Joel Tichinoff
Sports Editor

When Canadian identity comes up, it’s time to flip to the next page. Really, who even cares?
It is hard to give words to the elusive idea of Canada. Searching for Canadian identity can be like looking straight at the sun; any effort to directly examine who or what we are tends to make most Canadians want to look away with the same cringing pain we collectively felt when, as billions watched, the Olympic torch malfunctioned at the climax of the Vancouver Olympics’ opening ceremonies.
Yet no matter how hard it may be to see, the idea is up there somewhere – if only because it has to be. The organizers of Vancouver’s opening ceremonies made it the theme they explored in front of the world.  It was a bold effort to weave a thread of common identity in through the layers of individualistic, pluralist, multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Canada. If we can’t look at the sun, we can at least take in the landscape lit up by its reflected light.
Olympic opening ceremonies have become a proclamation of a host nation’s glory, a celebration of a unique civilization. It didn’t help that we were following on the cultural-celebration heels of the Chinese, the Italians and the Americans, and that whatever we did had to live up to upcoming ceremonies from the Russians and Brits.
For a people who aren’t even sure they want to be a people, or that they even need a collective identity, it seemed impossible for the Vancouver organizers to say something every Canadian could agree with. Far from being able to say who we are, Canadians have a hard time saying what we’re not. Like a lonely teenager filled with big ideas yet unsure of our own worth, we are a country starved for defining moments. True to teenage insecurity, many viewers caught the awkwardness: the confused presentation of the heads of state, an overly jazzy rendition of “Oh Canada”, Nelly Furtado’s cheesy singing, the unthinkable embarrassment of the torch-lighting ceremony – corniness in general. And yet what will be remembered are the moments of sublime human perfection: competing nations joined in mourning the death of a Georgian luger, stunning visual effects transforming the arena floor into ocean waves broken by breaching whales, and a divided world united by candlelight as K.D. Lang sang Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”. If Canada needs moments that define us, to explain us to the world and ourselves – why not this one?
The opening ceremonies did capture something of the Canadian idea and experience even if it was mostly peripheral. The ceremony began with a proud welcome from four Aboriginal nations of the Lower Mainland who were then joined by additional Aboriginal nations from across Canada. Below four welcoming totems, the first people of Canada met together in proud and majestic display before the world.
Bryan Adams and Nelly Furtado performed a song notable for little except the spirit and enthusiasm it conveyed. While stiflingly cheesy, the song succeeded in building a tone of pride, excitement and hospitality.
Next, athletes from across the world were welcomed to the stage to much fanfare. However what was most memorable was the relentless dancing at centre stage by the Aboriginal performers. As the people of nation after nation were welcomed to the stage, they refused to be forgotten, their drums and singing often rising above the cheers and music. They did a series of artistic performances depicting various elements of the Canadian experience – the smallness of humanity in the face of raw nature and the magic our vast, empty land.
Following impressive acrobatic performances interlaced with quotes relating to Canada, the Maritimes received a complimentary nod with a lengthy plaid-clad Celtic dance and fiddle performance. Speeches and songs wrapped up the ceremony. Mounties raised the Olympic flag while a Canadian opera singer delivered a powerful rendition of the Olympic hymn. Gretzky lit the flame. Few of those hearts who watched K.D. Lang’s epic rendition of “Hallelujah” were anything less than glowing. The song, by one woman before 60,000 candles, created a moment that was moving, intimate and powerful in a way that seems incapable of replication.
It is impossible to convey the spirit of the ceremonies to those who didn’t see them, suffice to say that they were unlike any opening ceremonies to date. Perhaps the overriding message of the Vancouver Olympics will be the idea that we exist and we are more or less who we say we are. A country that is many different things to many different people just said something only we can in a way only we can. Canada has made the Vancouver Olympics an opportunity to tell the world something about our identity, and succeeded in doing so before any medals were handed out. Gold medals or not, no one will want to miss the closing ceremonies.

Fifth-year engineering student Andrew Sullivan and Tigers coach John Campbell. | Photo by Andi Lo

Dal Basketball star, Rhodes scholar nominee plays last home game

Natasha White
Staff Contributor

It was electric. It was how it should be.
The final three minutes at the Tigers’ last home game of the season versus the St. Mary’s Huskies was a sports fan’s dream. The intense clash between Halifax rivals came down to the wire and the crowd was roaring. Every possession was critical. Every missed free throw would come back to haunt the losing team. Every turn-over, steal, made or missed three single-handedly made the difference in the outcome of this basketball spectacle. Sadly, it would be Dal’s misses that had them on the losing end of this passionate effort.
The final score was 70-68. While the referees didn’t cause missed threes or free throws, they did do a little missing themselves. In the final minutes of the game, the refs somehow neglected to call a most obvious goal-tending violation by St. Mary’s. This gave the Huskies an undeserved two-point advantage, coincidently reflecting the final margin of victory. However, best not to dwell on what should have been.
What was is a much better story. Tiger guards Simone Farine and Andrew Sullivan each marked the game with major milestones. Farine surpassed the 1,000 career point mark Saturday night, joining a select few in Tiger history. Coach Campbell even flashed a rare sideline smile as he congratulated Simon. Despite an extremely concentrated defensive effort by St. Mary’s to shut Farine down, he scored 26 points, made seven assisted, and was the top rebounder for Dal with 10. The battle of the AUS scoring leaders of Huskie guard Joey Haywood sitting number one (averaging 24 per game) and Tiger Simon Farine sitting two (averaging 22 per game), was won by Dal’s own. Farine, who played the full 40 minutes, put in his usual outstanding effort, earning once again Player of the Game. Tiger fans should be quite thankful that we haven’t seen the last of the six-foot-two-inch co-captain.
Andrew Sullivan however, did play his last home game Saturday night. The fifth-year environmental engineering student epitomized a stellar career with his final effort of the evening. With Dal down by two and 1.6 seconds to go, Sully sacrificed it all as he dove for the ball during St. Mary’s final in-bound. He looked like a linebacker on the non-existent football team, as he took out the cushioned divider that thankfully broke his fall.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to gain possession for Dal. But you have to love Sullivan’s unfailing heart. Dal loses not only a team leader and co-captain, but the number six assist leader in the AUS and a top 15 steal leader. Sullivan’s success extends off the court: he is a five-time academic all-Canadian and Dalhousie nominee for the prestigious Rhodes scholarship.
In a recent interview with Coach Campbell, Sullivan earned high praise for his contributions to the team. Sullivan’s quiet confidence and timely threes will be sorely missed. Without a doubt Sully will be remembered as a pivotal piece in the 2009 AUS Championship team, as well as one of the best-rounded students at Dalhousie to don a Tiger uniform.

The Dal women’s team enters playoffs ranked fifth in the AUS. | Photo by Pau Balite

Natasha White
Staff Contributor

Basketball playoffs loom

The final home game of the hard-court season was a nitty-gritty battle between the Dalhousie ladies and Halifax rivals St. Mary’s. Fitting, as it was the last showing at the Dalplex for fifth-year forward twins Laurie and Leah Girdwood and guard April Scott. It was also potentially the last home game for hardworking Alex Legge and top rebounder Cailin Crosby – both in their fourth year at Dal. Legge could possibly return to the team next season if all works out with her med-school admittance.
With these losses, Coach Stammberger is facing a huge hole in her starting line-up for next season. The ladies were honoured in a brief ceremony after the game for their fierce competitiveness and substantial contributions to Dal Tigers’ basketball. Let’s hope Coach Stammberger’s doing some serious recruiting for the 2010/2011 season.
Saturday night’s game proved that the Tigers just keep getting better and better. It was a bittersweet pill to swallow, as the ladies succumbed to second-ranked St. Mary’s Huskies by a mere three points: 62-65. Coincidently, threes by Huskies’ Justine Colley and Robbi Daley killed the Tigers’ opportunity for the upset.
St. Mary’s outscored Dal from behind the arch, 27 to three. Forty-seven percent at the free throw line by Dal didn’t help the cause either. Again, Dal managed to consistently break the full court press, which is a vast improvement from the start of the season. However, the disconnect lay in what to do once the press was broken, and the Tigers found themselves with numbers. Too many two-on-ones weren’t taken advantage of, and it’s going to take conversion these easy points’ opportunities to beat the best.
Thanks in part to St. Mary’s proximity, and to both Ladies’ and Men’s proactive crowd recruiting, attendance at the Dalplex on Friday was it’s largest for home games of the season. The ladies treated the crowd to an excellent showing. In the final seconds, retiring guard Scott nearly tied the game. The ball took a 360-degree trip around the rim and cruelly decided to come back out.
Alas, it was not meant to be that night. Leah Girdwood, April Scott, Cailin Crosby, Laurie Girdwood and Alex Legge should be proud of their outstanding careers as Dalhousie Tigers.

With two games already under their belts, Team Canada’s men’s Olympic team looks poised to make a deep run in the most anticipated hockey tournament in the history of the game. Despite a roster loaded with names such as Crosby, Iginla and Brodeur, Canada is no shoe-in for the gold.
In recent times, a number of countries have risen to the surface of the hockey world.  Twenty years ago a tournament such as this would have been a two-horse race, with Canada and the Soviet Union as the only real contestants. Instead, this year there are seven nations that could hypothetically walk away with gold.
Slovakia, Sweden, Russia, Finland, the Czech Republic or the United States could be crowned Kings of the hockey world and nobody would bat an eye.
Canada will be hard-pressed to find an easy adversary in the tournament from this point on.  Neither of their opponents– Switzerland nor Norway – is considered to be a medal contender. From here on in, the big boys will be rearing their ugly heads and coming to play.
Many have referred to this tournament as a competition that has seven main players: the “Big Seven”. Here is a list of teams Canada will have to go through if they have any hope of bringing back those ever-coveted gold medals.

Slovakia
Slovakia comes into the tournament with high hopes, although the rest of the world may not echo that same sentiment. They will probably be the dark horse of the tournament. This team could surprise a lot of people. They have a big defensive squad led by Zdeno Chara, Milan Jurcina, and Andrie Mezaros. Jaroslav Halak is a streaky goaltender that could get hot throughout the tournament. Marion Gaborik has proven himself for the New York Rangers this season, so he should do some serious damage alongside Marian Hossa. Slovakia must keep the score low in order to win games.

Sweden
Sweden comes into the tournament as the defending champions and they look poised to repeat their winning ways. Henrik Lundqvist has shown shades of Tommy Sodderstrom this season and will surely keep Sweden in any game.  It will be interesting to see if Peter Forsberg will make a difference, or be a flop. He needs to perform to help out the younger players around him.   Nicklas Lidstrom, in the twilight of his career, should log a great number of minutes if Sweden has any chance of reclaiming the gold.
Russia
To many experts, the Russians look to be the most offensively lethal group of the bunch. Their offence can explode on weak teams, so expect some high-scoring games in the round robin.  With the likes of Ovechkin, Semin, Malkin and Datsyuk, this team should have no problem keeping the puck in the opposition’s zone. Defence is a bit of an issue though. Markov and Gonchar are not defensive-minded defensemen. They typically like to jump into the play to make something happen. However, they have strong goaltending with the one-two punch of Nabokov and Varlamov.

Finland
Finland has a fine crop of young players and a group of elder statesmen, but little in between.  Names such as Saku Koivu and Teemu Selane litter their forward roster, and a number of personalities around the game agree that these guys may be too old for the young men’s game.  Finland’s defence is adequate but porous. Little to no offence is expected from the back end.  Their goaltending may be their saving grace with former Toronto Maple Leaf first rounder turned Boston Bruin Tuuka Rask in net. This year, the young goaltender has had scorching numbers in the National Hockey League and has all but forced last year’s Vezna trophy winner Tim Thomas from the net.

The Czech Republic
The Czechs are always a tough team to play. This hockey-crazy nation possesses a number of lethal scoring weapons. North Americans will likely be given their last chance to watch Jaromir Jagr on Canadian soil. Two years after the future Hall of Famer departed from North America for the opportunity to play in Russia’s upstart KHL, the Czech flag bearer returns as team captain. Although still a scorer, Jagr is more likely to be a leader than a sniper.
The team’s defence is anchored by Toronto Maple Leaf defenseman Tomas Kabarle and is expected to handle quite the workload as they have been grouped into a pool that includes the likes of Slovakia and Russia. In net the Czechs have turned to Tomas Vokun. Gone are the days when Dominic Hasek patrolled the Czech crease and Vokun will be heavily relied upon.

The United States
For the first time since the 1992 tournament, the United States will be sending a team that is not made up solely of geezers. Up front, names such as New Jersey Devils forward Zach Parise, Maplle Leaf`s winger Phil Kessel highlight what promises to be an exciting forward contingent.  On the blue line, veteran Brian Rafalski will guide a young defensive corps. In net, Ryan Miller (arguably the best goaltender in the NHL this season) will back-stop this young squad, and for his part, hopefully bring home Olympic glory.

Other teams of note in the tournament include the Belarus and the Norwegian. Both have good young crops of players (Norway has three members of their 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship squad in their line up), although these teams will need a number of years to mature and improve their national programs. Neither pose any real threat to the “Big Seven”.

Women’s basketball
The women’s team hasn’t clinched a playoff berth yet, but of the two remaining spots, the battle is between the University of New Brunswick and Acadia University. Both trail Dalhousie by six points for the final spot, leaving Dal’s postseason all but assured.
Barring any major upsets, Dal will face St. Francis Xavier in the quarter-finals. The two teams have met three times this season with St. FX winning two reasonably close games and Dal coming away with a 73-58 win in January.
Dal will look to veteran stars Cailin Crosby, April Scott and the Girdwood twins to best the X-Women and 2008-2009 defensive player of the year Ashley Stephen. The Tigers have two road games against The University of Prince Edward Island and Acadia to play before heading to Sydney, Cape Breton for the AUS Championships Feb. 26 to Feb. 28.

Men’s hockey
The hockey team has missed the playoffs by a single point making 2010 the sixth-straight year the Tigers have missed the postseason, but almost certainly the last. Coach Pete Belliveau continues to stock his roster with talented recruits as the he rebuilds the Dal hockey program. Playing in the best varsity hockey league in Canada the ever-improving Tigers are expected to make a big splash in 2010-2011. Students returning next September can look forward to hockey playoffs next spring. Belliveau has taken every team he’s coached to a national championship. Dal’s time is coming.

Women’s hockey
Led by top-scorer Jocelyn LeBlanc, who has 16 goals and 13 assists in 17 games, this season the women’s hockey team is poised to make a solid play-off run in 2010. Team captain Laura Shearer leads all blue-liners in the league with 15 points and goalie Ashley Boutilier holds a respectable .902 save percentage going into the final stretch of the regular season. The women’s final home game of the season will be Sunday, Feb. 21, at 2 p.m.

Men’s volleyball
They’ve won 23 consecutive AUS titles dating back to 1987 and are ranked second in Canada, but the question surrounding the Dal men’s volleyball team is: Can they bring home a National championship? With 23 years of championships in Atlantic Canada, an AUS title in 2010 is not only expected – it’s also not good enough.
Joel Tichinoff
Sports Editor
Women’s volleyball
The women’s team has snuck into the playoffs with six wins and 11 losses, good enough for a .353 win percentage. The Tigers are going to have to find a way to win, and win consistently, if they have any hope for a significant playoff run. Win or lose, the future is bright for this volleyball team with a roster full of promising talent. 2010 will only be the first of many post-season runs for this team. The pressure for a championship will rise as this team matures.

Natasha White
Staff Contributor

A decent student turn-out witnessed hardwood action last Wednesday night as the Tigers took on the Acadia Axewomen and Axemen. Victories for both the men’s and ladies teams helped solidify Dalhousie’s standings as the season enters its final few weeks. It’s been a stellar second half of the season for Dal; since the 2010 January start, both basketball teams have gone an impressive seven for nine (as of Feb. 6). The Dal Men’s only losses came at the hands of the St. Francis Xavier and Cape Breton University teams who currently lead the AUS, ranking third and fourth respectively in national standings. But the real heartbreaker stat belongs to the ladies, whose two losses of 2010 were by a mere two points at the hands of the undefeated CBU Capers and third-place Memorial Sea Hawks.
The second-last home game of the season saw Tiger guard Simon Farine deliver a beautiful performance. Just two assists shy of a double-double, Farine put up a season best 32 points. If not for some heavily contested lay-up misses, Farine could have topped 40. 6’8 forward Sandy Veit pulled a Rodman (okay, slight exaggeration), dominating both offensive and defensive boards against the Axemen. It’s great to see Veit’s aggressive rebounding excel each game. The clock’s a ticking, and it’s time for every Tiger to amp up.
Coach Campbell and his staff must have been pleased with Dal’s lights out free throw show, hitting 22 of 25 attempts. Threes also played a big part in the win as Dal went seven for 22. But, it was thanks to a stifling defence of the arch by guards Sullivan and Farine that made the difference. The Axemen, blessed with two pure shooters in Anthony Sears and Casey Fox, were denied any opportunity to shine by the Tiger pair. The Tigers need to bring this defensive intensity to the floor for 40 minutes every game as they battle for the next three weeks before the big show in Sydney, March 12 to March 14.
Andrew Sullivan had an incredible game Sunday, Jan. 31, against UNB. Sullivan took over in the second half with threes, free throws, and sweet inside feeds to big man Joe Schow, who came up with a game high of 20 points. The Tigers went on to defeat last place UNB 69-55.
Where were the ladies, you ask? The Dal ladies edged the Axewomen 72-64 with the help of a much-improved full court press break. Granted, the Axewomen’s press efforts lack the strength of the upper echelon teams. Nonetheless it provided good practice for Coach Stammberger’s crew. Turnovers were reduced as we saw more passing, less dribbling and thinking, taking the ball up the court. However, the press will remain a sore spot for Dal until they start to move to the ball versus waiting for the pass to come. It will be too easy for the top-ranked teams to simply wait for the telegraphed pass to the immobile middle, forcing the turnover.
I’ll end with one final plea – nay, let’s call it a dare. I triple dog dare you to show up for the last home games of the hardcourt season. Dal takes on our bitter rivals (dramatic writer’s license) St. Mary’s University on Saturday, Feb. 13. Tip off is at 5 p.m.

Dylan Matthias
Staff Contributor

The Dalhousie Tigers missed a tremendous opportunity last Friday – several in fact – losing 5-3 to the visiting UPEI Panthers. With only four games remaining in their season, including two against the unbeaten and number-one-ranked UNB, the Tigers needed to pick up points to hold off Moncton in the battle for the last AUS playoff position.
“We just can’t make the other team pay. When we take a penalty, they make us pay. Our powerplay’s just not clicking right now,” said Tigers coach Pete Belliveau after the game.
The Tigers missed seven powerplay opportunities in the game, including four in the third period when they trailed the Panthers. Late in the period the Tigers had a five-on-three advantage but couldn’t convert.
“We got our chances, we just couldn’t score on the powerplay … that’s why we lost,” said the Tigers’ centre Daniel Bartek, who had one of the Tigers three goals. Bartek, who represented the Czech Republic at the 2008 IIHF World Juniors, has seven goals in 25 this season.
Panthers’ net-minder Wayne Savage was a big part of the UPEI penalty kill, backing the Panthers up when the Tigers were able to break down their strict positional play. The Tigers never quite sorted out the UPEI attack, though, and gave up several bad goals. Cory Vitarelli beat Tigers’ goalie Josh Disher with a wrist shot 42 seconds into the game. Vitarelli also scored the Panthers’ second goal of the first period by skating into the slot from the boards before winding up a massive slapshot that beat Disher. None of the Tigers bothered to stop his advance.
Dalhousie solved UPEI’s Wayne Savage in the second period, getting three goals past him in less than four minutes, but not without conceding another to Vitarelli on a lethal powerplay move. A bad change gave Dalhousie their first, with Benjamin Breault breaking in two-on-one before passing to Patrick Sweeney for a tap in. Breault, a 2006 Buffalo Sabres draft-pick, has led Dalhousie offence with seven goals in 11 games since coming to Dal in January from the ECHL’s Florida EverBlades.
The Tigers’ second and third goals were both spearheaded by Jeff Larsh. He powered his way through a clogged neutral zone to clear space for line-mate Jordan Gagne. Gagne scored on his first chance, firing a shot past Savage, but missing his second chance. Bartek collected it behind the net and faked Savage before tucking it in on a wrap-around. Vitarelli’s hat trick came just before Gagné’s first, off a lethal back-door play from Thomas Stryncl and Jared Gomes on a powerplay. At the end of the flurry, both teams were tied at three.
Despite out-shooting the Panthers all game (and ending up with a final shot advantage of 42-30) the Tigers could not keep them off the board. A horrible pinch by Josh Manning left Matt Carter alone in front of Disher at the end of the second period, and Carter easily recorded his 30th point of the year with a goal. The final blow came as the Tigers tried to rally in the third. PEI’s top powerplay line worked their backdoor play again, with Stryncl passing to Gomes at the far post before Gomes found Vitarelli cross-crease, leaving him an open net.

Zack Wilson
Staff Contributor

This past holiday season, sports fans the world round were privy to one of the greatest hockey tournaments in the history of the game. That said, the 2010 Olympic form of hockey will be hard pressed to outdo what transpired at the 2010 IIHF World Junior Hockey tournament.
At the 2010 Winter Olympics, the world’s eyes will be fixated on Vancouver, B.C. Eight years ago, the city was chosen. Since then it has undergone a massive transformation in an effort to ready the city for the world’s greatest sports event. Vancouver is no different than any other metropolis in Canada, in that it is a hockey crazy city. For the first time since Calgary, Canadians will be able to watch our athletes strive for victory on home soil.
As is usually the case, our men’s hockey team will be under the microscope, although, unlike in Calgary, this team will be made up of professional players from the NHL. Whereas in the past Olympic hockey was played purely by amateur athletes, for the first time Canada will witness the game’s best players in our own backyard.
For millions of Canadians, the two most important weeks on the sporting calendar (in non-Olympic years) run from Boxing Day through to the early days of the new year. Within this time frame, young men from 10 nations travel thousands of miles, don their country’s colours and go to war in an effort to be crowned kings of the junior hockey world. Unfortunately for the 5.6 million Canadians that tuned in to watch the final game of the 2010 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships between Canada and the U.S., our boys came up just short. They lost 6-5 to the Yanks in overtime in what will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest games in tournament history.
Some may find it hard to believe that a tournament made up of amateur teenage competitors could draw an audience of that magnitude, but it really isn’t all that inconceivable. To begin with, Canadians love to see their country win. Unlike any other major hockey tournament, the Canadians have dominated this competition in a way that no other nation can possibly dream of.
We are watching the future of hockey. A great number of these young men will grow up to be some of the greatest players in the game. Canadians love their amateur athletes. Despite the fact that our government does relatively little to support them, we always rally around our under-endorsed crop.
Something that needs to be taken into consideration is that when these juniors shed their club jerseys in favour of their national colours, they do so without a professional contract. National Hockey League players on the other hand have the luxury of signing multi-million dollar deals and then simply playing them out, these teenagers don’t have such liberties. Hypothetically speaking, all an NHLer with a multitude of talent would need to do is put in a few good years until it came time to sign an inflated contract. The player could then relax while watching his retirement fund grow. This is not to say that men who sign these deals (which are now exceeding the $100 million mark) did not work to get where they are. But once they have reached this point and have their names on these financial papers, where is the incentive to perform?
Unlike the men of the professional ranks, the teenagers that defend their country’s honour in the hockey world are playing for their livelihood. Aside from a select few, none of these kids are guaranteed jobs in the NHL and not a single one of them is assured of a long and fruitful career in the game of hockey. For a considerable portion of them, the NHL is anything but a given.  Due to this fact, these boys are willing to play more recklessly and lay more on the line than any paid NHLer (whose base salary is $475,000 per year). This all translates into a much more exciting brand of hockey.
One can’t help but salivate at the prospect of the world’s best hockey players (junior and professional) taking to the world’s biggest stage and vying for Olympic supremacy. Despite the fact that the Olympic rosters will be bloated with professional hockey players, the tournament itself is an unpaid event. Much like the World Junior tournament, the men partaking in this competitive event are doing so strictly out of national pride. Once the two weeks in which the Olympics take place have come to an end, most of these guys will strut back to the financial security of their NHL clubs, but for the Olympic fortnight these pros will become unpaid soldiers, fighting a labour of love for their countries. It is almost as if these endorsed stars will have been transported back in time to the days when they played the game of hockey for nothing more than pride and pleasure rather than the pursuit of capital gain.
Many of the Olympic hockey participants are not strangers to the intern ational game. For example, of the players selected to the Canadian roster, 18 played for their country at the World Junior tournament. The number of those with international experience is even greater considering those who have represented their nation at events such as the World Under-18 Challenge, the World Championships and the Spengler Cup.
There is no doubt that the NHL is an exciting league. With a fan base that far exceeds 100 million, and TV broadcasting deals in more than 80 countries worldwide, it is impossible to deny the league’s status.
As a direct result of such widespread popularity, massive revenues incur and the league’s players are paid accordingly. Each and every one of these competitors played some form of junior hockey in which they were unpaid. All of them looked forward to and hoped for a successful playing career. As a result, these young men were willing to lay it all on the line in hopes of being given a shot at the big leagues. This determination and drive has produced – and continues to produce – some of the greatest hockey ever played.
Quite a large number of men, who were themselves once amateur juniors, will take to the ice this month in Vancouver dressed national colours. For some, it will be the first time in a while they have not been contractually obligated to play hockey. Whether this will ultimately result in a form of hockey that cannot be paralleled by the NHL is yet to be determined. Will the 2010 version of Olympic hockey produce an on-ice product comparable to this past year’s World Junior tournament? We’ll have to wait and see.

Who owns hockey? The 1908-1909 Dalhousie hockey team: a century ago. | Photo supplied by Dalhousie Archives

Joel Tichinoff
Sports Editor

There is a reason tams don’t fit under hockey helmets. Hockey belongs to the University of King’s College, not Queen’s University.
Like many quality things, it started on the Jersey shore. With the founding of Princeton by Presbyterians across the Hudson, the Anglican congregation of New York’s Trinity Church, fearing a world run by Calvinists, determined to establish a college dedicated to the Church of England. King George II granted a Royal Charter and his grateful subjects honored the college with the title of her earliest benefactor. King’s began accepting students in 1754 to her first campus on the corner of Wall Street and Broadway. Despite the college’s monarchist roots, her halls would produce the brightest sparks of the American Revolution. Thus, while Montreal was a fur-trading post with a brewery and ‘Ft. Frontenac’ kept incompetent guard where Lake Ontario meets the St. Lawrence, King’s College alumni were signing the Declaration of Independence and drafting the U.S. Constitution.
Rebel alumnus Alexander Hamilton served the Continental Army that re-captured Manhattan, burned King’s, and forced her faculty to flee north. Those who remained in New York pilfered what was left of the original King’s founding an obscure institution named Columbia. In Nova Scotia, a bitter Bishop Inglis, who once counted George Washington among his flock, would re-constitute King’s College at Windsor, with a pledge that never again would King’s be alma mater to revolutionaries.
Perhaps it was the Bishop’s repressive doctrine that led escape-seeking King’s students out onto the ice on Long Pond at the edge of the new campus. Whatever the cause, there, between the fertile folds of the Annapolis Valley, in view of the not-long-ago banished Acadians’ heartland, students of King’s College created a game for themselves. They called it ‘hockey.’
Incorporating physical elements of the local Mi’kmaq first-nations’ sport ‘dehuntshigwa’es’ and the Scottish ball-and-stick game of Shinty, the Kingsmen devised not just the name, but essential elements such as the position of goalie, shaped sticks and bench-clearing brawls. They chose Blue and White as team colours, somehow anticipating Toronto would one day supply their entire student population. King’s would never win a hockey championship, and, in order to make Torontonians feel even more at home, eventually gave up having a real hockey team altogether.
Judge Thomas Chandler Halliburton records Kingsmen playing their game of hockey in the early 1800’s, (roughly coinciding with Chris Chelios’ rookie season). In 1821, a full two decades later, James McGill converted his country home into a school, allowing18-year-old Ontario arts students access to Montreal bars; in 1826 these students would invent the Victory Lap – often cited as McGill University’s greatest contribution to education.
Not until 1841, nearly half a century after hockey was born, would Queen’s University open the doors of its inaugural class to a total of 10 students. Presumably the rest of the student-body was in police custody following the inaugural Homecoming riot on Aberdeen. And so King’s bestowed the greatest gifts upon her natural and adopted homelands, America and Canada. To the former republic King’s gave freedom and laws and to the latter dominion its national obsession, identity and 200 years’ supply of brilliant, witty, intellectual-elite, jobless hipsters. In 1920, King’s students would burn their alma mater to the ground for the second time in 200 years, move to Halifax and begin a complicated long-term relationship with Dalhousie.
It is generally believed that McGill students played a form of hockey in the 1870s involving modified broomsticks and 18 players on the ice at once. Miraculously, the early McGill broomstick teams avoided scandal and the sport grew unhindered by cancelled seasons. Being Quebec Anglophones, for years McGillians struggled to set the rules of the game; typical tetes-carres, they reduced the number of players on the ice to seven per side. Anthropologists agree that the primitive ‘McGill Hockey’ consisted mostly of ‘hot-dogging’ (“steamy-ing” in Montreal) and, due to most participants coming from Westmount or the Plateau, virtually no passing. Indeed, the word for ‘assist’ would remain untranslatable east of St. Laurent until well into the 20th century.
Hockey helmets were never meant to fit over Tams. With the exception of the Hip, Michael Ondaatje, and Danny Brannagan, Queen’s products tend towards incompetence, ranging from current Environment Minister John Baird to Boo Hoo the Bear. Though located in the homeland of hockey legends Don Cherry and Doug Gilmour, Queen’s did not have an established hockey team until 1886, by which time King’s students had been playing hockey for nearly a century. Thus the outrageousness of the Queen’s claim is matched only by its fallacy and the Gaels’ affection for sheep. Though it may soothe Queen’s pride that their school contended three times for the Stanley Cup, the Gaels were swept in every contest. The Gaels sheepishly tried their luck with the Memorial Cup and failed there as well. From their Nova Scotian Olympus, the Gods of Hockey continue to scorn the Gaels for their foolish pride. To this day Queen’s hockey teams have yet to win a National championship. Queen’s College Colours, soiled as they are by the battle and the rain, still wait for a hockey victory to wipe away that stain.
What’s the sport of King’s?
Hockey.
Too bad no one’s ever heard of us.

Joel Tichinoff is a student at King’s College.

Natasha White
Staff Contributor

Basketball action Saturday evening at the Dalplex saw the Tigers take on the UPEI Panthers. The ladies’ victory, 66-41, over the last-place islanders, was badly needed to add to their overall points total. The game was a solid warm-up for Sunday’s all important match against UNB.
The Tigers find themselves tied with UNB as the season winds down, and the play-offs near.
The first half of the women’s game showed off the Panthers’ tight defence inside as the Tigers continued to unsuccessfully force the ball under the basket. The normally dominant Dal forwards looked tired Saturday night, and can thank the strong play of guards Anna von Maltzahn (named Player of the Game), Tricia McNeil, and Brooke Sullivan for picking up the slack. The big three down low for Dal – Cailin Crosby, Laurie Girdwood and Leah Girdwood – only managed to get to the line seven times in the 40-minute show. But once there, the ladies shot an impressive 14 for 14.
The difference maker for the ladies Saturday night was easily first-year guard Trish McNeil. Three blocks, eight points and five boards rounded out McNeil’s stats for the game; but it was what didn’t make the stat sheet that told the real story. Skin met floorboards, as McNeil repeatedly sacrificed her body going for the ball, wrestling four steals away from the overpowered Panthers. Running the court for a break away lay up in the final minutes of the game topped off her performance. McNeil, a rookie Haligonian guard who is studying kinesiology, showed real heart and leadership. She and fellow guard Anna Maltzahn led the Tigers to victory.
Judging by the score on the men’s side, 76-58, Dal’s successful Saturday evening match versus the Panthers would appear to have been a blow out. But unfortunately, it was not the best showing by the Tigers. The defence in the first half seemed scattered, with the Tigers committing the cardinal sins of reaching and losing checks. UPEI found the inside on more than one occasion, feeding the ball to Panther star Manock Lual, for 12 of his 14 points.
On fire from the arch, thankfully, was Tiger guard Andrew Sullivan. Sullivan, a fifth-year engineering student, nailed three of his four three pointers in the first five minutes of the game. Sully continued his strong play with a sweet feed down low to big man Joe Schow for a quick two. Schow, who Dal acquired this season from the University of Calgary, racked up a quiet 19 points, going seven for 13 from the field, and five for six from the line. The Tiger’s offence was greatly aided by an aggressive effort on the boards by both Sandy Veit and Will Yengue. The pair combined for 26 of the team’s 47 rebounds.
Dal continued its trend of a sleepy start after the break, scoring only six points in the first six minutes of the second half. With a narrow 10-point lead on the out-skilled Panthers, Tigers’ star Simon Farine decided to take his game up a notch in the third. After working on the refs between play for a few calls, Farine drove to the net three times at the end of the third and found himself, deservedly, at the line each time. Farine once again dominated the score sheet, having one of his best shooting games of the season, earning player of the game kudos.
Saturday night’s victory had Dal only two points behind St. Mary’s. A foreseeable push by the Dal ladies will have them ready, willing and able for what’s to come at the AUS championships this March in Sydney.