Around the web: Gee-Gee part of skeleton crew; hockey recruiting ratings

Football
  • Former Saskatchewan Huskies linebacker Lyndon Rush is due to compete in 2010 Olympics in bobsled, as you might know.

    Another CIS linebacker, the Ottawa Gee-Gees' James McNaughton, has been invited to Bobsleigh Canada's national skeleton development camp at Canada Olympic Park August 14-21.
    "I’m so fresh to it. I have never pushed a sled before," said McNaughton, who will be joined by two CIS football friends for the exciting and unplanned odyssey.

    "It’s right out of nowhere. I had no clue I would ever be doing this,” McNaughton said. “It’s pretty exciting to say the least."
    The camp will not affect McNaughton's participation in Gee-Gees training camp, which begins Aug. 24. (press release; ctvolympics.ca has added it)

  • Linebacker/special-teamer Mike McCullough (St. FX) might start at middle linebacker fo the Saskatchewan Roughriders this week. Also of note: Defensive back Leron Mitchell (Western), whose 2008 season was cut short by a broken leg, is practising again. (Rider Rumblings)

  • Defensive end Justin Phillips (Laurier) will indeed start for the Calgary Stampeders. Wideout Blaine Kruger (UBC) is likely a healthy scratch. (CFL Buzz)

  • Long story short, the University of Colorado decided to have a football player blog. He wrote about his sex life. Hopefully this would not put any athletic departments off setting up a player blog; it's more of an isolated incident. (Deadspin)
Hockey
  • Guy Flaming of Edmonton's TEAM 1260 ranks the top 5 men's hockey recruiting classes. No OUA schools are on the list (don't look so shocked) and the Alberta Golden Bears are not the top-ranked Canada West team (OK, you may look shocked).

    Who's No. 1? Please be sporting and click through. (Coming Down The Pipe!)

  • Columbus Dispatch reports on Jared Aulin (Calgary Dinos) attending the Blue Jackets' camp as a non-roster invitee. (Puck-Rakers)
Basketball
  • Mark Wacyk outlines how the "new-look" Manitoba Bisons are coming together under first-year coach Kirby Scheff. (cishoops.ca)
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6 comments:

  1. Good to see Team 1260 staying interested about CIS hockey, despite Bob Stauffer moving on to the Oilers organization.

    I might hesitate to rank Manitoba's recruiting ahead of StFX's, but junior stats don't necessarily translate to CIS stats. The change in hockey styles/play/systems when graduating to the CIS can make a big difference in some guys' impact, and not always in the positive.

    UNB does have more recruits to announce, as they have at least 7 players to replace off their championship team.

    What's always interesting about the "high risk" recruits already announced at several schools is whether any will get an AHL contract out of a fall training camp and turn their back on their education ...

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  2. I should have added that I'm not surprised about the Huskies getting ranked over the Golden Bears for their recruiting class. Everything I hear about their numerous recruits is positive, and maybe they should have got the #1 ranking, especially if all of them show up on campus.

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  3. Saskatchewan's recruiting class has turned some heads simply because it's that good. May be a slight overstatement to say that Alberta "no longer appear(s) to be the program that is attracting the top players out of the WHL." Yonkman is top talent without question. Maybe the Bears aren't the lone program to get top end WHL talent, but they never have been the only team to get premier WHL grads. Saskatchewan has been getting very good WHL talent through out the Adolph era, and now Alberta competes nationally to attract WHL talent - this has changed the recruitng landscape. Saskatchewan has had the better recruiting class out of the WHL before. Alberta still gets top end talent, but other schools are now getting a larger share of talented players from the best major junior conference. The Huskies certainly have stepped it up this year, and arguably should be the favourites to win the conference based on the talent of their recruiting class - but it's all just prognostication until they actually hit the ice.

    Coming Down the Pipe should be applauded for their coverage of CIS hockey. Always an interesting radio show - a good listen.

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  4. Great article, glad to see some focus on CIS hockey for a change. The Huskies should be a force to reckon with this year, that is, if they can stay out the penalty box. I really like the look of the Bisons this year as well.

    Just curious though, wouldn’t it be more appropriate to rate the top recruiting classes AFTER the recruiting season is over? Like Dave has already mentioned, many teams still have announcements to make. Lakehead has filled 1 of 7 open slots. With players like Matt Caria and Justin Bernhardt possibly being thrown into the mix, things could get pretty interesting come September – you may very well still see an OUA team in the top 5.

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  5. That is a good point with regard to rating the recruiting classes. I would fall back on "any publicity is good publicity, let's get people talking about the sport even when it's not in season." Perhaps Guy would revisit in September. I don't know him personally, I'm just a fan reading his blog and listening to their podcast occasionally.

    Matt Caria, eh? That would be a nice addition for any team, I assume you mean Lakehead.

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  6. Mark Wacyk has it on his blog , Aug 12,that Roy Rana will soon be announced as the new head basketball coach at Ryerson.

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