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The Gem

Page 19

Sports

Matthew Beardsley

As february begins the UPEI Men’s and Ladies Basketball teams prepare themselves for the stretch run at their respective AUAA titles. Not only is there excitement because of the upcom- ing playoffs , but in roughly one week from now the new UPEI Fieldhouse will open and the bas- ketball and vollleyball teams will finally be able to play in a build- ing that si the equal of their tal- ents.

On a sad note with the open- ing of the fieldhouse Alumni gym which has been home to Panther teams for the last 20 yers will finallly close. This gym which has seen some of the best play- ers in the CIAU willl see its last game this Sunday when the UPEI

Panthers play host to the Saint Mary’s Huskies. this is the last chance for any one who hasn’t seen a game in Alumni gym to do so. After Sunday’s game Alumni Gym wil no longer be host to the Green and White of UPEI.

Since this gym has done so much for the teams and the Uni- versity itself it is tiem that we as fans do something for it. On

Hockey Update

The 1989-90 college hockey season is starting to wind down for the UPEI Panthers. The Pan- thers end their regular season at home this week against the Monc- ton Blue Eagles on Wednesday and the UNB Red Devils on Sat- urday. ‘These final two games could prove to be the most im- portant and exciting games of the entire season as the Panthers, pending the outcomes of these two games, could finish anywhere from first to third in their divi- sion. Last week, the Panthers were given another shot at first place when Moncton lost to St. Mary’s and UPEI won two big games in Fredericton.

On Wednesday, against the Blue Eagles, UPEI, in addition to trying to gain a share of first place, will be trying to avenge an embarassing 13-3 loss in Monc- ton. With a win, the Panthers will split the season series with the nationally ranked Blue Ea- gles, With the exception of the last game, UPEI/Moncton games have been very close, UPEI win- ning 4-3 at the arena in Monc- ton. The Panthers are quite capable of beating Moncton, as they proved earlier in the season. In fact, in all their games this sea- son whether a win or a loss, the

Sunday when you go to the game bring a friend , even if they don’t like sports, who cares. this last game has to be a party. We want the gym to ROCK all gsmr long. Bring any noisemaking de- vice you csan find. We want to shake the gym like it never has before. Who cares how crazy you act thats what University is for. Other Universities are like that UPEI should be the same. So come on -out and support the PANTHERS and give Alumni Gym a farewell it deserves. Pan- ther Fans, JUST DO IT !!

The teams themselves have had up and down seasons to date. the Panthers after losing three 5th year players are go- ing through a little bit of tran- sition but appear to be finally coming together. The Panthers faced their first tough tests of the year in AUAA action when they played Acadia and Dalhousie in two games.

It appeared that the easy games the panthers had the week before didn’t adequatly prepare them for the task at hand as the team performed far below what it is capable of playing. The Pan- thers had trouble getting any of- fense going and lost by three, 62-

games have been close. Why or how they were defeated all of a sudden by 10 goals is a mystery.

UPEI/Moncton games at the Forum have been extremely en- tertaining in the past and this upcoming game will be no ex- ception, with the added attrac- tion of a first-place battle. With the opening of the new Canada Games Arena coming in a few weeks, it is possible that Wednes- day’s game will be the last time the Blue Eagles meet the Pan- thers in the ancient Charlotte- town Forum.

On Saturday, hopefully after a win on Wednesday, the P’s will face another stiff test against the UNB Red Devils. The Red Devils are one of the most im- proved teams in the AUAA this year. Pending the outcome of this weeks’ games there is a chance that this game could be a battle for second place and there is an extremely good chance that this game will be a preview of the first round in the play offs. The play off format has the second place team meet the third place team, so home-ice advantage could be on the line.

The Panthers lead the season series with the Red Devils thanks to a 5-4 win last weekend in Fred-

59 to Acadia.

From there they travelled to Dalhousie where in the past UPEI has always had tough games. ‘This time proved to be no exception as the Panthers played much better and were tied

and exchanged leads with Dal for most of the game. The game went into overtime and unlike last year when the Panthers were able to defeat Dal in overtime the out- come would be different this year. The Tigers went on an early scor- ing streak ant that would carry them to victory 86-81.

The Panthers received more bad news the following week as it was learned that guard Darrell Lynch would miss the upcoming games against Saint Mary’s and Saint Francis Xavier because of an injury to his knee that had kept him out of the past week- end’s games against Dal and Aca- dia. By press time this week he will have found out if he can play against Saint Mary’s. When Lynch returns he should un- doubtedly give the team a boost.

The team also received more bad news when last Thursday rookie point guard George Alford left practice and the team. His

ericton and a 6-5 overtime win earlier in the year. Their only loss

‘was 6-3, in Fredericton.

In addition to the battles in the standings, the battle in the league scoring race will continue as Dave Shellington and Rich Lit- tle still have a shot at the ti- tle. Also, the team will also try to re-enter the top-ten list for the country. The Panthers have ranked as high as ninth this year.

Despite the play offs com- ing, the fight for first place and possibilities of scoring titles, a hockey team’s best motivation comes from the fans. A large crowd urging a team on can give a team that extra boos: that may be required to win, so, hope- fully, a large crowd wi!l be on hand for both games. Atten- dance for UPEI Home games have been fairly good with an average of about 600 per game. How- ever, with a student population of over 2,000, the Panther team should be able to get a little more support from students. Re- member, all UPEI regular sea- son home games at the Forum are absolutely free for all UPEI students, not to mention contests such as 50/50 draws, free pizza from “Mothers”, and the UPEI Student “Fan of the Game” Con- test.

status as of right now is uncer- tain.

So without any real experi- ence at the point the team left for two more big games. Saturday night against Saint Mary’s the Panthers found themselves down by ten at half and than Coach George Morrison inserted rookie Lorne Quichard at the point and that provided the necessary spark as the Panthers picked it up from there and as Peter Gordon hit fox 19 down the stretch to lift the squad in front. When Quichard canned some pressure packed free throws at the end of the game it effectively iced the victory. Gor- don had 30 points and Quichard 13 to key the PAnthers to a 69- 64 win.

That set the stage for the Sun- day game against the # 1 ranked team in the country, the Saint francis Xavier X-Men. Fans of both teams had been pointing to this game as a real indicator as to who had the better team. As has been the case in recent years the Panthers fell behind early adn were forced to play catch up for the rest of the game. the real damage was done by shooting guard Wade Smith who hit 7 of 8 three point shots in the first half for 21 points and gave his team a

Thursday, February 8, 1990

nine point lead at the half, 54-45.

The Panthers played much better in the second half as they held Smith in check and slowly narrowed the lead down. The Panthers were able to gei it to one point 62-61 with 13 minutes to go but than Richard Bella helped the X-Men go on a 8-0 run that | effectively put the game out of reach. :

For oS the Panthers Dennis Smith had a big game as numerous times he took the ball strong to the hoop and scored 20 points in the pro- cess and also hauled down 11 re- bounds. Trevor Wilock added 18 | points and 8 rebounds.

The X—Men were led by Wade Smith who scored 30 points.

Currently the Panthers are in 5th place with a 5-3 record, good for 12 points. It should be remembered that UPEI games against Nova Scotia teams are worth 4 points. So with a win- ning streak the Panthers should be able to leap frog up the stand- ings.

UPEI’s Peter Gordon is third in the AUAA in scoring averag- ing 20.6 points a game. Trevor Wilock is 5 th in rebounding at 8.0 boards a game.

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Student Union Office

closed during

Mid Semester Break

February 19-23, 1990