Linking the country ...

Football

• Nathan "Rollin' on the" Riva got the glory for his 279-yard rushing day in Western's OUA semifinal win over Laurier, although the hometown Free Press notes quarterback Michael Faulds "looks like he’s being held together with medical tape. He went out on the first series in the game hurting and already injured knee and while he came back and played the rest of the game, his limp was noticeable." One wonders what can be read into Faulds going 14-of-29 passing; he was off on a few throws, but Laurier also has a pretty good pass defence.
  
  How about the cats who opened holes for Riva, such as new starting centre Greg Willson, guards Ahmad Jaradat and Matt Norman, tackles Josh Buttrill and Zach Pollari and fullback Dan Duff? (Waterloo Region Record, Toronto Star, the latter of which threw us all for a loss by running a pic of a Riva in No. 19 instead of 16)
  
  
• Jérôme Poulin-Leblanc did a great job for Laval after being plugged in a centre, helping Sébastien Lévesque go off for 266 yards.
  
  Pretty much everyone was thinking Laval could replace the Argonauts in the CFL next season, so you're excused. (Le Soleil)
  
  
• Calgary slotback Anthony Parker averaged 38.7 yards per touch in the Dinos' dismantling of Alberta. (Calgary Sun)
  
  
• What happened to Concordia, beyond not having slotback Liam Mahoney? Veterans Cedric Ferdinand and Mark Deslauriers, among others, go out on that 63-1 loss. (Le Soleil)
  
  
• If St. FX made such a task of beating Acadia in the AUS semifinal, what hope does that give it in a Loney Bowl at Saint Mary's? It was still a thrilling rally. (Halifax Chronicle-Herald)
  

Hockey

• Laurier coach Kelly Nobes is awaiting his fate over the gross misconduct he received Friday vs. Lakehead. It should be pointed out his rant might not have much effect on the officiating; there are only so many refs in the Thunder Bay region qualified to work CIS games. (tbnewswatch)

Basketball

• Canada West's new Prairie Division means more time on the bus cumulatively, but no playing in one city Friday and schlepping to another Saturday. Ideally, that would make for more competitive games, since one team isn't dog-tired. (Regina Leader-Post)
  
  
• Credit where credit's due: Nice story on Friday's Carleton-Guelph nail-biter, although it says it was posted Sunday, two days after the game. (Guelph Mercury)
  
  
• In women's hoops, No. 1 Simon Fraser had to dig deep to keep its 38-game win streak going, scoring 16 of the game's last 20 points to overtake UBC 67-59 on Saturday. (Little Man on Campus)
  
  
• cishoops.ca has a round-up of the action across the country.
  
  
• Not CIS, but SLAM Online has a nice in-depth piece on the rise of Canada's national men's team.