S ports Waterloo fifth in CIS, tie surging Lions Friday, February 2, 2007
Imprint
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sports@imprint.uwaterloo.ca Sports Editor: Shawn Bell Sports Assistant: Doug Copping
Warriors atop Far West; the battle of Waterloo, at Laurier Feb. 3 is for first place in OUA James Rowe staff reporter
The Waterloo Warriors men’s hockey team hosted the York Lions on Saturday, January 27, and the two teams skated to a 3-3 tie. It was the second time this season that the two teams were unable to find a winner, having tied 2-2 in Toronto in November. In the opening period the goal scorers were defenseman Kyle Searle for York and winger Frank Fazio for the Warriors. York goaltender Kevin Druce kept his team in it in the opening 20 minutes as Waterloo came out flying in front of their home crowd, outshooting the Lions 14-7. The following period it was Waterloo goalie Curtis Darling’s turn to stand on his head. Despite being outshot 18-7 in the frame, the Warriors managed to stay on even terms. UW’s Doug Spooner beat Druce to offset a goal by York’s Matt Passfield and the two teams went to their dressing rooms tied at 2 after 40 minutes. Both teams threw all the offence they had at the two goalies in the third period, but once again only Spooner and Passfield were able to put the puck behind the netminders. With the score 3-3 and 60 minutes having settled nothing, the two teams played a 5-minute sudden death overtime. Neither team was able to find a deciding goal in the extra period. The two teams have now played 130 minutes of hockey this season with neither team able to register a win. Warriors head coach Brian Bourque spoke about how evenly matched the two teams have been. “They work real hard, and that’s what we try to do is to outwork teams every game,” the coach stated. “They were able to match how
Simona Cherler
Jordan Brenner slides in on the Lion’s keeper in the 2-2 tie. Waterloo dropped one spot in CIS rankings to number five. hard we compete and they have a great goalie in Druce, just like we do in Darling.” For the game Druce and Darling made 30 and 37 saves respectively. Waterloo now enters the stretch run of the season with just four games remaining. As the playoffs approach, the Warriors are looking to fine tune a few aspects of their game. “Our goal is to make gains all year so that we can play our best hockey in the playoffs,” Bourque explained. “We need to be ready for the extra energy that is needed in playoff hockey.” While this season has seen a large amount of penalties called for all teams throughout the
league, the Warriors must play more disciplined in the playoffs. “We’ve got to focus on our penalty kill and on reducing the number of penalties we take as a team,” said the coach. The Warriors are currently the fourth most penalized team in the 16 team OUA, averaging over 26 penalty minutes per game. This week the Warriors were to travel to Guelph on Thursday, February 1 to take on the Gryphons. Results were unavailable at press time. On Saturday, February 3, the Warriors take on their cross-town rival Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks. The game pits the top two teams in the
OUA against each other. A win for the Warriors could clinch first place overall and home ice advantage heading into the playoffs, something the team wants. “We’d love to have our home fans around and have more students come out and cheer us,” coach Bourque said. The Warriors will have to play better defensively than they did in an 8-6 loss to Laurier earlier this season. Game time is 7:30 at the Waterloo Recreation Complex. jrowe@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Waterloo splits weekend games, still third in West division 3-1 loss to Mac snaps winning streak; Warriors get back on track with 3-0 defeat of Guelph Shawn Bell sports editor
On Warrior weekend, in front of the biggest crowds this season, the third-place (in the OUA West) Warriors welcomed secondplace McMaster and fourth-place Guelph to the PAC. With the weekend split Waterloo retained third in the West and heading to the final three games of the season with a lock on a playoff berth. Game one on January 26 saw Mac (133) come to the PAC and snap the Warrior’s seven-game OUA winning streak with a solid 3-1 victory. The score gives credence to the standings, but reality speaks a different tongue. This was not the Warrior’s we’ve become used to seeing. After winning the first set 25-22 the girls looked sluggish on the floor, getting burned by lobs over the blockers, hanging their heads en route to losing the next three sets 25-14, 25-17 and 25-18. Mac is a good team. Give them credit. “McMaster brought their ‘A’ game,” Warriors coach Gaby Jobst said, “this was a much better team than the last time we saw them (a 3-2 Waterloo victory in November).”
But I’m not convinced the Marauders are a superior team. Which is good, because the first round of the OUA playoffs will pit third in the West, currently Waterloo, against second in the West, currently Mac. Guelph (8-9) came to PAC the next night. The real Warrior team showed up for this battle of third place; and in no time it was over, 3-0 Waterloo. With the victory Waterloo established solid control of third, four points up on Laurier and Guelph. Susan Murray and Gaby Lesniak led the way again for Waterloo. Murray racked up 24 points, 17 kills and 28 digs over the weekend; Lesniak 23 points, 18 kills and 20 digs. The defensive star, as per usual, was the phenom Libero Amanda Verhoeve who dug 37 balls in two games, giving her 292 digs on the season, fifth most in the CIS. There are three games left. On February 2, at 6:00 p.m., the first-place Western Mustangs (14-1) come to the PAC. February 3, at 6:00p.m., Windsor (3-12) comes to the PAC. On February 9 the regular season ends with Laurier visiting the PAC at 6:00 p.m. sbell@imprint.uwaterloo.ca
Simona Cherler
Gaby Lesniak hits as her teammates cover. Next up — Western Feb. 2 at PAC.