Page 8 March 26, 2008 SPORTS

eee Cl, iS continued from page 7

hormones (i.e. human growth hor- mone), and _ diuretics (masking agents). In addition, stimulants, nar- cotics and cannabinoids (marijuana) are banned in-competition.

First violations carry a penalty of two years of ineligibility. A second violation means an athlete is banned from CIS competition for life. Offenders have their individual records and awards revoked, but their teams do not — unless multiple team members are caught at the same time.

So far, so good. According to UPEI athletes, though, the testing phase is where the CIS and the CCES get failing grades.

The CIS doping policy says unan- nounced “no notice” and “short notice” testing takes place in and out of competition, as well as announced testing. Most testing is done at random and athletes may be selected more than once in a calen- dar year.

But how is it-executed? Not well, says UPEI soccer player Colby O’Donnell.

“The policy’s great, but the way they go about testing is poor,” said

the second-year midfielder. “I don’t.

know anyone that’s been tested. It should be done more often, not just picking three or four guys at random in the whole league each season.” O’Donnell racked his brain try- ing to think of a single athlete who'd been tested, let alone caught, during his two years at UPEI. Nicole Carragher, a soccer player

who tested positive for marijuana several years ago, was the only match.

“If I wanted to take performance enhancers, I wouldn’t be scared to at this point.”

Third-year basketball player Jenna Kaye backed up the damning indict- ment, saying she, too, has never seen

a player in any sport get tested — not’

even friends at other schools.

Phone calls to CIS and CCES offi- cials were not returned.

Kaye said that despite the lack of testing, she doesn’t believe doping is a significant issue for UPEI basket- ball.

“The most common drug might be marijuana...to take something, you’d have to be pretty serious about your sport, so probably only the best play- ers would take them. But if you start scoring 50 points a game and have hair on your face, you’re going to be a target.”

O’Donnell doesn’t believe per- formance-enhancing drugs are a problem in soccer, either, but says that’s no reason for lax testing proce- dures on the part of the CCES.

“I don’t think a lot of guys in soc- cer... you have ephedrine and stuff, but there’s no time in a soccer game to take stuff (as opposed to other sports). You don’t really have much of a break. You’re too tired. If it picked you up you’d come down just as quick.

“T’m sure there’s lots of it floating around but if they don’t do the test-

9

ing...

UPEI Cadre

UPEI b’ball players named 1st and 2nd team all-stars

Jenna Kay and Susanne Canvin make the , University proud as their named AUS all-stars

With a PPG of 16.8, UPEI basket- ball star Jenna Kay has been named

to the Altantic University Sport first Jy

team all-stars She as a third year guard, broke the school record for points in a game

with 39 in November against.

Dalhousie. Susanne Canvin, as the league

‘leader in rebounds and blocked

shots, and member of last year’s all- rookie squad has had 189 rebounds this season, for an average of 9.5 per game. She also finished fourth in league scoring with 15.6 PPG and finished first in blocked shots with 1.35 per game.

. Kivali

All three are now in the NHL. Canada went on to beat Russia 4-2 in the final.

And let’s not forget the women’s rivalry. The U.S. defeated Canada in the inaugural gold medal game for women’s hockey in Nagano, but Canada roared back to take the next two tournaments in 2002 and 2006. In fact, the Americans didn’t even make the final in Torino, losing to the upstart Swedish team.

There can be no doubt that Canada- USA will be the pre-eminent inter- national hockey rivalry for the next decade. The Russians are no longer much of a threat at the world junior level, as demonstrated by their pathetic showing at last summer’s Super Series (though they will still challenge for their share of senior titles, thanks to Alex Ovechkin,

Evgeni Malkin and Ilya Kovalchuk).

The Czechs are fading, and fast. They had their day in the sun in the late 1990s, *

Sweden will struggle once Mats Sundin, Peter Forsberg, Daniel Alfredsson and Markus Naslund are gone. The Finnish goalie factory

Panther and AUS star and Jenna Kaye takes a shot. File photo

ry continued from page 7

should keep themnear the top, but the rest of their program can't com- pete with the U.S. The Canada-US. rivalry is entering a new phase. Most of the big names on either side over the past decade are either gone or on their way out. Canada no longer has Lemieux, Yzerman, Fleury, Nolan, MacInnis, Bourque, or Roy, and soon to be Sakic. The American wave that hit the NHL in the late 1980s is almost completely gone. Mike Modano, Tony Amonte, and Chris Chelios are the last vestiges of those teams.

But both sides have a staggering number of up-and-comers who will define this battle for years to come. Dany Heatley, Sidney Crosby, Simon Gagne, Eric Staal, Dion Phaneuf, Jay Bouwmeester, Shea Weber and Roberto Luongo will lead the way for Canada: Chris Drury, Scott Gomez, Zach Parise, Patrick Kane, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, and Rick DiPietro headline the impressive second wave for America.

Let the games begin.