6 Sports November Zist 2012 - Over the Edge STRONG START FOR BASKETBALL GEOFF SARGENT SPORTS EDITOR Basketball season for the Timberwolves (their first in CIS play) has begun fairly smoothly. After a home stand against UBC-Okanagan and Trinity Western wrapped up this past weekend, the UNBC programs sit at a combined 7-5 record, with the men at 4-2 and women at 3-3. While the opposition faced by the men to date isn't expected to be among the top of the conference, winning the majority of the games against TRU, UBC-O, and TWU was crucial to qualify for the postseason. The men now enjoy a two game cushion over those schools and Mount Royal for fourth place in the Pacific Division; a very good spot, as the top four teams qualify for the playoffs. Leading the way for the men thus far are Sam Raphael, averaging 18.2 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, and Francis strength for the women; they lead all of Canada West with an impressive 47.8 rebounds per game, and at more than one point during the last two weeks a game's tide was changed by a streak of five or more rebounds ina row. Another recurring theme for the women, likely tied to rebounding, is going on improbable scoring runs to pull away from or tie games, such as a 17-0 run in the fourth quarter against UBC-O last weekend. The men's runs have seemed to be scored in the first quarter, as evidenced by the 22-2 run they rattled off in the early minutes of the home opener against Trinity Western, and an 18-4 lead they opened against UBC-O last Friday. The regular season now shifts to the interdivisional play, as UNBC will head to the prairie provinces for aroad trip next weekend against Lethbridge and Calgary. Despite their 6-0 record, ¢¢6The men now enjoy a two game cushion over those schools and Mount Royal for fourth place in the Pacific Division; a very good spot, as the tgR four teams qualify for the playoffs.” Rowe, averaging 17.5 points per game — Rowe's numbers bolstered by having not missed a single free throw to this point. Rowe and Raphael also lead the team in floor time at over 30 minutes each, while their younger brothers Elliot and Josh still have yet to see any minutes themselves. The women have been led by Mercedes VanKoughnett, as expected. The team captain is continuing to average a double-double of 16 points and 11.3 rebounds per game after three weeks, and leads both teams in floor time. Third-year point guard Jordyn Rabbitt has also been noticeable on the court, eating up a lot of minutes, and is frequently found just outside the three-point line. Rebounding is clearly a team Calgary's suprising women's team has yet to see themselves in the national Top 10 — a fact likely to change by press day. The Dinos' men's team is 2-4, and both Lethbridge teams sit at 3-3. Visiting UNBC after the team returns from Alberta will be the Universities of Alberta and Saskatchewan, which ends the 2012 portion of the schedule; the exam and holiday break follows, at which point no Canada West games will be played until the second weekend in January. UNBC plans to stay in game form, however, due to a tournament in Winnipeg between Christmas and New Year's Eve. MLB TRADE GEOFF SARGENT SPORTS EDITOR The ugly head of Jeffrey Loria, majority owner of baseball’s Florida Marlins, has reared again. Older readers may remem- ber Loria from his days as owner of the Montreal Expos, the last such sole owner before he jumped ship to Florida and left the Expos franchise in the hands of the MLB office; the Expos moved to D.C. four years later. Somewhat younger readers may remember Loria for the aftermath of the 2003 World Series, which his Marlins won — Florida kept key players long enough to sell tickets in the afterglow of the victory before dumping every single one of them within a year to save money on salaries, all the while cashing cheques from the ex- tra season tickets sold (at the height of the Marlins inadequacy in 2007, the team was well under .500 while still posting $50 mil- lion in yearly profits). History repeated itself again last week as the Marlins again shed all their relevant players in one fell swoop — but this time in a single trade, and this time to the Toronto Blue Jays. Baseball in Canada hasn’t looked this good since 1993, if you don’t mind sup- porting a Torontonian team; there’s an extra wild card spot essentially designed for the Blue Jays’ stacked AL East division, the ti- tanic Yankees and Red Sox franchises are WOES in obvious declines, and the Blue Jays have their strongest roster in well over a decade. Despite the obvious positives for fans of Toronto sports (and God knows they need them), it’s impossible to overlook what has happened in baseball and what threatens the other professional sports more dear to us Canadians. For over a decade, Loria has made every effort to pay as little up-front as possible for either of the teams he’s run, all the while banking hundreds of millions in profits due to MLB’s revenue sharing rules. It’s almost too easy to see the same thing happening in hockey, if the lockout results in a luxury-tax, revenue-sharing system similar to baseball’s; teams with sweetheart arena deals like the Florida Panthers, for years the product of inept management and poor fan support barely kept alive by own- ing their arena and posting revenues from concerts and the like, will suddenly become cash cows printing millions in profits. All this will do is attract financially-driven would-be owners like Loria to hockey, jeopardizing the game. By all means sup- port the Blue Jays and celebrate their mas- sive fleecing of talent from the Marlins, but keep an eye on the NHL negotiations —this same story may well be reprinted in a few years’ time with only the names of the teams and owners changed around, and it would be a terrible thing for hockey. SPARTANS WIN THIRD TITLE IN FIVE YEARS GEOFF SARGENT SPORTS EDITOR The Trinity Western Spartans completed the sweep of the national soccer titles for Canada West on November 11, preventing Queen's University from three-peating as champions with a 4-2 decision on penalty kicks after a scoreless two hours of play. The Spartans dropped only one game all season, finishing with a combined season and playoff record of 18-1. Long sleeves and _ gloves were commonplace, as even locating the championships in southern Victoria didn't prevent the windy, rainy autumn weather from creating an impact on the match. Trinity Western fired twice as many shots on target as Queen's was able to manage, but all ten were saved by keeper Madison Tyrell. On the other goal, TWU's keeper Kristen Funk was TELL US WE RE WRONG. TAKE THE RED e CHALLENGE. . named player of the match after saving all five of Queen's shots during play, as well as saving one penalty and watching another sail over the bar. The Spartans also knocked off Wilfrid Laurier and tournament hosts Victoria en route to their third women's soccer championship in five years. Jennifer Castillo of the Spartans was named tournament MVP, paced by playing every minute of the tournament on defense while adding a goal. Four other Spartans made the tournament all-star team. With both national champions now crowned, CIS soccer enters the offseason until play resumes next September. UNBC's team, a year older and more experienced, will look to improve on their winless 0-9-3 season in 2013. WRONNNGG!!!