Tigers Hockey Recap

Laura Shearer’s Tigers are poised for an AUS Championship run.

Photo Credit: Nick Pierce

Women good: Men bad... but Improving.

Last week I reviewed the first term performances of the Men’s and Women’s Soccer and Basketball teams.

This week I’ll be writing about the AUS championship contending women’s hockey team and the rebuilt Tigers men’s hockey team.

Tigers Women’s Hockey

The women’s hockey team have definitely met expectations in Tiger Town after one term of play. The only thing that slowed down this team was the swine flu in early November. The Tigers came into the season looking to make the jump from middle of the pack to contender in a conference that has been dominated in recent years by Moncton and Saint FX.

Mission accomplished.

Dalhousie has been very tough against Tier 2 teams like Saint Mary’s and St.Thomas, while taking care of business against the weaker teams in the conference. They finished the term with a 7-3 record for third place, but they had 2 games with teams from New Brunswick postponed due to the swine flu epidemic.

Head Coach Lesley Jordan and Captain Laura Shearer have both said they expect to win the AUS conference championship. Heading into the second term this ambitious team will need to find someone who can score on a regular basis besides Jocelyn Lemieux. Lemieux leads the team with 19 points, 11 greater than Robin Nicholson and Fielding Montgomery, tied for second with 8.

The Tigers have a losing record this season against the X-Women and Blue Eagles, although they

have played both teams tight on route to a combined 1-2 record.

The Tigers are loaded on the defensive end with a crop of big solid players mixed in with feisty skaters who can move the puck and quarterback the powerplay.

Goaltender Ashley Boutlier has been stellar with a 2.26 G.A.A.

The Tigers will need scoring output from other players if they are going to take down St FX and Moncton. The team gets an early test with a pivotal match up vs. the Blue Eagles on January 9th at the Dalhousie Arena.

Tigers Men’s Hockey

Revamped, reloaded, and rebuilding were all adjectives used in September to describe the Dalhousie Tigers. Pete Belliveau spent the entire summer on planes, trains, and automobiles to try and turn around a program that has been the worst in the country since 2003.

“Honestly I thought things would be a little bit better by this point,” said Coach Belliveau in an interview last month, referring to the team’s 2-8-2 record. That interview came an hour before the Tigers biggest win of the season, a drubbing of the St FX X-Men at the Dalhousie Memorial Arena. The Tigers finished the term the next night with a gritty overtime loss to the powerhouse SMU Huskies. Dalhousie has 9 points heading into January, 3 less than Belliveau’s anticipated goal of 12.

The Tigers are on pace to win 6 – 7 games, but could get close to 10 if Benjamin Breault is as good as advertised. The former 7th round pick of the Buffalo Sabres joins the team after a short career playing professional hockey in the East Coast League. Breault figures to bring some scoring punch to a team that is desperate for a legitimate sniper.

“Three lines of Guy Carbonneaus” is how Tiger’s Colour Commentator on ssncanada.ca, Steve Betts, has described the team, referring to their inability to put the puck in the net. Dalhousie has shown toughness and team speed, but goals have been at a premium.

The team has suffered from undisciplined play, receiving no fewer than 4 suspensions for illegal hits, and has looked completely lost for long stretches in their own zone. The stellar play of rookie netminder Bobby Nadeau has kept the Tigers in many games and given the team opportunities to pull games out late. Nadeau was lost for several weeks in November to swine flu.

With Moncton struggling and UPEI going through turbulent times, the Tigers have a chance to make the AUS playoffs for the first time in several years. Pete Belliveau is in year 2 of his 3 year rebuilding program, and a trip to the second season would be a significant step forward for the program.

Next Week: Men’s and Women’s Volleyball

bill@haligonia.ca
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Playing Santa Claus

Les Berry, the Head Coach of the Halifax Rainmen, hopes Santa brings a PBL championship.

Gifts to Local Halifax Sports Personalities if I was Chris Cringle

Andre Livingston, Owner of the Halifax Rainmen- More Basketball Fans at Rainmen Games
Livingston has done his part to try and make minor professional basketball work in Halifax. The Rainmen brass have put together a very competitive package for the Halifax sports market; A competitive team, local players and coaches, charismatic personalities like Eric Crookshank and John Strickland, games that have an “event” feel, and television coverage. Throw in the Weather Girls, Puddy, and Little Nate, and the Rainmen provide a lot of value for the price of a ticket. With the PBL all star game in Halifax and a Rainmen team that should go deep into the playoffs, this could be the year the franchise makes it big. If not, the writing may be on the wall for Livingston that Professional Basketball is not going to work in a city that has been a Mecca for university basketball in Canada.

Les Berry, Head Coach of the Halifax Rainmen – A PBL Championship
With the amount of talent, depth, and diversity Berry has put together on the Halifax Rainmen, the coach may find himself being held accountable if the team does not make a championship run. Berry’s biggest challenge is going to be distributing playing minutes to a roster that can go 10 deep. The only friction could come from players on the cusp of the starting line-up or eight man rotation. Berry will probably not have to worry about dissention from players like Gary Gallimore, Devon Norris, and John Strickland. Strickland seems to relish his role as a 12th man fan favourite and third assistant coach, while Norris and Gallimore have to be thrilled just to be on the roster. As the season progresses the only thing that could keep this team from the playoffs is dysfunction and coaching. The latter is not likely with the well travelled Coach Berry, but he’ll find himself front and centre in blame distribution if the Rainmen season begins to go south at any point this winter.

Cam Russell, Head Coach and GM of the Mooseheads – Moose keep playing .500 hockey.
Having survived a 12 game losing streak that had gone far past the point of acceptance with the dedicated Mooseheads faithful and local media, Russell has guided the team to 8 wins. After losing 18 of their first 20 games, the Mooseheads have played .500 hockey and miraculously still have a chance at a playoff spot. The Moose even have a win over the Saint John Sea Dogs, far and away the best team in the Q. As Russell continues to build towards year 3 of his rebuilding project, he’ll need to win close to half of the team’s remaining games as a nice show of faith to Moose fans. Herd Nation has been patient to say the least with Russell, enduring a horrific season last year and hanging in there as the team looked awful in October. Russell keeps telling us the Mooseheads are on schedule and will be much better in the second half. For his sake he better be right, another extended losing streak and the local media might finally start putting the heat on Bobby Smith to make a change.

Trevor Steinberg, Head Coach of SMU Huskies Hockey– A Return to CIS National Championships.
After the Huskies collapse last year in the CIS Semi Final to Western, Coach Steinberg and his troops need a return trip to get the program back on track. The AUS champions have looked shaky at times this season but have managed to gain 21 points, good for third place in the AUS, the most competitive conference in the countr. St FX and Acadia have emerged as contenders for number 2 in the standings, as the three schools battle to become fodder for the undefeated UNB Varsity Reds in the AUS Final. However, a trip to the final would get Steinburg back to nationals and an opportunity for redemption from last year’s stunning defeat.

John Campbell, Head Coach of Dal Men’s Basketball – The Return of Josh Beattie to a Tigers line-up that has not received consistent play from 5th year senior Andrew Sullivan and athletic newcomer Mari-Peoples Wong.

Steve Sumarah, Head Coach of SMU Football- A recruiting class with size, size, and more size; Sumarah needs to beef up the lines so that the Huskies can avoid a third straight CIS semi final loss in 2010.

Ross Quackenbush, Head Coach of SMU Men’s Basketball – A fourth player to emerge as an offensive threat so that the team doesn’t have to ride their talented trio of Ikeobi Ucheqbu, Mark Mclaughlin, and Joey Haywood.

Halifax Lions- More butts in the seats at the Halifax Forum. The MJAHL team has played winning hockey the past 2 months and are slowly climbing the standings. However it has yet to translate into any dramatic increase in attendance. The organization does a lot of very good things and hopefully will turn the corner at some point.

Anna Stammburger, Head Coach of Dal Women’s basketball- A healthy Alex Legge and a late season push at a playoff spot. With Legge and April Scott back in the Tigers line up, expectations will increase on the struggling program as March approaches.

Gary Galimore, Halifax Rainmen – A season of good behaviour. The notorious hothead is still remembered for hitting a minor official last year in Cape Breton as an assistant coach at St FX. Gallimore got into a heated exchange with a Quebec player last weekend in a preseason game at the Metro Centre. Gallimore needs to avoid making the news for wrong reasons.

Pete Belliveau, Head Coach of Dal Men’s hockey- Goals. Belliveau’s revamped Tigers have struggled mightily to score. Tigers colour commentator Steve Betts has described the team as “three lines of Guy Carbonneaus”. Help is on the way in the form of Benjamin Breault, a five year player in the QMJHL who was a 7th round selection of the Buffalo Sabres.

Saint Mary’s Athletics- Webcasting. The Huskies may be the most renowned athletics program in Canada that does not offer webcasting of home games. Newscast.com covers the Men’s Hockey team but St FX, Dalhousie, Cape Breton, and UPEI offer extensive webcasting of all their programs. Dalhousie even covers swimming! Get in the game SMU.

ACAA Men’s Basketball – One team that can stay within 10 points of Rick Plato’s Mount Saint Vincent Mystics . MSVU has now about 100 conference games in a row.

Lesley Jordan, Head Coach of Dal women’s basketball – A Secondary Scorer- As her team tries to compete with Moncton and St FX for the AUS championship, Jordan needs another player to step up and help high scoring forward Jocelyn Leblanc.

Halifax Sports Fans- A Mooseheads playoff spot, a Rainmen championship, a packed Metro Centre for the Briar, and a return of championship basketball in March.

Merry Christmas friends!
bill@haligonia.ca
Twitter- haligoniasports

Facebook - CKDU Sports Nation

Lions Ready for Nationally Ranked Slammers

Undefeated Woodstock Visits the Forum Thursday Night

The MJAHL Halifax Lions have been pretty happy with themselves and their play over the last month. Since starting the season with 3 straight losses, the Lions had been 10-7-2 with a 4 game winning streak before being dismantled last week at home in a 9-2 loss to Summerside.

The Lions looked like a team that had grown a little too confident and it showed in their lacklustre play. The Capitals came in aggressive and hungry and led the game from start to finish winning in a rout.

A similar performance vs. the undefeated Woodstock Slammers this week, and the Lions could lose by double digits.

There will be no room for error for Coach Troy Ryan and his troops. However they should have some confidence heading into the highly anticipated match up. The last time Woodstock came to Halifax, the Lions took them to overtime before losing on a goal by Slammer’s star player Brogan Bailey.

This was before the addition of high scoring Brendan Taylor, when the team was struggling to score goals. With Taylor, the newly acquired Brad MacDonald, and the return of Stephen Woodworth and Mike Rofsky, the Lions can score in bunches. The only issue heading into Thursday is which team will show up; the Lions who won 4 games in a row at the start of the month, or the team that looked lethargic and disinterested last week vs. Summerside.

Lion’s fans hope it’s the former.

Game time is Thursday night at 7:00 at the Forum on Windsor Street.

Slammers to Watch
# 21 Brogan Bailey- 20 Goals and 18 Assists
# 11 Michael Best- 19 Goals and 18 Assists
#26 Andrew Langan- 16 Goals and 21 Assists

The Slammers have 8 players with point totals well above the Lion’s leading scorer (Travis Perry, 19 pts), including 6’4” defenseman Brad Tesnick who has 27....... Brad’s younger brother, Ryan, may be the best prospect on the team. The 16 year old has 14 points on the season and can really fly.......The Slammers are 26-0 with 1 shootout loss. They are currently ranked 8th in the country. The Slammers got a scare last Thursday. Troy Ryan’s former team the Pictou Crushers took the Slammers to OT before eventually faltering in their upset bid.

Troy Ryan hopes to have everyone back on the same page for the game. There was a notable lack of effort by several key players vs. Summerside.......Travis Perry continues to lead the Lions in scoring with 19 points. Robbie Veriker and Wayne Bedecki have 15. Kyle Dilosa is coming up fast on the leaders with 8 goals and 6 assists. Brendan Taylor has 10 points in 6 games.......16 year old Stephen Woodworth is back with the Lions after a couple weeks with Lewiston in the QMJHL. Woodworth is paired up once again with the veteran Kyle Mariani. Brad Macdonald, the brother of John, has joined the team and Coach Ryan has the pair on a line with Stuart Lenihan. The brothers Macdonald look appear to have played allot of hockey together over the years to say the least. The Lions are 2 points behind Amherst for last place in the Maurice Bent division with a record of 10-11-2.

Halifax Lions Update

Summerside Rolls Over Halifax at the Forum
Lion’s 4 Game Winning Streak Snapped in Rout

That loud thud you heard last night on Windsor Street was nothing to be alarmed about. Unless you’re a Halifax Lions fan.

It was simply the sound of the Lions crashing back to earth after getting soundly whipped at the Halifax Forum 9-2 by the visiting Summerside Western Capitals.

The loss snapped the Lions 4 game winning streak and dropped them to 10-11-1 on the season, 5 days after they climbed to .500 and matched the previous year’s win total with a resounding 6-2 victory over the rival Bridgewater Lumberjacks. The Lions had outscored their opponents 26-8 during the streak and had won their games at the Forum in an eerily easy fashion.

It was role reversal by classic definition last night as Summerside cruised to victory after scoring the game’s first four goals. Goaltender Paul Dorsey stopped 53 Lions shots on route to garnering the game’s second star (although in the press box everyone agreed 53 shots was a highly inflated total). Steven Brazil led the Capitals attack with 2 goals and 1 assist. Brazil also gave a Sean Avery type performance, getting under the skin of several Lions with questionable antics that drew the ire of his opponents while firing up his teammates.

In one notable example, Brazil skated by the Lion’s bench and gave an elbow to Wayne Bedecki as he stood watching the game. Brazil’s actions led the way to a series of altercations that should make for an interesting rematch when the 2 teams hook up tomorrow night in Summerside.

The Capitals improve to 15-11 on the season, good for 3rd place in the Meek Division. The Lions remain in the basement of the Bent Division, 1 point behind Yarmouth and Amherst.

Brad Macdonald and Stuart Lenehan scored goals for Halifax.

The Lions next home game is Thursday, December 17 vs. the Woodstock Slammers. The Slammers are ranked nationally and still undefeated after a shootout victory last night in Pictou. Game time is 7:00 at the Halifax Forum.

The New Kid in Town

Newly Acquired Taylor Leads Lions Revival
High Times at the Forum as Lions Beat Campbellton 10-2

Troy Ryan may have solved his team’s lack of scoring prowess with one simple move; the acquisition of Brendan Taylor.

Just last week the Lions were one of the lowest scoring teams in the league. Travis Perry was the team’s leading scorer with a dozen points, while most of the other teams in the MJAHL had 4 or 5 players in the twenties or high teens.

Enter Brendan Taylor.

Since joining the team last week, the former Gatineau Olympique has been the focal point of a Lions offence that literally scored at will vs. visiting Campbellton on Sunday afternoon.

Taylor has 9 points in the three games, including a six point game vs. the Tigers that featured his first career hat trick.

Taylor has also lit a spark under the Lions big left wing sniper, Kyle Dilosa. Ryan has Taylor on a line with Dilosa and Justin Belanger, and Dilosa has turned into a one man wrecking crew.

Seemingly frustrated and underachieving prior to Taylors acquisition, Dilosa went on a tear this past week, compiling 3 goals and 3 assists while looking dangerous on nearly every shift. Dilosa had so many chances on Sunday it’s a mystery he only scored once.

Taylor’s presence seems to have installed confidence throughout the entire line up. The line of Perry, Robbie Veriker and Wayne Bedecki seem much more comfortable as the #2 combination, while third liners like Andrew Wigginton and Chris Riguse had multiple point games on Sunday.

Two of Taylor’s goals were so impressive that the crowd’s reaction was more of a “jaw drop/what did I just see” reaction rather than a boisterous rise of applause. As the Lions scored their 8th goal halfway through the second period, even Lions fans seemed to feel agony for the struggling Tigers team. Campbellton dropped to 3-18 on the season with the loss.

The Lions improved to 8-10-2 on the season, 8-7-1 in their last 16 games, and just 3 points out of fifth place in the Bent division.

Lions’ fans are starting to get excited for the upcoming rematch with the nationally ranked Woodstock Slammers. The Slammers are 20-0-1 on the season and just cracked the Top 10 rankings in Canada. The last time the Slammers came to Halifax, they barely escaped with an overtime win off a goal from leading scorer Brogan Bailey. Woodstock will be in Halifax for the rematch on Thursday, December 17 at the Forum.

In the meantime, the Lions will try to extend their winning streak to 3 this Thursday, December 3rd, vs. the Dieppe Commandos at the Forum. The Commandos are 7-15-2 for 4th place in the Meek Division. Game time is 7:00.

News and Notes
Defenseman Michael Rosky is back with the Lions after spending time with the Quebec Ramparts in the QMJHL. Lions’ defenseman Ian Saab is back in the Q, he rejoined the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles last week.....Congratulations to SMU Huskies Head Football Coach Steve Sumarah. Sumarah was selected as the CIS Coach of the Year for 2009, earning the 4th year coach the prestigious Frank Tindall trophy last week in Quebec City. Coach Sumarah has been a regular on my radio show, CKDU Sports, and was also on Haligonia Sports during the Tall Ships Festival. Forthcoming, honest, and genuine, the Coach is always an outstanding interview and a class act. Sumarah will add the award to his trophy shelf beside his 3 AUS Coach of the year awards. The Coach will tell you he would trade them all in for a trip to the Vanier Cup I’m sure, but the award is well deserved regardless.....The AUS and QIFC have negotiated an extended deal for interlock football through 2012. The deal will see each AUS team get 1 interlock game a year, while each Quebec team gets 2 games total through 2012. The contract has to be a disappointment for the conference, as the previous contract stipulated 2 games a year for each team. However, considering there was talk of Quebec walking away from an extension, the AUS has to be pleased. Next season we finally get a Laval/SMU game. The Rouge et Or will visit Huskies Stadium on September 18 for a game that will be one of the premier sporting events in Halifax next fall. The AUS conference will still have an 8 game schedule, with two teams having to play each other 3 times. Yikes!.........Rogers is giving away 10000 Halifax Rainmen tickets for their exhibition opener on Dec. 19 at the Metro Centre (see haligonia.ca homepage). Halifax Rainmen home games will be shown all season long on Haligonia.Ca. The regular season starts in early January.......Do you know who the 13th Rider was? There were reports that it was Jason Armstead, the returner in the endzone in case of a missed field goal. This assertion is ridiculous, as the Riders would have wanted a return man back there to bring the ball out in case of a miss. The game was 28-27, and a team can get 1 point on a missed field goal if the ball clears the end zone or is not returned past the goal line. Chances are very good that we’ll never know who the 13th Rider was, and that it was a coaching mistake. But it will be fun to hear the conspiracy theories as time goes on. Personally, I’m going to wait 5 years until things cool down, and then I’m moving to Saskatchewan to write a book. The title: “The Unsolved Mystery of the 13th Rider.” Follow me on Twitter, just search Haligoniasports. Please email me at bill@haligonia.ca.

Dilosa Sparks Lions Attack

Halifax Drops Amherst for Third Time in November
For the second time in 7 days the Halifax Lions easily dispatched of the Amherst Ramblers. The Lions have now beaten the Ramblers three times in November, outscoring them 14-3 in the process.
The Lions improve to a record of 7-10-2 while Amherst drops to 10-12-1.
Kyle Dilosa led the way for Halifax with 2 goals and 1 assist. The newly acquired Brendan Taylor has made an early impact on the offensive end for the Lions. The Oshawa, Ontario native and former Gatineau Olympique has 3 assists in 2 games and has found a connection with Dilosa. The two big forwards clicked on a line with Justin Belanger that accounted for 3 Lions’ goals.
Taylor has taken over control of the power play and created a lot of scoring opportunities for the Lions with the man advantage. The "pass first" centre seems to have lighted a spark under Dilosa who had his best game of the season.
It didn’t hurt that there were scouts from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and Saint John Seadogs in the crowd at the Forum. Dilosa played briefly with the Seadogs last season and is hopeful for a return to the QMJHL.
Wayne Bedecki scored on the powerplay for the Lions who are now 7-7-1 in their past 15 games. Stuart Lenehan added a shorthanded goal and Andrew Wigginton scored his seventh goal of the young season.
The game featured a flurry of goals in the second period as the teams went back and forth. The Ramblers narrowed Halifax’s lead to 3-2 with 2 minutes left in the second. That’s when Belanger and Taylor assisted on Dillosa’s second goal of the night to secure the victory for the Lions just before the end of the period.
The Lions next game is Sunday at the Forum vs. the Campbellton Tigers. The Tigers have the league’s worst record at 3-16-2. Game time is 3:30.

Uteck Bowl Recap

Dinos Win Uteck Bowl; Nill and Glavic Triumphant in Return to Huskies Stadium

This past Saturday, Blake Nill walked into Huskies Stadium for the 2009 Uteck Bowl with the swagger of a man walking into his own house. The former Huskies head coach was returning to face his old friend and former school in one of the most hyped football games in the city in recent memory.
As the sun set in the south end of Halifax and darkness began to loom over the Tower at Saint Mary’s, Nill reminded all the Huskies faithful and maritime football observers why he won 2 CIS championships as Head Coach at SMU just about a decade ago.
Nill’s new team, the Calgary Dinos, looked very much like the number 2 ranked team in the country, controlling both sides of the ball and leading from start to finish in a 38-14 drubbing of the Huskies.
Nill shocked the Halifax sports community when he announced he was leaving a Saint Mary’s program that he had turned into a national powerhouse to take over the Calgary Dinos. The Dinos situation was eerily similar to the one Nill has assumed at Saint Mary’s; a once proud program now down on its luck and eager to return to glory. Like clockwork, Nill took the struggling program and turned it into a winner almost overnight, just as he had done with the Huskies.
The Dinos have now won back to back conference championships and will play in their first Vanier Cup since 1995.
Matt Walker ran for 235 yards on 20 carries with 2 Touchdowns on route to garnering Uteck Bowl MVP. Walker broke the game open early with a 69 yard touchdown run highlighting a 125 yard first quarter performance that sealed the Huskies fate while many of 5700 fans were still trying to find seats. The Huskies faithful were never able to generate enthusiasm as the Huskies attack sputtered throughout the contest, leaving the honours to about 40 Calgary fans sitting behind the Dinos bench to make the most noise on this day.
Steven Lumbala also ran wild on the Huskies, adding 156 yards to a Calgary ground attack that had many Huskies fans fondly remembering the days when Blake Nill’s Huskies used to run the ball down the throats of AUS opponents.
Eric Glavic returned to Huskies Stadium where he once performed so many incredible feats as the 2007 Hec Creighton Trophy winner, while leading the Huskies to the Vanier Cup, a game he never played in due to injury. Glavic was a non factor on this day, throwing for a pedestrian 77 yards as he gave way to the high octane Calgary running game which made the highly touted Huskies rush defence look painfully average.
Now healthy and wearing Dino’s red, Glavic will get his chance to win a Vanier Cup next week at Laval. The Dinos will play the Queen’s Golden Gaels after the Gaels upset national powerhouse Laval Rouge et Or 33-30 in Kingston.
The game will be a bitter pill for Rouge et Or fans to swallow, as it was assumed their home team would be playing in the national championship trying to defend their title. If Laval had beaten Queen’s, the match up of Calgary and the Rouge et Or would have been the biggest football game in the team’s history. With Laval now relegated to watching from the stands, it will be surprising if the 16000 capacity stadium comes anywhere close to reaching its maximum attendance.
Glavic’s replacement at Saint Mary’s, Jack Creighton, struggled for the second straight year in a national semi final, throwing 3 interceptions. Creighton was the victim of a strong wind in the face of the Huskies offence in the opening quarter, and the vaunted Huskies ground attack was never able to get going, leaving Creighton with plenty of second down and long yardage situations. Tristan Jones was still suffering from an injured shoulder, leaving his brother Devon and Truro’s Craig Leger to pick up the slack on the ground. Leger led the Huskies with 63 yards.
Fifth year senior Carl Hardwick, whom Justin Palardy called the toughest guy on the team in an interview last week on Haligonia Sports, closed out his outstanding career with 8 catches and 102 yards.
Huskies Head Coach Steve Sumarah was a picture of class as always in defeat. Sumarah made his way to midfield and gave Nill, his former friend and mentor, a quick hug before shaking hands with Calgary assistants. Tension has been high between the two since Glavic’s departure from Saint Mary’s. Nill and Sumarah were always close as coaches with the Huskies and even roomed together on scouting trips after Nill left the program.
Sumarah then gathered his troops on the Huskies side of midfield and led the team in prayer and gave one final salute to the seniors. The loss has to be a bitter one for Sumarah, despite his incredible string o success since taking over the head coach position 4 years ago.
The 2009 Uteck Bowl came and went with barely a whimper, and now were left to ponder a game that had so much promise and anticipation. The Huskies were never able to get anything going against a clearly superior team, and the loss brings to a close what could arguably be the most disappointing season of AUS football in years.

Notes from the AUS
Had my first experience with a Flipcam on Saturday for the Uteck. All the videos I shot in the first half are sideways.....Forgot to have the camera rolling when Nill and Sumarah hugged after the game. It was pretty quick and void of emotion....the constant blaring of music and advertising really took away from the game. Do they really have to play a song between every single play?.....Looks who’s back: The X-Men basketball team. Coach K came into the Dalplex on Sunday and beat the nationally ranked Tigers by 11 points gaining a measure of revenge for last season’s loss in the AUS championship. It was a 4 point game in the standings so that’s a huge win for the undefeated X-Men......I talked to Coach Ross Quackenbush last week at Dalhousie and he mentioned being concerned about playing a 2 game set in NFLD vs. an improved MUN team. Sure enough the Huskies had to settle for a split.....Sean Gillis, the voice of the Rainmen, was talking AUS bball with me on the sidelines at the Uteck and he said any talk of the conference being down this year is highly exaggerated. Dal, Cape Breton, Acadia, X, and Saint Mary’s are all looking very good. It is a year where the bottom 3 teams may not be that great, with MUN showing the most promise. UNB and UPEI look like they are going to struggle....Covered the Dal Men’s Ice hockey game for ssncanada.ca on Friday and the Tigers played very well in a 3-2 loss to Acadia. The Axemen are playing solid, disciplined hockey and are currently in second place in a conference that has 2 of the 3 best teams in the country, the undefeated UNB V-Reds and the Huskies.... If you get a chance to see the UNB Varsity Reds men’s hockey team play this year, take it. They are very, very good. Right now they are 11-0 and I would not be surprised to see them go undefeated in the country’s toughest conference. The Reds play the Huskies on Jan.15 and the Tigers on Feb.6 (ssncanada.ca).....I wouldn’t want to be a Huskies hockey player this week. Chances are very good that Trevor Steinburg is not pleased with his squad dropping 2 games over the weekend, including 1 over a UPEI team that has had a very distracting week with their head coach resigning.

Uteck Bowl Preview on Haligonia Sports

This friday join me and Coach John Macneil of Eastlink for a preview of this weekend's Uteck Bowl, pitting the Calgary Dinos and the Saint Mary's Huskies. Emotions will be running high at Huskies Stadium as former Head Coach Blake Nill and former star Quarterback Eric Glavic return to Halifax to play Steve Sumarah's AUS champion Huskies.

Haligonia Sports will be live this friday at Noon on haligonia.ca! Get ready for the big game with me and Coach Macneil, as we break down the most highly anticipated Uteck Bowl in years!
See you then!

Capers AUS Soccer Champs. Great Scott! April's Back.

Hero to Goat in 60 Seconds: The Curious Case of Jimmy Mayaleh

Two weekends ago I covered the AUS Men’s Soccer championships at Dalhousie University for ssncanada.ca. It was certainly one of the most bizarre yet beautiful championship weekends I had ever been associated with.
The three day event was chalk full of upsets, individual flashes of brilliance, contentious altercations between players and fans, and of course, a classic Halifax weekend of weather that forced the postponement of games and brought freezing cold temperatures to the pitch once play finally got started.
On quarter final Saturday, only one goal was scored through 2 games, a brilliant header by the magical Olivier Babineau in the closing minutes of overtime during game one, giving Moncton an upset win over UNB. In the second game, Danny Mcalleer won the match for PEI in penalty shots, after Saint Francis Xavier’s outstanding rookie, Max Mound, saw his attempt go harmlessly wide of the right post. If you watched the game on ssncanada, you could hear the shivering and shallow breathing of me and Matt Fegan as we called the last hour of the game in freezing temperatures.
On semi final Sunday, the four teams combined for 14 goals, both contests finishing with a 4-3 score. In the opener, Cape Breton scored 4 goals in the first half, and then had to hold on as Cinderella Moncton made a late charge to draw within 1 goal, but could not get the equalizer. In the day’s finale, last year’s AUS champion Dalhousie Tigers were upset on their home pitch by the upstart PEI Panthers. Jerrod Murphy and Jimmy Mayaleh played brilliantly in leading UPEI to the stunning win over the heavily favoured Tigers.
The final was played Monday morning on a beautiful, sunny day in Halifax. Cape Breton held a 1 goal lead well into the final minutes, when Jimmy Mayaleh found open space for the first time in the match, and drilled a strike past the Cape Breton keeper to tie the game at one.
Charlottetown’s Mayaleh was an instant hero for his hometown school, and to celebrate he ran around the field while removing his jersey. This earned him an automatic yellow card, seemingly an easy price to pay for the amount of joy the underdog Panthers felt as they drew even with the mighty Capers.
However just seconds after Cape Breton kicked off, Mayaleh let loose with a vicious and unnecessary challenge at midfield that drew another yellow card, earning Mayaleh an ejection from the match.
Mayaleh walked off the pitch looking like a man desperate for a hole to crawl in. The same turf that, just 1 minute previous, he had been dancing around minus his shirt, celebrating the goal of the tournament. Down to 10 men, the Panthers would go on to lose to the Capers, Keishon Bean scoring the game winning goal just 20 seconds into the first overtime to give Cape Breton an AUS Championship.
As a result of the red card, Mayaleh was forced to miss the team’s opening match at nationals this past weekend vs Laval, a match the Panthers would lose 3-1.
One of the great things about watching college and university athletes is the constant balance between incredible feats of performance and mind boggling mistakes of innocence. These athletes do things that make you jump out of your seat and simply marvel at the level of performance they can obtain. They also make mistakes, usually a result of the immensity of the moment that can simply break your heart. That’s when you step back, take a moment, and remind yourself: they’re just kids.

AUS Notes and Observations
The Dalhousie Tigers Men’s basketball team is very legitimate. I covered the Tiger’s games this past weekend vs. Memorial. Although the Tigers were inconsistent against the scrappy Seahawks, the disparity in talent levels between the two teams was very evident. Simon Farine is looking like the best player in the AUS, while newcomers Joe Schow and Mari Peoples-Wong showed flashed of brilliance in both games. Schow gives the Tigers the first legitimate big man in the John Campbell era, while Mari Peoples Wong may be the most athletic player in Tigers history.......I chatted with Scott Munro, head coach of SMU Huskies basketball on Sunday. The coach seems very happy with his Huskies team thus far. First year guard Justine Colley is as good as advertised and Laure Pitifield has brought alot of experience and offence to a Huskies team that was desperate for a presence in the post......The AUS Men’s Volleyball conference will be business as usual for the Dalhousie Tigers. Memorial is still a bad team while UNB does not appear to be much better than last season’s 8-10 effort. The Tigers swept the Reds fairly easily in weekend action at the Dalplex. The Reds actually hung close on Friday but were dismissed quickly in straight sets on Saturday.......Can’t wait for the Uteck Bowl. Dream match up for Huskies fans; the return of Blake Nill and Eric Glavic. The Huskies will have Devon Jones for the game, still no word on his brother Tristan. I had an interview with placekicker Justin Palardy on Friday’s episode of Haligonia Sports http://live.haligonia.ca/halifax-ns/sports/6276-haligonia-sports-episode-18-.html........ April Scott is back. I was covering the women’s volleyball game at Dalplex on Saturday for ssncanada when I looked down and saw April Scott walking around in a Tiger’s basketball uniform. I literally rubbed my eyes. AUS coaches must feel like Scott has unlimited eligibility. The 5th year senior is taking Dental Hygiene at Dal and decided mid week to dress up for the Tigers after taking last season off. Scott’s presence in the backcourt is a godsend for Coach Anna Stammburger as she has been playing rookies Trish Mcneil and Anna Von Maltzahn along with senior Rachel Harrison. The combination had been getting killed by full court pressure but Scott brings the type of ball control and smarts that makes everybody on the team better. 5th year posts Laura and Leah Girdwood got multiple easy baskets all weekend with Scott in the line-up, while Harrison was arguably the Tigers best player. The return of Scott paid immediate dividends, as the Tigers claimed their first victory of the season on Sunday vs. a tough Memorial Seahawks squad....This weekend I’ll be covering the Dalhousie Tiger’s men’s hockey game vs Acadia on Friday night at 7:00 on ssncanada.ca. Also tune in to CKDU Sports Tuesday at 10:30 am on CKDU 88.1 or ckdu.ca, and I’ll have a special Uteck Bowl preview show on Friday’s Haligonia Sports with Coach John Mcneil of Eastlink. The show airs Friday at noon on haligonia.ca.

Tigers Get First Win; AUS Soccer Championship Preview

Hockey Tigers Get First Win
Pete Belliveau’s Dalhousie Tigers men’s hockey team got their first conference win this past Friday night at the Dalhousie Memorial Arena. The Tigers withstood a late rally from the Moncton Blue Eagles to win 6-4.
The Tigers have 11 fresh faces on this year’s rebuilding squad, but it was a familiar face that led the way in this contest.
Captain and 4th year senior Jeff Larsh scored a hat trick to pace the Tigers, his third marker coming at the midway point of the second period.
Larsh’s first goal came 30 seconds into the game and was followed a minute later by a highlight goal from Kenzie Sheppard. A streaking Sheppard took a long pass from Ben Van Lare and scored on the breakaway with a nifty backhanded move.
Trevor Mackenzie also scored for the Tigers and Ronald Kelly added an empty netter to put the game away late in the third period.
Dean Ouellet scored a goal and added an assist to garner player of the game honours for Moncton. Bobby Nadeau stopped 33 shots for the Tigers to get his first victory of his university career, after playing 5 years in the QMJHL.
The next afternoon at the arena, the Tigers played the St.Thomas Tommies to a standstill after 70 minutes of regulation and overtime, but lost in the shootout.
Dartmouth’s Cory Banfield returned to the HRM as a Tommie and scored the game winning shootout goal. Banfield also scored in the first period on route to being named player of the game.
Patrick Sweeney led the Tigers with 2 assists. Ronald Kelly added a goal and registered a stellar two way performance to spark a Tigers comeback late in the third. Trailing 3-1, the Tigers scored 2 goals to force overtime and ensure themselves of at least a point in the standings.
The Tigers are now 1-3-2 and are tied for last place with Moncton. The Tigers have shown strength at the Memorial Arena, now 1-0-2 after 3 home games.
Dalhousie plays Acadia Wednesday night in Wolfville, and then come home for a pair of weekend games, vs. PEI on Friday night, and the UNB Varsity Reds on Saturday night. Both games start at 7:00 and can be seen live on ssncanada.ca.

AUS Soccer Championships at Dalhousie
The reigning AUS Champion Dalhousie Tigers men’s soccer team will play host for the 2009 championships. The Tigers will be the number 2 seed and play their first game on Saturday at 3:00 vs. the highest remaining seed from Friday’s quarter finals. The Cape Breton Capers are the tournament’s top seed and will play the lowest remaining seed on Saturday at noon.
#3 UNB plays #6 Moncton at Noon on Friday, followed by #4 UPEI vs. #5 St Francis Xavier.
Weather is expected to be a major factor for Friday’s games. The forecast is calling for heavy rains and cool temperatures. Saturday’s games should see crisp but clear weather, while Sunday’s final is expected to be a beautiful day.
Tigers Head Coach Pat Nearing was a guest on CKDU Sports this past Tuesday. Nearing said that the flu epidemic will probably be a bigger storyline than the weather. The Tigers have had players miss time the last couple of weeks due to illness, and he thinks the other teams are in the same boat.
If the Tigers make it to the final vs. Cape Breton, coach Nearing hopes to take advantage of the Capers attacking style. “(The Capers) are quick. Their whole team has an attacking mentality,” said Nearing. “They come at you in waves and it could create some opportunities for counter attack, a chance for one on one with our strikers. If that happens, I fancy our chances.”
Nearing also added that when the Tigers lost to Cape Breton in Sydney, they were without the services of starting strikers Hamzeh Afani and Michel Daoust-Wheatley.
Finally, Nearing warned fans not to book Cape Breton and Dalhousie as automatic participants in Sunday’s final. “The AUS is so tight and soccer is the cruellest of sports,” said Nearing. “It’s a game of upsets, affected by weather, surface....you could dominate a game from start to finish and lose 1-0.”
The entire tournament will be shown on ssncanada.ca. Join me and Matt Fegan at 12:00 on Friday for the first game of the 2009 championships.

Notes and Observations
Despite the Halifax Mooseheads horrible record, and the fact they are a bad hockey team, I’ve written on several occasions that, at the very least, they play hard and give it everything they have. Which is why I was so disappointed to read on Friday morning several Mooseheads players saying they came out flat and unprepared for their loss to Montreal on Thursday night at the Metro Centre. When you are 1-17-1, how do you possibly come out flat for a home game vs. a mediocre team? You’d think they would have been geared up for a possible win, considering there may only be 8-10 wins on the table for the rebuilding squad this year.....Does the Blue Jays announcement to keep Cito Gaston as manager 1 more season before turning him into a consultant seem strange to anyone else? What good does this do for the organization? Make him a consultant now and let the new GM hire a new manager. What can Cito do for the Jays in 2010 besides mismanage his pitching staff and inspire absolutely no one to do any more than the bare minimum......Watching Pedro Martinez pitch with a mid-eighties fastball and a beer gut is fun. A stark contrast to the days when he was a fire-baller with the Sox and looked about 140 pounds soaking wet. But the guy can still pitch, although, as I write this, Matsui just took him deep in game 6 (“who’s your daddy?”)....AUS basketball starts this weekend. The Tigers play UNB on Friday night while the Huskies have a tough 2 game set in Cape Breton. The women’s games will be very interesting with the defending champion Capers hosting the new and improved Huskies with their highly touted recruiting class.....the Acadia Axemen walking into Antigonish this weekend and beating the X-Men in the AUS Football semi-final would be akin to the Miracle on Ice in 1980, when a gutsy bunch of Americans led by Ken Morrow beat the Soviet Union. Even if Acadia manages to hang tough with the X-Men, the Gary Waterman “love in” on campus could come to a crashing halt. But it’s not going to happen. X wins by 21 points at least.....The Dalhousie Tigers women’s basketball team could be in for a rough November. After looking very unimpressive in pre-season, the Tigers have a tough first term conference schedule featuring games against MUN, CBU, and X. The Tigers are desperate for Alex Legge to return, but she won’t be back until January. Until then the team’s youthful backcourt will have its hands full with some very physical and experienced opponents.