By Mickey Place
Although we have been asked to Panther Basketball doings we trust that Madame Editor will have no strong objections if we stray a bit from our appointed field to make a few comments on our beloved Hockey Panthers and their sad fate.
As you know, since we last published, our P’s lost a squeeker to Mount A.'4-3 but rebounded, in the final game
of the schedule, to trim league-winner U.N.B. by the same score Gordie Roach’s third goal of the game being the winning marker.
This brought our season’s record to 16—8, which gave us third place behind U.N.B. and Moncton who had identical 19-5 marks.
U.N.B., with the better record in the gamesbetween the two, got the playoff pre- ference so that we were scheduled to face Moncton in the first round. Our personal choice would have been U.N.B. as we felt that, for us, they would be the easier to beat.
We lost both of the games in the two-out-qf—three series by 3-2 scores, here and in Moncton and so are elimi- nated from play and rele- gated to the sidelines until next October.
We’ll be even stronger next season and, hopefully, will not be plagued by the suc- cession of injuries (and penalties) that foiled us this year.
Greg Gravel led the league in scoring by a comfortable margin in spite of a slump in the closing games. He did, however, score the final Panther goal of the season and we congratulate him on a most successful year.
We’ll also thank Coach Vincie Mulligan and his crew _ for excellent entertainment and wish them well as they look forward to another year.
We’re sure that the hockey column will give plenty of detail on the games so we’ll skip that painful task.
We like, however, to com- ment a bit on strange events in the other playoff series.
The fight for the fourth and final playoff spot was a close one which was finally
won by St. Mary’s over Acadia when both finished with a 13—] 1 record (but
S.M.U. had the better record in their interteam contests).
SMU prepared to meet U.N.B. and Acadia packed it up for the season and some players went on their March break.
On Thursday S.M.U. made a startling announce- ment: one of their players
—_.4ges
concentrate on‘
had unknowingly had his name listed on a pro roster for 11 games, exceeding the five allowed for players under
21 allowed by A.U.A.A. regulations. (He had played in 5'only.)
Thus it happens that
S.M.U. who haven’t missed a playoff spot in almost 20 years, disqualified their team!-
Acadia, which hasn’t made it to post season play in about ten years, were substituted and had to recall players who had gone home!
Acadia did very well as they won the first game against U.N.B. 5—4 but lost the second 5-1 we expect them to drop the final.
It is also sad news from the Lady Panther Basketball Team. They entertained the Red Bloomers from U.N.B. on the 18th and the unde— feated league winners scored an unexpectedly easy win 78-48.
ltwas a most disappointing game as‘our shooting was off and so many shots, that seemed to be in, turned and
twisted seemingly in suc- cessful efforts to get outside the hoop.
The half ended 47-20.
The second half wasn’t so bad as we were outscored by only a 31-28 margin.
Sherrydawn Jones was high for us with 18. Having finished second
with a 10-4 record (best ever for a Pantherette team) the girls met Dalhousie (whom they had twice defeated) in the first round of the knock- out playoff.
Unfortunately the hex that we had encountered ,in the previous game still plagued us. We had the better of the play throughout in all phases of the game except scoring.
We had a miserable 27% success in our shooting and dropped a 60—44 decision.
Cathy Chandler was high with 16.
It is a pleasure to report that Coach Hermie MacNeil was chosen as “Coach of the Year”, Cathy Chandler was picked for the first all-star team, and Libby Baldwin was named to the second all star squad.
The Men’s Panther Basket-
ball team won two rather easy \
games against U.N.B. 80-59 with Ty Norman leading the way with 32 points. and 16 rebounds.
The second game eneded 94-75 for us with Mike Morgan scoring 25 points.
This was the ninth win in a row for us and left us un— defeated at home.
The Panthers travelled to Mount a. (then 1-12) with every confidence that their streak would be extended in
By M.U. Nchie
The Panthers have finished the 1983-84 season behind UNB and the U de Moncton.
UPEI had a chance to reach second place, but it was foiled due to a dis- appointing road trip ending the season with losses to U de M anth. Allison.
They did defeat UNB in the 'final game of the season, though.
The AUAA (Atlantic University Athletic Associa- tion) playoffs started last Friday night at the Sport- splex in Charlottetown, with Moncton winning the opener 3-2 and eliminating the
Panthers from the best-of—.
Saturday in identical
three series Moncton by an score.
The Panthers played well, but supreme goaltending by
Blue Eagle Daniel Berube stymied the offense. The fast-skating Blue
Eagles also scored a bad goal
on Panther netminder
Avelino Gomez Friday. Saturday, the Panthers had
this their last league game.
However this is a very competitive league with no “Patsies” and the hex that afflicted the Pantherettes shooting must have been catching, for our boys shot but 36% from the floor and had difficulty in coping with the Mount A. offense that had seemed inept here.
We lost 70—65! Perhaps it was a good thing to get this bad game out of our system.
Our 11-5 record puts us into fourth place and gives us the last playoff spot.
All roads now lead to Halifax this Friday when the Panthers will meet the league winners Saint Mary’s at 7:00 pm. (1900 hours is you want it that way.)
We have beaten every team in the league at least once l/2and, in a four team knock- out playoff, the season’s record means little. S.M.U.,
. by the way, were 13-5.
We are hopeful that, with a good practise, the different playing surface and sur- roundings of the Metro Centre will not be a factor in the play.
Contrary to the impression
you might get whe you see him performing in a game, S.M.U. Coach Gary Heald is a real nice guy. Much as we like him, we hope that he’ll be very unhappy around 8:30 Friday night and that our George Morrison will be very ecstatic!
But George .. if we are ahead in the closing minutes,
please keep your rejoicing
players on the bench! Hopefully a large contin- gent of Panther Rooters will be on hand to give the team loud support. See you there!
a goal disallowed, and these two incidents proved to be the different in the losses. The Panthers can be proud of a fine season, and must be, like ourselves, looking forward to next year already.
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AND LATE NIGHTS
Congratulations are due to Greg Gravel on winning the
scoring race, with 20 goals
and 34 assists.
Avelino Gomez was also a standout for the Panthers all season. -
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:UPEI finishes third after loss
Next year promises to be a‘ good year, as all but three Panthers — Norman Beck, Jeff Lantz, and Dave Reid \ are eligible to return.
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