Two More AUS Classics
by Dan Robertson - March 10, 2011
What a week for the AUS.
Two games in two sports over a span of four days provided the ultimate showcase for
university athletics in our region, proving to casual observers what hard-core AUS fans
already knew: at its best, university competition is absolutely top-notch.
Let's start with Saturday, March 5th and a semi-final men's basketball game between
Acadia and Cape Breton University.
The Capers, defending conference champions, entered the game via a first-round bye
because of their glistening 19-1 record in the regular season. The Capers appeared to be
even better than they had the previous season with a core of impact players that remained
mostly intact from 2009-2010. At 7-13, Acadia had to win three of four down the stretch
just to qualify for the post-season. They got to the semis with a 20-point victory over
UNB but the young Axemen appeared to be no match for Cape Breton.
It would have been difficult to find even the most ardent Acadia supporter to say with
a straight face that Steve Baur's team had a snowball's chance in the semi-final. But, as
the old saying goes, that's why they play the games. By the end of the first half, the
Capers held a scant two point lead, but it's not like the vibe of an upset was in the air.
But as the second half progressed a couple of things became apparent, the Axemen had
momentum and were playing with a great deal of confidence. It was almost as if they were
too young to know they weren't supposed to win.
Somehow, with three players on the bench with five fouls, including their best player
Owen Klassen, the Axemen forced overtime. With Justin Boutilier, who missed a large
portion of the regular season due to injury, leading the way, the Axemen shocked the
Capers in overtime, winning 83-81.
There's another old saying, that everybody loves an underdog. There was evidence of
that Saturday night. As the game grew longer, the cheers for Acadia grew louder among the
5,500 fans or so at the Metro Centre.
It seemed the only ones not cheering were Cape Breton's famous 'Orange Army', a
dedicated group of fans that help make Sullivan Field House on the CBU campus a rotten
place to play for the Capers' opposition. But this wasn't Sullivan Field House, or even
Centre 200 in Sydney where the Capers won last year. It was the Halifax Metro Centre,
where CBU have had one nightmare piled on top of the other the last number of years.
They are 1-6 in the AUS tournament since 2005 in Halifax. But I think it's
short-sighted for anyone to point to the building as the main culprit in Cape Breton's
quick exit. Here's my theory as to what happened: when a team faces little or no adversity
during the regular season, it can struggle mightily when the heat is turned up in the
playoffs. As mentioned, the Capers, to their credit, strolled through the regular season,
their only loss coming to the Dalhousie Tigers who would go on to hammer the spent Axemen
by 31 points in Sunday's final.
It seemed that when the pressure of the semi-final hit home, CBU players indulged in
some questionable shot selections instead of running their usually-capable offense. A
last-second foul was committed far away from their own basket, which led to the
game-winning free-throws by Acadia.
When you rarely play from behind, how can you know what to do, especially in a
pressure-cooker like that? The finality of the situation had to be incredibly tough to
take for the CBU players and staff. I'm guessing nothing less than a conference title next
year will remove the weight of the loss to Acadia.
They'll have to do it without all-star Paris Carter, underrated big man Scott
Jaspers-Fayer and the brilliant Phil Nkrumah, who posted 15 points and 18 rebounds in the
loss. All three have used their university eligibility.
As for the Axemen, they played with the coolness of their young coach Steve Baur. Baur
has done an excellent job of recruiting and doesn't lose any key players moving into next
season. Expect the likes of Klassen, Boutilier, Thomas Filgiano and Anthony Sears to be
better next winter. They'll all have their incredible semi-final experience to build on.
One more AUS basketball thought - Dalhousie guard Simon Farine has cemented his status
as the best big-game player in the conference over the past decade. Two AUS titles, two
championship tournament MVP awards and unmatched leadership-by-example in the past three
seasons. Enough said.
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The deciding game of the StFX/Saint Mary's hockey semi-final was another classic. But it
didn't start out that way.
The Huskies completely stifled the X-Men in Antigonish in game four, allowing only 16
shots in a 4-1 series-extending victory. Saint Mary's could not have had a better start to
game five at the Halifax Forum.
After irrepressible captain Justin Munden tipped one home to open the scoring four
minutes in to the game, the SMU line of Ryan Rorabeck, Tyler Hawes and Michael Stickland
had what can only be termed a 'perfect' shift. They pinned the X-Men in their end for what
seemed like more than a minute. They pounded the StFX defense with big hits, maintaining
puck control the entire time.
Hawes, especially, was tremendous. After another big hit, he found Rorabeck in the slot
with a smart pass and it was 2-0 Huskies. The rout was on, right? Wrong. Brad Peddle's
X-Men weathered the storm for the remainder of the period, with some help from goalie Joey
Perricone.
Early in the second, their struggling power-play came to life and Bryce Swan cut the
lead to 2-1. Superb freshman Jason Bast tied the game with a beautiful goal and there
would be no more scoring until the second overtime. Phil Mangan redirected a Scott Brannon
pass into the Saint Mary's net and StFX won the game, earning a berth in the nationals in
the process.
One of the big stars in the game was the building itself. The Halifax Forum might not
be anyone's idea of a luxury sports venue building but I doubt any of the 4,600-plus in
attendance were complaining about the old girl that night. I don't think anyone was
surprised the deciding game of a series featuring these two teams went to overtime, but
I'm certainly glad it did. It showed once again just how good AUS hockey really is.
All AUS teams feature players with multiple seasons of CHL experience, many former NHL
draft picks and some players with minor pro experience. Every single team has an excellent
head coach.
It's not as good as the American Hockey League and I've never seen an ECHL game, but
the AUS probably falls somewhere in between the two leagues when it comes to quality of
play. More scouts than ever are combing the league for late blooming talent, a sure sign
that AUS hockey is as strong, if not stronger than ever.
Those two games were an example of local amateur sports at their best and provided a
great advertisement for the university game. If you don't check out an AUS game after that
kind of action, to quote Hockey Hall of fame broadcaster Mike Lange, "shame on you
for six weeks".
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Dan is the Senior Sports Producer for EastLink TV.
He does play-by-play for Atlantic University Sport football, basketball and hockey every
Saturday during the season on EastLink TV and has covered Atlantic University
Sport since 2001.
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