The fourth-oldest hockey rivalry in Canada is featured prominently tonight, with Queen's taking on the McGill Redmen. Things just got underway here in Kingston at the Memorial Centre, and the game's already heated: a Queen's forward collided with McGill's starting goalie, Jake Jarvis, and one of their defencemen early on and the whole tangle slid into the boards, sparking a bit of a dustup. Jarvis hobbled off afterwards favouring his arm and was replaced by rookie Danny Mireault.
(Correction: LeagueStats indicates that it was Hubert Morin who was the original goalie, not Jarvis).
First period
14:00: We're six minutes into the first period now and it's been pretty even so far. Plenty of checks and big hits, and some strong penalty killing from McGill. Queen's looked all right on the power-play chances they've had so far, but they couldn't produce a goal and we're back to five-on-five.
11:43: The Gaels are going on the power play again. Brandon Perry was taken down in the corner, and the Redmen pick up a hooking penalty.
10: McGill is again doing a nice job of penalty killing. The Gaels' shoot-ins are cleared almost immediately, and the Redmen even get a 2-on-1 shorthanded rush. It comes to naught thanks to a bad pass, though.
9:24: McGill gets a power play and they waste no time. Veteran defenceman Ken Morin drills home a slapshot from the point. 1-0 McGill.
8:16: Another after-the-whistle scrum breaks out in the McGill end, and Gaels' forward Brock Ouellet gets his helmet knocked off. He and McGill's Yan Turcotte are both sent to the sin bin.
CFL update: Calgary hung on to beat B.C. 22-18. I'll have a full post on that later tonight at Out of Left Field.
5: Not too much going on offensively for either side here, but still plenty of hits. Good atmosphere: there's around 100 McGill fans who made the trip down, and probably 200-300 from Queen's. All are quite into the game, which is good to see.
2: Another power play for Queen's thanks to a penalty to Turcotte, and they get some good chances. Defenceman Brendan Bureau blasts a slap shot from the faceoff circle, but Mireau makes a nice save. McGill kills the rest of the penalty off.
1: Queen's forward Jeffrey Johnstone picks up a penalty, and McGill is back on the power play. Queen's kills off the first part of it as the period comes to an end.
Second period:
19: Queen's kills off the rest of the penalty and we're back to five-on-five.
17: Morin turns it over in his own zone and Queen's gets a two-on-one, but they can't get a shot off.
16: Johnstone takes another penalty for slashing. McGill power play.
15: Queen's forward Brandon Perry steals the puck in McGill's end and walks in alone shorthanded, but his shot misses the top left corner by a good foot and sails wide.
14: Queen's kills off the rest of the penalty, but McGill gets another chance soon after when a Marc-Andre Daneau shot is deflected towards a scrum in front of the net. Gaels' goalie Brady Morrison makes a nice diving play to cover the loose puck.
This Don Campbell profile of Queen's assistant coach (and former NHL star) Alyn McCauley in the Ottawa Citizen is well worth a read. I spoke with McCauley briefly after a Queen's game earlier this year, and I was impressed; he's obviously got a lot of hockey knowledge, but my sense was that he can also communicate it, an important quality in any coach.
11: The Gaels get another two-on-one from Blake Pronk and David Chubb, but Mireault makes a good stop on Pronk to preserve his shutout.
9: Still plenty of physical play here. Queen's is getting chances off the rush, but not a lot of shots.
8: Good chance for McGill in close and Morrison has to make a sprawling stop.
7: McGill's Alexandre Picard-Hooper bangs a loose puck home. 2-0 McGill.
6: And McGill follows it up with another nice one. I believe it was forward Leonard Verrilli who drilled home a one-timer from the slot while being checked to the ice by a Queen's defenceman. Good goal for the Redmen, and it's now 3-0 McGill. The pro-Gaels crowd is noticeably quieter now; I wouldn't be surprised to see the building empty out a bit after this period.
Gaels update: Well, men's hockey might be losing, but the women's volleyball team pulled off a straight-sets win at home tonight against the Lakehead Thunderwolves.
NHL update: Canucks are leading the Leafs 4-0 at the end of the second period on Hockey Night in Canada. Good to see that at least one West Coast team had a good day. The Lions, not so much.
2: McGill's Serbian forward Marko Kovacevic gets a good chance in close, but Morrison makes a nice save to deny him.
1: McGill's Maxime Langelier-Parent takes a holding penalty with 13 seconds left to go; Queen's will be on the power play to start the third period.
That's the end of the second, and it doesn't loook too good for the Gaels. Attendance is announced at 920, which may be a little optimistic, but not by too much: more people have trickled in since I gave the initial figures earlier. That's a pretty decent turnout for an off-campus hockey game, especially given that the Leafs are playing right now and the CFL West final also ran into this time slot.
Hilarious intermission contest; obstacle-course racing, and the McGill guy wins. The Queen's student managed to miss six shots at an empty net from the top of the faceoff circle. Usually, there's a joke available about how the losing home team should sign one of these contestants, but not tonight.
Third period:
19: Queen's starts on the power play, but they aren't able to create much off it. McGill kills the rest of the penalty off without the Gaels really even getting a good chance.
18: Shot totals through two periods: McGill 23, Queen's 12.
17: It's not really that surprising that McGill's doing so well in this one. Yeah, they're 2-4-1 on the year, but they beat Queen's 4-1 just last week. Part of that record is a slow start for the Redmen; another part of it is the quality of their division. Their overtime loss is to the 10-1 UQTR Patriotes (on Nov. 5) and several other losses have been close ones against good teams like Carleton and Concordia. Meanwhile, Queen's is 5-5-2 and tied for the division lead, but that's with wins over some weaker opponents like Ryerson and UOIT.
15: McGill penalty to forward Andrew Wright. Queen's power play gets another chance: let's see what they do with it.
13: Queen's sets up well this time and passes the puck around, but the Gaels then succumb to Canuck-itis and fail to get many good shots off. McGill kills off the penalty.
12: Well, one good sign is that the arena's still largely full, contrary to my previous prediction. Nice to see some decent fan support; it's not all that common these days.
12: Picard-Hooper walks in alone on goal, but Morrison makes a nice save.
11: McGill eventually jams a puck by Morrison after a protracted scramble in front, but the goal's disallowed.
11: Special teams are not helping the Gaels this game. According to LeagueStats, they're 0-6 on the power play and 3-4 on the penalty kill.
9: Five-minute penalty and a game misconduct to Brock Ouellet, served by Jarrod Thomson (and no, not that J. Thomson. That probably kills Queen's chances of any comeback.
8: Johnstone takes another penalty, giving McGill over a minute of a 5-on-3 advantage.
6: Queen's defends well though, and kills off Johnstone's penalty. Morrison had to make a few good saves, but decent penalty killing this time around.
5: These guys really have to learn to stop taking bad penalties though. It probably didn't make a difference here, but it killed their comeback hopes, however faint they were. More discipline is needed.
5: McGill gets a good power-play chance when a Kovacevic shot is tipped in front by Sam Bloom, but Morrison makes a nice save.
4: NHL update: Now Vancouver 4, Toronto 1, but that should still be a safe lead. 4 minutes left in that one too.
3: McGill gets a great chance on a one-timer, but Guillame Doucet fires wide from the slot.
3: Starting to run out of power here, so I'll have to shut this down pretty quick. Should have some post-game thoughts and reaction up later tonight or early tomorrow though.
3: Another scrum after the whistle, and Langelier-Parent gets into a fight with Johnstone. More of a shoving match than anything, though. There's plenty of passion here for this rivalry, and the Queen's guys must be frustrated to lose to McGill yet again.
2: It's offsetting penalties, so no change there. Thought Queen's had the extra one for a moment.
1: McGill's fans are doing the classic "Na, Na, Hey, Goodbye" serenade, and we'll shut it down on that note. The game comes to an end. Final score, McGill 3, Queen's 0. Thanks for tuning in.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
CFL playoff coverage
Just thought I'd mention that I'm doing CFL coverage today over at Out of Left Field. East final preview is here, West final preview here and a East final recap is here; I'll put a West final recap up there later tonight, hopefully between periods of the Queen's-McGill game (which will be live-blogged here, as previously mentioned).
Upcoming Kill McGill live blog...
A quick note that I'll be live-blogging tonight's men's hockey match between Queen's and the McGill Redmen, believed to be the fourth-oldest hockey rivalry in the world. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. It will also be broadcast on TV Cogeco and webcast at cfrc.ca. Check out Amrit's story in Friday's paper for a preview and a recap of last week's battle between the teams in Montreal, which McGill won 4-1. Queen's is already off to a better start this weekend with a 2-1 shootout win [Mike Grobe, gogaelsgo.com] against the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees last night; we'll see if they can keep it up tonight.
Friday, November 14, 2008
Campus Corner: Stinson joins hoops Gaels
I learned this morning that football tight end Scott Stinson (famed not only for his size and great receiving numbers, but also for being one of the few athletes to crack the front page of the Journal, even in less than ideal circumstances) has officially joined the men's basketball team. There had been some rumours floating around about this earlier, but it's confirmed now: he's on the official roster and may play as early as their weekend games against Brock and Guelph.
This might work out well for the team. One of the big problems so far has been their lack of depth in the frontcourt positions; in fact, as I pointed out in my story on last weekend's games, a lot of their success came when they went to a three-guard lineup. Especially with Jon Ogden not playing (he played in the pre-season, but isn't with the team at the moment), there aren't a lot of frontcourt options on this team, and Stinson's addition should significantly help with that.
These Gaels are renowned for their speed and their outside shooting, but their main presence down low at the moment is Mitch Leger, who's better as a power forward or a small forward than a centre. Rookie Bernard Burgessen and second-year centre Patrick Beswick have shown potential, and Rob Shaw brings veteran experience, but they can't play all the time, and Stinson should be able to eat some minutes. Moreover, he's got a ton of size; he's listed as 6'6'', 250 pounds in the football media guide, but personal observations (and that aforementioned OUA roster) suggest he's at least 6'7''. More impressive still is his weight; Burgessen and Beswick (the only other 6'7'' guys on the roster) are tall, but pretty stringy, and Shaw isn't much bulkier. With his size and athleticism, Stinson should be able to make an impact.
Another point of interest is that this isn't a new game for Stinson; the aforementioned football media guide notes that he was a member of the 2003 national bronze-medal basketball team at Humber College. He also played basketball, soccer, Ultimate and rugby at Chippewa High School in North Bay in addition to football, so he's obviously got a fair bit of all-around athleticism. It will be interesting to watch and see how he does, but the feeling from this end is that he might just be a big addition to this team. Good for him for taking a risk and trying this out; it would have been much easier to rest on the laurels he earned with the football team.
Neate has more at Out of Left Field, including a look at other crossover athletes in CIS history. Oddly enough, there have been several at Queen's in recent years: Billy Burke played football and hockey until this year, when he decided to focus more on hockey, and Teddi Firmi quit women's basketball to return to rugby this year.
This might work out well for the team. One of the big problems so far has been their lack of depth in the frontcourt positions; in fact, as I pointed out in my story on last weekend's games, a lot of their success came when they went to a three-guard lineup. Especially with Jon Ogden not playing (he played in the pre-season, but isn't with the team at the moment), there aren't a lot of frontcourt options on this team, and Stinson's addition should significantly help with that.
These Gaels are renowned for their speed and their outside shooting, but their main presence down low at the moment is Mitch Leger, who's better as a power forward or a small forward than a centre. Rookie Bernard Burgessen and second-year centre Patrick Beswick have shown potential, and Rob Shaw brings veteran experience, but they can't play all the time, and Stinson should be able to eat some minutes. Moreover, he's got a ton of size; he's listed as 6'6'', 250 pounds in the football media guide, but personal observations (and that aforementioned OUA roster) suggest he's at least 6'7''. More impressive still is his weight; Burgessen and Beswick (the only other 6'7'' guys on the roster) are tall, but pretty stringy, and Shaw isn't much bulkier. With his size and athleticism, Stinson should be able to make an impact.
Another point of interest is that this isn't a new game for Stinson; the aforementioned football media guide notes that he was a member of the 2003 national bronze-medal basketball team at Humber College. He also played basketball, soccer, Ultimate and rugby at Chippewa High School in North Bay in addition to football, so he's obviously got a fair bit of all-around athleticism. It will be interesting to watch and see how he does, but the feeling from this end is that he might just be a big addition to this team. Good for him for taking a risk and trying this out; it would have been much easier to rest on the laurels he earned with the football team.
Neate has more at Out of Left Field, including a look at other crossover athletes in CIS history. Oddly enough, there have been several at Queen's in recent years: Billy Burke played football and hockey until this year, when he decided to focus more on hockey, and Teddi Firmi quit women's basketball to return to rugby this year.
Campus Corner: Basketball bonus coverage
We were pretty pressed for space in this week's Journal, so I had to cut this piece on the men's basketball team's opening weekend games down substantially for the paper. I figured I'd post it here in its entirety for anyone interested in more details on the team and their opening games. For more Gaels' hoops coverage, check out my profile of Mitch Leger in today's paper: I'll have another posts on the team up here shortly. Here's the full story:
Basketball opens with a bang
By Andrew Bucholtz
Sports Editor
The men’s basketball team’s started the season with a bang Friday. They earned a 72-67 victory against the Waterloo Warriors, a team that was 6-16 last season but had defeated the Gaels 92-62 in the preseason.
Point guard Baris Ondul poured in 19 points against Waterloo and added six assists and three rebounds.
Ondul said the team was out for revenge after their ignominious loss to the Warriors in the pre-season.
“We were motivated for redemption,” he said.
Ondul said the Gaels were spurred on by the large numbers of fans in attendance.
“I liked the turnout from the crowd,” he said. “That’s good; we’re hoping for that every single game from now on.”
Forward Mitch Leger scored a game-high 26 points Friday and added 10 rebounds.
Waterloo head coach Tom Kieswetter said the play of Leger, who missed the pre-season match thanks to injury, was the main disparity between the two games.
“Mitch didn’t play; that’s the denominator right there,” he said. “He was the difference tonight; we couldn’t get him stopped. He was hitting shots and played great, and that’s why they won.”
After the game, Leger said the Gaels were humiliated by their previous loss to Waterloo, which he missed thanks to an injury, and were looking to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“You lose by 30, it’s really embarrassing,” he said. “We knew they’d come in thinking they could beat us by 30 again, so we just played hard and grinded it out.”
Leger said he was pleased with the team’s defensive play, as they were able to hold Waterloo to 67 points.
“They had 67, last time they scored 92,” he said. “To hold a team like that under 70 is pretty good.”
Leger said there was still room for improvement, though.
“It’s just little letdowns,” he said. “The coach is always talking about dead plays, where we fall asleep. We’ve practiced for two months, we can’t really afford to do that any more, and we know better.”
Head coach Rob Smart said after the game the difference between the two clashes with Waterloo was the Gaels’ defensive intensity.
“We defended,” he said. “They can really score, but we defended and they’ve scored against everybody but Carleton and us tonight. Every other game they’ve played, they’ve scored a bunch.”
Smart said he was pleased with the team’s performance.
“I don’t think we could have played a whole bunch better tonight,” he said.
The Gaels finished strong, outscoring Waterloo 17-13 in the final quarter where they went to a three-guard lineup that featured their smaller players. Smart said 6’7’’ rookie Bernard Burgessen’s rebounding performance enabled him to go to a quicker lineup. Burgessen finished the night with six rebounds, behind only Leger for the team lead.
“Bernard rebounded so well he let us go small,” Smart said. “It’s nice to go small if you can get rebounds. On the defensive end, he was just a vacuum. He got every one, he went up the ladder and took it down.”
Smart said he wasn’t pleased with the team’s 67 per cent success rate on free-throw attempts, but he doesn’t see an easy cure.
“It’s one of those things that the more you talk about it the worse it gets, usually.”
Smart said he was pleased Queen’s was able to knock off the Warriors, who he said are much stronger than last year’s record shows.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “Of the teams I’ve seen in the country, I think they’re a top ten team. They’ve beaten a lot of teams.”
Smart said there’s still a lot of work to do, though.
“I always expect a whole bunch,” he said. “The win tonight isn’t very big if we lose tomorrow.”
Those words came true, and the Gaels suffered a 97-84 loss on Saturday to the lightly-regarded Laurier Golden Hawks, who were 8-14 last year. Leger, who again scored 26 points and added 10 rebounds, said the loss nullified the euphoria from the win over Waterloo.
“By the end of the weekend we felt pretty bad,” he said.
Leger said the defensive effort, which was a strength on Friday, was absent Saturday.
“The performance we had Saturday was just a complete defensive meltdown by the entire team, and I was one of the major problems with that too,” he said. “It was a lot of fundamental defensive breakdowns, things that we just kind of took for granted, defensive things we didn’t feel like doing hard in that game.”
Leger said the loss will fire the Gaels up for their upcoming road games against the Guelph Gryphons and the Brock Badgers, though.
“It’s pretty disappointing, but it gives us some motivation for practice this week and going into this weekend.”
Basketball opens with a bang
By Andrew Bucholtz
Sports Editor
The men’s basketball team’s started the season with a bang Friday. They earned a 72-67 victory against the Waterloo Warriors, a team that was 6-16 last season but had defeated the Gaels 92-62 in the preseason.
Point guard Baris Ondul poured in 19 points against Waterloo and added six assists and three rebounds.
Ondul said the team was out for revenge after their ignominious loss to the Warriors in the pre-season.
“We were motivated for redemption,” he said.
Ondul said the Gaels were spurred on by the large numbers of fans in attendance.
“I liked the turnout from the crowd,” he said. “That’s good; we’re hoping for that every single game from now on.”
Forward Mitch Leger scored a game-high 26 points Friday and added 10 rebounds.
Waterloo head coach Tom Kieswetter said the play of Leger, who missed the pre-season match thanks to injury, was the main disparity between the two games.
“Mitch didn’t play; that’s the denominator right there,” he said. “He was the difference tonight; we couldn’t get him stopped. He was hitting shots and played great, and that’s why they won.”
After the game, Leger said the Gaels were humiliated by their previous loss to Waterloo, which he missed thanks to an injury, and were looking to make sure it didn’t happen again.
“You lose by 30, it’s really embarrassing,” he said. “We knew they’d come in thinking they could beat us by 30 again, so we just played hard and grinded it out.”
Leger said he was pleased with the team’s defensive play, as they were able to hold Waterloo to 67 points.
“They had 67, last time they scored 92,” he said. “To hold a team like that under 70 is pretty good.”
Leger said there was still room for improvement, though.
“It’s just little letdowns,” he said. “The coach is always talking about dead plays, where we fall asleep. We’ve practiced for two months, we can’t really afford to do that any more, and we know better.”
Head coach Rob Smart said after the game the difference between the two clashes with Waterloo was the Gaels’ defensive intensity.
“We defended,” he said. “They can really score, but we defended and they’ve scored against everybody but Carleton and us tonight. Every other game they’ve played, they’ve scored a bunch.”
Smart said he was pleased with the team’s performance.
“I don’t think we could have played a whole bunch better tonight,” he said.
The Gaels finished strong, outscoring Waterloo 17-13 in the final quarter where they went to a three-guard lineup that featured their smaller players. Smart said 6’7’’ rookie Bernard Burgessen’s rebounding performance enabled him to go to a quicker lineup. Burgessen finished the night with six rebounds, behind only Leger for the team lead.
“Bernard rebounded so well he let us go small,” Smart said. “It’s nice to go small if you can get rebounds. On the defensive end, he was just a vacuum. He got every one, he went up the ladder and took it down.”
Smart said he wasn’t pleased with the team’s 67 per cent success rate on free-throw attempts, but he doesn’t see an easy cure.
“It’s one of those things that the more you talk about it the worse it gets, usually.”
Smart said he was pleased Queen’s was able to knock off the Warriors, who he said are much stronger than last year’s record shows.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “Of the teams I’ve seen in the country, I think they’re a top ten team. They’ve beaten a lot of teams.”
Smart said there’s still a lot of work to do, though.
“I always expect a whole bunch,” he said. “The win tonight isn’t very big if we lose tomorrow.”
Those words came true, and the Gaels suffered a 97-84 loss on Saturday to the lightly-regarded Laurier Golden Hawks, who were 8-14 last year. Leger, who again scored 26 points and added 10 rebounds, said the loss nullified the euphoria from the win over Waterloo.
“By the end of the weekend we felt pretty bad,” he said.
Leger said the defensive effort, which was a strength on Friday, was absent Saturday.
“The performance we had Saturday was just a complete defensive meltdown by the entire team, and I was one of the major problems with that too,” he said. “It was a lot of fundamental defensive breakdowns, things that we just kind of took for granted, defensive things we didn’t feel like doing hard in that game.”
Leger said the loss will fire the Gaels up for their upcoming road games against the Guelph Gryphons and the Brock Badgers, though.
“It’s pretty disappointing, but it gives us some motivation for practice this week and going into this weekend.”
Apologies for the absence
I've been away from this blog for a horribly long time, thanks to the crazy last couple of weeks, so sincere apologies to all of you who bother to read my blabberings. In addition to my usual writing and editing duties for the Journal, Out of Left Field and The CIS Blog [note: that one, a review of the CIS soccer championships, might actually be worth taking a look at], I've had to deal with four massive history papers and presentations in the last week (on such various topics as the actions of General Motors under the Nazi regime, the Byzantine Empire's relationship with Russia and the significance of the printing press to the German Reformation), so my brain has been pretty fried. Anyway, things should hopefully get back to a slightly more normal posting pace around here, and I'll do my best to keep up with it. Thanks for putting up with the absence!
Sunday, November 02, 2008
The charge of the Golden brigade
There are some moments in sports that transcend the usual prose used to describe such encounters, when art, life and competition collide in a surreal mix. Saturday's football game between Queen's and the Ottawa Gee-Gees was one of those moments, at least from this perspective: I've been trying to find the proper way to give it justice for two days now. In the end, there was one poem that kept flashing through my mind high up in the chilly Richardson Stadium press box while watching the Gaels' dream season reduced to ruins on the gridiron below. I present it below, with annotated commentary on its relevance to this occasion.
[The full text of The Charge of the Light Brigade, by Lord Tennyson, can be found here...]
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Much like the famed Light Brigade, the Gaels perhaps came into this game without an idea of what they were truly up against. Yes, the coaches and players said all the right things beforehand ["Have the tables turned?", myself, Queen's Journal: the question mark I added into that title seems like a bloody good idea in retrospect, as today's game showed that the tables haven't changed too much since the 2006 loss]. Even in their guarded comments, though, the confidence came through, and they were right to be confident: they were an 8-0 team playing at home against a 4-4 team that barely stumbled into the playoffs. As I mentioned in my live blog of the game, though, "There are two kinds of 4-4 teams: the mediocre ones who gut out a few wins, and the brilliantly talented but inconsistent ones. Ottawa was always the latter."
That latter group of teams is scary, and it exists across all sports, but especially in football: the small sample size of the regular season and how each game can often turn on a play or two makes it so there isn't often that much difference between a perfect or near-perfect team and a team that just snuck into the playoffs. The ultimate case in point is last year's Super Bowl, where the 14-6 New York Giants knocked off the 18-0 New England Patriots, but there have been plenty of other examples. The 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers are another great case in point; they earned the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs with a 11-5 record, but went on to win Super Bowl XL in Detroit. The 12-7-1 Toronto Argonauts knocking off the 14-5 B.C. Lions in the 2004 Grey Cup also is a good example, as is 4-4 Western's run to the Yates Cup last year. There's a good reason why they made Any Given Sunday a football movie.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Was there a man dismayed? There certainly didn't seem to be on the Queen's side. In my pregame interviews for the aforementioned preview piece, there was a huge atmosphere of confidence. No Giffin, no problem; Queen's hung a 38-16 pasting on Ottawa in Week Six with Giffin in a limited role, and that win was convincing enough for me to write a regrettable lede.
"Saturday’s football game was a tale of two programs. The 6-0 Gaels were off to their best start in ages and ranked second in the country, while the 3-3 Ottawa Gee-Gees were a former powerhouse in sharp decline. Queen’s helped Ottawa continue their slide from pre-season favourites to a team struggling to make the playoffs, beating the Gee-Gees 38-16."
That was probably justified at the time: Ottawa struggled for most of the season, and they never found consistency until this week. Still, I didn't think this one was going to be anywhere near as easy, especially given Ottawa's returnees from injury and Giffin's possible to probable absence. Even after the Waterloo game, all the talk was that he wasn't that badly hurt and would be back; glad I stayed skeptical there.
In any case, the Gaels weren't dismayed even without their star running back. Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien had proven to be capable backups before, even if they didn't pose the same kind of power running threat and force the defence to concentrate on the ground game. They were still an 8-0 team that had been lights-out dominant against most of the OUA (the Western game was a notable exception, but they still took that one by a large margin in the end). There was also every chance that the bad, inconsistent Ottawa would show up, and even a flawless Gee-Gees team would have had trouble competing with a top-notch showing from the Gaels. Maybe it looked too easy; hindsight is always 20-20, and this columnist was surely taken in to a degree as well. I didn't go to the lengths of Jan Murphy from the Whig, but I thought Queen's could win by seven even without Giffin. My confidence, and that of the team, proved sorely mistaken in the end. Like the Light Brigade, the Gaels rode into the valley of death with high hopes that didn't survive the clash of battle.
Someone had blundered. Now, we come to the nub of the problem: assigning responsibility. This is one area where my twin interests of history and sportswriting overlap: both professions are always looking for scapegoats. You can make a case for a variety of causes in this one, though. Neate theorized that a big part of it is the playoff structure and the uneven competition during the season*, but he also assigns some blame to the coaching staff and Queen's ineffectiveness on offence.
*I partly agree on this, but I don't take it to the same lengths. Yes, it's horrible having teams that are basically just a walkover on the schedule. Those games don't accomplish anything for either school, and if we can find a way to reduce them by either forcing every school that wants to play CIS football into a more substantial commitment or realigning/tiering the divisions, I'm all for it. That's going to be a tough sell at the CIS level, though, especially considering that the current model favours the participation of the many. I disagree that there's something inherently wrong with a league where a 4-4 team can win the Yates Cup, though, and I think the reason for that dissent is my sports background. As Neate wrote, his first love is baseball, which takes the sustained-excellence model further than pretty much any other sport these days due to the length of the regular season and the limited number of teams in the playoffs. I come from more of a soccer, hockey and football background, at least originally, and in all of those sports, it's more about getting hot at the right time. I live for the crazy upsets in the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, the deep playoff runs of the likes of the 1982 and 1994 Vancouver Canucks and the Super Bowl trophy of the 2007-08 New York Giants. For me, it's the playoffs that matter, and I love to see the results no one predicted, which is why I'd probably be thrilled about Ottawa's win if I didn't go to Queen's.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Back to the scapegoats: I'm not so sure that we need to find too many in this case. Yes, there were plenty of bad plays, including a shocking number of drops by the receiving corps when they were open: if they're able to pull in a few of those, it might have been a different story. From my perspective, though, it just looked like the Gaels could never get everything to click at the same time. When Dan Brannagan was making lights-out throws, the receivers couldn't haul them in. Other times when they got open, Brannagan missed them with a pass. Yes, Dan Village missed two field goals, but he did a great job of punting all day for my money, and a more effective offence might have given him a shorter kick or scored touchdowns on its own. Yes, Giffin's absence hurt, but Gordon and Therrien filled in pretty well. They couldn't force Ottawa to play the run, and that hurt Queen's passing game, but they did their best and created a lot of yards on the ground. It's tough to do that when you haven't seen much of the ball for most of the season. Yes, losing middle linebacker Thaine Carter hurt the Gaels' defence, but as fellow linebacker T.J. Leeper pointed out afterwards, they seemed to rally around their fallen leader. The defence did an admirable job overall of containing an explosive group of Gee-Gees. At times, Queen's rode boldly and well; as the poem shows, though, no cavalry charge can succeed against massed artillery fire.
Probably eight times out of ten, the Gaels would have played well enough to win this one, but this was one of the outliers. Ottawa executed a perfect game, shutting down Queen's passing offence and pounding the ball with running back Dave Mason. Even after he went down, they stayed with the smash-mouth football and Kingston native Craig Bearss stuck it to his hometown. As mentioned above, Queen's defence did a decent job of containment that on most days would have been good enough, especially with their usual lights-out offence. This wasn't most days, though, and what should have been a glorious charge through the enemy lines turned into a nightmarish ride into the jaws of death.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
While all the world wondered. That summed up this one pretty well. All of a sudden, the mighty Golden machine ground to a halt against an underachieving bunch in garnet and grey. If you look at the previous history, though, it's easy to see the Gaels as the underdogs and Ottawa as the powerhouse army. Queen's hadn't beaten Ottawa in six years before this year's Thanksgiving game, and they'd lost to them in the semifinals two years ago. They'd also lost their first home playoff game in a long while last season against the Western Mustangs, another 4-4 team that underachieved during the regular season based on their talent but got rolling at the right time and went on to win the Yates Cup. Queen's was certainly still the favorite here, but perhaps shouldn't have been favoured by so much. Yet, they were, so all the world wondered when their season ended in tatters.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
Back from the mouth of hell. That could have described the understandably shell-shocked expressions on the players' faces after the game. They that had fought so well during the regular season had ran into far worse than they were expecting, and came up short in the end. Much like the British cavalry units involved in that disastrous charge, they found that past glories were worthless in the face of a new, more powerful foe.
All that was left of them: perhaps that's even more apt. Some will argue that it's just a game. Well, not at this level, and certainly not higher up. Anyone who's read or watched Friday Night Lights knows about the levels they go to in Texas over high school football. Here, the intensity isn't quite that bad, but there are still school reputations and potential CFL jobs on the line. Moreover, anyone who ever argues that university sports (or any reasonably high-level sport, for that matter) are just meaningless games obviously hasn't put in the time on the practice field. For months and years, these students devoted themselves to their university's football team, probably at the expense of grades and friendships, certainly at the expense of countless amounts of time. For some of the graduating ones, they'll never again don a helmet and pads. When you play any sport for a long period of time, your identity begins to get bound up in it: believe me, I know. When that all comes crashing down weeks before you thought it would, in the worst way possible, it's awfully tough for there to be much left. I've been through the soul-crushing defeats as an athlete, and it can just ruin your life for a while. The Queen's guys are all smart types, and I know there's more to their lives than football, but it's still certainly going to be an adjustment for them.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
When can their glory fade? The traditional view of sports would argue that it should have already dissipated. In the end, there can only be one, and nothing short of the ultimate prize is worth celebration. I take exception to that, though. Yes, this is not what they hoped for and not what they could have acheived, but this team should be honoured and celebrated on its own merits. This is surely one of the best squads ever to don Queen's uniforms, even if they didn't claim the Vanier Cup. They were the only Gaels team to ever go 8-0, and only the eighth team ever to go undefeated in the regular season. They set a school record for offence with 374 points, averaging over 47 points per game and only allowing over 16 points twice. Giffin led the OUA in rushing yards and might still pick up Ontario's Hec Creighton nomination, while Brannagan threw for the third-most yards in the country, Osie Ukwuoma led the CIS in sacks (with Dee Sterling tied for third) and Scott Valberg led the country in receiving yards. Valberg also put up the third-best season in Queen's history in terms of receiving yards (but perhaps the best ever, considering that he averaged more yards per catch than either Jock Climie or James Maclean, the two legends in front of him). This team put on a show all year, and those of us who saw them play can proudly attest to that. They also revitalized the interest in university football in Kingston, among both students and local residents.
Let's not blot out the good with the bad; these Gaels should be feted for what they did accomplish, not raked over the coals for what they didn't. As my hero Grantland Rice once penned in Alumnus Football,
"For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks-not that you won or lost-
But how you played the game."
The Light Brigade didn't accomplish their goal, and their charge turned into a horrible defeat. Yet, you can make a strong case that it's not the defeat that was noteworthy: after all, those have happened since time began. What's always stood out to me about the poem is the triumph even in defeat.
"Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd."
That's a picture of a doomed but heroic force, and I think it's applicable to this year's Gaels football team. Yes, they lost in the end, but boldly they rode and well, back from the mouth of hell, and as Queen's students, fans and chroniclers, we still should honour them; they're our noble six hundred.
[The full text of The Charge of the Light Brigade, by Lord Tennyson, can be found here...]
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!
"Charge for the guns!" he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Much like the famed Light Brigade, the Gaels perhaps came into this game without an idea of what they were truly up against. Yes, the coaches and players said all the right things beforehand ["Have the tables turned?", myself, Queen's Journal: the question mark I added into that title seems like a bloody good idea in retrospect, as today's game showed that the tables haven't changed too much since the 2006 loss]. Even in their guarded comments, though, the confidence came through, and they were right to be confident: they were an 8-0 team playing at home against a 4-4 team that barely stumbled into the playoffs. As I mentioned in my live blog of the game, though, "There are two kinds of 4-4 teams: the mediocre ones who gut out a few wins, and the brilliantly talented but inconsistent ones. Ottawa was always the latter."
That latter group of teams is scary, and it exists across all sports, but especially in football: the small sample size of the regular season and how each game can often turn on a play or two makes it so there isn't often that much difference between a perfect or near-perfect team and a team that just snuck into the playoffs. The ultimate case in point is last year's Super Bowl, where the 14-6 New York Giants knocked off the 18-0 New England Patriots, but there have been plenty of other examples. The 2006 Pittsburgh Steelers are another great case in point; they earned the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs with a 11-5 record, but went on to win Super Bowl XL in Detroit. The 12-7-1 Toronto Argonauts knocking off the 14-5 B.C. Lions in the 2004 Grey Cup also is a good example, as is 4-4 Western's run to the Yates Cup last year. There's a good reason why they made Any Given Sunday a football movie.
"Forward, the Light Brigade!"
Was there a man dismay'd?
Not tho' the soldier knew
Someone had blunder'd:
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Was there a man dismayed? There certainly didn't seem to be on the Queen's side. In my pregame interviews for the aforementioned preview piece, there was a huge atmosphere of confidence. No Giffin, no problem; Queen's hung a 38-16 pasting on Ottawa in Week Six with Giffin in a limited role, and that win was convincing enough for me to write a regrettable lede.
"Saturday’s football game was a tale of two programs. The 6-0 Gaels were off to their best start in ages and ranked second in the country, while the 3-3 Ottawa Gee-Gees were a former powerhouse in sharp decline. Queen’s helped Ottawa continue their slide from pre-season favourites to a team struggling to make the playoffs, beating the Gee-Gees 38-16."
That was probably justified at the time: Ottawa struggled for most of the season, and they never found consistency until this week. Still, I didn't think this one was going to be anywhere near as easy, especially given Ottawa's returnees from injury and Giffin's possible to probable absence. Even after the Waterloo game, all the talk was that he wasn't that badly hurt and would be back; glad I stayed skeptical there.
In any case, the Gaels weren't dismayed even without their star running back. Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien had proven to be capable backups before, even if they didn't pose the same kind of power running threat and force the defence to concentrate on the ground game. They were still an 8-0 team that had been lights-out dominant against most of the OUA (the Western game was a notable exception, but they still took that one by a large margin in the end). There was also every chance that the bad, inconsistent Ottawa would show up, and even a flawless Gee-Gees team would have had trouble competing with a top-notch showing from the Gaels. Maybe it looked too easy; hindsight is always 20-20, and this columnist was surely taken in to a degree as well. I didn't go to the lengths of Jan Murphy from the Whig, but I thought Queen's could win by seven even without Giffin. My confidence, and that of the team, proved sorely mistaken in the end. Like the Light Brigade, the Gaels rode into the valley of death with high hopes that didn't survive the clash of battle.
Someone had blundered. Now, we come to the nub of the problem: assigning responsibility. This is one area where my twin interests of history and sportswriting overlap: both professions are always looking for scapegoats. You can make a case for a variety of causes in this one, though. Neate theorized that a big part of it is the playoff structure and the uneven competition during the season*, but he also assigns some blame to the coaching staff and Queen's ineffectiveness on offence.
*I partly agree on this, but I don't take it to the same lengths. Yes, it's horrible having teams that are basically just a walkover on the schedule. Those games don't accomplish anything for either school, and if we can find a way to reduce them by either forcing every school that wants to play CIS football into a more substantial commitment or realigning/tiering the divisions, I'm all for it. That's going to be a tough sell at the CIS level, though, especially considering that the current model favours the participation of the many. I disagree that there's something inherently wrong with a league where a 4-4 team can win the Yates Cup, though, and I think the reason for that dissent is my sports background. As Neate wrote, his first love is baseball, which takes the sustained-excellence model further than pretty much any other sport these days due to the length of the regular season and the limited number of teams in the playoffs. I come from more of a soccer, hockey and football background, at least originally, and in all of those sports, it's more about getting hot at the right time. I live for the crazy upsets in the FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, the deep playoff runs of the likes of the 1982 and 1994 Vancouver Canucks and the Super Bowl trophy of the 2007-08 New York Giants. For me, it's the playoffs that matter, and I love to see the results no one predicted, which is why I'd probably be thrilled about Ottawa's win if I didn't go to Queen's.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
Back to the scapegoats: I'm not so sure that we need to find too many in this case. Yes, there were plenty of bad plays, including a shocking number of drops by the receiving corps when they were open: if they're able to pull in a few of those, it might have been a different story. From my perspective, though, it just looked like the Gaels could never get everything to click at the same time. When Dan Brannagan was making lights-out throws, the receivers couldn't haul them in. Other times when they got open, Brannagan missed them with a pass. Yes, Dan Village missed two field goals, but he did a great job of punting all day for my money, and a more effective offence might have given him a shorter kick or scored touchdowns on its own. Yes, Giffin's absence hurt, but Gordon and Therrien filled in pretty well. They couldn't force Ottawa to play the run, and that hurt Queen's passing game, but they did their best and created a lot of yards on the ground. It's tough to do that when you haven't seen much of the ball for most of the season. Yes, losing middle linebacker Thaine Carter hurt the Gaels' defence, but as fellow linebacker T.J. Leeper pointed out afterwards, they seemed to rally around their fallen leader. The defence did an admirable job overall of containing an explosive group of Gee-Gees. At times, Queen's rode boldly and well; as the poem shows, though, no cavalry charge can succeed against massed artillery fire.
Probably eight times out of ten, the Gaels would have played well enough to win this one, but this was one of the outliers. Ottawa executed a perfect game, shutting down Queen's passing offence and pounding the ball with running back Dave Mason. Even after he went down, they stayed with the smash-mouth football and Kingston native Craig Bearss stuck it to his hometown. As mentioned above, Queen's defence did a decent job of containment that on most days would have been good enough, especially with their usual lights-out offence. This wasn't most days, though, and what should have been a glorious charge through the enemy lines turned into a nightmarish ride into the jaws of death.
Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro' the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel'd from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.
While all the world wondered. That summed up this one pretty well. All of a sudden, the mighty Golden machine ground to a halt against an underachieving bunch in garnet and grey. If you look at the previous history, though, it's easy to see the Gaels as the underdogs and Ottawa as the powerhouse army. Queen's hadn't beaten Ottawa in six years before this year's Thanksgiving game, and they'd lost to them in the semifinals two years ago. They'd also lost their first home playoff game in a long while last season against the Western Mustangs, another 4-4 team that underachieved during the regular season based on their talent but got rolling at the right time and went on to win the Yates Cup. Queen's was certainly still the favorite here, but perhaps shouldn't have been favoured by so much. Yet, they were, so all the world wondered when their season ended in tatters.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.
Back from the mouth of hell. That could have described the understandably shell-shocked expressions on the players' faces after the game. They that had fought so well during the regular season had ran into far worse than they were expecting, and came up short in the end. Much like the British cavalry units involved in that disastrous charge, they found that past glories were worthless in the face of a new, more powerful foe.
All that was left of them: perhaps that's even more apt. Some will argue that it's just a game. Well, not at this level, and certainly not higher up. Anyone who's read or watched Friday Night Lights knows about the levels they go to in Texas over high school football. Here, the intensity isn't quite that bad, but there are still school reputations and potential CFL jobs on the line. Moreover, anyone who ever argues that university sports (or any reasonably high-level sport, for that matter) are just meaningless games obviously hasn't put in the time on the practice field. For months and years, these students devoted themselves to their university's football team, probably at the expense of grades and friendships, certainly at the expense of countless amounts of time. For some of the graduating ones, they'll never again don a helmet and pads. When you play any sport for a long period of time, your identity begins to get bound up in it: believe me, I know. When that all comes crashing down weeks before you thought it would, in the worst way possible, it's awfully tough for there to be much left. I've been through the soul-crushing defeats as an athlete, and it can just ruin your life for a while. The Queen's guys are all smart types, and I know there's more to their lives than football, but it's still certainly going to be an adjustment for them.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
When can their glory fade? The traditional view of sports would argue that it should have already dissipated. In the end, there can only be one, and nothing short of the ultimate prize is worth celebration. I take exception to that, though. Yes, this is not what they hoped for and not what they could have acheived, but this team should be honoured and celebrated on its own merits. This is surely one of the best squads ever to don Queen's uniforms, even if they didn't claim the Vanier Cup. They were the only Gaels team to ever go 8-0, and only the eighth team ever to go undefeated in the regular season. They set a school record for offence with 374 points, averaging over 47 points per game and only allowing over 16 points twice. Giffin led the OUA in rushing yards and might still pick up Ontario's Hec Creighton nomination, while Brannagan threw for the third-most yards in the country, Osie Ukwuoma led the CIS in sacks (with Dee Sterling tied for third) and Scott Valberg led the country in receiving yards. Valberg also put up the third-best season in Queen's history in terms of receiving yards (but perhaps the best ever, considering that he averaged more yards per catch than either Jock Climie or James Maclean, the two legends in front of him). This team put on a show all year, and those of us who saw them play can proudly attest to that. They also revitalized the interest in university football in Kingston, among both students and local residents.
Let's not blot out the good with the bad; these Gaels should be feted for what they did accomplish, not raked over the coals for what they didn't. As my hero Grantland Rice once penned in Alumnus Football,
"For when the One Great Scorer comes
To write against your name,
He marks-not that you won or lost-
But how you played the game."
The Light Brigade didn't accomplish their goal, and their charge turned into a horrible defeat. Yet, you can make a strong case that it's not the defeat that was noteworthy: after all, those have happened since time began. What's always stood out to me about the poem is the triumph even in defeat.
"Flash'd all their sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder'd."
That's a picture of a doomed but heroic force, and I think it's applicable to this year's Gaels football team. Yes, they lost in the end, but boldly they rode and well, back from the mouth of hell, and as Queen's students, fans and chroniclers, we still should honour them; they're our noble six hundred.
Saturday, November 01, 2008
Live blog: The Battle of the 613
And we're up and rolling! Kickoff should be in just a moment. My previews of the game are here [Sporting Madness] and here [Queen's Journal]. Neate also has a good one here. The game is also on the radio at CFRC and is being webcast at SSN Canada. Post comments here or send them to me at andrew_bucholtz (at) hotmail.com.
First quarter:
-Dan Village kicks off for Queen's: Ottawa returns it to around their own 20.
- Dave Mason runs off the left tackle for about five yards.
- Josh Sacobie completes a short pass, but his receiver is stopped less than a yard short. Gee-Gees are going for it.
- Sacobie sneaks for the first down. 1 and 10 on the Ottawa 33.
- Mason carries off right tackle, picks up 5. 2 and 5 on the Ottawa 38.
- Mason carries for two, stopped by Mike Botting. 3 and 3 Ottawa: they decide to punt.
- Awful snap and the punt's almost blocked by Tim Poffley. Ottawa gets it off, though, but the ball only travels about 35 yards. Jimmy Allin pulls off a nice return and Ottawa's called for no-yards as well. 1 and 10 Queen's on the Ottawa 53.
- Short pass to inside receiver Scott Stinson is good for about 4 yards. 2 and 6.
- Brannagan's pass is right to Ottawa linebacker Joe Barnes, who really should have made that pick. He drops it, though, and Queen's punts.
- Village gets a great punt off, punning Ottawa deep: they take it out to about the13 15.
- Mason runs for a gain of about 2. Queen's linebacker Thaine Carter is hurt on the play: he's still down.
- 2nd and 8 Ottawa on their own 17. Carter's limping off with help from Botting. That's a big loss for Queen's if he doesn't come back: Carter's the defensive captain and the key linebacker in stopping the run.
- Queen's linemen Osie Ukwuoma and Dee Sterling break through, flushing Sacobie from the pocket. He has to throw it away and Ottawa will punt. The punt goes out of bounds at the Ottawa 43, giving the Gaels some great field position.
- Realized I forgot to put an official prediction up in my preview. I think it's going to be close, but I see Queen's winning by 7.
- A short Brannagan pass to (I think) Chris Ioannides winds up going for a first down with a great run after the catch.
- Marty Gordon runs for two: 2 and 8 Queen's on the Ottawa 33. Gordon will have to carry most of the running load today: it's been confirmed that Mike Giffin isn't going to play. Looks like my doom and gloom on that front was justified.
- Brannagan hits Scott Valberg with a great pass over the middle: he's brought down around the Ottawa 12. First down, Queen's.
- Gordon runs for five off-tackle. Second and five.
- Brannagan's pass for Devan Sheahan falls incomplete. 3 and 5 Queen's.
- Queen's fakes a field goal, with Allin taking off and running. He isn't getting anywhere though, so he throws an end-zone pass, but it's picked off by an Ottawa DB. Ottawa ball on their own 20.
- I like that call, even though it didn't work. Queen's has been very successful on the fake field goals this year, particularly with Allin running. I think he might have been able to get the five yards they needed if he'd kept going instead of dropping and trying a pass.
- Mason runs for four or five yards, stopped by T.J. Leeper. 2 and 5 Ottawa.
- Mason runs for a first down off the left side. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 40.
- Mason runs for two: second and 8.
- It's surprisingly warm and nice here, which is probably good for Queen's: they're playing more of a finesse game, while Ottawa's going for the old smash-mouth power running game.
- Sacobie throws deep, and it's almost picked. Both David Rooney and Allin has a chance at that one. Ottawa will punt.
- It's not a great punt, and it soars out of bounds. Looks like Ottawa's trying to keep the ball away from Allin on the returns. Queen's ball on their own 42.
- Jimmy Therrien runs off right tackle for QUeen's and picks up about 4. 2 and 6 Gaels.
- Brannagan throws a beauty of a sideline pass to Valberg, who picks up a first down and more. 1 and 10 Queen's on the Ottawa 52.
- Brannagan has all day in the pocket, and finds Devan Sheahan at about the 10-yard line with a sideline bomb. Sheahan sidesteps a tackle and jumps in for the TD. That was fantastic protection from the O-line. Brannagan had about seven seconds without a defender getting anywhere near him, allowing him to make that deep play. It was a hell of a throw, too: right into Sheahan's arms 40 yards down the field. Village hits the EP: Queen's 7, Ottawa 0.
- Village kicks off right to the end zone and Ottawa's Chayce Elliott misfields it. He runs back to get it and is hit in the end zone for a single. Queen's 8, Ottawa 0.
- Ottawa ball on their 35.
- Sacobie throws a 8-yard pass or so, and the receiver picks up the first down.
- 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 45.
- Mason runs up the middle for about eight.
- Ottawa tries another run, but Ukwuoma comes over the top and makes a great stop. 3 and 1 Ottawa: they're going for it.
- Sacobie sneaks up the middle for the first down. End of the first quarter.
- That's cool: the Kingston high-school football all-stars are being honoured on the field, and Saskatchewan Roughrider and former Gael Rob Bagg is in attendance to shake hands with all of them. Bagg had a fantastic game this Thursday against the Argonauts. Good to see him doing so well and making the trip back to his school. He gets a big round of applause, as he should.
Second quarter:
- Sacobie drops and throws deep for Justin Wood-Roy, but Botting makes a great play to break it up. 2 and 10.
- Sacobie drops and has plenty of time this time: good protection from the O-line. He fires it deep to about the 15 and backup quarterback Brad Sinopoli makes a nice catch. It takes two tacklers to drag Sinopoli down, and he gets to the 1.
- Mason punches it in from the 1: TD Ottawa. They hit the extra point, so it's Queen's 8, Ottawa 7.
- Ottawa kicks off and Allin busts a nice sideline return, getting up to about the Queen's 37. Ottawa was offside on the play, but Queen's declines the penalty. 1 and 10 Gaels.
- Gordon rushes up the middle and finds a hole, picking up about 6. A nice run, but he's brought down by one tackler: if that was Giffin, he'd have the first down. Gordon and Therrien are doing a decent job so far, though.
- Brannagan completes a short sideline pass to Blaise Morrison, good enough for a first down on Queen's 54.
- Gordon rushes out near the left sideline and picks up another 6. 2 and 4 Queen's.
- Gordon gets some fantastic blocking and rushes outside left again for the first down, then cuts back inside for more yards. He gets all the way to the Ottawa 28. First down, Queen's.
- Therrien runs up the middle for another six or so. Ottawa's having all kinds of trouble stopping the Gaels' run game, even without Giffin. Perhaps they underestimated his backups, who are both very capable themselves.
- Brannagan has to scramble and throws for Mark Surya, but the pass falls short. Surya almost reels it in with a diving grab, but can't hang on. Third down, Queen's.
- Village hits the 29-yard field goal, making the score Queen's 11, Ottawa 7.
- Ottawa takes the ball on their own 35.
- Mason runs outside left for about seven yards. 2 and just over 3 for the Gee-Gees.
- Mason goes up the middle and is hit at the line of scrimmage: he fights for an extra couple of yards, but it's going to be third and short after a measurement.
- Sacobie sneaks for the first down.
- Sacobie hits Sinopoli with a short pass, and he fights through the middle for a gain of 9. It's going to be second and short on Queen's 54.
- Sacobie keeps and picks up the first down. 1 and 10 Ottawa on Queen's 52.
- Mason runs off left tackle and picks up a first down. He's down at Queen's 38.
- Good protection by Ottawa's line and Sacobie completes a pass to Ivan Birungi, who makes a nice sliding catch at around the 15. A penalty's tacked on, giving Ottawa the ball on the 5. 1 and goal Ottawa.
- Mason runs up the middle and gains about 4. 2 and goal from the 1. A Queen's defender is down on the play.
- It's defensive end Neil Puffer, who's limping off now. With him and Carter both gone, that's two big losses for the Gaels' defence.
- Mason punches it in for the TD. Matthew Falvo kicks the extra point, making it Ottawa 14, Queen's 11.
- Well, we knew this one wasn't going to be easy. There are two kinds of 4-4 teams: the mediocre ones who gut out a few wins, and the brilliantly talented but inconsistent ones. Ottawa was always the latter, and it looks like the good Gee-Gees showed up today, rather than the mediocre ones. Queen's has to find a way to shut down Mason on the run: he's opening up too much space for Ottawa's deep passing game.
- Great coverage on the kickoff by the Gee-Gees: Allin only gets to about the 25. Now, that makes much more sense than just kicking it out of bounds all the time.
- Brannagan's pass falls incomplete.
- Brannagan is flushed and has to throw away the ball. 3rd down, Queen's.
- The Gaels punt: Ottawa returns it to about their own 53.
- Mason runs for about 6.
- Mason runs again and gets close to a first down, but he's hurt on the play.
- Mason limps off. That's not good for Ottawa by any stretch of the imagination: he's been tremendous so far. 3 and short.
- Sacobie keeps and gets the first down.
- Craig Bearss is in the game for Mason, and he runs for about 6 up the middle.
- Bearss runs off the right tackle and gets the first down, plus more. 1 and 10 Ottawa on the Queen's 26.
- Looks like there's about 3:16 left in the half, but the scoreboard's tough to read from here. The Gaels could really use a stop at this point.
- Sacobie is flushed and almost sacked: he gets off an underhand toss to Bearss as he's falling down. Bearss made a good move to come back and help his QB. Loss of 2 on the play, but a sack would have been a loss of 7 or so at least.
- Sacobie tries a swing pass, but Ukwuoma gets a hand on it and knocks it down. 3 and 12 Ottawa on Queen's 28. Looks like they'll try for the field goal.
- Falvo hits the FG from about 35 yards out, making it Ottawa 17, Queen's 11. Less than three minutes left in the half.
- Gaels take the ball on their 35.
- Therrien takes it up the middle but gets only about 3 yards. 2 and 7 Queen's.
- Brannagan gets tons of time in the pocket and has Sheahan open up the middle, but the throw is behind him. Sheahan gets a hand on it but can't hang on, and Queen's will have to punt.
- 2:15 left in the half. Time out Ottawa.
- Village punts to around Ottawa's 30-yard line. Elliott gets nowhere on the return. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 31.
- Felix Dejardins-Potvin runs up the middle for a gain of about 2. 2 and 8 Ottawa.
- Sacobie has time in the pocket and completes a 15-yard pass up the middle to Cyril Adjeity. First down Ottawa on their own 48.
- Queen's finally gets some pressure. Ukwuoma almost brings Sacobie down. He escapes, but runs into T.J. Leeper, who records the sack.
- Sacobie completes a pass to Matthew Bolduc who makes a nice diving catch, but he's hit about 2 yards short of the first down. Ottawa will punt.
- A poor punt by Falvo loops off his foot and tumbles end over end out of bounds. Queen's ball on their own 46: they'll have less than 2 minutes to make a drive.
- Brannagan throws sideline for Valberg, who makes the catch but is called out of bounds. Doesn't matter: Gaels were offside on the play.
- A great play call by Queen's on second and 10: Ottawa's looking pass, and Gordon rumbles up the middle for the first down.
- Swing pass to Gordon gets the Gaels another first down. 1 and 10 on the Ottawa 33.
- Brannagan's pass to Blaise Morrison is incomplete and almost picked off. 2 and 10.
- Brannagan tries a short sideline pass to Valberg, who can't reel it in. 3 and 10 Queen's. Field goal attempt, or maybe a fake?
- Nope, it's a real field goal, but Village's attempt falls short and wide. That's the last play of the half. Ottawa leads 17-11.
Third quarter:
- Queen's kicks off, Ottawa returns it to around their own 30.
- A run from Bearss picks up a first down.
- Short pass gets Ottawa about 8: second and two.
- Bearss rumbles up the middle, stopped just short of the first down. Third and very short.
- Sacobie sneaks for the first down.
- 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 54.
- Sacobie scrambles, throws a pass to Bolduc, but he can't reel it in in tight coverage from Botting.
- Sacobie throws deep, but his receiver slips and falls down.
- Ottawa punts: the snap flies over Falvo's head, but he does a great job to race back and recover. He gets a weak punt off just before it would have been blocked and it rolls out of bounds at the Queen's 46. Great field position for Queen's.
- Gordon rushes twice, but only gains a combined seven yards. Queen's will punt.
- Village gets off a good punt to the Ottawa 21, but Elliott returns it to about the Ottawa 40. It's coming back for holding, though. First and 10 Ottawa on their own 21.
- Bearss rushes up the middle, gets nowhere.
- Sacobie is rushed and almost sacked by Sterling, but he gets the pass off as he falls. Sacobie's down and hurt, receiving attention.
- Injury update here: Puffer is back in the game for the Gaels, but Carter's still out. Sacobie hobbles off. Ottawa will punt from their own 10 or so.
- Good snap this time and a good punt to Queen's 45. Allin doesn't have much room, but still picks up a 15-yard return or so. Queen's ball on the Ottawa 52. They need to get something going here.
- Gordon rushes, but he's stopped by Ottawa defensive end Ian Hazlett, a former Queen's linebacker.
- Brannagan is flushed and almost sacked, but he makes a great throw off the scramble to find Surya. Surya would have been well short of the first down, but he makes two tacklers miss and picks up about 7 yards after the catch.
- Therrien powers through a hole up the middle for about 12: another first down.
- Therrien goes off the right tackle for about 8. 2 and 2 Queen's on the Ottawa 19.
- Therrien runs, but is stopped for a loss of 2. 3 and 4 Queen's. Field goal team on: Allin to hold, might be a fake.
- No fake, but Village misses from about 30 yards: Elliott runs it out to the Ottawa 20. That's a bad one to miss.
- Sacobie is back in, so he can't have been hurt too badly.
- It's getting a bit chilly out here: the wind's picking up.
- 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 20.
- Sacobie hits Wood-Roy on a play-action fake, picks up 15. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their 35.
- Bearss runs up the middle for 2: nice stop by Ukwuoma. It's a battle of the second-string backs now, with Mason and Giffin both out.
- Sacobie's pass is short: 3 and 8 Ottawa.
- Good snap, and Ottawa's Steve Fievet gets off a good punt. Looks like they've gone away from Falvo after some of his struggles earlier. Queen's ball on their 39.
- Brannagan is hit, but gets off a pass over the middle to Scott Stinson, who picks up the first down. 1 and 10 Queen's on their 54.
- Sheahan runs a great outside route and beats two defenders, but then drops the ball when he's wide open. He would likely have had a touchdown if he'd caught it. It's those hands that prevent Sheahan from being a great receiver, as opposed to a good one.
- Ottawa lineman Evan Prokipchuk breaks through and sacks Brannagan: he's been getting good protection most of the day, but not on that play.
- Queen's punts deep: good coverage means that Ottawa will start on their own 19.
- Swing pass from Sacobie's good for a first down: 1 and 10 on the Ottawa 35.
- Bearss runs up the middle for a gain of 1: 2 and 9.
- Pass over the middle to Adjeity: no one near him and he gets the first down. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their 54. That's where Carter's injury might hurt the Gaels: backup middle linebacker Matt Ritchie hasn't played much this year, and he's looking rusty.
- Great rush by Queen's sees Sacobie throw a pass that's almost picked by Sterling. 2 and 10.
- Sacobie throws into double coverage: incomplete. Ottawa will punt.
- Great punt by Fievet pins Queen's deep. Allin drops the ball and recovers just before he's hit. Queen's ball on their own 13. They have to get something going here.
- Therrien runs up the middle for about four or five, stopped by Hazlett. End of the third quarter.
Fourth quarter:
- Queen's is running out of time here: they've got to get the offence together. The defence is holding, but the offence isn't getting much done without the running threat posed by Giffin. Ottawa's defence is favouring the pass. Therrien and Gordon are doing okay, but not well enough to open up passing lanes for Brannagan.
- Therrien runs off the right tackle for a first down. 1 and 10 Queen's on their
own 25.
- Brannagan gets clocked by Prokipchuk but gets a deep pass off. Sheahan makes a great diving catch, but it's coming back: offensive holding by Queen's. I think it's a face mask: it's 15 yards. 1 and 25 Queen's on their own 13.
- Time out Queen's. This could be a crucial series here. They've got a long way to go, but Ottawa will have great field position if the Gaels fail to get the first down.
- Brannagan is flushed, short pass to Valberg incomplete, but flags on the play. Pass interference on Ottawa. It's now 1 and 12 on the Queen's 22.
- Queen's called offside: 1 and 17.
- Therrien runs up the middle, but gets nowhere.
- Gaels' left tackle Matt O'Donnell is hurt on the play and limping off. As anyone who's read The Blind Side knows, that's a big loss.
- Jordan Kirchberger is in to replace him. The inexperience is shown on the next play: Ottawa right end Tyler Dawe breaks through and hits Brannagan, but Ottawa's called for a face mask. First down Queen's on their own 35.
- Brannagan throws deep to Valberg, but he's in double coverage and can't pull it in. 2 and 10.
- Ottawa's defence breaks through, and Dawe and Sebastien Tetreault sack Brannagan, who drops the ball. Tetreault recovers the fumble. Ottawa ball on Queen's 34.
- That could be the decisive play if Ottawa can score here.
- Bearss runs for a couple.
- Bearss runs for about 6 more: 3rd and 1.
- Ottawa's going for the FG. Falvo hits it, making the score Ottawa 20, Queen's 11. That missed field goal by Village is looking bigger all the time.
- 10:30 left in the fourth quarter.
- Queen's offence is running out of time.
- Gordon carries up the middle but he's stopped by Hazlett for no gain.
- Interesting call on 2 and 10: Gordon rumbles up the middle again, and gets 9 this time. 3 and 1 Queen's: they're going for it.
- Brannagan sneaks for the first down. Queen's has to be careful, though: he's been stopped on a couple of those this year. Remember that he's still got a rookie left tackle protecting the blind side.
- Dawe breaks through again and should have had a sack. Brannagan breaks free and gets a deep pass off, but Blaise Morrison can't reel it in. 2 and 10.
- Brannagan over the middle for a wide-open Stinson, but he can't make the catch. Too many drops by the receivers today. Queen's will punt.
- Good punt by Village, down to the Ottawa 15. Excellent coverage means they'll start around their 18. The Gaels need to get a quick stop here: they're down by 9 with eight minutes to go.
- Different Gaels' players have looked good at times, but the whole hasn't come together. When Brannagan's on, his receivers aren't. When they're in form, his passes are off.
- Bearss rumbles outside for a first down, but a flag on the play. He's having a hell of a day as well. Looks like Ottawa doesn't miss much from Mason to him.
- Objectionable conduct is the call: Ottawa gets the first down, but they're back to their own 19. Lousy time for that kind of a penalty.
- Bearss carries off the right side, doesn't get too far. Offside against Ottawa is declined. It will be second and 9.
- Deep pass to Sinopoli, a tremendous play by Botting to knock it down. Ottawa will have to punt. Queen's should get good field position out of this.
- The punt's blocked! Great play by Queen's special teams. I couldn't tell who it was: maybe Alex Daprato? The ball rolls out of the end zone for a safety, so a huge two points for Queen's. It's now Ottawa 20, Queen's 13. They're within one TD.
- Kickoff to Queen's 30: Allin returns it to the 42.
- Therrien runs for four up the middle.
- Brannagan's pass is tipped and almost picked off, but the Ottawa DB can't make the catch. Queen's will punt.
- Village's punt is almost blocked, but he gets it to the Ottawa 20. Ottawa's Ezra Millington returns it to the 34.
- About five minutes left: Queen's still trails by a TD.
- Bearss runs up the middle for about two: nice stop by Sterling. Looks like maybe they're finally getting somewhere against the run.
- Sacobie flushed by an unblocked Ukwuoma, but hits Adjeity over the middle with a short pass. Adjeity gets the first down and more. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 51.
- Bearss runs up the middle for four. 2 and 6.
- 3:15 left. Bearss runs up the middle again for 4. 3 and 2 Ottawa; looks like they'll punt.
- This is turning into rather a defensive struggle. Queen's is running out of time to get something done, though: they need to get somewhere on this drive.
- 2:56 left. Fievet is in to punt. His punt's almost blocked by Stephen Laporte, who was lucky not to draw a roughing the kicker penalty. He pins Allin deep, though, and the Gaels can only get it back to about the 17. Rough play's called on Ottawa though, so 1 and 10 on the Queen's 32.
- Brannagan throws a deep sideline route to Valberg, who gets open, but can't hang on: he's stripped from behind, and the ball falls incomplete. 2 and 10.
- Another O-line injury for Queen's: right tackle Colin Boyle is out.
- Brannagan finds Sheahan wide open over the middle again, and again Sheahan drops the ball. That might have cost Queen's their season unless they do something quick here. 2:26 left.
- Village punts deep: Millington returns it to about the Ottawa 40. 1 and 10 Ottawa.
- 2:13 left: Queen's needs to make something happen.
- Bearss runs up the middle for 1: good stop by the defensive line.
- Pass over the middle to Wood-Roy, looks like he made a diving catch, but he couldn't pull it in: 3 and 9, and Ottawa will have to punt.
- Good punt: Allin makes the catch, but he gets stripped and Ottawa recovers. Ottawa ball on Queen's 29, and that might be it.
- 1:34 left, and the fans are starting to leave. A comeback now would be a miracle. Time out, Ottawa.
- Bearss up the middle for about 6. 2 and 4. Time out, Queen's.
- Bearss up the middle for about 2, but he's stopped. 1:26 left: Ottawa's going to try a 33-yard FG.
- Falvo hits the FG, and it's Ottawa 23, Queen's 13. 1:05 to go.
- Queen's takes it on their 35, and Brannagan throws up the middle for Stinson: incomplete, almost picked off.
- Brannagan throws deep for Morrison, incomplete, again almost picked. 3 and 10
- Brannagan deep for Valberg in double coverage. Incomplete. The curtains are starting to go down on this season.
- Sinopoli takes the snap and runs around for a bit to kill the clock, putting the ball back on Ottawa's 39. 2 and 45, 40 seconds left.
- Sinopoli takes a knee: 37 seconds left. 3 and 47: Ottawa runs the clock down to 16 seconds, then takes a time out. They'll punt, and that should do it: no way to score 10 points in that little time. It's another season of high expectations and great moments at times, but a failure in the playoffs for the second year in a row.
- Punt's out of bounds on the Ottawa 53: 10 seconds left. Queen's sends everyone deep this time, but pass to Valberg is incomplete: he only threw it to about the 30, so even a catch wouldn't have been enough. They should have gone end zone.
- Last play: Brannagan to Valberg, he punts it down field and Millington falls on it. That's the season, folks. A tough way for it to end for the Gaels. I'll have much more in a post-game writeup here later today.
First quarter:
-Dan Village kicks off for Queen's: Ottawa returns it to around their own 20.
- Dave Mason runs off the left tackle for about five yards.
- Josh Sacobie completes a short pass, but his receiver is stopped less than a yard short. Gee-Gees are going for it.
- Sacobie sneaks for the first down. 1 and 10 on the Ottawa 33.
- Mason carries off right tackle, picks up 5. 2 and 5 on the Ottawa 38.
- Mason carries for two, stopped by Mike Botting. 3 and 3 Ottawa: they decide to punt.
- Awful snap and the punt's almost blocked by Tim Poffley. Ottawa gets it off, though, but the ball only travels about 35 yards. Jimmy Allin pulls off a nice return and Ottawa's called for no-yards as well. 1 and 10 Queen's on the Ottawa 53.
- Short pass to inside receiver Scott Stinson is good for about 4 yards. 2 and 6.
- Brannagan's pass is right to Ottawa linebacker Joe Barnes, who really should have made that pick. He drops it, though, and Queen's punts.
- Village gets a great punt off, punning Ottawa deep: they take it out to about the
- Mason runs for a gain of about 2. Queen's linebacker Thaine Carter is hurt on the play: he's still down.
- 2nd and 8 Ottawa on their own 17. Carter's limping off with help from Botting. That's a big loss for Queen's if he doesn't come back: Carter's the defensive captain and the key linebacker in stopping the run.
- Queen's linemen Osie Ukwuoma and Dee Sterling break through, flushing Sacobie from the pocket. He has to throw it away and Ottawa will punt. The punt goes out of bounds at the Ottawa 43, giving the Gaels some great field position.
- Realized I forgot to put an official prediction up in my preview. I think it's going to be close, but I see Queen's winning by 7.
- A short Brannagan pass to (I think) Chris Ioannides winds up going for a first down with a great run after the catch.
- Marty Gordon runs for two: 2 and 8 Queen's on the Ottawa 33. Gordon will have to carry most of the running load today: it's been confirmed that Mike Giffin isn't going to play. Looks like my doom and gloom on that front was justified.
- Brannagan hits Scott Valberg with a great pass over the middle: he's brought down around the Ottawa 12. First down, Queen's.
- Gordon runs for five off-tackle. Second and five.
- Brannagan's pass for Devan Sheahan falls incomplete. 3 and 5 Queen's.
- Queen's fakes a field goal, with Allin taking off and running. He isn't getting anywhere though, so he throws an end-zone pass, but it's picked off by an Ottawa DB. Ottawa ball on their own 20.
- I like that call, even though it didn't work. Queen's has been very successful on the fake field goals this year, particularly with Allin running. I think he might have been able to get the five yards they needed if he'd kept going instead of dropping and trying a pass.
- Mason runs for four or five yards, stopped by T.J. Leeper. 2 and 5 Ottawa.
- Mason runs for a first down off the left side. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 40.
- Mason runs for two: second and 8.
- It's surprisingly warm and nice here, which is probably good for Queen's: they're playing more of a finesse game, while Ottawa's going for the old smash-mouth power running game.
- Sacobie throws deep, and it's almost picked. Both David Rooney and Allin has a chance at that one. Ottawa will punt.
- It's not a great punt, and it soars out of bounds. Looks like Ottawa's trying to keep the ball away from Allin on the returns. Queen's ball on their own 42.
- Jimmy Therrien runs off right tackle for QUeen's and picks up about 4. 2 and 6 Gaels.
- Brannagan throws a beauty of a sideline pass to Valberg, who picks up a first down and more. 1 and 10 Queen's on the Ottawa 52.
- Brannagan has all day in the pocket, and finds Devan Sheahan at about the 10-yard line with a sideline bomb. Sheahan sidesteps a tackle and jumps in for the TD. That was fantastic protection from the O-line. Brannagan had about seven seconds without a defender getting anywhere near him, allowing him to make that deep play. It was a hell of a throw, too: right into Sheahan's arms 40 yards down the field. Village hits the EP: Queen's 7, Ottawa 0.
- Village kicks off right to the end zone and Ottawa's Chayce Elliott misfields it. He runs back to get it and is hit in the end zone for a single. Queen's 8, Ottawa 0.
- Ottawa ball on their 35.
- Sacobie throws a 8-yard pass or so, and the receiver picks up the first down.
- 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 45.
- Mason runs up the middle for about eight.
- Ottawa tries another run, but Ukwuoma comes over the top and makes a great stop. 3 and 1 Ottawa: they're going for it.
- Sacobie sneaks up the middle for the first down. End of the first quarter.
- That's cool: the Kingston high-school football all-stars are being honoured on the field, and Saskatchewan Roughrider and former Gael Rob Bagg is in attendance to shake hands with all of them. Bagg had a fantastic game this Thursday against the Argonauts. Good to see him doing so well and making the trip back to his school. He gets a big round of applause, as he should.
Second quarter:
- Sacobie drops and throws deep for Justin Wood-Roy, but Botting makes a great play to break it up. 2 and 10.
- Sacobie drops and has plenty of time this time: good protection from the O-line. He fires it deep to about the 15 and backup quarterback Brad Sinopoli makes a nice catch. It takes two tacklers to drag Sinopoli down, and he gets to the 1.
- Mason punches it in from the 1: TD Ottawa. They hit the extra point, so it's Queen's 8, Ottawa 7.
- Ottawa kicks off and Allin busts a nice sideline return, getting up to about the Queen's 37. Ottawa was offside on the play, but Queen's declines the penalty. 1 and 10 Gaels.
- Gordon rushes up the middle and finds a hole, picking up about 6. A nice run, but he's brought down by one tackler: if that was Giffin, he'd have the first down. Gordon and Therrien are doing a decent job so far, though.
- Brannagan completes a short sideline pass to Blaise Morrison, good enough for a first down on Queen's 54.
- Gordon rushes out near the left sideline and picks up another 6. 2 and 4 Queen's.
- Gordon gets some fantastic blocking and rushes outside left again for the first down, then cuts back inside for more yards. He gets all the way to the Ottawa 28. First down, Queen's.
- Therrien runs up the middle for another six or so. Ottawa's having all kinds of trouble stopping the Gaels' run game, even without Giffin. Perhaps they underestimated his backups, who are both very capable themselves.
- Brannagan has to scramble and throws for Mark Surya, but the pass falls short. Surya almost reels it in with a diving grab, but can't hang on. Third down, Queen's.
- Village hits the 29-yard field goal, making the score Queen's 11, Ottawa 7.
- Ottawa takes the ball on their own 35.
- Mason runs outside left for about seven yards. 2 and just over 3 for the Gee-Gees.
- Mason goes up the middle and is hit at the line of scrimmage: he fights for an extra couple of yards, but it's going to be third and short after a measurement.
- Sacobie sneaks for the first down.
- Sacobie hits Sinopoli with a short pass, and he fights through the middle for a gain of 9. It's going to be second and short on Queen's 54.
- Sacobie keeps and picks up the first down. 1 and 10 Ottawa on Queen's 52.
- Mason runs off left tackle and picks up a first down. He's down at Queen's 38.
- Good protection by Ottawa's line and Sacobie completes a pass to Ivan Birungi, who makes a nice sliding catch at around the 15. A penalty's tacked on, giving Ottawa the ball on the 5. 1 and goal Ottawa.
- Mason runs up the middle and gains about 4. 2 and goal from the 1. A Queen's defender is down on the play.
- It's defensive end Neil Puffer, who's limping off now. With him and Carter both gone, that's two big losses for the Gaels' defence.
- Mason punches it in for the TD. Matthew Falvo kicks the extra point, making it Ottawa 14, Queen's 11.
- Well, we knew this one wasn't going to be easy. There are two kinds of 4-4 teams: the mediocre ones who gut out a few wins, and the brilliantly talented but inconsistent ones. Ottawa was always the latter, and it looks like the good Gee-Gees showed up today, rather than the mediocre ones. Queen's has to find a way to shut down Mason on the run: he's opening up too much space for Ottawa's deep passing game.
- Great coverage on the kickoff by the Gee-Gees: Allin only gets to about the 25. Now, that makes much more sense than just kicking it out of bounds all the time.
- Brannagan's pass falls incomplete.
- Brannagan is flushed and has to throw away the ball. 3rd down, Queen's.
- The Gaels punt: Ottawa returns it to about their own 53.
- Mason runs for about 6.
- Mason runs again and gets close to a first down, but he's hurt on the play.
- Mason limps off. That's not good for Ottawa by any stretch of the imagination: he's been tremendous so far. 3 and short.
- Sacobie keeps and gets the first down.
- Craig Bearss is in the game for Mason, and he runs for about 6 up the middle.
- Bearss runs off the right tackle and gets the first down, plus more. 1 and 10 Ottawa on the Queen's 26.
- Looks like there's about 3:16 left in the half, but the scoreboard's tough to read from here. The Gaels could really use a stop at this point.
- Sacobie is flushed and almost sacked: he gets off an underhand toss to Bearss as he's falling down. Bearss made a good move to come back and help his QB. Loss of 2 on the play, but a sack would have been a loss of 7 or so at least.
- Sacobie tries a swing pass, but Ukwuoma gets a hand on it and knocks it down. 3 and 12 Ottawa on Queen's 28. Looks like they'll try for the field goal.
- Falvo hits the FG from about 35 yards out, making it Ottawa 17, Queen's 11. Less than three minutes left in the half.
- Gaels take the ball on their 35.
- Therrien takes it up the middle but gets only about 3 yards. 2 and 7 Queen's.
- Brannagan gets tons of time in the pocket and has Sheahan open up the middle, but the throw is behind him. Sheahan gets a hand on it but can't hang on, and Queen's will have to punt.
- 2:15 left in the half. Time out Ottawa.
- Village punts to around Ottawa's 30-yard line. Elliott gets nowhere on the return. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 31.
- Felix Dejardins-Potvin runs up the middle for a gain of about 2. 2 and 8 Ottawa.
- Sacobie has time in the pocket and completes a 15-yard pass up the middle to Cyril Adjeity. First down Ottawa on their own 48.
- Queen's finally gets some pressure. Ukwuoma almost brings Sacobie down. He escapes, but runs into T.J. Leeper, who records the sack.
- Sacobie completes a pass to Matthew Bolduc who makes a nice diving catch, but he's hit about 2 yards short of the first down. Ottawa will punt.
- A poor punt by Falvo loops off his foot and tumbles end over end out of bounds. Queen's ball on their own 46: they'll have less than 2 minutes to make a drive.
- Brannagan throws sideline for Valberg, who makes the catch but is called out of bounds. Doesn't matter: Gaels were offside on the play.
- A great play call by Queen's on second and 10: Ottawa's looking pass, and Gordon rumbles up the middle for the first down.
- Swing pass to Gordon gets the Gaels another first down. 1 and 10 on the Ottawa 33.
- Brannagan's pass to Blaise Morrison is incomplete and almost picked off. 2 and 10.
- Brannagan tries a short sideline pass to Valberg, who can't reel it in. 3 and 10 Queen's. Field goal attempt, or maybe a fake?
- Nope, it's a real field goal, but Village's attempt falls short and wide. That's the last play of the half. Ottawa leads 17-11.
Third quarter:
- Queen's kicks off, Ottawa returns it to around their own 30.
- A run from Bearss picks up a first down.
- Short pass gets Ottawa about 8: second and two.
- Bearss rumbles up the middle, stopped just short of the first down. Third and very short.
- Sacobie sneaks for the first down.
- 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 54.
- Sacobie scrambles, throws a pass to Bolduc, but he can't reel it in in tight coverage from Botting.
- Sacobie throws deep, but his receiver slips and falls down.
- Ottawa punts: the snap flies over Falvo's head, but he does a great job to race back and recover. He gets a weak punt off just before it would have been blocked and it rolls out of bounds at the Queen's 46. Great field position for Queen's.
- Gordon rushes twice, but only gains a combined seven yards. Queen's will punt.
- Village gets off a good punt to the Ottawa 21, but Elliott returns it to about the Ottawa 40. It's coming back for holding, though. First and 10 Ottawa on their own 21.
- Bearss rushes up the middle, gets nowhere.
- Sacobie is rushed and almost sacked by Sterling, but he gets the pass off as he falls. Sacobie's down and hurt, receiving attention.
- Injury update here: Puffer is back in the game for the Gaels, but Carter's still out. Sacobie hobbles off. Ottawa will punt from their own 10 or so.
- Good snap this time and a good punt to Queen's 45. Allin doesn't have much room, but still picks up a 15-yard return or so. Queen's ball on the Ottawa 52. They need to get something going here.
- Gordon rushes, but he's stopped by Ottawa defensive end Ian Hazlett, a former Queen's linebacker.
- Brannagan is flushed and almost sacked, but he makes a great throw off the scramble to find Surya. Surya would have been well short of the first down, but he makes two tacklers miss and picks up about 7 yards after the catch.
- Therrien powers through a hole up the middle for about 12: another first down.
- Therrien goes off the right tackle for about 8. 2 and 2 Queen's on the Ottawa 19.
- Therrien runs, but is stopped for a loss of 2. 3 and 4 Queen's. Field goal team on: Allin to hold, might be a fake.
- No fake, but Village misses from about 30 yards: Elliott runs it out to the Ottawa 20. That's a bad one to miss.
- Sacobie is back in, so he can't have been hurt too badly.
- It's getting a bit chilly out here: the wind's picking up.
- 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 20.
- Sacobie hits Wood-Roy on a play-action fake, picks up 15. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their 35.
- Bearss runs up the middle for 2: nice stop by Ukwuoma. It's a battle of the second-string backs now, with Mason and Giffin both out.
- Sacobie's pass is short: 3 and 8 Ottawa.
- Good snap, and Ottawa's Steve Fievet gets off a good punt. Looks like they've gone away from Falvo after some of his struggles earlier. Queen's ball on their 39.
- Brannagan is hit, but gets off a pass over the middle to Scott Stinson, who picks up the first down. 1 and 10 Queen's on their 54.
- Sheahan runs a great outside route and beats two defenders, but then drops the ball when he's wide open. He would likely have had a touchdown if he'd caught it. It's those hands that prevent Sheahan from being a great receiver, as opposed to a good one.
- Ottawa lineman Evan Prokipchuk breaks through and sacks Brannagan: he's been getting good protection most of the day, but not on that play.
- Queen's punts deep: good coverage means that Ottawa will start on their own 19.
- Swing pass from Sacobie's good for a first down: 1 and 10 on the Ottawa 35.
- Bearss runs up the middle for a gain of 1: 2 and 9.
- Pass over the middle to Adjeity: no one near him and he gets the first down. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their 54. That's where Carter's injury might hurt the Gaels: backup middle linebacker Matt Ritchie hasn't played much this year, and he's looking rusty.
- Great rush by Queen's sees Sacobie throw a pass that's almost picked by Sterling. 2 and 10.
- Sacobie throws into double coverage: incomplete. Ottawa will punt.
- Great punt by Fievet pins Queen's deep. Allin drops the ball and recovers just before he's hit. Queen's ball on their own 13. They have to get something going here.
- Therrien runs up the middle for about four or five, stopped by Hazlett. End of the third quarter.
Fourth quarter:
- Queen's is running out of time here: they've got to get the offence together. The defence is holding, but the offence isn't getting much done without the running threat posed by Giffin. Ottawa's defence is favouring the pass. Therrien and Gordon are doing okay, but not well enough to open up passing lanes for Brannagan.
- Therrien runs off the right tackle for a first down. 1 and 10 Queen's on their
own 25.
- Brannagan gets clocked by Prokipchuk but gets a deep pass off. Sheahan makes a great diving catch, but it's coming back: offensive holding by Queen's. I think it's a face mask: it's 15 yards. 1 and 25 Queen's on their own 13.
- Time out Queen's. This could be a crucial series here. They've got a long way to go, but Ottawa will have great field position if the Gaels fail to get the first down.
- Brannagan is flushed, short pass to Valberg incomplete, but flags on the play. Pass interference on Ottawa. It's now 1 and 12 on the Queen's 22.
- Queen's called offside: 1 and 17.
- Therrien runs up the middle, but gets nowhere.
- Gaels' left tackle Matt O'Donnell is hurt on the play and limping off. As anyone who's read The Blind Side knows, that's a big loss.
- Jordan Kirchberger is in to replace him. The inexperience is shown on the next play: Ottawa right end Tyler Dawe breaks through and hits Brannagan, but Ottawa's called for a face mask. First down Queen's on their own 35.
- Brannagan throws deep to Valberg, but he's in double coverage and can't pull it in. 2 and 10.
- Ottawa's defence breaks through, and Dawe and Sebastien Tetreault sack Brannagan, who drops the ball. Tetreault recovers the fumble. Ottawa ball on Queen's 34.
- That could be the decisive play if Ottawa can score here.
- Bearss runs for a couple.
- Bearss runs for about 6 more: 3rd and 1.
- Ottawa's going for the FG. Falvo hits it, making the score Ottawa 20, Queen's 11. That missed field goal by Village is looking bigger all the time.
- 10:30 left in the fourth quarter.
- Queen's offence is running out of time.
- Gordon carries up the middle but he's stopped by Hazlett for no gain.
- Interesting call on 2 and 10: Gordon rumbles up the middle again, and gets 9 this time. 3 and 1 Queen's: they're going for it.
- Brannagan sneaks for the first down. Queen's has to be careful, though: he's been stopped on a couple of those this year. Remember that he's still got a rookie left tackle protecting the blind side.
- Dawe breaks through again and should have had a sack. Brannagan breaks free and gets a deep pass off, but Blaise Morrison can't reel it in. 2 and 10.
- Brannagan over the middle for a wide-open Stinson, but he can't make the catch. Too many drops by the receivers today. Queen's will punt.
- Good punt by Village, down to the Ottawa 15. Excellent coverage means they'll start around their 18. The Gaels need to get a quick stop here: they're down by 9 with eight minutes to go.
- Different Gaels' players have looked good at times, but the whole hasn't come together. When Brannagan's on, his receivers aren't. When they're in form, his passes are off.
- Bearss rumbles outside for a first down, but a flag on the play. He's having a hell of a day as well. Looks like Ottawa doesn't miss much from Mason to him.
- Objectionable conduct is the call: Ottawa gets the first down, but they're back to their own 19. Lousy time for that kind of a penalty.
- Bearss carries off the right side, doesn't get too far. Offside against Ottawa is declined. It will be second and 9.
- Deep pass to Sinopoli, a tremendous play by Botting to knock it down. Ottawa will have to punt. Queen's should get good field position out of this.
- The punt's blocked! Great play by Queen's special teams. I couldn't tell who it was: maybe Alex Daprato? The ball rolls out of the end zone for a safety, so a huge two points for Queen's. It's now Ottawa 20, Queen's 13. They're within one TD.
- Kickoff to Queen's 30: Allin returns it to the 42.
- Therrien runs for four up the middle.
- Brannagan's pass is tipped and almost picked off, but the Ottawa DB can't make the catch. Queen's will punt.
- Village's punt is almost blocked, but he gets it to the Ottawa 20. Ottawa's Ezra Millington returns it to the 34.
- About five minutes left: Queen's still trails by a TD.
- Bearss runs up the middle for about two: nice stop by Sterling. Looks like maybe they're finally getting somewhere against the run.
- Sacobie flushed by an unblocked Ukwuoma, but hits Adjeity over the middle with a short pass. Adjeity gets the first down and more. 1 and 10 Ottawa on their own 51.
- Bearss runs up the middle for four. 2 and 6.
- 3:15 left. Bearss runs up the middle again for 4. 3 and 2 Ottawa; looks like they'll punt.
- This is turning into rather a defensive struggle. Queen's is running out of time to get something done, though: they need to get somewhere on this drive.
- 2:56 left. Fievet is in to punt. His punt's almost blocked by Stephen Laporte, who was lucky not to draw a roughing the kicker penalty. He pins Allin deep, though, and the Gaels can only get it back to about the 17. Rough play's called on Ottawa though, so 1 and 10 on the Queen's 32.
- Brannagan throws a deep sideline route to Valberg, who gets open, but can't hang on: he's stripped from behind, and the ball falls incomplete. 2 and 10.
- Another O-line injury for Queen's: right tackle Colin Boyle is out.
- Brannagan finds Sheahan wide open over the middle again, and again Sheahan drops the ball. That might have cost Queen's their season unless they do something quick here. 2:26 left.
- Village punts deep: Millington returns it to about the Ottawa 40. 1 and 10 Ottawa.
- 2:13 left: Queen's needs to make something happen.
- Bearss runs up the middle for 1: good stop by the defensive line.
- Pass over the middle to Wood-Roy, looks like he made a diving catch, but he couldn't pull it in: 3 and 9, and Ottawa will have to punt.
- Good punt: Allin makes the catch, but he gets stripped and Ottawa recovers. Ottawa ball on Queen's 29, and that might be it.
- 1:34 left, and the fans are starting to leave. A comeback now would be a miracle. Time out, Ottawa.
- Bearss up the middle for about 6. 2 and 4. Time out, Queen's.
- Bearss up the middle for about 2, but he's stopped. 1:26 left: Ottawa's going to try a 33-yard FG.
- Falvo hits the FG, and it's Ottawa 23, Queen's 13. 1:05 to go.
- Queen's takes it on their 35, and Brannagan throws up the middle for Stinson: incomplete, almost picked off.
- Brannagan throws deep for Morrison, incomplete, again almost picked. 3 and 10
- Brannagan deep for Valberg in double coverage. Incomplete. The curtains are starting to go down on this season.
- Sinopoli takes the snap and runs around for a bit to kill the clock, putting the ball back on Ottawa's 39. 2 and 45, 40 seconds left.
- Sinopoli takes a knee: 37 seconds left. 3 and 47: Ottawa runs the clock down to 16 seconds, then takes a time out. They'll punt, and that should do it: no way to score 10 points in that little time. It's another season of high expectations and great moments at times, but a failure in the playoffs for the second year in a row.
- Punt's out of bounds on the Ottawa 53: 10 seconds left. Queen's sends everyone deep this time, but pass to Valberg is incomplete: he only threw it to about the 30, so even a catch wouldn't have been enough. They should have gone end zone.
- Last play: Brannagan to Valberg, he punts it down field and Millington falls on it. That's the season, folks. A tough way for it to end for the Gaels. I'll have much more in a post-game writeup here later today.
Campus Corner: Previewing the Queen's-Ottawa game
I'm settled in here at Richardson Stadium and have a press box seat this time,so the live blog is a firm go and will start in about 15 minutes. Here's a quick preview of what I'm expecting from the game:
Storylines:
- The absence of Mike Giffin: It's been confirmed that Giffin will start on the sidelines, and it doesn't sound like he's likely to play at all. It will be interesting to see how that affects the game. As I've mentioned before, Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien are very capable backups, and Gordon in particular could probably start for several OUA teams. Neither is as threatening as Giffin, though: all year long, defences have been forced to stack the box to stop Giffin, opening up passing lanes for Dan Brannagan. That's not too likely to happen with Gordon and Therrien in there, which may lead to some big rushing gains for them, but will make the passing game more difficult. We'll see how this plays out over the afternoon.
- Dave Mason versus the Queen's defence: Ottawa running back Dave Mason was the difference in last weekend's clash with Guelph, rushing 31 times for a CIS playoff record of 327 yards, breaking the record of current Western coach Greg Marshall. He shouldn't get as many yards today: Guelph's run defence is notoriously bad (Giffin exploded for 214 yards against them on far less carries this year), and he'll have Osie Ukwuoma, Dee Sterling and Thaine Carter to contend with. The question is if they'll be able to contain him, though. If they can hold him to less than 5 yards per carry, that probably would be enough to give Queen's the game: I don't trust Ottawa's passing offence to do the job on its own.
- Josh Sacobie versus Queen's defence: Gee-Gees quarterback Josh Sacobie is brilliant at times, worse than average at others. The question is which Sacobie will show up today. He hasn't proved too adept at handling pressure in the past, and Queen's does boast two of the top four sack leaders in the CIS in Sterling (9.5, tied for first) and Ukwuoma (7.5, tied for third). If they and Carter can bring the pressure on Sacobie all day, he may be hurried into some poor throws and interceptions.
Should be a great game! I'll have the live blog going momentarily.
Storylines:
- The absence of Mike Giffin: It's been confirmed that Giffin will start on the sidelines, and it doesn't sound like he's likely to play at all. It will be interesting to see how that affects the game. As I've mentioned before, Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien are very capable backups, and Gordon in particular could probably start for several OUA teams. Neither is as threatening as Giffin, though: all year long, defences have been forced to stack the box to stop Giffin, opening up passing lanes for Dan Brannagan. That's not too likely to happen with Gordon and Therrien in there, which may lead to some big rushing gains for them, but will make the passing game more difficult. We'll see how this plays out over the afternoon.
- Dave Mason versus the Queen's defence: Ottawa running back Dave Mason was the difference in last weekend's clash with Guelph, rushing 31 times for a CIS playoff record of 327 yards, breaking the record of current Western coach Greg Marshall. He shouldn't get as many yards today: Guelph's run defence is notoriously bad (Giffin exploded for 214 yards against them on far less carries this year), and he'll have Osie Ukwuoma, Dee Sterling and Thaine Carter to contend with. The question is if they'll be able to contain him, though. If they can hold him to less than 5 yards per carry, that probably would be enough to give Queen's the game: I don't trust Ottawa's passing offence to do the job on its own.
- Josh Sacobie versus Queen's defence: Gee-Gees quarterback Josh Sacobie is brilliant at times, worse than average at others. The question is which Sacobie will show up today. He hasn't proved too adept at handling pressure in the past, and Queen's does boast two of the top four sack leaders in the CIS in Sterling (9.5, tied for first) and Ukwuoma (7.5, tied for third). If they and Carter can bring the pressure on Sacobie all day, he may be hurried into some poor throws and interceptions.
Should be a great game! I'll have the live blog going momentarily.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Forthcoming live blog of Queen's - Ottawa football
A quick note that I'll be live-blogging Saturday's CIS football game between Queen's and the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees right here: Queen's Athletics has told me that I should be able to get the power hookup I need, so barring technical difficulties, we should be good to go. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m., but I'll try to have the first post up by 12:45 p.m. or so. You can also check out CFRC for streaming radio coverage. Neate already has a good preview up at Out of Left Field and my Journal preview's been filed: it should hit the web later this morning. Clint Walper and Mike Koreen from the Kingston Whig-Standard will probably have pregame pieces up today as well, and I'll have more pregame posts here throughout the day. This should be one hell of a game, so it can use all the coverage it can get.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
World Series Point/Counterpoint: Myself on the Rays.
Apologies for the lateness of this piece, the counterpoint to Mike’s argument in favour of the Phillies. I got caught up in Journal work this week, as most of our sports contributors contracted severe cases of midtermitis, leaving me to carry even more of the load then normal (I wrote a personal-record five game stories, one column, one profile and one brief for Friday’s issue). Thus, there wasn’t a lot of time to do much of anything on the blogging front. In any case, though, with the Rays and Phillies splitting the first two games of the World Series, it’s still very much up for grabs, so I figured it would still be worth writing this piece: just consider it a preview of the best-of-five series that remains.
In my far-from-expert opinion, the Rays are going to take this series. It’s going to be close, as the Phillies are a very talented ball club, but the Rays win this matchup on depth. That depth is a triple-barreled advantage; it’s present in pitching, offence and defence, and it’s why Philadelphia’s championship drought will continue for at least another year.
First, consider the pitching. As Game 1 demonstrated, there isn’t a great deal of difference between the two staff aces, Cole Hamels of the Phillies and Scott Kazmir of the Rays (Hamels has an edge, but it isn’t a ridiculous one). The matchups start to favour Tampa Bay after this, though. Philly’s only other starting pitchers with an ERA+ above 100 (better than average) are Jamie Moyer (3.71 ERA, 120 ERA+) and Joe Blanton (4.20, 106). Brett Myers is slightly below league average (4.55 ERA, 98 ERA+). Moyer is 45 and threw just under 200 innings in the regular-season: he’s still got talent, but I’m not sure if I’d want him as a key starter at this point in his career. Blanton only appeared in 13 games this season and threw 70 innings: he appears to have some talent, but I wouldn’t pin my hopes on him either.
By contrast, Tampa has five solid starters. Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza are all hovering around 120 in ERA+, while Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson are at 100 and 99 respectively. These guys are all very impressive. Philadelphia has a bit of an edge in bullpen depth, but Tampa has some strong options too in Grant Balfour, Dan Wheeler, J.P. Howell and David Price. If Tampa’s starters can eat enough innings, bullpen depth may not be an issue.
On offence, it’s a similar story. Looking through the Game 1 starters, there isn’t a great deal of difference between the batting lineups using regular-season statistical comparisons (a larger sample size than the postseason). Tampa has a slight edge in batting average (.270 to .263) and on-base percentage (.346 to .344), but Philly leads in slugging percentage (.455 to .432) and OPS (.799 to .778). Interestingly enough, though, Tampa has the edge in OPS+ (110 to 106), which seems odd when you look at the raw OPS numbers, but is probably due to the league and park factors OPS+ takes into consideration.
The offensive edge comes from the depth, though. Philadelphia has a couple of black holes in the batting order in Carlos Ruiz (.219/.320/.300, 63 OPS+) and Pedro Feliz (.249/.302/.402, 81). Those two players are worse offensively than anyone in Tampa’s starting lineup. Chris Coste, who’s DHing in the games in Tampa, isn’t much better (.263/.325/.423, 93): his OPS+ only beats Tampa shortstop Jason Bartlett (who, as the brilliant Joe Posnanski pointed out, was a bizarre choice for Tampa’s MVP: probably picked for his defence and his .286 batting average, but he doesn’t get on base too frequently and he doesn’t have a great deal of power) and outfielder Carl Crawford, whose speed increases his value. The Rays also have terrific depth off the bench, with the likes of Rocco Baldelli, Cliff Floyd and Gabe Gross available. It’s the depth throughout the lineup that makes the Rays an appealing pick. I say they take it in six.
In my far-from-expert opinion, the Rays are going to take this series. It’s going to be close, as the Phillies are a very talented ball club, but the Rays win this matchup on depth. That depth is a triple-barreled advantage; it’s present in pitching, offence and defence, and it’s why Philadelphia’s championship drought will continue for at least another year.
First, consider the pitching. As Game 1 demonstrated, there isn’t a great deal of difference between the two staff aces, Cole Hamels of the Phillies and Scott Kazmir of the Rays (Hamels has an edge, but it isn’t a ridiculous one). The matchups start to favour Tampa Bay after this, though. Philly’s only other starting pitchers with an ERA+ above 100 (better than average) are Jamie Moyer (3.71 ERA, 120 ERA+) and Joe Blanton (4.20, 106). Brett Myers is slightly below league average (4.55 ERA, 98 ERA+). Moyer is 45 and threw just under 200 innings in the regular-season: he’s still got talent, but I’m not sure if I’d want him as a key starter at this point in his career. Blanton only appeared in 13 games this season and threw 70 innings: he appears to have some talent, but I wouldn’t pin my hopes on him either.
By contrast, Tampa has five solid starters. Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza are all hovering around 120 in ERA+, while Andy Sonnanstine and Edwin Jackson are at 100 and 99 respectively. These guys are all very impressive. Philadelphia has a bit of an edge in bullpen depth, but Tampa has some strong options too in Grant Balfour, Dan Wheeler, J.P. Howell and David Price. If Tampa’s starters can eat enough innings, bullpen depth may not be an issue.
On offence, it’s a similar story. Looking through the Game 1 starters, there isn’t a great deal of difference between the batting lineups using regular-season statistical comparisons (a larger sample size than the postseason). Tampa has a slight edge in batting average (.270 to .263) and on-base percentage (.346 to .344), but Philly leads in slugging percentage (.455 to .432) and OPS (.799 to .778). Interestingly enough, though, Tampa has the edge in OPS+ (110 to 106), which seems odd when you look at the raw OPS numbers, but is probably due to the league and park factors OPS+ takes into consideration.
The offensive edge comes from the depth, though. Philadelphia has a couple of black holes in the batting order in Carlos Ruiz (.219/.320/.300, 63 OPS+) and Pedro Feliz (.249/.302/.402, 81). Those two players are worse offensively than anyone in Tampa’s starting lineup. Chris Coste, who’s DHing in the games in Tampa, isn’t much better (.263/.325/.423, 93): his OPS+ only beats Tampa shortstop Jason Bartlett (who, as the brilliant Joe Posnanski pointed out, was a bizarre choice for Tampa’s MVP: probably picked for his defence and his .286 batting average, but he doesn’t get on base too frequently and he doesn’t have a great deal of power) and outfielder Carl Crawford, whose speed increases his value. The Rays also have terrific depth off the bench, with the likes of Rocco Baldelli, Cliff Floyd and Gabe Gross available. It’s the depth throughout the lineup that makes the Rays an appealing pick. I say they take it in six.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Becks to Milan?
Don't have enough time to go into detail, but this is certainly interesting. The AP reports (via the Globe) that AC Milan is trying to sign David Beckham on loan for the winter months when MLS isn't in season. Makes sense for Becks from both a soccer perspective (keep in shape) and a marketing one. Works for Milan too: Beckham is still a great player if used properly. Ben Knight has some great analysis on the marketing point here.
World Series Point/Counterpoint: Mike Woods on the Phillies
Last year, former Journal sports editor (and current features editor) Mike Woods and I had a great tradition of writing point/counterpoint pieces around the major professional sporting events and issues of the year. He beat me in the World Series predictions (though to be fair, I was more making a case that the Rockies could win rather than they would), but I got my revenge in the Super Bowl. Anyway, we weren't able to fit a point/counterpoint on this year's series in the paper, but Mike and I figured we'd each write one for this site to keep the tradition alive. Here's his piece on why the Phillies will win. My case for the Rays will come later tonight.
- Andrew
Phanatical about the Phillies (Andrew's title)
By Mike Woods
No last-place team in any professional sport has won its league’s championship the following year. Admittedly, the Tampa Bay Rays have shockingly passed one test after another this season. It looked like their best days were behind them when they lost seven games in a row before the All-Star break, and many had their downfall marked for September.
Despite their miraculous run, the Rays remain young and fragile—and bravado can only take you so far. It looked like the Boston Red Sox were going to exploit that lesson after that stunning 8-run comeback in game five of the ALCS, but Boston doesn’t have the hitting depth they used to, they were tired from winning last year, and Josh Beckett had an off-series. As a result, Tampa still hasn’t been taught a lesson about the big time. The Rays are a bit late getting to school, through no fault of their own, but the Phillies should make for some fine teachers.
The Rays beat the Red Sox on the strength of their big bats. While the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley get the bulk of opponents’ attention—and rightfully so—the Phillies cleaned the field with the Dodgers with 2 RBI from Howard and Rollins hitting .143. It’s the second-tier hitters like Pat Burrell and Shane Victorino that propelled the Phillies to where they are. The Phillies had seven players with at least 58 RBI this season. B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria can’t hit home runs every at-bat. The Phillies’ bench has been strong this postseason with guys like Greg Dobbs, Geoff Jenkins and Matt Stairs (O Canada!) contributing offensively. Ryan Howard seemed to remember how to hit at the close of the NLCS, which Scott Kazmir probably had nightmares about last night. And now the Phillies get a DH, too!
Pitching depth also favours the Phillies. The Rays might have a slight edge in the rotation, but the Phillies never lost a game this year with a lead through eight innings, and Brad Lidge hasn’t blown a save in 46 tries. As much as David Price has been tough as nails, he’s still a rookie. The Phillies also have a unique influx of lefties like J.C. Romero and Scott Eyre to take on Carl Crawford and the other Rays’ righties. Let’s not forget, Ryan Madson might be the best set-up man in baseball this year.
Coming off a seven-game series surely won’t help the Rays sort out their rotation. Fatigue might be a factor later on in the series for Tampa’s starting pitchers. Philadelphia’s had plenty of time to line up who they want to start which game. Tonight they’ll start Cole Hamels, who’s been baseball’s best pitcher these playoffs.
People seem to be making a big deal of the Phillies not having played on turf all year, the surface at Tropicana Field. It may give the Phillies some trouble in the first couple of innings tonight, but consider the Rays were 38-35 on grass this year. Meanwhile, the Phillies had the NL’s best road record this season. Oh, and it’s COLD in Philly. The last time the Rays played in the cold, they gave up a seven-run lead.
None of Philadelphia’s four teams has won a championship since Dr. J and the 1983 Sixers did it. This series should be incredibly evenly-matched—even though it’s a TV ratings nightmare for baseball—and entertaining. But the Phillies have an edge in the two areas that will decide the series in my mind: the bullpen and hitting depth. The Rays are a fast, aggressive and confident team. If the Phills’ defense keeps them in check on the basepaths and these other areas play out as they should, Philadelphia’s professional sporting agony can finally end. Maybe their fans can finally stop booing—that’s something we could all cheer for.
- Andrew
Phanatical about the Phillies (Andrew's title)
By Mike Woods
No last-place team in any professional sport has won its league’s championship the following year. Admittedly, the Tampa Bay Rays have shockingly passed one test after another this season. It looked like their best days were behind them when they lost seven games in a row before the All-Star break, and many had their downfall marked for September.
Despite their miraculous run, the Rays remain young and fragile—and bravado can only take you so far. It looked like the Boston Red Sox were going to exploit that lesson after that stunning 8-run comeback in game five of the ALCS, but Boston doesn’t have the hitting depth they used to, they were tired from winning last year, and Josh Beckett had an off-series. As a result, Tampa still hasn’t been taught a lesson about the big time. The Rays are a bit late getting to school, through no fault of their own, but the Phillies should make for some fine teachers.
The Rays beat the Red Sox on the strength of their big bats. While the Phillies’ Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley get the bulk of opponents’ attention—and rightfully so—the Phillies cleaned the field with the Dodgers with 2 RBI from Howard and Rollins hitting .143. It’s the second-tier hitters like Pat Burrell and Shane Victorino that propelled the Phillies to where they are. The Phillies had seven players with at least 58 RBI this season. B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria can’t hit home runs every at-bat. The Phillies’ bench has been strong this postseason with guys like Greg Dobbs, Geoff Jenkins and Matt Stairs (O Canada!) contributing offensively. Ryan Howard seemed to remember how to hit at the close of the NLCS, which Scott Kazmir probably had nightmares about last night. And now the Phillies get a DH, too!
Pitching depth also favours the Phillies. The Rays might have a slight edge in the rotation, but the Phillies never lost a game this year with a lead through eight innings, and Brad Lidge hasn’t blown a save in 46 tries. As much as David Price has been tough as nails, he’s still a rookie. The Phillies also have a unique influx of lefties like J.C. Romero and Scott Eyre to take on Carl Crawford and the other Rays’ righties. Let’s not forget, Ryan Madson might be the best set-up man in baseball this year.
Coming off a seven-game series surely won’t help the Rays sort out their rotation. Fatigue might be a factor later on in the series for Tampa’s starting pitchers. Philadelphia’s had plenty of time to line up who they want to start which game. Tonight they’ll start Cole Hamels, who’s been baseball’s best pitcher these playoffs.
People seem to be making a big deal of the Phillies not having played on turf all year, the surface at Tropicana Field. It may give the Phillies some trouble in the first couple of innings tonight, but consider the Rays were 38-35 on grass this year. Meanwhile, the Phillies had the NL’s best road record this season. Oh, and it’s COLD in Philly. The last time the Rays played in the cold, they gave up a seven-run lead.
None of Philadelphia’s four teams has won a championship since Dr. J and the 1983 Sixers did it. This series should be incredibly evenly-matched—even though it’s a TV ratings nightmare for baseball—and entertaining. But the Phillies have an edge in the two areas that will decide the series in my mind: the bullpen and hitting depth. The Rays are a fast, aggressive and confident team. If the Phills’ defense keeps them in check on the basepaths and these other areas play out as they should, Philadelphia’s professional sporting agony can finally end. Maybe their fans can finally stop booing—that’s something we could all cheer for.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
The Giffin update: to knee or not to knee
According to Kingston Whig-Standard sports editor Mike Koreen, Queen's football head coach Pat Sheahan has said that star running back Mike Giffin's aforementioned knee injury is just a bad bruise. Here's the important parts:
"The Gaels (8-0) took a sigh of relief yesterday when testing showed Giffin suffered only a badly bruised right knee Saturday in the first quarter of a season-ending 38-22 win over the Waterloo Warriors.
'He would be doubtful [if the Gaels had a game] this week,' Gaels coach Pat Sheahan said. 'But with a week to recuperate, there is a reasonable chance he'll be able to play. I'm optimistic. We've got two weeks and we're just hoping there are no major setbacks. It's not season-ending or career-ending or anything like that.'
Because they finished first in the 10-team league, the Gaels will be spectators for the OUA quarter-final round this weekend. They will play host to the lowest-ranked quarter-final survivor in a semi-final on Nov. 1.
Sheahan expects to keep Giffin off the practice field for the majority of the week.
'All the ligaments are intact,' Sheahan said. 'Give him another week and he'll feel a lot better.'"
I'd be wary of taking this as a sign that all's well though. It must be a pretty bad bruise, considering how Giffin hobbled off the field last week and would be "doubtful" if the playoff game was this week. Even with the bye, Sheahan's only saying there's a "reasonable chance" he'll play. I'd interpret a reasonable chance as in the range of 40 to 80 per cent, which isn't overwhelmingly confidence-inspiring. As mentioned before, this team largely draws its strength from its offensive balance and its defence, so losing Giffin would not be the end of the world. It would be a significant blow, however; backups Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien are very capable, but they aren't as much of a threat as Giffin. With Giffin, teams have to pick their poison: either they crowd the box to shut down the run and let Danny Brannagan pick them apart through the air, or they play a coverage-focused defence and Giffin rumbles for 100+ yards. Gordon and Therrien are also more finesse runners than power backs, so you don't need as many guys to stop them. It often takes two to three tacklers to bring Giffin down.
Even if Giffin is back, his knee may not be at 100 per cent. We all know from Bobby Orr (and his Mastercard commercial [Sean Leahy, Going Five Hole]) just how dangerous knee damage can be. Yes, sports medicine has come a long way since then, but knee injuries are still a big concern. A knee injury to Giffin is especially concerning given that many of his biggest gains come from his ability to quickly react to a defense and make rapid cuts. If his knee isn't at full health, it's doubtful that he'll be that effective. We'll see what happens.
"The Gaels (8-0) took a sigh of relief yesterday when testing showed Giffin suffered only a badly bruised right knee Saturday in the first quarter of a season-ending 38-22 win over the Waterloo Warriors.
'He would be doubtful [if the Gaels had a game] this week,' Gaels coach Pat Sheahan said. 'But with a week to recuperate, there is a reasonable chance he'll be able to play. I'm optimistic. We've got two weeks and we're just hoping there are no major setbacks. It's not season-ending or career-ending or anything like that.'
Because they finished first in the 10-team league, the Gaels will be spectators for the OUA quarter-final round this weekend. They will play host to the lowest-ranked quarter-final survivor in a semi-final on Nov. 1.
Sheahan expects to keep Giffin off the practice field for the majority of the week.
'All the ligaments are intact,' Sheahan said. 'Give him another week and he'll feel a lot better.'"
I'd be wary of taking this as a sign that all's well though. It must be a pretty bad bruise, considering how Giffin hobbled off the field last week and would be "doubtful" if the playoff game was this week. Even with the bye, Sheahan's only saying there's a "reasonable chance" he'll play. I'd interpret a reasonable chance as in the range of 40 to 80 per cent, which isn't overwhelmingly confidence-inspiring. As mentioned before, this team largely draws its strength from its offensive balance and its defence, so losing Giffin would not be the end of the world. It would be a significant blow, however; backups Marty Gordon and Jimmy Therrien are very capable, but they aren't as much of a threat as Giffin. With Giffin, teams have to pick their poison: either they crowd the box to shut down the run and let Danny Brannagan pick them apart through the air, or they play a coverage-focused defence and Giffin rumbles for 100+ yards. Gordon and Therrien are also more finesse runners than power backs, so you don't need as many guys to stop them. It often takes two to three tacklers to bring Giffin down.
Even if Giffin is back, his knee may not be at 100 per cent. We all know from Bobby Orr (and his Mastercard commercial [Sean Leahy, Going Five Hole]) just how dangerous knee damage can be. Yes, sports medicine has come a long way since then, but knee injuries are still a big concern. A knee injury to Giffin is especially concerning given that many of his biggest gains come from his ability to quickly react to a defense and make rapid cuts. If his knee isn't at full health, it's doubtful that he'll be that effective. We'll see what happens.
A new NHL team for Toronto?
David Shoalts has a very interesting piece in today's Globe and Mail that certainly opens with a bang. As he writes:
"NHL governors are talking informally about placing a second hockey team in Toronto alongside the Maple Leafs, The Globe and Mail has learned.
'Why shouldn't we put another team in the best and biggest market in the world?' one of several NHL governors who spoke with The Globe anonymously said of the Greater Toronto Area.
According to this governor, one idea floated is for prospective owner Jim Balsillie to be rewarded with an expansion team in Toronto after helping to restore financial ballast to the Nashville Predators.
'I've heard this exact scenario,' a second governor said."
This is a very interesting idea, and one that certainly hasn't been floated very much relative to the idea of putting another team in either Hamilton or Kitchener-Waterloo. Toronto could sustain two teams in my mind, given the hockey-mad population, the size of the city and the massive suburbs surrounding it.
However, I'm not sure the Leafs would be overly eager to go along with this plan. Here's the part of Shoalts' piece that deals with their reaction:
"Richard Peddie, president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said the organization would not automatically reject the idea of a second team in Toronto.
'When and if the league brings expansion to the table, we'll listen and decide what is best [for hockey],' he said."
This isn't as positive as it sounds. First, Peddie is absolutely non-committal there, which makes sense: this is pretty speculative at the moment, so you don't want to irrevocably commit your organization to a certain course in the media just based on what's come out so far. All he said is they wouldn't reject a proposal before looking at it, which seems reasonable.
I'd also be rather interested to find what Peddie said that Shoalts (or his editors) replaced with the [for hockey], as that seems like a curious comment. It isn't Peddie's primary job to make decisions that are best "for hockey" or even best for the NHL: his job is to run the Leafs and MLSE's other franchises and venues. Thus, anything he and the franchise owners decide upon will be best for their franchise first and the league second. This is logical: these franchises are commercial enterprises with shareholders, so it's up to their management to do what's best for those shareholders. At times, league interests come into it: a healthy league means higher TV revenues and lower revenue-sharing, so it's in the Leafs' interests to go along with the NHL when doing so will undoubtedly and dramatically improve the league. Keep in mind that their motivation and mindset is likely always to help their franchise first and the league second, though: the same is true of almost every professional sports franchise.
A further illuminating passage of the article discusses the economic ramifications.
"As to the potential economic impact on the Maple Leafs, the first governor dismissively waved his hand. 'The Maple Leafs would not be hurt one bit. In fact, it would help them. They could make all kinds of money renting the Air Canada Centre to the other team.'"
Now, I'm not so sure if this governor is thinking straight. First, if the Leafs allow another team into their city, they lose market share. This may not be huge at first given their market dominance and history, but they're no longer the only game in town. They'll likely still sell out every game, but the supply of NHL tickets has just doubled and it's hard to imagine the demand rising at a similar rate. Therefore, the premiums they can charge for their tickets will drop. Of further importance is the impact on merchandising, advertising and television revenues. Yes, there will still be a huge demand for the rights to Leafs' games, but television networks now have another viable alternative source for hockey if MLSE demands too much money: thus, the Leafs will earn less from their television contracts.
Yes, people will still buy Leafs' gear, but some will choose to buy merchandise from the new team instead. The same holds true for corporate sponsors, who gain leverage from the doubling of the supply of boxes and advertising opportunities. If the teams both play at the ACC, they could package their corporate and advertising sales together. That would have to involve some sort of discount for a bulk rate, as no one will pay double the current fees for the Leafs and a new team. You can bet that the new team would take a large share of any profits as well. If they don't package them, all of a sudden that supply of corporate boxes and advertising opportunities doubles, reducing the value of those items if the demand doesn't double as well.
Also, keep in mind that any ACC rental deal wouldn't just be filling "blank slate" days. The facility currently offers big-ticket concerts on most days when the Leafs are out of town. A new team would mean that the amount of concert dates would be drastically reduced, further reducing MLSE's revenue streams from their facility.
A better situation would involve a new arena, but that doesn't seem too likely. Public funding would likely be almost out of the question, given the current state of both the Toronto and Ontario economies. Plus, both governments (and the federal government) just finished building an expensive stadium in Toronto, for MLSE no less. Think they want to get involved with another one in the middle of a recession? With the current high costs of both land and construction, it's tough to see a 100-per-cent private solution working in Toronto either.
None of that is to say that this couldn't work. Most of the concerns mentioned above that MLSE would likely express could be solved by Balsillie (or whoever the new owner is) paying a very hefty fee for entering their territory, similar to the New Jersey Devils. The question is if a second franchise in Toronto is worth that kind of expenditure.
The Ottawa and Buffalo franchises might have concerns with this plan as well. The Senators are finally starting to make some progress at positioning themselves as Ontario's alternative to the Leafs. If this goes down, it affects their market share as well, especially in the area of television rights but also in advertising, corporate support and merchandising. Ticket sales might come into it too: those of us around the midway point between the two cities might opt to travel into Toronto and see the new team instead of going to Ottawa for a Sens game.
For Buffalo, the tickets are probably the biggest concern, as Shoalts points out further on in the article. They have a massive Canadian fan base, particularly in Southern Ontario. Shoalts' sources argue that one of the main reasons the league won't let Balsillie put a team in Hamilton (and by extension, probably not Kitchener-Waterloo either) for fear that those fans might decide to avoid the border and stay in Canada to watch hockey, hurting the Sabres' revenue streams.
As he writes, "Mr. Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research in Motion Ltd., angered league executives by attempting to buy the Nashville Predators with the intent of moving the franchise to Hamilton.
The league will never allow Mr. Balsillie to put a team in Hamilton for two reasons, according to one governor. One is that the city would be a tough sell for U.S.-based teams, and the other, more significant reason, is the belief it would ruin the Buffalo Sabres.
'It's a minor-league town,' the governor said of Hamilton. 'How could we sell a team from Hamilton? Do you think the New York Rangers want to put the Hamilton Steelers on their marquee at Madison Square Garden? Do you think anyone in Manhattan would buy tickets to see them?'
He also said a team in Hamilton would mean thousands of fans in the Niagara Peninsula who attend Sabres games would simply drive to Hamilton to avoid border lineups.
'We do not want to kill the Sabres,” the governor said. “But if there was a second team in Toronto, that would not hurt Buffalo.'"
Both points are valid, and the second one is particularly interesting. However, contrary to this governor's opinion, there's a good chance that the migrating fan base would also be a concern with a second Toronto franchise. Hamilton to Toronto is not a long trip. One of the main reasons for the support for the Sabres in Southern Ontario is the accessibility of tickets, not the driving distances involved, which are often similar to the distances these fans would face if they went to a Leafs' game. A new franchise means many more tickets, and given the hassles involved with crossing the border these days, it probably would be an easy decision to stay at home if tickets are available. That may be the case regardless of if the team is based in Toronto or Hamilton.
Again, this isn't to shoot the idea down out of hand. The league could desperately use another team in Southern Ontario, especially given how much of a subsidy they get from the current one. Relocation of a struggling team would make more sense than a straight expansion, but that's also a far more complicated process. In either case, the NHL could also benefit from letting Balsillie in before they face an antitrust case, and he'd be very good for the league. If he's willing to pay large amounts to compensate the Leafs, Sabres and Senators for moving into their territory and if an arena solution is found (renting the ACC or building a new rink), this could work. One governor suggests $700 million as an expansion fee, which seems outrageous given that Forbes.com ranked the Leafs as the top NHL team last season with a valuation of $413 million. It's hard to think an expansion team would be worth twice as much as that.
In any case, though, the sum would likely be astronomical. The question is how deep Balsillie's pockets are, and if he's willing to pay that much of a premium to bring another hockey team into Southern Ontario.
"NHL governors are talking informally about placing a second hockey team in Toronto alongside the Maple Leafs, The Globe and Mail has learned.
'Why shouldn't we put another team in the best and biggest market in the world?' one of several NHL governors who spoke with The Globe anonymously said of the Greater Toronto Area.
According to this governor, one idea floated is for prospective owner Jim Balsillie to be rewarded with an expansion team in Toronto after helping to restore financial ballast to the Nashville Predators.
'I've heard this exact scenario,' a second governor said."
This is a very interesting idea, and one that certainly hasn't been floated very much relative to the idea of putting another team in either Hamilton or Kitchener-Waterloo. Toronto could sustain two teams in my mind, given the hockey-mad population, the size of the city and the massive suburbs surrounding it.
However, I'm not sure the Leafs would be overly eager to go along with this plan. Here's the part of Shoalts' piece that deals with their reaction:
"Richard Peddie, president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said the organization would not automatically reject the idea of a second team in Toronto.
'When and if the league brings expansion to the table, we'll listen and decide what is best [for hockey],' he said."
This isn't as positive as it sounds. First, Peddie is absolutely non-committal there, which makes sense: this is pretty speculative at the moment, so you don't want to irrevocably commit your organization to a certain course in the media just based on what's come out so far. All he said is they wouldn't reject a proposal before looking at it, which seems reasonable.
I'd also be rather interested to find what Peddie said that Shoalts (or his editors) replaced with the [for hockey], as that seems like a curious comment. It isn't Peddie's primary job to make decisions that are best "for hockey" or even best for the NHL: his job is to run the Leafs and MLSE's other franchises and venues. Thus, anything he and the franchise owners decide upon will be best for their franchise first and the league second. This is logical: these franchises are commercial enterprises with shareholders, so it's up to their management to do what's best for those shareholders. At times, league interests come into it: a healthy league means higher TV revenues and lower revenue-sharing, so it's in the Leafs' interests to go along with the NHL when doing so will undoubtedly and dramatically improve the league. Keep in mind that their motivation and mindset is likely always to help their franchise first and the league second, though: the same is true of almost every professional sports franchise.
A further illuminating passage of the article discusses the economic ramifications.
"As to the potential economic impact on the Maple Leafs, the first governor dismissively waved his hand. 'The Maple Leafs would not be hurt one bit. In fact, it would help them. They could make all kinds of money renting the Air Canada Centre to the other team.'"
Now, I'm not so sure if this governor is thinking straight. First, if the Leafs allow another team into their city, they lose market share. This may not be huge at first given their market dominance and history, but they're no longer the only game in town. They'll likely still sell out every game, but the supply of NHL tickets has just doubled and it's hard to imagine the demand rising at a similar rate. Therefore, the premiums they can charge for their tickets will drop. Of further importance is the impact on merchandising, advertising and television revenues. Yes, there will still be a huge demand for the rights to Leafs' games, but television networks now have another viable alternative source for hockey if MLSE demands too much money: thus, the Leafs will earn less from their television contracts.
Yes, people will still buy Leafs' gear, but some will choose to buy merchandise from the new team instead. The same holds true for corporate sponsors, who gain leverage from the doubling of the supply of boxes and advertising opportunities. If the teams both play at the ACC, they could package their corporate and advertising sales together. That would have to involve some sort of discount for a bulk rate, as no one will pay double the current fees for the Leafs and a new team. You can bet that the new team would take a large share of any profits as well. If they don't package them, all of a sudden that supply of corporate boxes and advertising opportunities doubles, reducing the value of those items if the demand doesn't double as well.
Also, keep in mind that any ACC rental deal wouldn't just be filling "blank slate" days. The facility currently offers big-ticket concerts on most days when the Leafs are out of town. A new team would mean that the amount of concert dates would be drastically reduced, further reducing MLSE's revenue streams from their facility.
A better situation would involve a new arena, but that doesn't seem too likely. Public funding would likely be almost out of the question, given the current state of both the Toronto and Ontario economies. Plus, both governments (and the federal government) just finished building an expensive stadium in Toronto, for MLSE no less. Think they want to get involved with another one in the middle of a recession? With the current high costs of both land and construction, it's tough to see a 100-per-cent private solution working in Toronto either.
None of that is to say that this couldn't work. Most of the concerns mentioned above that MLSE would likely express could be solved by Balsillie (or whoever the new owner is) paying a very hefty fee for entering their territory, similar to the New Jersey Devils. The question is if a second franchise in Toronto is worth that kind of expenditure.
The Ottawa and Buffalo franchises might have concerns with this plan as well. The Senators are finally starting to make some progress at positioning themselves as Ontario's alternative to the Leafs. If this goes down, it affects their market share as well, especially in the area of television rights but also in advertising, corporate support and merchandising. Ticket sales might come into it too: those of us around the midway point between the two cities might opt to travel into Toronto and see the new team instead of going to Ottawa for a Sens game.
For Buffalo, the tickets are probably the biggest concern, as Shoalts points out further on in the article. They have a massive Canadian fan base, particularly in Southern Ontario. Shoalts' sources argue that one of the main reasons the league won't let Balsillie put a team in Hamilton (and by extension, probably not Kitchener-Waterloo either) for fear that those fans might decide to avoid the border and stay in Canada to watch hockey, hurting the Sabres' revenue streams.
As he writes, "Mr. Balsillie, the co-CEO of Research in Motion Ltd., angered league executives by attempting to buy the Nashville Predators with the intent of moving the franchise to Hamilton.
The league will never allow Mr. Balsillie to put a team in Hamilton for two reasons, according to one governor. One is that the city would be a tough sell for U.S.-based teams, and the other, more significant reason, is the belief it would ruin the Buffalo Sabres.
'It's a minor-league town,' the governor said of Hamilton. 'How could we sell a team from Hamilton? Do you think the New York Rangers want to put the Hamilton Steelers on their marquee at Madison Square Garden? Do you think anyone in Manhattan would buy tickets to see them?'
He also said a team in Hamilton would mean thousands of fans in the Niagara Peninsula who attend Sabres games would simply drive to Hamilton to avoid border lineups.
'We do not want to kill the Sabres,” the governor said. “But if there was a second team in Toronto, that would not hurt Buffalo.'"
Both points are valid, and the second one is particularly interesting. However, contrary to this governor's opinion, there's a good chance that the migrating fan base would also be a concern with a second Toronto franchise. Hamilton to Toronto is not a long trip. One of the main reasons for the support for the Sabres in Southern Ontario is the accessibility of tickets, not the driving distances involved, which are often similar to the distances these fans would face if they went to a Leafs' game. A new franchise means many more tickets, and given the hassles involved with crossing the border these days, it probably would be an easy decision to stay at home if tickets are available. That may be the case regardless of if the team is based in Toronto or Hamilton.
Again, this isn't to shoot the idea down out of hand. The league could desperately use another team in Southern Ontario, especially given how much of a subsidy they get from the current one. Relocation of a struggling team would make more sense than a straight expansion, but that's also a far more complicated process. In either case, the NHL could also benefit from letting Balsillie in before they face an antitrust case, and he'd be very good for the league. If he's willing to pay large amounts to compensate the Leafs, Sabres and Senators for moving into their territory and if an arena solution is found (renting the ACC or building a new rink), this could work. One governor suggests $700 million as an expansion fee, which seems outrageous given that Forbes.com ranked the Leafs as the top NHL team last season with a valuation of $413 million. It's hard to think an expansion team would be worth twice as much as that.
In any case, though, the sum would likely be astronomical. The question is how deep Balsillie's pockets are, and if he's willing to pay that much of a premium to bring another hockey team into Southern Ontario.
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