Marcu 23, 2005

THE CADRE e 7

SPORTS

X-Men Capture AUS Championship; Panthers Lose in Semis

Josh Lewis Reporter

The UPEI. Panthers advanced further than some expected, but were unable to beat the Staff X-Men at the Atlantic University Sport men’s basketball championships in Halifax two weekends ago. The Panthers, ranked fifth in the tournament, made it to the tournament semi-finals, but came up short in a 79-68 loss to the defending champion X-Men, who would go on to defeat the Cape Breton Capers to claim their second straight AUS title.

The Panthers were buried early in the first half, as X began the game ona 15-2 run and built a commanding 49-30 lead by half. “They were simply outplayed,” said Memorial video coordinator Scott Harris. “But give them credit. UPEI was struggling, but didn’t give up. The team kept their composure the whole game. They fought from beginning to end.”

Sherone Edwards accounted for nearly half of the Panthers’ production in the first half with 14 points, while Tyler Richards had 12 of his 18 points in the opening stanza.

UPEI began the second half playing much better and matched the X-Men stride for stride until the game’s conclusion, but they could not make up the monstrous half-time deficit. “In the second half, the Panthers came out with fire, outscoring X by eight,” noted Harris, “but with the deficit of the first half, it was hard to come back.”

Edwards finished with 23 points for the Panthers, as did Jaison Frazier. Richards and player of the game Garry Gallimore led St.FX with 18 points apiece.

The Panthers moved on to Friday’s semifinal after winning a 88- 84 nail biter over the Memorial Seahawks in the quarterfinals. Edwards poured in a game-high 26 points, while Tyler Wood scored 21 points and added ten assists to snare player of the game honours. Andre Grant led Memorial with 18 points and - seven rebounds.

The game was a treat to watch,

featuring high-tempo play from both squads. Memorial held a slim lead for much of the first half, led by Robert Hickey’s eight points. Wood, however, had 12 of his points in the opening half, including a three- pointer at the buzzer to tie the game.

The Panthers all but locked up a semi-final berth early in the second

_half, starting out on a 10-3 run and

stifling every attempt to claw back into the game by Memorial, the tournament’s fourth seed. The Seahawks could not get any momentum going, and_ the Newfoundland representatives were sent home early.

After dispatching the Panthers in the semis, the X-Men moved on to face fellow powerhouse Cape Breton in the championship game. The two teams that had clashed in the AUS and national rankings all year long would meet to determine the top AUS seed in the Canadian Inter-university Sport

_championship the following weekend.

Both teams were already guaranteed a berth in the nationals.

The teams came out flying early, with the X-Men holding a slight edge through most of the half. Neil MacDonald and Alexander Stephen led

St.FX with 10 points each, while Eric

Breland had 12 for Cape Breton. The X-Men led 39-33 at the half.

The Capers chipped away at the X lead in the opening minutes of the second half, but the tide turned against Cape Breton with nine minutes left when coach Jim Charters took issue with the officials and received a technical foul. The X-Men grabbed the momentum and didn’t look back, going on to win the game 83-72 to repeat as‘AUS champions.

Gallimore, the tournament MVP and CIS defensive player of the year, netted 18 points for St.FX, while player of the game Zack Russell scored 17. Paul Blake led the Capers with 20 points.

Edwards Named Second Team All-Canadian

Josh Lewis Reporter

A week after his UPEI Panthers were eliminated from the Atlantic University Sport championship, forward Sherone Edwards was named to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport second all-star team for 2005-06. Edwards, a Toronto native, led the nation in scoring with 22.5 points per game. The honour comes a year after he was named to the first all-star team. Sherone is a fourth-year student majoring in business administration.

Also on the second all-star team are forwards Andrew Spagrud of Sas- katchewan, Patrick Perrotte of Concordia and Aaron Doornekamp of Carleton, as well as guard Chris Trumpy of Victoria. The first all-Canadian team in- cludes CIS player of the year Osvaldo Jeanty, a guard from Carleton; guard Casey Archibald of UBC; guard Dominic Soucy of Laval; forward Jerome Goodman of Saint Mary’s, and centre Kevin Stienstra of Brock.

The Politics of Our National Sport Is Hockey or Lacrosse Canada’s Official Game? It Depends on the Season.

Iain Jeffrey The Martlet (University of Victoria)

VICTORIA, B.C. (CUP) — It’s a big year for international sport. Canada will compete in an event that only rolls around once every four years. It’s not the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Italy.

This July, London, Ont. will host the 2006 World Lacrosse Championships, where more than 20 countries will compete for the global field lacrosse crown.

Lacrosse has been played in North America, beginning in what is now Ontario and Quebec, since the 15th century, and descended from the continent’s aboriginal cultures. Lacrosse helped warriors keep fit and was even used to settle disputes between tribes. Games would often be contested on a field up to one mile long with hundreds of participants battling for each side.

European _ settlers predictably fascinated by the intensity and scale of the game. Lacrosse was declared the national sport of the Dominion of Canada in 1859, eight yeats before Confederation. Modern field lacrosse was exported from Canada to the U.S., England, Australia and, eventually, the rest of the globe.

Lacrosse was also one of the first sports to experiment with night games. In 1880 a match was contested under lights in Montreal with phosphorous added to the ball and the players’ numbers to help fans follow the play.

were

But somewhere, after the 19th-

century became the 20th, hockey

replaced lacrosse as Canada’s sport.

To compete, box lacrosse was born and gained some support throughout the country. Like hockey, box lacrosse is contested in a relatively confined space surrounded by boards and glass. Box lacrosse and hockey are similarly fast and physical games that (to a certain extent) permit fighting. The National Sport Act of 1994 acknowledged both sports when it proclaimed hockey Canada’s official winter sport and lacrosse Canada’s official summer sport.

Canada’s first-ever Olympic medal, a gold in lacrosse, came in 1904. But lacrosse is not a perennial Olympic sport and has appeared as a demonstration sport at various summer games, but with both little consistency and an overall lack of Canadian dominance.

Since the inception of the world championship in the 1960s, Canada has won the field lacrosse title only once.. The win came in 1978 with a shocking 24-3 victory in the final over the heavily favoured Americans. The Americans have won the title every other year.

With the Olympics are over, the Paralympics underway, and the World Cup of Soccer finished in early July, think of our national team as they host the World Lacrosse Championships. Just cross your fingers that the home

-team can put up a good fight as our

neighbours to the south look to continue their dominance of our national sport.