With final exams and the end of the semester just around the corner, the sports complex is emptying rather quickly. Last weekend’s hockey and basketball games were the last chance to see the Stingers at home until after the Christmas snow disappears and classes start again for the winter semester.
The Stingers, all things considered, had a pretty good final weekend of 2005 at home, but all four teams should be focused on preparing to improve even more for the second half of the season.
The Stingers need to remember the mantra ‘it’s not how you start, but how you finish’. For the teams that are just starting to peak, and especially for the teams who haven’t yet peaked, there is still a lot of game to be played. As the Montreal Alouettes and Edmonton Eskimos showed, if you are going into the playoffs playing your best, the possibilities are endless.
The women’s basketball team struggled through their two games this weekend, and is still looking for their first win of the season. The men’s basketball team lost their first game of the season to rival Laval, the favourite to win the QSSF crown, but rebounded with a win over McGill. The men’s hockey team tied and won their two games at home over the weekend. They have two games on the road this coming weekend before going on a trip to Europe.
The women’s hockey team’s final game played at Concordia before the Christmas exam period, was one of the best games I have ever seen. It pitted McGill, #3 in the country, against #4 Concordia in a battle that left a very good taste in the mouths of the Stingers going into the break. It was the biggest crowd of the season thus far at the Ed Meagher arena for a women’s hockey game and it was their best showing of the year. The Stingers scored two goals in the final six minutes to tie and beat the Martlets, but that wasn’t the only story. The game featured loud fans from both McGill and Concordia, and if you were sitting close to the players’ benches, you could hear words of encouragement. You could feel how badly both teams wanted to win this game. It was a playoff atmosphere in the arena on Sunday, and both teams played that way.
The women’s hockey team is hosting the annual Theresa Humes Invitational tournament in January, as classes are about to start. This year’s tournament will feature some of the best teams from around Canada and it’s the next best thing to attending the National Championships. The price of a ticket includes admission to all games on that day. The Stingers lost the final in last year’s tournament to the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks, who eventually went on to become National Champions. The Golden Hawks started off this season ranked first in Canada, a ranking they continue to hold.
Sanctions for McGill
Another step was taken in the hazing scandal at McGill University. The QSSF has fined McGill $30,000 for cancelling the season. The amount includes reimbursement of all expenses and loss of revenues caused by McGill’s cancellation of the season. McGill has also been placed on probation for one year. The money will go to the universities affected by McGill’s withdrawal, as well as to RDS for additional production costs caused by the change of venue of a televised game on October 22. McGill also cannot have any televised games throughout the 2006 and 2007 seasons, and cannot host a home playoff game in 2006. If McGill makes the 2006 playoffs, its portion of any revenue sharing in effect in the Quebec conference will go to the league. I feel that this penalty is warranted, and McGill is lucky it isn’t more severe. The QSSF came down with the right punishment for McGill in this case, as the University wasn’t tough enough on its own.
The fine along with the ban on playoff revenue and television exposure was a good mix. The Quebec Student Sport Federation set a good precedent for the rest of universities in Quebec, as well as for the rest of Canada. It sets a standard on how they deal with hazing and how the sports governing bodies will handle any future incidents like pulling out a team in the middle of a season. Thumbs up from me to everyone involved in the decision process.
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