Douglas struggles in baseball home opener Jeff Mott By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor ajor League baseball may have opened their doors officially this past week but for Douglas College, it was a rough weekend as they dropped three out of four contests to the Skagit Valley College Cardinals. Despite the poor finishes, the Royals, who play out of the NWAACC (Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges) didn’t look outclassed on the weekend. The first game of the year came on the road in Washington, and Douglas was in the game right until the final out, losing a nail-biter 2-1. The game was tight all the way through, as the Royals equalled the Cardinals, who were runners-up back in the 2007 NWAACC league championships, in hits with four for each team and the Royals’ sophomore starter Jon Winick pitched a gem with three strikeouts and played a complete game. Unfortunately, he was out-duelled by Brandon Andreini, who racked up five strikeouts in the beginning of his freshman year. Douglas evened the series up at one apiece later in the day, again in Washington, with a dominant and entertaining 9-6 win that saw the Royals strike early and often. The third game of the series, Douglas’ seasonal home opener, matched the first game, with the Royals losing by a 2-1 score. The team sustained a blowout 12-3 defeat in the final game of the series but other then that forgettable affair, the squad looked competitive in every outing against a young Cardinals team that won’t field a single senior this year. On an individual basis, Rylan Chin stole the show for Douglas in their lone win of the series. He went an incredible four for four and was walked twice throughout the contest. However, aside from some sublime pitching from Winick and Jeff Mottl (who delivered a spectacular effort in game three, giving up just two hits all game, but couldn’t get any runs from his own side to back him up), most of the highlight reel plays came courtesy of Cardinals players in the final game of the series. Third baseman Austin Potter blew the Royals away by going a perfect five for five while freshman catcher Jeff Calhoon batted four for five. Travis Schreve, one of the few sophomores on the team, hit the game’s lone home run and went three for four. .& Potts. ia’ Should we bring Wellwood back? By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor ust a few months ago, this Jee have been a thought in a rational Canucks fan’s head. Should the Vancouver Canucks bring back Kyle Wellwood? A few months ago, the idea was laughable at best. Now, however, things have changed. The Canucks have locked up their third Northwest Division crown in four years and have emerged as one of the best offensive squads in the NHL in large part because of their secondary scoring. In the latter half the season, only the Washington Capitals have a better record than the Canucks and a big part of that has been because of their sudden ability to generate offense from a wide variety of areas. In the past, Vancouver lived and died with the Sedin twins. While they are still the primary force that makes the club go, having forwards like Ryan Kesler, Michael Grabner, Mason Raymond and yes, Kyle Wellwood, chip in every game with a few goals has proven invaluable. That wasn’t always the case this year however. To say that Wellwood was spinning his wheels at the beginning of the year would be akin to saying Tiger Woods kind of messed up. It took Wellwood 20 games to record his first goal of the season, and in the opening 19 contests all he could muster was a pair of assists, one of which was on an empty netter. After being lambasted by the team, the media and just about everyone in Vancouver for his infamous weight issues last year, Wellwood showed up at the start of the current season armed with a new one-year, $1.2 million contract and fit, lighter physique. When his game went to hell and the entire city was screaming for GM Mike Gillis to acquire a more traditional third line center, Wellwood opted to make a change. He went back to the things that helped him have a career year in goals last year—namely pizza and renewed dedication to staying out of the gym. As a result, Wellwood put on some more weight and his play picked up. After the Olympic break he quietly started to motor and is now, shockingly, on his way to improving on his point totals from last year where he had 27. It has been in recent outings that Wellwood’s value has shown up at long last. He has always been a highly skilled player, and he finally found his sublime dangling abilities, which had been missing in action for most of the year. During the 8-3 debacle against Los Angeles a few weeks ago, Wellwood was one of the Canucks’ only decent players, and he kept the team in the game for as long “as he could with a pair of excellent goals. He followed that up two nights later with a seeing-eye tip on a Kevin Bieksa point shot against the Wild in a 4-3 Vancouver win. Wellwood’s 14 goals may be modest, but it is a more than acceptable total for a third line center, and he’s also been doing his diligence defensively and has even turned into a reliable option on the penalty kill. Even with his late surge, Wellwood can’t realistically be looking at a raise this summer (where he is slated to become an unrestricted free agent), and that presents an interesting situation for Gillis. The Canucks are going to be pressed right up against the salary cap ceiling and will be forced to part ways with a number of forwards, most notably Pavol Demitra. It is highly likely that Grabner, Cody Hodgson and Jordan Schroeder, all first round picks on cheap entry- level deals, will be relied upon to continue the current trend of secondary scoring, and if Wellwood is willing to accept even a slightly cheaper contract than the one he won in arbitration last summer, he could very well be back in a Canucks uniform next season.