CIS Hoops.ca

Canada West enters Week Two of their regular season and we've already had a great preview put together by Wayne Thomas at DinosHoopsNews that tees up the weekend out west.  The regular season is still more than one week away from kicking off in the rest of the country and as per normal the final weekend of October features the last of the pre-season tournaments and exhibitions.  As well, there are five teams (Carleton, Laval, McGill, Cape Breton and Concordia) that will travel state side to play NCAA Division 1 teams in their home gyms. 

The final pre-season tournament on the docket will be hosted by St. FX in Antigonish and thanks to the numerous readers who pointed out my mistake that X indeed only allowed 76 points last Sunday (not 96 as I reported); there will be much less pressure on the X-Men to shed the undeserved "poor defensive team" tag my report alluded to - in fact judging by what I saw over the weekend here in Ottawa, X will be just fine defending.  Thanks to all who wrote in identifying the rather obvious mistake - now on to the challenge of being less liberal in adding inches to many players heights. 

The X-Men host the NIKE Classic in Antigonish starting Friday with 4 teams from the AUS (hosts X, Saint Mary's, UNB and UPEI) tangling in a two-day, four-game affair with championship and consolation games slated for Saturday.  But prior to that, X is in Halifax for a great doubleheader treat for the fans in Atlantic Canada as a pair of OUA vs. AUS games take place tonight at the Tower at Saint Mary's with X facing Guelph at 6 PM and Ottawa taking on Saint Mary's at 8 PM.  Both X-Men and Huskies then travel up the highway to Antigonish while Guelph and Ottawa remain in and around Halifax, cross-crossing on Friday and Saturday to face Acadia and Dalhousie.  Other AUS teams in action include Cape Breton, on a tour of the U.S. while Memorial has no games scheduled to our knowledge.
St. FX Nike Classic Tournament
Friday Oct. 29th  UNB vs. Saint Mary's 6 PM AT; UPEI at St. FX 8 PM AT
Saturday Oct. 30th  losers play at 6 PM AT; championship final 8 PM AT
All games shown live on Streaming Sports Network

Exhibition Games:
Thurs. Oct 28 OUA/AUS Doubleheader at the Tower at Saint Mary's in Halifax
6 PM AT Guelph vs St. FX 
8 PM AT Ottawa at Saint Mary's.

In other games this weekend, members of the QSSF are busy with UQAM, Bishop's and McGill take a tour of Southern Ontario for various games over the weekend (see details below).  The Redmen play a pair of games in Toronto against York and the Varsity Blues before going to the U.S. to meet Rutgers and Robert Morris.  Laval plays three games in Utah, all against D1 opponents beginning Friday night at Brigham Young.  UQAM looks to improve on a difficult weekend in Ottawa in which shot selection and defense hurt them for the most part but with big guards, solid young big men and great athletes, expect coach Olga Hrycak to fix the issues and get the Citadins back to competing for the Q crown.  Bishop's makes a trip to the GTA where several roster members played high school and will get a chance to play in front of friends and family while McGill has an ambitous extended weekend, playing Friday and Saturday in Toronto and then Monday in New Jersey and Tuesday in Pittsburgh.  Concordia also plays a pair of D1 teams.

Perennial OUA East champions Carleton Ravens play at scrimmage at UB against the Bulls in Buffalo on Saturday and then go into Cincinnati for a second meeting with the Bearcats who won comfortably over the Ravens on Labour Day Saturday at Scotiabank Place.  All three Toronto teams have games around the GTA with one of the highlights being another encounter between Mike Katz at U of T and his former assistant at Humber College Dave DeAveiro, now at McGill.  Ryerson has a pair of games one at Humber College and then hosting Bishop's.  Queen's, Laurentian and RMC are off this weekend preparing for the first week of OUA interlocking play next weekend (first weekend in November).

Most OUA West teams are preparing for the start of regular season play with games this weekend with Guelph in Atlantic Canada for three games beginning tonight.  Windsor and Western both host UQAM in their final tuneups while Laurier also hosts the Citadins on Friday night before hosting their annual alumni game on Saturday.  Lakehead, which was idle last weekend after their trecherous six game road trip in Atlantic Canada, will look to stay in game shape with a scrimmage against Vermillion C.C. in Ely, Minnesota on Sunday. Vermillion is the alma mater of new 'Wolve Venzal Russell. Waterloo hosts Fanshawe College on Saturday at home; Fanshawe was soundly defeated earlier this season by Laurier Golden Hawks.  Brock is idle this weekend.  Speaking of the Lancers, the CIS has ruled that 6'10" center Ryan Wood (Sandwich S.S./LaSalle, ON), who spent two seasons at University of District Columbia, an NCAA D2 school (redshirted his first season, 5.2 ppg in '08-09) will be eligible.  Thus expect both Wood and 6'0" guard Troy Barnes (transfer from Lakeland College 16.3 ppg in '09-10) to join the Lancers in January which will give Windsor even more of a deep bench.  The Lancers also announced that 6'11" Mike Luby is no longer on the Windsor roster, deciding instead to focus on his family.

Fri Oct 29
7 PM AT Guelph at Acadia
7 PM AT Ottawa at Dalhousie
7 PM ET Bishop's at Toronto 
7 PM ET Ryerson at Humber OCAA (Toronto Rexdale Campus) 
8 PM ET UQAM at Laurier  Live on HawkCast
8 PM ET McGill at York 
Sat Oct. 30
4 PM ET Fanshawe College at Waterloo 
7 PM AT Ottawa at Acadia 
7 PM AT Guelph at Dalhousie 
7 PM ET McGill at Toronto 
7 PM ET UQAM at Windsor 
8 PM ET Bishop's at Ryerson 
Sun. Oct 31
2 PM ET Bishop's at York 
2 PM ET UQAM at Western 

CIS Teams playing at NCAA Division 1
Fri. Oct. 29
7 PM ET Concordia at Rhode Island  Gametracker/Video
10 PM ET Laval at Brigham Young (#24 in AP polls)  Preview/Gametracker/Video
Sat. Oct. 30
1 PM Concordia at Vermont 1 PM
Carleton at Buffalo (scrimmage)
10 PM ET Laval at Utah State Game notes including TV/Internet coverage
3 PM ET Cape Breton at Maine  Maine article
Mon. Nov. 1
7 PM ETCarleton at Cincinnati
7:30 PM ET McGill at Rutgers (New Brunswick, NJ)
10 PM ET Laval at Weber State
Tues.Nov. 2
7:30 PM McGill at Robert Morris (Pittsburgh, PA)