© Sports the other press Flash Gordon e dcsportseditor@yahoo.ca January 14, 2003 Ye vy Belig be Oo Flash Gordon Sports Editor The men’s basketball program could be Douglas College's most exciting and unexpected success this year. Yes, we all remember our 3rd ranked in the nation men’s soccer team, but soccer is boring. Steve McGilligan has been fortunate to bring together what could be the most athletically talented team in the conference. Forget Cody Berg and Donald Burton for a minute. Nick Hope, Cole Birnie, Omar Ganief, Tim Powers, and Mike Kim are all names of guys who could start on any other team in the league. The team can go 12 players deep and McGilligan isn’t afraid to play the last guy to rest his top weapons. Cody and Donald have been drawing atten- tion since day one. Universities are already making inquiries into these key players in the Douglas lineup. Note to all those universi- ty scouts, Cody Berg has his sights on UBC so too bad for you. As we switch from Fall to Winter Semester at the College, play- ers can come and go from any lineup. Teams around the league have had to adjust to the possibility of a player or two disliking the pro- gram or not meeting the academic requirements to continue play- ing. It hasn't been a factor for the Royals. In the off-season, McGilligan pulled a rabbit out of his hat (Note: McGilligan does- n't actually wear a hat) and recruited a super athletic kid. The name isn't important yet. At 6’5, he caught a rebound and dunked on a 6’9 guy. That’s huge. Is the coach excited? You bet your college tuition he’s excited, but it's a guarded excitement since McGilligan doesn’t like for anyone to hear him giggle. He has all the elements for a really good team. He also has the elements for disaster. Youth and talent are as much detractors to a team if you can’t rein them in. There hasn't been a mental leader on the court for the guys, so someone has to take on that roll in the next eight weeks. Between spurts of brilliance, they can play like donkeys. Youthful inconsistency can be limited if you convince the players to remain focused. When McGilligan makes his team believe they have a shot at a provincial title, they could run wild over the conference. The Royals hope for a disciplined and productive practice schedule leading up to the first game of the New Year against Capilano on January 16. World Juniors Won by the Americans...Ugh! Flash Gordon Sports Editor Even in a tournament where they were considered among the favourites, it’s still a surprise to see Canada fall to the United States. It’s hockey, for igloo’s sake! Shock, disbelief, disappointed were among the feelings shared by the nation of hockey fans. Canada outscored the opponents 32-5 in the round robin and first play-off round. The Americans had an almost as impressive 23-4 count. Not quite as impressive, mind you. The monkey riding the Canadians into the gold medal game was that the Canucks had lost three years in a row. Prior to that, the Canadians hadn't won the World Juniors since 97. What it says about the greatest hockey nation in the world is that we are in fact human and not a collective of super robots programmed to play hockey. Marc-Andre Fleury made a crucial mistake cap- ping off a 3rd period comeback by the Americans. The first two periods made believers of all the hopeful fans who thought, “Yes, this is our year!” In fact it’s not. A fluke goal came in the final five minutes of play when Fleury bounced a pass off his defenseman into the Canadian net. I missed the goal but I can only imagine the look of horror as fans spilled beer while trying to lunge through the TV screen to stop the puck. On one hand, it was a careless play by a goaltender that, | think, should have known better. Yes, it was unfortunate and sad that Canada had to lose that way. It would World Cup Hockey Final U.S. 4-3 Canada be easy to say “Fleury blew it” but I’m not quite that heartless. If the kid can’t handle the agony of costing his team a world junior championship, I don’t have so much sympathy for someone who can go home and cry into his NHL paycheck. Every goalie must have made a bonehead play to cost his team a game at some point. Attribute it to a lesson-learned. Canada went into the 3rd period leading 3-1 so more than one bad play by the goaltender cost them the game. Chalk it up to a combined effort of mental mistakes by a young squad. Every time Canada goes into the world juniors, there is an extreme amount of pressure placed on the youngsters. Perhaps this team just didn’t bear the burden as well as they could have. The Americans play good hockey even with semi-talented thugs like Captain Brad Stuart on the ice. Patrick O’Sullivan snuck one past Fleury off a pass from a streaking Patrick Eaves. When Canada’s defense backed down, the opposition jumped all over them and put pressure on the goaltender. Fleury was left alone to prevent a backhand wrap-around goal where there was ample time for the defense to knock the attacker’s lights out. I don’t like it but I have to accept it. The Americans beat us. Canada will get a chance to redeem itself in 2005 in North Dakota and the Americans will get a chance to defend its title on home ice. aa Page 18 e hittp://www.otherpress.ca