THE UPEI SUN,February 15,1979,page 12

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We trust that, by now, SUN readers will have complete- ly recovered from last week's Winter Carnival and that they have replaced their supply of aspirin for which we understand the demand was great. We were told that the distress shown by many was due to excessively loud band music, although why this should have resulted also in red eyes and excessive morning thirst we do not know]. We wish to give great credit to the winners of the several contests con— ducted throughout the week with special kudos going to those intrepid individ— uals who all exhibited such a great desire to win the "mugging" contest that they practised long and hard in the time leading up to the thrilling events.

Since we last wrote this column ’we are pleased to report that the Pantherette Basketball team has run its unbeaten string to 19 and have won their league by a comfortable margin. 'Ihey ‘ twice topped the St. Thomas girls, the first by 98-27 with Cathy Chandler's 16 being tops while Mary Jane Ready's 24 led all others as we won the second 99—16. This past weekend they topped Mount Allison 62—51 and on Sunday they won their final league game at the U. de Moncton 76-53 with Alyson Maxwell and Heather MacIean combining for 28 points. This Friday night, in Fredericton, they take on the nationally ranked md Bloomers from U.N.B. in the opening game of the A.U.A.A. finals. We look for a close contest.

In men's basketball the news is GOOD. In the best local game of the season we beat St. F.X. (rated #4 in Canada) for the second time, by a score of 85-81. This puts us in third place in the league and presents sotething of a puzzle. We are unranked nationally although we have beaten team #4 twice and are ahead of Acadia which enjoys national recognition! This big victory over traditimal

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rival X was played before an enthusiastic audience that crammed the gym to capacity an hour before game time and everybody went away happy. Larry McGhee was again tops with 30 but probably the happiest player was Ron Steuewe whose key shot in the closing seconds was a big factor in our triumph. Ran is a former benchwarmer at X who trans— ferred to UPEI and, are we glad he did? Of the regulars, Big John Guil— ford played his best game since coming here while

Ken Salter and Jude Kelly performed brilliantly. We must give special attention to Bill Fannin who, after

sitting out a year, seems to .

have gained a great deal of speed as he jinked dcwncourt with the ball in a most impressive fashion. (You V learn a lot of words at Scrabble.) We also beat Nbunt A. 91-70 in a game in whidn the result was never in doubt. Iarry McGiee again led the way, this time with 28. The biggest contest and show in this game seemed to be that of the two coaches against the referees. We wonder, why anyone will voluntarily arbitrate in a basketball game? Next games here will be with U.N.B. , with whom we split games in Fredericton, on this Friday and Saturday. While we look for a pair it will not be easy as Don Nelson's charges are a much improved team this season.

This past weekend we again split hockey games, beating Mount Allison and losing to Mcnctcn. The Mount A. game, .6-4 for us, was played in our rink and the players MUST have been more concerned with keeping warm than with scoring goals. We had actually forgotten how cold that place can be. The bit of "Special" coffee we brought, thinking to counter cold, was consumed by our friends before the first period ended and we suffered throughout. In this game Shane Turner and Harold Hay had two apiece. while Ken Burton and Trevor Crawford contributed singles. We outshct Mount A. 39—31. Next afternoon, back in the more comfortable surroundings of the Forum (and we never suspected that they could seem so luxurious) we dropped a close- and crucial game to Les Aigles Bleu 3-2 as their goal- m, bait Fbrtier,

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came up with an outstanding performance. While we cut— shot them by only a small margin, 39—36, some of Benoit's saves bordered on the miraculous and we are

convinced that he must have gone to church on Sunday

for somebody up there

looked after him. We had many of what Jack Kane used to refer to as "Quality ' Shots" including a penalty shot by redoubtable Shane Turner, a late-game break- away by Wilfred MacDonald and an eyeball to eyeball attempt by reliable Kenny Burton in the last ten seconds. Our two goals came from the sticks of Shane 'I‘urner (vim, we thought, was the best player on the ice) and hard working Gary Trainor. This defeat leaves the Panther playoff hopes in a precarious position as we

must win all three remaining

games {Mancton away and U.N.B. here for two) to be assured of a coveted playoff spot. We MIGiT edge in with two but it would have to be from a fortuitous split of wins and losses among other contenders. Go Panthers C139?! ! 1 !

The subject is being bandied about so much we cannot refrain from content on the N.H.L./ Soviet series. We do not take this matter as

seriously as many of our

friends do, as we cannot equate athletric success

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'117 Kent Street, chariqt‘tgtown ‘phon. 394.3-922‘ If

with national honour. If we were beaten 20-0 we would still prefer to live ‘

here than in Russia. As a

matter of fact, as an old Ranger Rooter, like whom

the Russians play, we had grudging admiration for the Red team while hoping the N.H.L. would win. We ' do not agree with a C.B.C. commentator who said this was a victory of skill

and speed over brain and brutality as we thought the series was quite a clean one, with, ’ unfortunately, the better team winning. It was a good exhibition of a good game played “Well and that, in our humble opinion, is all that the series proved. Amen.

Since this was written and the type set we have been advised that our Panthers have been accorded recognition by whoever sets national ranking and we are now deemed to have the ' tenth best team in Canada. We do not agree with the placing but it is nice to make the select list and we must accord congratulations to Ooadn Kevin Feighrey who took over his post in August, with none of last year's team returning, and has put his dnarges into the rarified atmosphere where even Upper Canada recognizes us. Rah! for Bronx Feighrey! We'd like to recognize him as an Islander some day”!!!

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