below Dal’s as the least productive in the AUS with an 11.5% success rate. While they lead the conference in shorthanded goals with 9, UNB has only scored 10 with the man advantage. Sixth place StFX leads the pack with 26 PP goals. Saint Mary’s won a tight game Friday with a third-period power play goal. StFX had a lead after the first period Saturday thanks to two power play goals. Even strength UNB had the edge in large parts of those games. Teams take liberties, and resulting penalties, against the reigning CIS champs now with impunity. And while we’re piling on, it is also a bit of a surprise that UNB is 0-for-2 in overtime shootouts this season, and has yet to score a goal in those mano-a-mano situations. I know the V-Reds are a high tempo, puck possession, puck pursuit, defence focused team, but maybe they might want to focus practice some of those skillsy things too, like the power play and the shootout.

There were a couple of positives for UNB in the StFX game. Newcomer Shayne Wiebe picked up his first-ever and second UNB goals, and defencemen Chad Denny got his first-ever goal on a bullet shot in front of lots of family and friends from the Eskasoni First Nation at the game. And UNB did come back from a 4-1 deficit to salvage an all-important point in the standings.

Friday – UNB 1 @ SMU 2 
Saturday – UNB 4 @ StFX 5 OT-SO

Saint Mary’s back in hunt for playoff bye 

SMU head coach Trevor Stienburg was not happy with his team after their previous weekend. They performed better and got the preferred results against the same two opponents this past weekend at home. They look more like the CIS champions of two seasons ago with their relentless forecheck. Sure, they might have got some help from a wonky net peg several times in the second period Friday, but they controlled the early part of the third period and then took advantage of a long man-advantage situation to get the winner. It doesn’t hurt that Neil Conway is playing a lot better in nets. Saturday they responded to a UPEI goal with four of their own, two of them from Patrick O’Keefe, and held on for the win this time against the Panthers.

Friday – UNB 1 @ SMU 2 
Saturday – UPEI 3 @ SMU 5

Acadia is not going away

The Axemen score goals. Only the V-Reds score more. Friday they traded goals with Moncton until les Aigles Bleus scored three in the third period to break the game open. Saturday Acadia scored two in the first period, but only Spencer Jezegou managed to score for the team in red and blue on the first of eight power play opportunities against the Tommies in the second period. The heavy-handed ref gave them two more chances in the third period. Acadia was 1-for-10 on the PP in the game, while STU went 0-for-6.

Friday – Acadia 3 @ UdeM 6 
Saturday – Acadia 3 @ STU 1 

And neither is Moncton 

That win over Acadia was big for UdeM, as it had temporarily moved them ahead of the Axemen in the standings. Then Saturday the Tigers were in town and perhaps les Aigles took them lightly? Dal scored twice in the first, twice in the second and added another in the third before Moncton got on the scoresheet. Lost opportunity for the home team. Oh, and Christian Gaudet, who just got back into the Moncton line-up is reportedly now out 4-6 weeks with a broken foot. I did discover one interesting stat after the weekend: While UNB dominates the AUS plus/minus stats, the four non V-Reds in the top 15 +/- all play for Moncton.

Friday – Acadia 3 @ UdeM 6 
Saturday – Dal 5 @ UdeM 1 

Panthers keep pace Friday

UPEI stretched their win streak to three games when they exploded for seven goals from seven different players and chased X-Men goalie Joey Perricone after just one period. Saturday it was the Huskies getting the goals in bunches, with Panther Jared Gomes scoring twice in the third period to get them in the game a little late, but SMU captain Colby Pridham slammed the door with an empy-netter with four seconds to go.

Friday – UPEI 7 @ StFX 3 
Saturday – UPEI 3 @ SMU 5 

X-Men hanging onto playoff spot

Not even a year after playing in the University Cup final-six, the X-Men are in danger of missing the AUS playoffs. Who saw that coming? That hammering by UPEI Friday made it four losses in a row, which made the Saturday win against UNB all-important. The X-Men blew a 4-1 second period lead against the V-Reds, and their four minutes of power play time in the ten-minute overtime certainly helped keep the UNB attackers at bay. First year forward Michael Kirkpatrick picked up StFX male athlete-of-the-week honours for his two power play goals in the first period and his stylish shootout goal.

Friday – UPEI 7 @ StFX 3 
Saturday – UNB 4 @ StFX 5 OT-SO 

Dal wins two in a row, and three of their last four

The Tigers are hot. New coach. Healthier players. Goalies on their game. Former assistant coach Chris Donnelly is now 3-1 since taking over behind the Dal bench during the Christmas break when Pete Belliveau moved into the “front office” as general manager. After squeaking out a 1-0 win over STU last week, Dal pumped seven goals past Charles Lavigne Friday. Then five goals on Moncton’s Andre-Michel Guay on Saturday. David MacDonald, an AUS all-star defenceman when he played for the Huskies, had two goals and an assist against the Tommies and was named Dal’s male athlete-of-the-week.

Friday – Dal 7 @ STU 
Saturday – Dal 5 @ UdeM 1

Tough, tough weekend for the Tommies

STU lost two close ones on the road the previous weekend. The rebuilding Tommies then got lit up by Dal at home on Friday, a team they HAVE to beat for any hope at the playoffs. Saturday they got into penalty trouble, or referee trouble, depending who you talk to. Acadia cruises to a 3-1 win and now STU has lost eight in a row. And they host UNB on Wednesday. Fun. Well somebody’s losing streak will end, and most people’s money will be on the Fredericton team in red and black.

This week

There are three games Wednesday: the 3rd edition of the Battle of the Hill in Fredericton; Acadia at Dal; Moncton at UPEI in the Fixed Link Fixture. Friday we’ve got UNB at UdeM in a classic Fredericton-Moncton rivalry, UPEI at STU, StFX at Acadia and SMU at Dal in the Battle of Halifax. Saturday sees UNB host UPEI, STU at Moncton (no love lost there), Dal at SMU to continue the Battle of Halifax and Acadia at StFX.

* Photo courtesy of Brian Smith
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Men's Basketball: OUA West Weekly Roundup

We’re nearing the playoffs and the OUA West is starting to thin out a bit, but there are four teams still challenging for top spot. Windsor and McMaster have kept up with one another and are tied for third, while Lakehead and Laurier went head-to-head this past week for top spot in the West with neither team able to gain ground on the other. In the top ten post from last weekend, Rob briefly covered the Lakehead (No. 3) and Laurier (No. 7) series. He also has some fun facts and stats that are worth a read.

Games In-Depth

Friday, January 13
Lakehead 88, Laurier 83
Games with hype don’t usually live up to it. The Lakehead-Laurier weekend lived up to the expectation and so much more. On Friday night Lakehead went point-for-point with Laurier, which most would agree have the best offence in the West. Both Lakehead and Laurier finished with four players in double digits in a game where defence was at a premium. The Thunderwolves' Venzal Russell tied a game high 24 points, but also a less than impressive 9-28 from the field and 0-6 on threes. Yoosrie Salhia had a game high 11 rebounds and was a defensive frustration for Laurier inside the paint all night long. Laurier's Kale Harrison ended the night with 24 points and 7 rebounds — all defensive. Throughout the game neither team was able to run away with it, with the game coming right down to the end. Laurier was within three points for the last three minutes before Lakehead put it away with a pair of free throws by Russell.

Saturday, January 14
Lakehead 89 vs. Laurier 92
Both teams picked up right where they left off from the night before. Lakehead had six players in double digits to Laurier’s four. On Saturday, though, it wasn’t all up to Harrison since he had some help from Conor Meschino and Matt Buckley, who finished with 16 and 14 points respectively. Laurier jumped off to the quick lead after the first quarter ahead 24-18, but Lakehead slowly nicked away at that. One of the key factors was Laurier’s bench, who put up 34 points to 15 by Lakehead. Even though all of the Thunderwolves starters hit double digits, you need better contribution from the bench.


Other Scores

Wednesday, January 11
McMaster 103 vs. Brock 91
Something lit a fire under Victor Raso coming into this game. With 29 points and 5 rebounds, he led the way for McMaster in a high-scoring affair against Brock, while Adam Presutti had 18 points for the Marauders. Tshing Kasamba came off the bench for 19 points and 6 defensive boards. This was the start for another bad week for Brock, who lost again and stumbled further down the standings in the West.

Saturday, January 14
Windsor 78, McMaster 74
The first half killed McMaster in this one. Windsor went into the half leading 48-31, with the Lancers up by 20 at one point. Six Windsor players had 10 or more points and Enrico Di Loreto finished with 17 points going 5-8 on field goals and an impressive 4-6 on threes. Although, you expect good numbers from the fifth best scorer in the CIS. More importantly, it helped Windsor keep pace in the West and remain tied for third with a 9-3 record. Presutti finished with a game high 20 points for the Marauders.

Saturday, January 14
Western 101 vs. Brock 93
Western has one of the youngest teams in the CIS and they grew up in a big way with this game. Five players finished with 13 or more points with Ryan Barbeau and Quinn Henderson each getting 21. This could be a sign of things to come for Western, who look to be building chemistry as a team. Although their season will finish soon, I imagine teams are going to be more cautious with Western looking to play the role of spoiler. Kasamba had 19 points and six steals for Brock. The Badgers have had a tough start to the year going 1-3 and falling out of contention for the West. Though they’re still 7-5, it’s going to be hard to gain ground on Lakehead and Laurier.


Player of the Week
Ryan Barbeau - Western Mustangs
Barbeau has been lights out for Western all year. He’s ranked sixth in the CIS with 20.7 ppg and has been the best player for Western this year, by far. On Wednesday night against Guelph, he put up 31 points to go with 3 rebounds and 3 assists. The next highest scorer for Western that game? Well, it was Charlie Drouin with 8 points. That pretty much sums up Western this year. On Saturday against Brock, Barbeau actually had some offensive help from his teammates as he finished with 21 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists. Western may be building for the future, but the young players have benefitted from watching Barbeau all season long.


Upcoming Game of the Week
Friday, January 20 and Saturday, January 21
McMaster at Lakehead
Thanks to the split between Laurier and Lakehead, McMaster is only one game behind both teams in the West. McMaster, though, went 1-1 themselves last weekend, beating Brock but falling to Windsor (who they’re tied with). If Mac hopes to keep pace and challenge for top in the West, they’ll have to get at least a split in Lakehead. That’s easier said than done with Lakehead being 5-1 at home this year, 23-5 the last three years, and eager to keep their top spot. I wouldn’t be surprised for two close games, but I think a Lakehead sweep will put McMaster in a battle for third with only a few weeks left in the regular season.
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Football: Sumarah a nice hire for Carleton, but instant success isn't sure

The Carleton Ravens may not be fielding a CIS football team in 2012, but they still made some of the most memorable news of the offseason by hiring Steve Sumarah Monday. Sumarah, of course, had incredible success with Saint Mary's as both an offensive coordinator (six straight AUS titles, trips to four Vanier Cups, two national championships) and a head coach (35-12 in the regular season,four straight AUS titles and a Vanier Cup trip) before his contract wasn't renewed this offseason. He's very likely the best-qualified candidate on the coaching market this year, so given the many vacancies that were/still are out there, it's quite remarkable that a team that's starting from the ground up in 2013 was able to land him. He should be a great addition for the Ravens, and he could help turn them into a contender quickly.

Despite landing an excellent coach in Sumarah, Carleton's success isn't a sure thing, though, especially at first. Keep in mind that coaching in Ontario's going to be quite a change for Sumarah; he's coming from Saint Mary's, which has used its status as the traditional AUS powerhouse to grab the best recruits from out East as well as many from across the country. The Ravens won't have that kind of profile to start, and they'll be competing with many long-established recruiting powerhouses, such as Western, Queen's, Laurier and McMaster. Even though Carleton has announced plans to follow the Laval model of heavy (alumni- and booster-led) financing for coaches and facilities, they may have a tough time duplicating the Rouge et Or's record of joining CIS in 1996 and winning a Vanier Cup in their fourth season. Laval came in during a bit of a power vacuum in the old OQIFC, making their ascension much easier. Carleton's going to have to fight tooth and nail to establish themselves in a conference that already has plenty of top programs, and even a top coach may not be enough for instant success.

Still, Sumarah seems like the best candidate Carleton could have grabbed right now, and hiring him at this point has the advantage of providing plenty of lead time. The Ravens have made one of their biggest moves in preparation for returning to the CIS gridiron, and it looks like they got it right. With Sumarah in place, they should be ready to hit the ground running in 2013. The question that remains is how far they'll get after that.
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Men's basketball: Top 10 tracker: X-Men drop both, Lakehead/Laurier split

This week's results for the top 10 teams. Records and rankings are entering this week.

1. Carleton (10-0, RPI: #4, SRS: +24.8) — W 87-56 at Ryerson, W 98-64 at Toronto
   
   Only won by 31 on Friday. Probably because, according to the boxscore, that was the "Carelton Ravens", the lovable collection of similarly-named alter-egos Dave Smart runs out there now and then to amuse himself and give the boys a day off (you know, Tysin Honz, Coel Hobin, all those dudes). Ryerson didn't take advantage of this alternate universe and, of course, shot 34%, their worst of the year so far.
   
   Saturday, they won by 34 to finish their Toronto trip with much success. Varsity shot an effective 40%, one of the best performances against the Ravens anyone's had this year. Still, Carleton had no problem. Thomas Scrubb went 8/11 for 21 points, one behind his brother Phillip. Rebounds were 13 to 19 on Carleton's offensive glass, and 39 to 5 at the other end. 39 to 5!
   
   
2. StFX (7-0, RPI: #1, SRS: +13.4) — L 88-101 at Cape Breton, L 76-100 at UPEI
   
   Yes, Wednesday night saw the first loss for X this year, but it's worth pointing out that they've been close to an L before. Against Acadia, they were outshot 55% to 48% on effective field-goal percentage, and outrebounded, and of course went to OT; against Dalhousie, same deal, minus the extra period; against SMU, again. Granted, you can find close wins with every team (that doesn't play OUA East teams for the entire 2012 portion of the schedule) but the X-Men seem a tad overdue.
   
   And hey, what do you know, they lost to UPEI too, who went 14/30 on threes. This loss (by 24 points? really?) was enough to move St. F-X out of the top spot in our RPI, now enjoyed by Alberta. Only seven X-Men got into this game, not including Bol Kong, who played just eight in Wednesday's loss to CBU. We are assuming an injury. (UPDATE: Mark Wacyk has written that the seven players who did not play were "serving a team-imposed, one-game suspension for violation of team rules.")
   
   
3. Lakehead (9-1, RPI: #14, SRS: +11.4) — W 88-83 at Laurier, L 89-92 at Laurier
   
   Meant to watch this one, since with how the OUA playoffs are set up now, Laurier and Lakehead may not meet again after this weekend. Also note that the RPI rankings of the OUA West teams are deflated right now because they haven't played each other yet, so 14th will not be 14th in the end for the Great Group of Teammates.
   
   Lakehead took a close one here, with a second-half comeback surged by [ERROR: INFORMATION NOT AVAILABLE; NO SECOND-HALF BOXSCORE EXISTS] along with [SORRY, YOU'LL HAVE TO ADD UP THE TOTALS YOURSELVES]. Yoosrie Salhia's 11 rebounds couldn't have helped his MUBL owner (who started what turned out to be Victor Raso's 29 Wednesday night points instead) but the 9 of 28 shooting wouldn't have helped anyway.
   
   Saturday, it was an even better game I did not watch. The 'Wolves ran a short bench out there both days (their starters played 75-80% of the game both times) but it seems like they had to rely more on the top guys Saturday.
   
   Gratuitous joke: Lakehead averaged one shot per 29.6 seconds on Friday, including the time they didn't have possession. In the NCAA, teams are just about starting to formulate a plan after 29.6 seconds of possession, and might actually commit an act of basketball at some point soon.
   
   
4. Saskatchewan (6-3, RPI: #3, SRS: +13.2) — L 83-79 at Calgary, W 90-83 at Calgary
   
   Jamelle Barrett's mission to take over and successfully run Saskatoon has hit another snag (no wonder he brought in reinforcements). The Huskies lost to Calgary and Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson, who may be able to help bring the Dinos out of the lower tier of the Smythe Division, or whatever they're calling it this year. Barrett was merely 4 of 11, and as we can learn from the Department of Obvious Correlations, Sasky are 4-0 when Barrett shoots above 50% and 0-4 when he doesn't. Wayne Thomas said it was strange that Michael Lieffers has never been named a Canada West all-star, and it's hard to disagree. 18 points on 13 shots, seven offensive rebounds, and seven assists for him that night.
   
   Or not. The mission is advancing apace, as Barrett scored 40 on Saturday, along with nine assists and four steals.
   
   
5. UBC (6-2, RPI: #7, SRS: +12.9) — W 83-66 at TRU, W 78-54 at TRU
   
   "Well, TRU aren't shooting very well, but at least they're compounding it by not passing the ball very well." — C. Charron.
   
   
6. Victoria (9-1, RPI: #5, SRS: +10.6) — L 79-70 vs. UFV, W 91-67 vs. UFV
   
   One hopes that a certain national basketball editor who happens to be in a certain city this weekend stopped by a certain gym to watch a certain team get upset by a certain other team. Outscored in every quarter except the first, and after having Ryan MacKinnon shoot an effective 14% (ineffective, I suppose), the Vikes will drop in the eyes of some, but perhaps in hindsight (i.e., if the Cascades keep it going all year) this loss won't look so bad.
   
   The next game, MacKinnon played less and shot less, but with a 12-point lead after one it hardly seems necessary.
   
   
7. Laurier (9-1, RPI: #8, SRS: +11.2) — L 88-83 vs. Lakehead, W 92-89 vs. Lakehead
   
   I already said I didn't watch this game, but I'm just going to go ahead and infer an change in the Hawks' offensive strategy based on the following:
   
   • First quarter: 1/6 on three-pointers
   • Second quarter: attempted only one three, and it was with zeroes on the clock
   Overall, they attempted just 14 threes (down from their average of about 26) and even worse, they missed 12 of them. A team that usually shoots 40% will go 2 for 14 (or worse) once every 600 games, so it's not quite random variation. And clearly — again, said tongue-in-cheek due to that whole not-having-seen-the-game thing — the coach noticed something and made a change.
   
   With the same teams playing again the next day, you'd think a reporter whose beat is university sports would maybe explore this angle (losing by five after having no three-point game). You know, see whether Peter Campbell has anything to say, maybe about Lakehead forcing them to take bad shots from outside. Or any angle, really. But if you're working for The Record, you'll probably just punch out 60 words on the men's game and head for the parking lot.
   
   And look, in Saturday's game WLU continued their "shoot-fewer-threes" thing, if it is indeed a thing, except this time they earned the split, a not-unexpected outcome of this weekend. (If both games were in Thunder Bay I might have predicted a Lakehead sweep.)
   
   
8. Alberta (6-4, RPI: #2, SRS: +9.9) — W 91-83 vs. Lethbridge, W 85-77 vs. Lethbridge
   
   23 and 12 out of Dominyc Coward wasn't enough to put the Pronghorns over the Bears; Jordan Baker countered with 25 and 10, and Alberta turned it over only half as often as their opponents to the south. The 'Horns got 39 combined from Coward and Morgan Duce, two of several players identified here previously as CCAA standouts who could make the jump.
   
   Daniel Ferguson scored 26 on 15 shots to pace Alberta on Saturday, tying a season high for him. He's also leading the country in minutes per game.
   
   
9. Concordia (4-0, RPI: #9, SRS: +6.7) — W 68-63 vs. UQAM
   
   Undefeated despite shooting 42.7%, putting them in august company such as Guelph, York, and UBC-O, who are decidely not undefeated. It is only four games, though. They shot 42.5% in this game, with Kyle Desmarais making just one field goal. This may not be sustainable.
   
   
10. UFV (6-4, RPI: #15, SRS: +5.4) — W 79-70 at Victoria, L 67-91 at Victoria.
    
    This isn't the upset of the week but the Cascades' season has been up and down so far and so this was mildly unexpected. They, and Kyle Grewal in particular, took advantage of UVic's lack of capitalization on second chances and came away with the nine-point win. Grewal, Joel Friesen, and Sam Freeman all topped 15.
    
    The loss certainly isn't going to have long-term effects, given the authority with which the Vikes came back on Saturday. That result also may keep Fraser Valley out of the top 10 for a little while longer.

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Hockey: AUS Weekly Update

After a few post-Christmas exhibition games the AUS men’s hockey conference got back at ‘er this past weekend. First place UNB had a big second half opener against their two big playoff rivals while Acadia kept pace and climbed into second place. Third place Moncton split and Saint Mary’s lost two close ones to slide into fourth place. UPEI won two home games to draw within a point of SMU while StFX fell back even further after a tough weekend. STU dropped two close games of their own and Dal finally ended their losing streak.

What UNB goalie problem and who’s on first?

There’s only two points of drama this season with the powerhouse V-Reds. One is the health of their goaltenders, and the other is a problem probably every other coach would like to have: who are going to be the healthy scratches? Veteran netminder Travis Fullerton, undefeated this season, returned from that Nov. 4 emergency appendicitis operation with a win against STU in the last game of the first half. He looked especially good in the first two periods in the Pete Kelly Cup game against uOttawa on Jan. 30, a 7-4 win. However he “tweaked something” in the game and hasn’t played since. Short time NHLer (3 games) Dan LaCosta, who battled a groin injury much of the first half, didn’t look especially sharp in the second game against the Gee-Gees, a matinee game on New Year’s Eve which saw UNB win 8-4 and uOttawa’s Russell Abbott get the tourney goaltender award with a 48 save performance. However this past weekend LaCosta looked very good, especially in UNB’s close win over Saint Mary’s.

UNB added two highly-touted forwards over the break. Abbotsford native Geordie Wudrick played five years in the WHL, and had 43 goals in 71 games with Kelowna last season. He was linked to UNB over the summer, but opted to try pro hockey in Germany in the first half. He played the two holiday exhibition games against uOttawa, and picked up his first V-Reds assist against StFX and first goal against SMU. Shayne Wiebe was captain of his hometown Brandon Wheat Kings last season, where he scored 44 goals in 72 games. Wiebe played for the Winnipeg Jets’ new AHL team in St. John’s in the first half, where he managed four assists in 12 games. His first game was Friday, and Wiebe was assigned Hunter Tremblay’s (now with Edmonton’s AHL team) old spot on the first line to the right side of Chris Culligan, who by the way looked better against Ottawa than he looked all first half.

The dilemma, drama and debate for UNB fans now is about who should be on the ice. Sans Tremblay, this is probably the deepest ever V-Reds team. Opposing coaches agree with me that UNB’s healthy scratches would probably be regulars on the other teams in the conference. With good players, and fan favourites, in the stands, many V-Reds diehards now act like beat writers with the Habs – constantly dissecting imperfect shifts by players on the ice and opining who REALLY should be in the line-up instead of those that coach Gardiner MacDougall selects. A nice problem to have I guess.

Friday – StFX 2 @ UNB 5
Saturday – SMU 2 @ UNB 3

Axemen on the hunt.

Acadia had two exhibition wins over the holidays – 4-2 vs. STU on Dec. 30 and 4-0 over StFX on Jan. 2, a game played in Berwick, the Apple Capital of Nova Scotia. Friday, the AUS’s leading scorer, Andrew Clark, led the Axemen with two goals and an assist in the convincing 5-2 win against Moncton. Jonathan Laberge also has a pair of goals. Chris Moulson, brother of the NHL Islanders’ Matt, made his debut for Acadia and picked up two assists. Saturday night they dominated the Tommies in shots (41-23) but only squeaked out a win thanks to a third period power play goal from Spencer Jezegou, and another assist to Moulson.

Friday – UdeM 2 @ Acadia 5
Saturday – STU 2 @ Acadia 3

Aigles Bleus not going away.

UdeM split their holiday exhibition games, both on the road: a 4-3 loss to UPEI and a 3-2 win over STU. While they didn’t have a great game Friday against Acadia, Moncton did bounce back with a convincing win over Dalhousie (okay, it’s Dal …). Francis Rochon had a hat-trick for le bleu et or. You gotta wonder what a difference Christian Gaudet would make to this line-up. The former pro hasn’t played since getting concussed eight games into the season, and he was leading the team in points most of that time.

Friday – UdeM 2 @ Acadia 5
Saturday – UdeM 5 @ Dal 1

Tough weekend for the Huskies.

On Dec. 30 Saint Mary’s played a neutral-site exhibition game against StFX in Truro, NS. The game went to an overtime shoot-out that X won 5-4, but maybe more importantly the game raised $10,000 for the local minor hockey association, the same amount as last year.

Friday night on the Island the Huskies battled back from a two-goal deficit to tie the game in the second period. UPEI retakes the lead 14 seconds later. Early in the third SMU on the power play ties it up again, only to see the Panthers get their own PP goal to take the lead back for the final time, and then add an insurance empty net goal. Saturday in Fredericton the Huskies played the V-Reds tough with an aggressive forecheck. However SMU squandered a long 5-on-3 in the second period and several PP’s in the third as opportunities to build on a one-goal lead. UNB’s d-man Jonathan Harty had a crappy game until a great shift midway in the third when he saved a goal at one end of the ice and then went up ice to score and tie the game. UNB’s power play, which was 0-for-the-weekend, finally connected with 19 seconds left in the game when captain Kyle Bailey redirected a Harty slap-pass. UNB’s LaCosta was tested all game in nets, especially by Cory Tanaka, who was probably the best forward on the ice and did beat him once on the power play. So close games and no points on the weekend cause the Huskies to drop from second into fourth place.

Friday – SMU 3 @ UPEI 5
Saturday – SMU 2 @ UNB 3

Panthers keep pace.

Two games and two wins didn’t change UPEI’s position in the standings, but they did draw closer to some of the teams ahead of them. Saturday night the Panthers used a third period power play to win a close game for the second time in two nights. Actually all of the goals in the game against StFX were on the power play.

Friday – SMU 3 @ UPEI 5
Saturday – StFX 1 @ UPEI 2

Is StFX officially struggling, or just their star goalie?

Last season the X-Men rode goalie Joey Perricone all the way to the University Cup. This season the California native and AUS 2nd team all-star is 3-8-2, and has lost the last three straight games. He’s got a 3.86 GAA and .864 save percentage. Last season? 14-4-0 with 2.37 GAA and .925 save percentage. AUS playoffs? 7-5-0, 2.48 GAA and .912. You can’t put it all on the goalies (four of the teams ahead of them in the standings have scored more goals, and UPEI just one less), but only Dalhousie have given up more goals than the X-Men so far this season.

Friday – StFX 2 @ UNB 5
Saturday – StFX 1 @ UPEI 2

Improving Tommies lose ground.

In sort of a must-win on Friday, STU lose a goaltending duel to Dalhousie thanks to a third period power play. The good news is that rookie d-man Chris Van Laren has finally finished his lengthy suspension for that first half high hit on Moncton’s Gaudet, and former pro Sebastien Bernier is now finished red-shirting and was eligible to play defence Friday. Saturday night goalie Charles Lavigne kept them in the game as Acadia outshot STU 41-23, yet needed a third period power play to get the winning goal.

Friday – STU 0 @ Dal 1
Saturday – STU 2 @ Acadia 3

Dal wins! Dal wins! Dal wins!

Sure, it was only one win on the weekend, but a now-healthy Bobby Nadeau battled Lavigne Friday night and came away with the shutout to end an eleven game Tigers losing streak. Saturday night the Dal male-athlete-of-the-week couldn’t be quite as masterful as they got predictably shelled by Moncton.

Friday – STU 0 @ Dal 1
Saturday – UdeM 5 @ Dal 1

Coming Up

Everyone has the same dance partners as last week but in the other team’s barn. Thus a lot of pressure on the Three Saints to have big home stands.

Photo courtesy of Brian Smith.
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