Fesruary 1, 2005

THE CADRE @ 11

SPORTS

UPEI Sports: Men’s Hockey Panthers Tie, Again

Liam McKenna Sports Editor —

St. FX forward Omar Ennaffati scored with nineteen seconds remaining to complete his hat trick and tie the game at four in Antigonish on Saturday. Overtime would solve nothing ina game that saw UPEI once again pepper its opponent with shots, totaling 43 shots to St. FX’s 24. It was the sixth tie 06 the season for both teams.

The offense was there with UPEI scoring what appeared to be the game winning goal with eight minutes remaining just as a Panthers power play came to an end. Following their regaining of the lead, the Panthers shut down the neutral zone and played tight trap hockey until the final minute which saw the St. FX goalie head to the bench for the extra attacker. It was Ennaffati once again circling behind the back of the UPEI net who knotted things up when he banked a centering pass of a UPEI defenseman and it trickled in for the goal. Unlucky or not, the goal was on the board, and this game was going into a quiet overtime which saw only about a total of five shots on goal combined, although there was an exciting breakaway which saw X-Men captain and sniper Patrick Grandmaitre miss the net by a good meter and a half. On my pond, we call people who take shots like those “missers”’.

The point was an important one for UPEI, even if they would have preferred the win. Coach Mike Kelly and captain Joel Ward are still looking for every point they can get to see if they can squeeze the Panthers into the

‘tight playoff race.

ie Malte

Weed Whackers

Liam McKenna Sports Editor

My driver’s license says my middle name is John, but I’m pretty sure it’s controversy, which brings me to the topic I wish to discuss in this week’s sports editorial. For once, it is not about hockey. Today’s topic is: how much Andy Moog sucks. Actually, that’s not it, even though he really does. He’s terrible. I hate him.

Anyway, the controversy of this week’s article is so great that it may lead people to forget about the Great Field Hockey Fiasco (by the way, girls, I am really sorry about that; please don’t beat me up). Today’s actual topic: smoking the reefer. More specifically, smoking the reefer during a university sport season when you play on a team.

I, for one, have never smoked the marijuana, or at least not that I will admit to unless faced with anything short of a jackhammer enema. The University of Prince Edward Island only penalizes pot smokers if they play a sport, and in that case, they are only penalized if they happen to be selected for random drug testing.

~ But why is there a penalty in the first place? Does marijuana actually enhance your performance? If] smoke

it the night before a big game day, does

it benefit or mar my next day performance?

_ Allow me to provide the answers to these questions. Marijuana is penalized because it is on the list of banned substances. Such substances are banned because they either enhance performance illegally or they are detrimental to the athlete’s health. Now I can understand why performance- enhancing drugs are banned — both Mark Recchi and I hate cheaters (this

means you, Andy Moog) — but marijuana isn’t necessarily detrimental to an athlete’s health. In fact, cannabinoids weren’t even added to Canadian University Sport’s list of banned substances until January 2004 (Board of Directors’ meeting minutes,

April 14-15 2004). One would think

that since the government is considering the decriminalization of marijuana, the CUS would too. Instead, a first offence for smoking marijuana entitles the smoker to a shot at being suspended from sport for up to two years, although, admittedly, a reprimand is more likely.

Now, does marijuana enhance your performance? Ask someone who has just smoked some. It seems to me that marijuana is more likely to make your performance less than satisfactory, as it relaxes the athlete and puts them into a state of mind too reposed to effectively participate ina sport requiring split second decision making and sharp reflexes. If a player smokes marijuana before they participate in a game, they are giving an advantage to the opposition by virtually diminishing their skills. It is the same as getting drunk and trying to participate in a game — whether it’s written down or not, you are not playing into your ability, and your coach is not going to be happy. I do not think it unfair to state that marijuana is not a performance enhancing drug.

Now, I thought long and hard

before I started to write this article. I

know well that it is a controversial

subject, in large part because a short

time ago there was as student convicted of a doping offence. I won’t mention their name, because I think they have been through more than enough. But I think that the athletic community should have its focus turned to this subject, simply because such an overwhelming

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Panther Players of the Week

The UPEI Panther Players of the Week are Kris MacPhee of the Men’s Hockey Panthers and Lindsay Coade for Women’s Basketball.

MacPhee, a fourth year veteran with the UPEI Hockey Panthers, has amassed 3 goals and 5 assists for 8 points in only 6 games with the Panthers so far this season. The Panthers hope that the center will keep up his torrid pace as they look to spring into the playoffs with his help.

Coade, also a veteran with four years with UPEI Basketball under her belt, is a phenom with incredible rebounding prowess and a shooting percentage of 46%. Coade played a large part in the Panther’s winning two out of three games in the past week.

Congratulations once again to the

Panthers players of the week.

Lindsay Coade

Kris MacPhee