Tag: Julian Mei

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Group wants students to get SWARMed up

As reported last week, Concordia students are not the best at supporting their varsity teams. 

Still, a group of students known as the SWARM are hoping to change the culture of the school, by raising awareness and spirit around the teams.

The SWARM is a club that was launched in September by Emran Ghasemi, a member of the Concordia men’s rugby team, who was frustrated by the sparse attendance and sullen atmosphere at the Stingers’ sporting events.

The SWARM has exceeded Ghasemi’s expectations. “So far we’ve had five events and we’ve had a good turnout for all of them.”

The SWARM drew over 400 students for the football homecoming game, a win against St. F-X. Not all teams draw the same crowds, though.

Some events for more niche sports like soccer and rugby have only drawn 20 to 40 students. Ghasemi is aware that there is still a long way to go and is realistic in his goals.

“What we’re trying to achieve is to increase the athletic awareness around campus. If you go and talk to a normal Concordia student they will usually not know what kind of sports are offered, what kind of teams we have or what the teams have accomplished.”

Ghasemi is not alone in his efforts. His friend Lorne Segall is also heavily involved in helping the SWARM and is also impressed with how things have gone.

“This is something that has been tried at Concordia but has never worked,” said Segall. “We’ve gone beyond bounds of what any other people like us have tried in the past.”

Collaboration with other student groups has been paramount for the early success of the SWARM.

“We’re trying make people more aware of us by getting involved with other clubs and associations in our campuses,” added Segall.

The SWARM is currently working with ASFA to plan an event around the Feb. 8 men’s hockey game against McGill.

The group is also aware that Montreal is a city which offers plenty of other entertainment besides varsity sports in a residential neighbourhood 20 minutes from downtown. Because of this, events must be planned strategically.

“We try and avoid [planning an event] at a late Friday night game for that exact reason,” said Segall. “For example, at Hockey 101 (an event planned at a men’s hockey game for international students), it was early enough on a Friday that we were able to get students out, give them a couple of free beers and get sort of that early pre-buzz going.”

Segall was quick to note, however, that the SWARM’s goal is not to become a pre-bar drinking club that happens to be at sporting events. “We’re trying hard not to just be a free booze thing because that could get us in a little trouble around campus,” he said. “But I think the point is that we need a draw to Loyola. A little bit of extra incentive to [get students out to campus]. We want the fans to get loud and rowdy, just not to the point where it’s disrespectful.”

The SWARM is planning upcoming events for both hockey and basketball games, and more information about the group can be found on their Facebook page.

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Stingers winning streak ends at eight

Karim Sy-Morissette drives by Jerome Blake of Concordia. Photo by Navneet Pall/

Like a little brother who has to catch up to his older sibling, a young McGill team finally toppled a Concordia team stacked with veterans, after showing steady improvement against the Stingers all season.

Karim Sy-Morissette drives by Jerome Blake of Concordia. Photo by Navneet Pall

After suffering a blow-out loss on home court to start the season, McGill came close to beating the Stingers at Loyola on Jan. 21 in a spirited game. Though the Redmen came up short on the scoreboard, it was evident the team had greatly improved from opening night.

The Redmen took the final step on Saturday night and, for the first time this season, it was Concordia’s turn to watch its greatest rival celebrate a victory.

“Last week we thought we had a chance to beat them and let it slip away, so this was big for our confidence,” said Redmen coach David DeAveiro.

Similar to the teams’ last meeting, McGill took advantage of Concordia’s slow start and grabbed and early lead. The Stingers shot only 29 per cent from the floor and made just one of 11 three-point attempts in the first half.

Playing in front of a vociferous and packed arena, the Redmen had help of a “sixth man” so to speak. “The crowd was great. I hope it keeps getting better and better,” said DeAveiro.

While last week at home the Stingers were eventually able to find their comfort zone late in the game, this was not the case on Saturday.

The poor shooting continued for Concordia in the second half, except Decee Krah who scored a team-leading 17 points on the night, all in the third and fourth quarters.

The Stingers, however, did their best not to let the game get out of reach, and remain within striking distance.

Unfortunately for Concordia, it was McGill’s turn to receive some gratuitous bounces from the basketball gods.

Trailing 63-55, forward James Clark had an opportunity to bring the Stingers within five points, but the fifth-year forward missed an easy layup underneath the basket. The ball eventually popped out to Redmen guard Vincent Dufort to explode down the floor for an uncontested dunk  that gave McGill a 10-point lead with just over three minutes remaining, and raised the noise level of the gym a couple decibels. Dufort led McGill in scoring with 16 points.

Mirroring last week, Concordia made several free throws late, making it a three-point game with just 18 seconds left. However, this time McGill didn’t turn the ball over and made their free throws when it counted.

“It’s hard to win a game when you shoot this poorly from the field,” said Concordia coach John Dore. “We had our chances in the end and just didn’t perform well enough to win the game.”

Despite being disappointed with the loss, the Stingers were well aware the cycle of slow starts was bound to catch up with them.

“Honestly, I think that we needed this,” said guard Kyle Desmarais. “I feel like if we’d gone undefeated we could have lost in the finals or semi-finals. This way we see that we’re not unbeatable and that we still have things to work on and it will make us that much better.”

Concordia’s next game is Friday, Feb. 3 at 8 p.m. at home to Laval.

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Stingers overcome challenges on and off the ice in playoff race

With four games to go in the season, it must be frustrating for the Concordia Stingers and other OUA East hockey teams to look across the conference to the West Division where the Laurier Golden Hawks, sporting a 7-16-1 record, have practically clinched the final spot in the divisional playoffs.

By comparison, Ryerson, with a record of 11-10-3, would miss the playoffs if they started today. In the East, only four points currently separate the fourth seed (Toronto) from ninth-place Ryerson. Concordia is sitting in seventh, tied with Queen’s with 26 points, only one point up on Ryerson.

But such is life in the CIS. Due to geographical circumstances, unbalanced conferences and schedules are something that all teams have to deal with.

Concordia’s head coach, Kevin Figsby, is not frustrated with the fact that, this season, the East is better than the West, pointing out it is “cyclical” and that in past years the West has been better than the East.

The biggest change Figsby would like to see, though, is the balancing of the conference schedule. As it stands, Concordia plays four games a year against McGill and UQTR (perennially strong teams), while teams like Queen’s and Toronto play four games a year against RMC (a perennially weaker team). All teams in each conference also have to play four “crossover” games, often resulting in long bus rides. This year Concordia had to play Windsor, a 12-hour drive away.

“We’ve got the same teams competing for the same [playoff spots] with an unbalanced schedule,” explained Figsby. He also pointed out that the West Division has nine teams vying for eight spots, compared to the East where 10 teams are jockeying for the same number of positions.

Changes have been proposed during meetings, but ultimately the majority has ruled to leave the present system in place.

“The coaches’ association has looked at [changing the system],” said Figsby. “We’ve debated over it and we’ve voted over it. There’s always a diverse conversation that goes on around the table, and obviously for competitive reasons some people don’t want to go to a full conference schedule. You can also look at the [West Division] and they’re pretty content having eight out of nine teams make it, so why would they vote to do anything different?”

For Figsby, perhaps the most frustrating thing is not having more universities in Quebec with men’s hockey programs, thus making it possible for a Quebec conference to exist, and sparing schools like Concordia, McGill and UQTR trips to Ontario. “I still can’t figure out how we can have as much passion about hockey in Quebec, and have one francophone school [in Quebec] with men’s hockey,” he said referring to UQTR.

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Winning ugly is still winning

Jean-Andre Moussignac moves the ball down court for the Stingers. Photo by Julian Mei

A fired up McGill team came closer than any other Quebec school has in putting a smudge of imperfection on the Concordia Stingers’ undefeated season.

Jean-Andre Moussignac moves the ball down court for the Stingers. Photo by Julian Mei

Coming off a win in Ste-Foy over Laval the night before, Concordia came out looking sluggish and unmotivated on its home court against the team’s biggest rival on Saturday afternoon. As a result, McGill was able to amass an early 10-point lead, the largest deficit Concordia had faced after one quarter so far this season. Concordia showed more life in the second quarter and managed to cut the deficit to six. Still, there were many areas of concern for Concordia at halftime. The Stingers were outrebounded in the first half by an embarrassing margin, 33-15 as McGill picked up almost as many offensive boards, 14, as Concordia did in total.

“Our forwards just didn’t do their jobs tonight,” said coach John Dore.

Whether or not the late travel night on Friday had an effect on the Stingers’ play, their coach wasn’t giving the benefit of the doubt to a team that has been starting games slow lately.

“There’s no excuses,” said Dore. “You’ve got to come out and play. Both teams have 40 minutes to play and we don’t make excuses.”

After building some late second quarter momentum, Concordia came out of the half looking sluggish yet again, and quickly found themselves back down by 11 points. Finally, though, the Stingers awoke from their slumber and closed the quarter on an 18-6 run, which ended with Decee Krah making a three-point shot as time expired in the quarter, firing up his team and the packed gymnasium, and giving Concordia a three-point lead going into the game’s final quarter.

The Redmen deserve credit though, as they were unwilling to simply play the role of red carpet on the Stingers’ march to perfection.

Redmen point Vincent Dufort hit two free throws to give McGill a one-point lead with only 1:44 to play in the game—the latest
Concordia had trailed in a game
all season.

As is often the case in university sports, experience prevailed over youth as a Stingers team stocked with veterans was able to force six turnovers in the final 90 seconds of the game and closed out the afternoon on a 9-0 run, securing the team’s seventh RSEQ win of the season.

Afterwards, the team was happy with the win but not the effort.

“We won and that’s what matters, but it’s the same story,” said Stingers fifth-year guard Decee Krah who finished the game with 14 points. “We won every quarter after the first but we had to battle back the entire game. We won by eight but we [wanted to win] by 20 or 30.”

Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the weekend for Concordia was the fact the team failed to “send a message” by blowing out teams in its weak conference, something many players have said is a priority.

“We know how good the competition is out east and out west,” said guard Kyle Desmarais. “We lost by 16 to St. F-X (who is ranked fourth in the CIS). We have no delusions about being a top three team right now. We are very far from that but we believe we have the capabilities.”

Ironically, the losing team may have come away feeling more like winners.

“I’m very proud of my team,” said McGill coach Dave DeAveiro. “When you play on the road against a good team like Concordia you need to almost be perfect to win. We did a lot of good things but there are still things we need to improve on.”

Concordia’s next game is on the road against Bishop’s, Friday Jan. 27 at 8 p.m.

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Stingers introduce newest members to the hive

Stingers alumni in the CFL are helping with Concordia’s recruitment difficulties. Photo by Julian Mei

Stingers stars, past and present, were in attendance last Friday afternoon as football coach Gerry McGrath introduced a group of young men he hopes will lead Concordia in the future.

Stingers alumni in the CFL are helping with Concordia’s recruitment difficulties. Photo by Julian Mei

Liam Mahoney of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (pictured on the right), and Cory Watson  of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (left), among other former Stingers now in the CFL were on hand to welcome the 18 newest recruits to the Concordia Stingers football program at a luncheon at the Perform Centre.

The recruits certainly have a local flavour to them; 17 of the 18 have experience playing in the CÉGEP system.

Coach McGrath believes that players coming out of CÉGEP can be more valuable than out-of-province recruits, as often times the players are ready to step into important roles immediately.

“The best players in Quebec are in the CÉGEP system,” said McGrath. “[Players from Ontario] are usually a year or two behind. You expect a kid from Ontario to have an important role in his third year, but the CÉGEP kids can come in right away.”

While the atmosphere around the event was optimistic and upbeat, McGrath did speak about some of the difficulties Concordia faces in the recruitment process, further explaining his comments from last year about the unfair financial advantage Laval has.

“We can compete, but there are obstacles that make it difficult,” he said. “As I look at my five losses from last year, two of them are to Laval and a third in the playoffs. What I’d like to see is everyone in the country have a minimum and a maximum [budget] so that every team at the top of their cycle [of players] has a chance to win a national championship. I think every great league has that type of [balance]. I think it’s important that the CIS gets to that point.”

As it presently stands, Laval gets private funding from a corporation whereas the Stingers rely solely on funding from Concordia.

Finances isn’t the only uphill battle McGrath and his staff face when recruiting. Language and the program’s reputation are also factors in the decision of recruits. McGrath, though, thinks Concordia does have some advantages over schools such as Laval and Sherbrooke.

“Well first of all [a team] can only dress 48 players, so you have to ask yourself [as a recruit going to a premier program] are you going to be one of those 48?” he said. “Second of all, the school plays a large role in it. Finishing school and being bilingual is a great asset for any young man.”

While Concordia has had success producing great individual talents, such as the CFL players on hand, and most recently Max Caron, winner of the defensive player of the year award, the school is hoping to take the next step: competing for national championships.

“We send as many people to the pros as any school,” said McGrath. “We now need to get to the point where we develop 40 or 50 great players so we can have the depth that Laval or Montréal has.”

A full list of the recruits can be found on the Stingers’ website.

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Is it time to ice the language issue?

Keep language out of the rink

Myles Dolphin

Like a debilitated canine on its last breath, it is time to take the Montreal Canadiens language controversy and put it to sleep.

I love the Habs. As a French-Canadian I feel close to my team and I truly believe they’re an institution in this province. I watch their games in French on RDS because it’s how I was raised; the commentators are Quebecers and I can relate to them more easily than I can to Bob Cole on CBC.

I didn’t shed a single tear when Randy ‘unilingual’ Cunneyworth was chosen to coach the Habs until the end of the season. He’s respected by the players and they couldn’t care less about his language abilities (or disabilities rather). It’s embarrassing to make such a big deal about this “issue,” mostly because it’s yet another deterrent for big name players to come to Montreal.

When they acquired Rene Bourque last week, he tweeted about not being able to speak French and the fear that put into him. Reporters greeted him at the airport and asked if he planned on learning French. Do you think he cares? Is that the kind of reception he wants?

The province needs to rally behind the only NHL team it has, but instead, a few hundred separatists with too much time on their hands gather and protest in front of the Bell Centre, in the hopes of raising awareness to their so-called plight. Aren’t there enough distractions already?

The Habs are losing badly; the media circles every practice and game like vultures, star players are injured and under-performing, and some of them even fight during practice. On top of all that, they have to cater to the province’s archaic notion that a coach has to speak French? If the Habs had been winning left and right, there would be no issue—Celine Dion could be coaching and they wouldn’t care. By emphasizing that the coach has to speak French, the Canadiens organization is limiting itself to a very small pool of coaches it can choose from, and ignoring others who are equally or more qualified for the position.

Some say if Cunneyworth had said a few words in French during his initial press conference, the media would have been satisfied. So what’s the difference between speaking no French, and saying ‘bonjour’ and ‘merci’? The Habs lost yet another game last week against Ottawa in which they had the lead. The players are the ones performing on the ice and they alone can affect the outcome of a game. Habs legend Guy Lafleur said it best: “It doesn’t matter if you speak German, Russian, or whatever. The bottom line is: win the games and then make the playoffs and try to win the Stanley Cup.”

The Habs actually had a string of French-speaking coaches in the past decade: Alain Vigneault, Michel Therrien, Claude Julien and Guy Carbonneau. Guess what? None of them lasted more than three years. We fire them and complain about not having the right coaches. How does that make sense? I see very little difference between Cunneyworth giving his post-game comments in English, or adding, “Now I’ll say the exact same thing in extremely broken French.”

The media needs to grow up and realize it’s always been about winning. The Habs have enough problems of their own. Laissez-les jouer.

Canadiens need to respect the culture

Julian Mei

I didn’t grow up in Montreal. I’m not a die-hard Canadiens fan. I don’t speak French, nor do identify with the culture. Still, though, I feel that the Francophones, especially those in the media, have the right to be upset with the hiring of a monolingual coach.

The Canadiens are not just a hockey team. They are an institution. A way of life. They define the city more than corruption, crumbling infrastructure and strip clubs do combined.

It is reasonable for some Francophones to view the interim hiring of Randy Cunneyworth as the further “anglo-izing” of their beloved Habitants. Very few players on the team can speak French and if even the coach doesn’t speak the language it sends the message that the Canadiens are just another NHL team, who just happen to play in a French speaking city. Sure, fans may warm up to Anglo players or coaches, but there is a reason names like Richard, Beliveau and Roy resonate in ways that Shutt, Gainey and Dryden just don’t.

Of course, Montreal is a bilingual city, in a primarily French speaking province. If you want to work in any important position in this province you need to be able to get by in French. And here’s a news flash: head coach of the Montreal Canadiens is a pretty damn important position. The coach is the captain of the ship and if the majority of the team’s fans can’t identify, or even understand what he is saying, it creates strain between the team and the community that cherishes it so much.

Having an English speaking coach also makes it difficult for the members of the french media. Even though some can get by in English, if you are trying to operate in a language you aren’t fully comfortable with, it becomes difficult to build a relationship and communicate with your source so you can properly understand the stories and issues surrounding the team. At the very least, the Canadiens should use some of their riches to pay a translator to sit with Cunneyworth during interviews. However, as someone who has had to operate in such a way at times, working with a translator can also become difficult and frustrating to carry on a conversation.

An argument that is often made is that the team handcuffs itself by excluding English coaches as potential candidates. This is partially true, but it’s not as though there are no capable bilingual coaches. I believe of the remaining four teams in last year’s Stanley Cup playoffs, three had French speaking coaches. It’s not as though the team has a policy where they only hire people from Uzbekistan. There are plenty of brilliant hockey minds in this country who can function in the two official languages.

This being said, the Montreal Canadiens’ head coach’s office has had a revolving door installed on it the past few seasons. The fans and media never seem to be happy. It is time for both sides to meet in the middle.

Fans and media need to realize the Habs’ roster this season is not very good and, regardless of who is behind the bench, if you don’t have the talent on the ice, it just doesn’t matter.

The team, though, needs to put this issue to rest at the end of the season and hire a coach who can speak French.

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UQAM leaves Stingers’ hive with no honey

James Clark (22) rejects Alexandre Bernard in Concordia's five-point home victory. Photo by Navneet Pall

After Concordia’s 68-63 victory at home on Saturday afternoon, the UQAM Citadins’ locker room ranked somewhere between the dentist’s and your in-laws’ house, for places you’d want to be.

James Clark (22) rejects Alexandre Bernard in Concordia's five-point home victory. Photo by Navneet Pall

The Citadins’ second straight loss in as many games against Concordia, drew the ire of their head coach Olga Hrycak, who could be heard from the hallway berating her team for the lackluster performance.

“When we give a game away I’m not very happy, and I mean that, because we can play 10 times better than we did,” the frustrated Hrycak told reporters afterwards.

Offensive rebounding was a specific area of disdain for the fuming coach, who saw her team out-rebounded 17-9 on the offensive glass. “Concordia killed us on the offensive boards; they certainly didn’t kill us with their three-point shooting,” she said, alluding to Concordia’s ugly night beyond the arc, making only three of 18 three-point field goals. Hrycak did commend Concordia, though, for being able to prevail in another tough game. “They have that killer instinct and we just don’t right now.”

The game’s start was also delayed over two hours after Concordia’s Sheldon Moore channeled his inner Shaq in warmups and shattered the glass backboard with a dunk. Unfortunately, the RSEQ is not the NBA, and replacing the backboard was not a quick job, delaying the start of the game over two hours. “We’re not really sure why it took so long,” said Stingers coach John Dore.

While the delay affected both teams, Stingers forward Kafil Eyitayo believes the wait played a part in the Stingers slow start. “To try and get our focus back and then start the game was a little bit hard,” he said.

Concordia looked sloppy in the first quarter, trailing by six into the break. However, the Stingers went on a 10-0 run midway through the second quarter, and took a four point lead into halftime.

In almost a mirror image of last week against UQAM, though, Concordia let the Citadins back into the game by committing several fouls. The result was a 15-point lead getting whittled down to four in just over three minutes.

“It seems like every time we play UQAM we have a big stretch where we just put them on the free-throw line for five minutes straight and all they do is (score points) with no time going off the clock,” said Stingers guard Kyle Desmarais, who scored a season low seven points on the night.

The Citadins were able to hang around, trailing by six in the game’s final minute, before an Evens Laroche jump-shot sealed the victory for Concordia. Laroche led the Stingers in scoring with 17 points and has been arguably their best all-around player the past two games.

Another factor Moore’s dunk had on the game was that the net was not regulation height, after it was improperly installed when the glass was fixed. The rim was 10 feet two inches high for the game, which is two inches higher than regulation. The officials conferred before the game with both coaches and agreed that the game would be played regardless.

“It’s something both teams had to deal with,” said Dore. “But if you look at how many first foul shots were missed at that end of the floor it was a tough adjustment for the players to make.”

The video of the dunk has already made its way on to YouTube and has created some buzz.

“I had some people from Laval who had heard about it, calling me,” said Dore. “It’s good that it has created some conversation about our team.”

Dore is hoping the proper adjustments are made in time for the Stingers’ home game against McGill next Saturday.

The Stingers’ next game is on the road Friday Jan. 20 at 8 p.m. against Laval.

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Graphic by Sean Kershaw

As the new calendars get hung on the wall, it’s time to pull out the crystal ball and see what the future holds for Concordia’s winter sports teams. Two teams can expect great things to come.

Men’s basketball

Concordia has twice flirted with conference perfection in recent memory, going 15-1 against Quebec schools in 2004-05 and again in 2006-07. This year they will achieve that elusive, perfect conference season.

Concordia will finish with a 16-0 record against an unusually weak RSEQ conference and advance to nationals for the second year in a row. Concordia will face a tough task at nationals, though. The Stingers have lost both games they’ve played against top 10 opponents. I predict that Concordia will advance to the semi-finals before bowing out and eventually winning a bronze medal.

Women’s basketball

Like the men, the women’s future also looks bright. However, I do not foresee the women going undefeated in conference play. Coach Keith Pruden is aware how difficult it is to go undefeated, having only done it once in his lengthy career. A very impressive 14-2 season is in store for the Stingers.

I predict the women to also advance to nationals after losing in the RSEQ semi-finals last season. Like the men, though, the women will be coming home with a bronze. Guard Kaylah Barrett will also take home the award for RSEQ’s most outstanding player.

Men’s hockey

Concordia is a middle of the pack team who will finish fifth in the OUA’s East conference (they currently sit in seventh place). The high scoring Stingers will play an exciting, high-scoring playoff round and upset their higher seeded opponent. However, Concordia will go home in the second round losing to a very talented McGill squad that will repeat as national champions. Concordia will pull another upset win against rivals McGill in the regular season, though.

Women’s hockey

The bleakest future of any of the winter teams. Mired in a four-game losing streak, and clinging to the final playoff spot in the conference, Concordia is in trouble. The Stingers’ woes will continue, but they will manage to stave off Ottawa and make the playoffs. Unfortunately, they will be grossly overmatched against McGill, Canada’s number two ranked team, and will be swept from the playoffs in a very lopsided series.

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Stingers trudge to win in sloppy game

Frank Fiola drives to the net as the Stingers move to 4-0. Photo by Navneet Pall

It may not have been the Concordia Stingers’ prettiest win of the season, but it counts just the same.

Frank Fiola drives to the net as the Stingers move to 4-0. Photo by Navneet Pall

Concordia prevailed 73-60 Thursday night over the UQAM Citadins, improving its record to a perfect 4-0 in conference play. The game may have been even more lopsided had UQAM not gotten to the free-throw line 30 times, making good on 28 of the attempts. Éric Côté-Kougnima impressed with his free-throw abilities, making all 17 of his attempts.

While credit is deserved by UQAM, Stingers coach John Dore said the inconsistent officiating made the game tough for both teams. “When that many fouls are being called, guys don’t know what to expect,” he said. “It makes it difficult because players don’t know what’s okay and what isn’t.”

The tightly officiated game made things especially difficult for the Stingers who like to play a fast-paced, quick transitional style.

“It got us away from how we like to play a bit, but we were fortunately able to open things up in the second half,” said Dore.

Despite having to adjust its game plan slightly, Concordia was in control most of the game, never trailing after the opening minutes of the first quarter.

Some sloppy shooting from the Citadins allowed Concordia to take an early 12-3 lead. The game would go back and forth for the rest of the way. UQAM was able to pull within seven points in the game’s final minutes, but a Decee Krah three-pointer put the Stingers back up 10 and was the final nail in the coffin for UQAM.

Krah led the Stingers in scoring, finishing with 18 points, four assists and four steals.

It is still early in the season but the Stingers are already playing with a chip on their shoulder. There is a feeling they are sometimes overlooked in the national rankings, having just crawled into the final spot in the top 10.

“I think [the top 10 ranking] was overdue,” said Dore. “The Quebec conference only has five teams in it so not a lot of coaches see us play and usually people will vote for teams they have seen play.” Concordia is the only team from the RSEQ currently ranked in the top 10.

Thursday’s game was also the first conference game back for Stingers forward James Clark, who had been out with an ankle injury. Clark scored nine points and had two rebounds in his limited 14 minutes on the floor.

Dore said that Clark is still not feeling 100 per cent, but is on his way to feeling better. The Stingers will be monitoring his minutes until he is back to full speed.

 

Concordia’s next game is a rematch against UQAM at Loyola on Jan. 14 at 4 p.m.

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Wrestling time between school and sports

A great athlete and an even better scholar. Concordia wrestler Michael Noonan, 24, was awarded the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to attend Oxford University next fall where he will be studying zoology as a graduate student.

Wrestler Michael Noonan balances time between training, competing and studying to accomplish his goals. Photo by Concordia University

Noonan recently sat down for a conversation with The Concordian to talk about the upcoming season, his future and some of the stereotypes surrounding athletes.

 

What was the first thing you did when you found out you won the scholarship?

I screamed, I was pretty excited. I was in the car with a bunch of friends so we all cheered and I went home right away and told my parents and they were pretty ecstatic.


What are you most looking forward to at Oxford?

Obviously the education will be great, but just living on campus at one of the best universities in the world will be amazing. It will be a different country, more European, and I’m just excited for the whole lifestyle of being on campus and in a new country.


So what will you be working on primarily when you go to Oxford?

I’m going to be working within the zoology department on the Wildlife Conservation Research Unit. It’s a research crew that does research on endangered species.


Do you have a thesis or anything specific in mind yet that you want to achieve?

I have a thesis in mind but it still has to get accepted. But I would like to work on studying fish passage at dams.


Has it been a challenge to balance school and athletics?

Yeah, for sure. We train twice a day, once during the day and once at night so that doesn’t leave much time in between for classes and homework. I actually had to take a reduced course load and finish university a year later to fit it all in.


Some athletes struggle academically, what advice would you give them?

There’s certain times when you can focus on your sports and your social life and there’s also times when you really need to sit down and focus on your academics. Exam period for example is a time when you really need to set your priorities on school.


Have you ever had to deal with the perception or stereotype that athletes are just “dumb jocks?”

Yeah I have. Even the guys on the team, we don’t talk about school or grades or anything so this really surprised a lot of them. It’s definitely a stereotype that’s out there, but once I start to talk to people they sort of realize it’s not that true.


Do you think it is a fair stereotype, whether or not it applies to you?

Definitely not. Some of the most intelligent people I know are athletes. One guy from our team is actually at Brown University writing a textbook now. We have engineers and a lot of very smart people on our team.

 

Do you think it will be more difficult to focus on wrestling this year knowing what lies ahead?

Yes, I think it will be because in the past you had this huge future ahead of you whereas now I’m limited to just this one year before my career here is over, so it’s going to be tough. On top of that I recently had ACL surgery so dealing with that on top of it will be difficult.


What are some of you goals for the season?

Well, first things first is to get back into the season. Because of the surgery I need to push myself hard to compete again. Then I really want to win nationals.


Because it’s your last year do you think this season will have maybe a sense of urgency that wasn’t there in the past?

Not urgency, but it is very different. I look at it with more of a sense of calm and knowing. When you’re young you kind of have this fear of all the guys being older than you. Now, though, I’m sitting here near the end and I’ve sort of seen it all. I’ve seen things come and go and I think that I can deal with whatever happens better than a lot of other people can.

Categories
Sports

The Nice List

Graphic by Katie Brioux

 

Graphic by Katie Brioux

 

Categories
Sports

Stingers move to 3-0 for first time in over a decade

The Concordia women remain undefeated after beating Bishop's. Photo by Chris Hanna

The last time a Concordia women’s basketball team was 3-0, George W. Bush was embarking on his first term as U.S. president, PlayStation 2 was just released and the Earth had a billion fewer people residing on its surface.

The Concordia women remain undefeated after beating Bishop's. Photo by Chris Hanna

So, yes, it has been a while since the Stingers were off to this hot of a start.

After eking out a two-point win last week against Laval, Concordia was in tough again on Friday night against the visiting Bishop’s Gaiters.

Trailing the Gaiters by two heading into the final quarter, Concordia was able to do just enough to come away victorious.

Kaylah Barrett sank three free throws in a row to stretch Concordia’s lead to five with just over four minutes remaining. The Stingers, though, would see their lead evaporate as the Gaiters’ Gabrielle Chamberland hit a game-tying three-pointer with 1:39 left, evening the score at 54 apiece.

Barrett continued her strong play just a few seconds later grabbing a clutch offensive rebound (one of her four offensive boards on the night) off as Natasha Raposo missed a three-point attempt. Barrett then got the ball out to Anne-Marie Prophete who got Concordia’s lead back, making a crucial jump shot.

Trailing 59-56 with only four seconds remaining, Bishop’s had time to set up one last play to tie the game.

The ball landed in the hands of Chamberland who was left to launch up the game-tying three-point attempt. The Stingers’ hearts must have been in their stomachs as they watched the ball sail towards the basket. Fortunately for Concordia, the ball clanked off the rim leaving the perfect season intact.

Perhaps the two biggest reasons for Concordia’s success early on have been the stellar play of Kaylah Barrett and an ability to get the ball inside and get to the free throw line.

Barrett is fifth in the entire country in scoring, averaging 21.3 points per game this season. She had 17 points, eight rebounds and four steals against Bishop’s.

Barrett was also 11-for-15 from the free throw line, on a night where Concordia shot 33 free throws, but only made 18. The Stingers are presently leading the CIS in free throw attempts.

Concordia will now enjoy a long holiday break before stepping back on the floor on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 6 p.m. at UQAM.

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