By the time this weekend is over, the Queen’s Golden Gaels will have endured what is likely the most demanding three weeks in all of Canadian intercollegiate basketball.
The nation’s two top-ranked university men’s basketball teams, the Carleton Ravens and Ottawa Gee-Gees, visit the Athletics and Recreation Centre for games this weekend. Those games will complete a five-game stretch during which the Gaels will have faced not only the top two teams, but No. 4-ranked McMaster and No. 5 Windsor as well.
The Gaels will host four-time defending national champion Carleton, winner of 10 of the last 12 national titles, in an Ontario University Athletics game Friday night at 8 o’clock. They’ll host Ottawa Saturday night, also at 8 p.m.
Carleton, 13-2, is ranked No. 1 in Canada. Coached by former Queen’s star Dave Smart, the Ravens’ two defeats this year have come against No. 2-ranked Ottawa, a two-point setback in their first game after the Christmas break, and a three-point loss at Windsor Jan. 23.
The Ravens and Gee-Gees have split their games, with Carleton posting a 79-66 win in its last game, last Friday, a victory that vaulted the Ravens over Ottawa into top spot in the national poll.
This will be the only time either team plays Queen’s this year.
The Gaels, 5-10, have played .500 basketball after an 0-5 start. Despite the record, Queen’s leads the nation with 31.2 defensive rebounds per game.
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Queen’s women, meanwhile, will be trying to strengthen their grip on second place in the East division with games against Carleton, 7-8, and Ottawa, 10-5.
Queen’s, 9-6, is two points ahead of third-place Toronto, 8-8, but the Gaels have lost three of their last four games.
The two visiting teams are going in opposite directions; Carleton has lost four of its last five while Ottawa has won four of its last five games. Queen’s saw both teams in preseason exhibition play, defeating the Gee-Gees but losing to Carleton, the team it beat a year ago in the East division final.
Holy Cross grad Sarah Besselink won't be coming to town as a member of the Gee-Gees. The sophomore guard, injured and out for the season, had averaged in excess of 16 minutes playing time in the 10 games she played before Christmas, with 7.4 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
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St. Lawrence’s two nationally ranked basketball teams are on the road for games this weekend. The men, who made their debut in the national poll this week at No. 15, will play in North Bay and Barrie while the women have just a single game Sunday at Georgian.
The male Vikings, 12-5, will need seats on the bus for just six players. Already missing four players who left the team for various reasons at Christmas, the Vikings lost Donald Gibson and Shaqeem Downey to suspensions that arose from a brawl in St. Lawrence’s last game, against Durham 10 days ago.
It means the Vikings will find it tough to continue a winning streak that reached 10 games when they defeated the East division-leading Lords that night.
Saturday night St. Lawrence will play Canadore, 4-13, a team that has struggled this year, and lost 81-78 at Kingston Nov. 15. The Vikings opened the season with an 87-83 win at home over Georgian. The Grizzlies, 12-6, held second place for much of the season but they currently are third, half a game behind St. Lawrence, after having lost three of their last five games.
The Viking women, 13-1 and winners of their last eight in a row, remain half a game ahead of Algonquin atop the East division standings. Georgian, 5-9 and loser of three of its last four contests, presented little challenge when they played in Kingston in late October, losing 85-48.
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The Queen’s women’s hockey team, which dropped a spot to No. 5 in the national ranking this week after splitting a pair of games last weekend, will be on the road for games that will do much to determine where they will be when the regular season ends on Sunday.
The Gaels, 15-4-3, will be in London Friday night to face the league-leading and No. 3-ranked Western Mustangs, 18-1-3. Saturday night, Queen’s will play at Windsor, against a team of Lancers that is 13-5-4.
Queen’s defeated both teams at home on the final weekend of the pre-Christmas schedule, beating Windsor 3-2 in a shootout and Western 2-1 in overtime.
The Gaels begin the weekend fourth in the ridiculously tight standings with 33 points, two behind both Toronto and Guelph and four behind Western, and they could finish anywhere from first place to fifth. Windsor, meanwhile, lurks just three points behind Queen’s, while four teams are separated by just three points in the quest for the sixth place and the final playoff spot.
