Sunday 13 February 2011

Saturday Night Wrap Up: Canada West & QUBL

Canada West  Fraser Valley Cascades did what they needed to do, gaining a split at Lethbridge - all but eliminating the 'Horns - and putting themselves in a position to finish 7th or 8th pending Calgary Dinos results next weekend.  The Dinos host Saskatchewan while Fraser Valley host Brandon.  Manitoba, the third team in the race for the final two spots which lost twice at home decisively to Trinity Western, travels to Regina.  UVic needs a sweep next weekend over UBC at home to finish fourth and host Alberta - anything less and the Vikes travel to Edmonton for the CW first-round best-of-3 playoffs as Alberta owns the tie-breaking point spread vs. UVic.  Wayne Thomas CW Saturday recap

CW Standings
UBC 20-2 - one win & Birds win pennant
TWU 21-3 - will finish 2nd
Saskatchewan 18-4  - will finish 3rd
Victoria 15-7 - fifth unless Vikes sweep UBC; Vikes lose tiebreaker with Alberta
Alberta 16-8 - likely fourth; Bears own tiebreaker with UVic
Regina 12-10 - solidly in 6th; will play Best-of-3 at Saskatchwan in 1st round
Manitoba 9-13 - at Regina for two games; even if 2 losses, Man squeezes in if Calgary loses twice but Dinos own tiebreaker
Fraser Valley 8-14 - hosts Brandon; sweep and two Bison losses and UFV finishes 7th
Calgary 8-14 - needs at least one win at Saskatchewan and two Bison losses at Regina (Calgary owns tiebreaker)
Lethbridge 6-16 - officially eliminated (loses tie breakers with both UFV & Calgary)
Winnipeg 5-17
Brandon 4-18
Thompson Rivers 4-20

QUBL  After a shaky stretch during which Concordia lost 3 of 5, the Stingers suddenly have won 4 in a row and sit in first place in the Q after last night's win at UQAM in which they dominated the last 2 minutes to get the big road win.  The return of 6'3" Evens Laroche has been the catalyst in Concordia's recent surge, providing the Stingers with an athletic defender in their pressure "d" who can also get to the rim and on the offensive glass.  Conversely, Laval has lost 3 of its past 5 and, although Rouge et Or own the tie-breaker against Concordia, there is much to be decided.  For Laval, getting home court is all the more critical given the disparity of how they shoot it at home (41% 77/187 from three point land at the PEPS) vs. on the road (only 32.6%).  McGill remains in the hunt but must defeat Concordia at home at Love Gym next Saturday night to have any chance of finishing first, although a win next weekend will give them the season series against the Stingers.  Concordia needs to win by 5 to control the McGill/Stingers tiebreaker.  McGill plays their final 3 games at home against Bishop's, Concordia and UQAM so if McGill were to win out including knocking off the Stingers, they would finish in second place at a minimum.
Standings:
Concordia 10-4 
Laval 9-4
McGill 8-5
UQAM 5-8
Bishop's 1-12
This Week:
Thursday:  Bishop's at McGill; UQAM at Laval.
Saturday:  Concordia at McGill; Laval at Bishop's.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

"TWU will finish 2nd"

In all probability, absolutely they will finish second. However, if the Vikes were to actually sweep UBC, then TWU would finish first.