Douglas College Athletics e Douglas College Royals Men’s Basketball team med their second tournament title of the holiday ak. After winning the Bearcat Holiday Classic in cember, the Royals took to the floor in the 6-team antlen Winter Basketball Tournament this past week. e Royals were able to sweep the tournament and take e a tournament title for the second time in any weeks. The first game pitted the Royals inst a Langara team that had to the Royals just five days ore. This time the Royals re better prepared for the cons. With 23 points from drew Sturgeon and 22 m Chris Veale, the Royals by as much as 26 points e second half. Capping a great night from the vals was a huge put back dunk m rookie Ryan Hatch who start- for the injured Shane Heuring. The yals finished the game with an 89-71 vic- vy. Game 2 saw the Royals take on an up and coming imosun team. The Royals got off to a good start ind Chris Veale and Andrew Sturgeon who com- hed to score the Royals first 14 points. The Royals led 22 at halftime. The Royals used a balanced scoring ack in the second half and cruised to a 77-61 victory. hyton Heuring led the Royals with 22 points while oyals Win Kwantien Winter asketball Tournament Veale chipped in with 13 and Geoff Lenahan added 10. The tournament final pitted the Royals against the only BC team to beat them this season, The Capilano Blues. The Royals were without their starting posts, Andrew Sturgeon and Shane Heuring, but roared out to a quick start behind the hot shooting of former Blue Graeame McCallum. The Royals got a Geoff Lenahan lay-up to close the half up 47-29. The second half was a different story. The Blues came back behind the hot shooting of second year guard Nick Toews who had 25 points in the second half. The Blues were able to cut the Royals lead to 84-82 on a J.P. Kamand lay-up with under a minute to play. However, the Royals were able to run a play at the end of the shot clock and Chris Veale knocked down a 3 pointer to put the game out of reach. The Royals went on to win the game 89- 83. Graeme McCallum scored 22 points for the Royals and Chris Veale had 17. The Blues were led by Nick Toews and J.P. Karmand who had 30 and 19 points respectively. Graeame McCallum was named tournament MVP. Tournament All-Stars included Chris Veale from Douglas, Jeff Krawetz from Camosun, Kyle Watson from Langara, Nick Toews from Capilano, and Matt Senges from Kwantlen Canucks Corner Stephanie Smith, OP Sports Editor psports@gmail.com Xr After the last 30 games, who could have ever predicted this for the Canucks? As of the 11th of January, they have won seven games in a row. They are sit- ting on top of their division. This is most in part to the fact that the Canucks have been scoring goals, something that they have not being doing on a con- sistent basis this year. The Sedins have kicked it into high gear and are now on a top line, which means mote ice time, and more points for the twins. Another key difference is the fact that Trevor Linden’s ice time has been up. Instead of playing 11 minutes, playing on the penalty kill, and taking key face-offs and jumping back on the bench, Linden is seeing power play time. Alongside the Sedin’s he is a force on the Canucks top power play unit, and is seeing almost 19 minutes per game now. The result; better stats. And goals! After going 30 games without a goal, Linden now has 5 goals in his last 11 games. Helping the Canucks win streak most of all is goaltender Roberto Luongo. In the past week, Luongo has picked up four victories, and has held onto a 1.92 goals-against average and a .940 save percentage. What remains to be seen is whether they can continue on like this. I don’t expect them to go on a 40-game winning streak, but if they can continue to play exactly how they are, they will make the playoffs. They may even take the division! But the worry I have is them falling back into old habits. Right now they are playing strong offensively, and they are being careful in front of their own net. How many times did a goal go in against Luongo actually come off the butt of Mattias Ohlund? More than a few I can tell you. I-had jokes about signing his butt to a contract elsewhere, just to eliminate this problem. But it looks as though it has been. Not one butt-goal in the last ten games or So. My biggest concern is Markus Naslund. Yeah, he had a pretty good game against Florida on January 7. He managed a goal and an assist, which is something that he hasn’t been doing too often lately. The problem with that is the reason he hasn’t been producing. He won’t say anything, and neither® will the staff, but Naslund is hurting. He missed the puck entirely in the shootout against Dallas a few games back, and his shot has been way off the last few weeks. If the Canucks can stay healthy, they can do well. If they can keep up their work ethic, they can do well if Naslund can take a rest and get himself back in working order, they can do well.