Darren Paterson, Sports Editor

ith all three badminton tourna-

ments completed and just the

Provincial Championships left,
Douglas has finished in second place over-
all, having been just edged out by Langara.
The two teams pretty much dominated the
tournaments and together won all but two
of the available medals (both of those
being bronze). However, it was the
Langara kids who commonly took home
the gold as Douglas only managed to place
first four times in 15 total events.

In the first tournament, held at
Douglas, DC’ers Tiffany Cheong and
Lindy Liu won in the women’s doubles cat-
egory, but that was to be the only gold that

Douglas Badminton

 

Douglas would win in the competition.
The second. tournament, hosted by
Langara, saw the duo win yet another gold
before Cheong teamed up with Bryan Yee
to win in the mixed-doubles category as
well. Yee was also the only Douglas player
to win a singles gold as he took the field in
the final tournament of the year to round
out Douglas’ four wins.

Congratulations go out to those win-
ners, and to all the competitors who
helped lead Douglas to such a strong fin-
ish. If you wish to see the full results of
the competition, please check our website
at www.theotherpress.ca

 

 

Hard Luck Club

| Travis Paterson, OP Contributor

 

 

ebruary saw the Giants take to the
road for a six-game run with mea-
gre results. Things weren’t going
well from the start for the G-Men because
they suffered a one-goal loss to the Red

Deer Rebels, their 24th loss of the season.

Though they turned it around with a com-
manding win in Swift Current, they were
unable to maintain their momentum and
thus dropped the next two games in
Lethbridge and Medicine Hat before
heading into Calgary, travel weary but
determined, to take on the Hitmen.

The Hitmen were without their star
forward and Team Canada representative
Ryan Getzlaf, who hasn’t played since
receiving a concussion from hard-hitting
Dion Phaneuf in a game versus Red Deer.

The Giants two-way defenceman
Conlan Seder scored twice and the Giants
took the lead into the third period before
a valiant effort from Maple Ridge’s
Andrew Ladd stole it back for the
Hitmen. Three minutes into the third
stanza, Ladd tied the game when he shot
one from behind the goal line that
bounced off keeper Marek Schwarz and
into the net. Then, at the ten-minute
mark, Ladd scored the winning goal and
handed the G-men yet another one-goal
loss, their fourth loss of the trip.

The Giants are still holding steady at
third place in the BC Division and will be
looking to take back two points, in what
should be an emotional game, when they
host the Red Deer Rebels on Wednesday,
February 16.

 

 

FEBRUARY 16/2005

 

 

Douglas Basketball

Disappointment galore for the boys and girls of DC

Darren Paterson, Sports Editor

 

hat started as a week of opti-
mism and excitement ended
with a weekend of disap-
pointment as the Douglas College men’s

and women’s basketball teams saw no
points in two important league games.

Both teams had their Friday game
against Langara cancelled due to the
BCGEU strike before catching a case of
the blues against Capilano. And while the
men’s coach, Stephen McGilligan,
refused to comment on the strike, the
women’s coach, Ed Lunn, admitted that
the strike affected his team’s play against
the Capilano Blues.

“We weren’t able to have a practice,
we weren't able to play a game. And you
could see it on the floor tonight.”

Indeed, you could see it as the Royals
women were down by a score of 61-55
in a game where Capilano dominated on
the boards. “They wanted it more,’ Lunn
said. “We didn’t come to play. They knew
what was at stake and they played for it.”
And in the waning minutes of the game
it was I-Fan Liu who led her Capilano
team to victory with several hard-fought
points.

It was an effort that the Royals were
unable to match, and it ultimately led to
a devastating loss for Douglas. Coach
Lunn, when asked about his team’s
effort, said that he didn’t feel that any of
his players played well. “No one stepped
up. No one.”

But at least Lunn can share his misery
with McGilligan, whose men’s team had
an even more disappointing loss the
same night. The loss also came at the
hands of those terrible Blues of
Capilano and was more disappointing
because it could easily have been a win if
it weren’t for a late collapse on the part
of the Royals.

The game started with a 10-1 run by
Douglas before.Cap responded with 14
unanswered points. It was much of the
same for the duration of the first half,
with both teams taking turns at long runs

without either team maintaining control.
As a matter of fact, maintaining control
seemed to be a problem for fiery
Capilano coach Paul Eberhardt, as well.
Eberhardt exploded early and continued
to do so as the game went on—to the
point that it seemed like every call by the
referees was followed by unintelligible
shouts from the Blues bench.

But perhaps screaming and yelling
was the right thing to do, because it
seemed to energize his team, and Chris
Porteous of the Blues took control of
the game. Porteous led his team with an
unrivalled energy, grabbing rebounds,
driving the net, and dropping shots from
everywhere. And the Royals, once again,
did not have the answer.

The Royals led by a score of 45—39 at
the half, but were unable to protect that
lead when the game’s second half began.
And, before long, uninspired play and
foul trouble led to a Capilano comeback.
First, André Grant got into it with Blues
guard Brent McLaren leading to a series
of fouls, then starter Cody Berg of the
Royals fouled out and left his team with-
out the means to guard the Blues’
Porteous, who swiftly won the game.

When asked who played well in the
loss, McGilligan pointed to second-year
guard Darcy Cross.

“Darcy Cross played sensational. The
rest of the team, they way under-
achieved, way underachieved.” He went
on to say, “It’s the same thing the team’s
been doing all year, absolutely under-
achieving, just everywhere.”

Thankfully though, both the men’s
and women’s Royals, after likely being
dressed down by their coaches, still have
a chance to make up for the loss with a
win against Langara, as the strike-can-
celled game will soon be rescheduled.
And until then, they still have some very
important games to play while both
teams fight for their playoff lives.

www.theotherpress.ca | 21