SPORTS _ Canucks Corner: | | Hockey Day in Canada Edition Stephanie Smith, OP Sports Editor and Cry Baby Okay kids, I will admit to you this: I love the Canucks, I really do. I must, as I write this column every week. But one thing you should all know is this; I was born in Southern Ontario and my first love is not the Canucks, but the Toronto Maple Leafs. Yeah, I am a filthy stinking Leafs fan. You are free to stop reading now. Or to find me in some hallway and throw things at me. Don’t worry I am used to it. Anyway, imagine my excitement when the Leafs played the Canucks on January 13. It started as excitement anyway. I had this brilliant idea to invite all my Canucks fan friends over to watch the game with me. Game? I meant slaughter. The Canucks played fabulously. The Leafs played like they were hung over. As amazing as Roberto Luongo was, Raycroft was equally awful. While Luongo man- aged to stop 35 of 36 shots, Toronto’s so-called goaltender stopped 15 of 21. Vancouver also managed to up the ante with an unstoppable power play. They were 5 for 10 on the power play. Five! When was the last time the Canucks scored a single power play goal, let alone five of them? Players that have been in slumps managed to use this game as a way out of that slump. Naslund scored another goal, showing us that it was not just a fluke last time ‘round. Pyatt scored his first goal in more than a dozen games against the Leafs, showing us that he does have some tal- ent and it was not just a Carter-like symbiotic relationship with the Sedins that made him able to score. As I sat there and watched the lovely Canucks score goal after goal, and play a game that made them look like superstars I cried. I cried because deep down inside I am still a Leafs fan. I huddled under my Leafs blanket, pulled my old Gary Roberts Leafs jersey up over my face, and plugged my ears—so as to ignore the array of insults and jeers flowing my way from the mouths of my friends. The pain of it all was almost unmanageable. I could see the joy in their eyes, through the tears ‘in my own. I envied it. And I probably deserved it. Leafs fans are noto- riously cocky. I know I was. And you know what? Next time these two teams meet, nothing will change. I will gather them all together in the hopes that I can be the one to gloat and they can feel what I felt. But, that’s hockey eh? And I wouldn’t change a thing. Royals Survive Grizzly Attack Douglas College Athletics The Douglas College Royals volleyball teams returned to action this past weekend as they hosted the College of New Caledonia Kodiaks. Fresh off their Christmas season break, the women were ready to go as they defeated the University of Guelph and Fraser Valley in straights sets in the Okanagan Holiday Tournament in Kelowna, BC. However, the Kodiaks would prove to be a little more difficult than expected. After a tough 3-1 victory on Friday, the Royals found them- selves in a Grizzly attack as they were pushed to the fifth and deciding set. After leading two sets to one after the third match, the Royals fell short on closing out the match in the fourth, as CNC managed to lock it up at 2 sets apiece. In the final set, the Royals were able to regroup and pull out the victory by a score of 15-9. The weekend’s victories places the Royals’ in sole pos- session of fourth place in the BCCAA league standings. On the men’s side, the Royals got two much needed wins to keep their drive alive for a playoff spot. With an impressive showing in Calgary against top teams in the country, the Royals were ready to go against the Kodiaks as they defeated CNC 3-0 on Friday night and 3-1 on Saturday afternoon. This Saturday, the volleyball teams will travel to Kelowna to play against the Okanagan Lakers. Both games will be tough ones as both the Okanagan men’s and women’s teams are ranked nationally; 5th and 3rd respectively. 7 2 THE OTHER PRESS JANUARY 25 2007