Memorial Curling wins Silver as Team Canada, Women's Court Teams Answer the Challenge & Wrestlers Pi

   

The weekend was a fast paced and action packed as Sea~Hawks Atheletes found themselves all over Atlantic Canada and even in the Far East.

     

Curling

Team Thomas enjoyed an amazing week in Japan, earned when his Memorial team won the CIS-CCA Championship last March. The trip became even more special when the team won a silver medal at the Karuizawa International Curling Event against some of the top young teams in the world.

 

(Recap provided by Canadian Curling Association).

Canada's men's team was very impressive this week, and came within an eye-lash of winning it all. After trailing early in the final game against Japan, the men fought back and had the score tied playing the ninth without hammer. However, when skip Colin Thomas came to throw his last rock he was looking at four opposition counters, and had no choice but to play a raise take-out to try to minimize the damage. As it turned out the raised rock rolled about a foot too far after removing the object rock, and the Japanese skip looked to have a relatively straightforward shot for three. Fortunately for Team Canada however, he ended up jamming our rock on to one of his own at the back of the house, and we escaped by giving up just a single point.

     

That left Canada one down with hammer playing the tenth end, and the team
managed to set themselves up for two thanks to a terrific run-back double by
third Cory Schuh. The potential for two was still there when it came to skip
Colin Thomas' last shot, but unfortunately he was just heavy on a quiet
tap-back attempt. So, the guys ended up scoring one and headed to an extra
end. Unfortunately, the Japanese lead made two perfect ticks, and Canada could not get a guard established. Canada forced the Japanese skip to draw to the eight foot with his last rock, and he succeeded in doing so. All in all, it was an
excellent effort for our young team from Memorial University - Colin Thomas,
Cory Schuh, Chris Ford, Spencer Wicks, Stephen Ryan, and coach Jeff Thomas.
They're a talented young squad, who should give Brad Gushue a tussle in future
years as they fight for supremacy in their home province of Newfoundland.
So, it was a very positive week for Canada in Karuizawa. Two medals, some
wonderful memories, and many new friends. The Canadian women's team represented by Laurier University won gold at this event.

     

Women's Volleyball

The Women's Volleyball team swooped into Wolfville, NS for a double dip with
serious playoff implications against the Acadia Axewomen. On Saturday evening
the well rested Sea~Hawks played a step behind as the Axewomen who had played earlier in the week were focused and ready to cut down the Sea~Hawks quest for a playoff spot. The teams traded sets needing to go the full five sets. During the fifth and deciding set the Sea~Hawks found themselves down 2-0 in the early going before going on a 6-2 run forcing Acadia to call a timeout. The time out worked as Acadia pushed the Sea~Hawks back on their heels and some of the early season passing problems began to reappear. The momentum shifted quickly and the Hawks were down 8-6 just in time for the mid-set timeout. The Sea~Hawks fought to a 9-9 tie when Acadia went on a 5-1 run to end the Sea~Hawks four game winning streak. The loss also extended Memorial's road woes and allowed Acadia to vault into the middle of the jumbled playoff race for fourth and fifth.

     

On Sunday the Sea~Hawks were facing an uphill battle as they dropped the first
set rather quickly to the high flying Axewomen. In the second set the Sea~Hawks
fell behind equally fast but were able to reset their attack and steal a come
from behind victory taking the second set 25-21. The third set was a thriller
that went the way of the home team 28-26 but clearly the Sea~Hawks were
stealing momentum as they went on take the fourth set going away, 25-19.

     

For the second game in a row the Sea~Hawks and Axewomen headed into a fifth and final set where the winner would get to control their own playoff destiny.
Early on both teams traded rallies and points and the trend continued until
Memorial was able to seize control in the final few points and earn their first
road win of the season. The win snapped a season long six game road losing
streak and vaulted the Sea~Hawks into fourth place by mere percentage points.
The win moves the MUN women into territory it hasn't seen since 2007-2008. The Ladies sit one game back of .500 as they head into Halifax next weekend to take on the defending AUS champion Saint Mary's Huskies. The Sea~Hawks have one game in hand over Acadia and STFX and have the inside track on one of the final two playoff spots but the team can still find itself on the outside looking in if they don't win at least two of their final four matches.

     

Women's Basketball

The Women's basketball team travelled to Charlottetown for a weekend set the
UPEI Panthers. On Saturday night the two teams came out running in a game that
looked more like a track meet than a basketball game. The Panthers did not slow
down at all during the first half opening up a 14 point lead at half time
leading 40 to 26. At Half time coach Doug Partridge must have lit a fire under
his team as the Memorial came out and quickly stifled any fire power the
Panthers may have had left as outscoring the home team in the third quarter
19-10. It was more of the same in the fourth quarter as the fit Sea~Hawks
absolutely suffocated the Panthers With three minutes left the Panthers trailed
by two 58-56. The following two minutes neither team could score until a UPEI
turnover resulted in MUN going up 60-56. With 46 seconds on the clock UPEI's
Terrilyn Herrick made a layup to pull the Panthers within two, 60-58. MUN went
to the line with 3 seconds left, made one of two and finished ahead 61-58.

     

Memorials high scorer was Robyn O'Rielly finishing with 17 points and 9
rebounds and followed by Kim Devison adding 14 points. UPEI's 5th year senior Katie Moore netted 14 points and 7 rebounds and rookie Terrilyn Herrick had a strong night with adding 13 points and 8 reboundswho only managed eight points as they were left seeing red and fell 61-58 to a Sea~Hawks team who snapped their four game losing streak to gain their first road win of 2012.
On Sunday, the Sea-Hawks women's basketball team were eager to earn back to
back wins at UPEI to keep their hold on 3rd place in league standings. It took 3
overtime periods, but the Sea-Hawks were able to tame the Panthers in a 107-96 victory. The Sea-Hawks held a 32-30 lead at half-time and were able to take control in the 3rd quarter to move ahead by 5 heading into the final period.
Emily Jameson had a breakout game and was named player of the game for the
Sea-Hawks shooting just shy of 50% from the floor, scoring 25 points and
collecting 9 rebounds. Ally Forsey chipped in with 20 points and 8 rebounds,
while Sammy Kavanagh came off the bench to add 16 points, 3 assists and 3
steals. Kim Devison was also solid offensively adding 18 points in the win.
The Sea-Hawks led by as many as 10 points in the 4th quarter, but the Panthers
were not ready to throw in the towel. Making a run late, the Panthers tied the
game with just over a minute to play. UPEI had a shot in the final seconds,
but the game would remain tied at the end of regulation. At the end of the first
OT period, Sammy Kavanagh hit two free throws in the final minute to give the
Sea-Hawks a 2pt lead, but Nakita Newman for the Panthers scored a lay-up as
time expired to force a 2nd OT period. The Sea-Hawks found themselves down by as many as 5 pts in double overtime, but made a late rally and good execution from the free throw line, brought the game within reach for the Sea-Hawks and a late drive to the basket by Megan Robinson was good, but a missed free throw forced triple OT. In the 3rd OT period it was all Sea-Hawks and with 3 minutes to go Memorial led by 8. The Panthers were unable to make a last rally and the game ended with a Sea-Hawk win.

     

Wrestling

Weather challenges in New Brunswick on Friday, played havoc with the meet
schedule, but Memorial was able to get plenty of competition on Saturday at
UNB. The team wrestled a full slate of matches against wrestlers from UNB &
St. Thomas and the valuable competition will no doubt help them as they get
ready for CIS qualifier in just a few short weeks. On Sunday, two Sea-Hawks
wrestlers were age eligible (U20) to compete in the Eastern Canadian
Championships in Fredericton. Rory Gillis (96kg) had a stellar performance
winning gold, while Dennis Sutton (76kg) wrestled tough grabbing silver for his
weight class.

     

Men's Basketball

The Men's basketball team continued to fight through a tumultuous season with a two game series against the UPEI Panthers. In Saturday's game the men were able to run with the Panthers and break through the relentless press of the first
place Panthers. At the Half on Saturday the men were down 45-44 and entered the third quarter facing an uphill battle as the Men in red seemed to have got the
attention of their opponents who forced the Sea~Hawks into a number of
turnovers and ran away with the game taking the two points and first place
overall in the AUS with a 95-77 win. Jason Shepherd as usual led the Sea-Hawks
with 29 points shooting 7 of 13 from beyond the arc. In Sunday's rematch the Panthers and their depth outlasted the Sea~Hawks 100-89.

     

Please visit www.goseahawks.ca as the box score was unavailable at press time.

     

Men's Volleyball

The Men's volleyball team travelled back to Fredericton, NB for the second
weekend in a row this time to tango with the AUS leading UNB Varsity Reds. In
Saturday's nights tilt the Reds who appear to be tuning up for another run at
the CIS title were no match for the Sea~Hawks as they swept the Memorial team
3-0 ( 25-12, 25-15, 25-20).

     

On Sunday it was more of the same for the embattled Sea~Hawks as the athletic
and deep Varsity Reds finished the Sea~Hawks off in just over one hour. UNB 3-
Memorial 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-23). Drew Stephens was named Sea~Hawks player of the game in both matches.

     

The Men's Volleyball team closes out their season at the Nest next weekend with
a two game set versus the Dalhousie Tigers. For fans of the Sea~Hawks this will
mark the final time Alex Barrett will suit up for Memorial as we celebrate
Alex's five years with the Sea~Hawks. Stay tuned to www.goseahawks.ca for the
details on Alex's night.