All-star Ontario soccer players were invited to compete in an East versus West match up. The two-day event is held to promote university and varsity athletics to prospective students.

Mustangs defencemen Dominic Bell and Andrew Walton and mid-fielder Eric Amato were selected to play for the West. Bell was selected as a first team all-star, while Amato and Walton were chosen as second team all-stars.

“I was very excited when I heard I was named to the team. There are only a few spots and so many great players that being chosen was an honour,” Walton said.

The Mustangs men’s team finished third in the Western division this season and qualified for the playoffs. Bell placed in the top 20 overall in points and both Amato and Bell placed in the top 20 in the Western division.

The men’s OUA East-West game was intense, with both teams displaying the talent that led them there. Finally, Adrian Pena of York scored the winning goal, giving the West a 4–3 victory.

The women’s soccer matchup was just as well-represented as the men’s, with three Mustangs playing for the West. Midfielders Jenna Schroeder and Jess Couto and striker Lauren Winquist were selected.

The women’s team had a great season, placing third in the Western division and making it to the semifinals of the playoffs. Winquist was ranked 10th overall during the season in points, and third for the Western division. Similarly, the women’s game was packed with intensity. It was close until Emma Mangialardi of McMaster led the West to victory in the final two minutes of the game. Both male and female Mustangs played well in their games, acting as integral components to the West’s sweep.

Men’s soccer coach Rock Basacco described the importance of events such as this showcase

“Recruiting top student-athletes is the life-line of a program. It is critical to bring in around 10 recruits a year to keep the team competitive and challenging for OUA and CIS Championships,” he explained. “The program stays strong which in turn helps in the recruiting process. Success breeds success.”

“The Mustangs representation bodes well for next season,” Walton said.

The soccer all-stars represented their teams well, bringing pride to their coaches and programs.

Naira Ahmed // GAZETTE

After a great season, five outstanding Mustang baseball players represented Western at the 2013 Ontario University Athletics All-Star Showcase on May 5. The All-Stars triumphed over the Toronto Varsity Blues with a well-deserved 7–1 victory.

“Our strong pitching and our potent offence were major factors in our win over the University of Toronto,” Nolan Anderson, Mustangs top rookie of the year, explained. “We had the top pitchers from each team, and they all came out strong and held Toronto to only a few hits and one run.”

“Everyone’s really just out there to have a good time. But, it’s always nice to beat the team that won it all last year. We can all pretend not to care, but secretly everyone wanted to see U of T go down,” Paul Lytwynec, Mustangs pitcher, said.

Adam Paish, Shawn Robinson and Chris Mireault joined Anderson and Lytwynec in contributing their outstanding skills to the All-Stars’ win. Mustangs coach Mike Lumley served as assistant coach in the exciting All-Star event.

“Playing in the Rogers Centre is an amazing feeling. Just remembering all the great players that have played and stood in those same spots really just puts a smile on your face,” Paish said.

However, it felt odd for the five Mustangs to be playing there without their whole team.

“I’m sure I speak for all of us in saying we would trade our individual awards in a second for a championship ring,” Paish said. The Mustangs played a great season this year, but were unfortunately unable to defeat the Brock Badgers in the championship game. The OUA created a new format for baseball playoffs, which put a lot of pressure on the teams.

“The new playoff format that has reduced the playoffs to one week- end really forces teams to be on their game at the right time. We just didn’t bring it when it counted,” Lytwynec explained.

Despite the championship loss, Anderson kept his performance at its best through his mental approach.
“I came to the field with the approach that if I continued to per- form at my best I would remain in the line up and help my team win.”

“This team has been one of the greatest teams I have ever played with, with some of the greatest ball players and greatest people I have ever had the chance to meet,” Paish said. “The future of Western Baseball is very bright, and I’m sure you will be seeing them sporting an OUA Championship banner in the near future.”

Canadian Interuniversity Sport football players from across the country participated in Saturday’s showcase. The imaginary borderline between the University of Toronto and the University of Guelph divided the two teams into East and West. Since there were no players available to kick for the East, Crapigna kicked for both teams. In the first half, he was the only name that appeared on the score sheet, kicking three field goals for nine points, six of which belonged to the West.

The second half, however, began much to everyone’s surprise when Laval wide receiver Adam Thibault broke off for a 101-yard kickoff return. After exchanging multiple turnovers, the East had their drive kept alive by a penalty which led to the eight-yard touchdown pass from Queen’s quarterback Billy McPhee, to Bishop’s wide receiver Alexander Fox—increasing the East’s lead to nine.

The West answered back with a goal-line punch-in setup by two pass interference penalties and a crucial grab by Western wide receiver Matt Uren. After a 42-yard field goal hit in the dying minutes of the game by Crapigna that put the West up by one, McPhee marched his offence back down field with a pair of completions—leaving them within 43-yards of the goal posts.

With a chance to win the game for the opposing team, Crapigna missed wide right.

“I was very proud of that last drive,” Kelly Jeffrey, Mount Allison head coach and acting head coach for the East, said. “It was a game- winning drive, it was simply unfortunate that we didn’t hit the field goal.”

Overall, the East-West Bowl was a defensive battle. In the short week leading up to the game, offences had little time to prepare leaving the edge to the defence. The two defences combined to force three fumbles and three interceptions for a total of six turnovers. The East held the West to one touch- down and 276 yards of total offence, while the West held the East to only 205 yards. Mustangs’ defensive lineman, Dylan Ainsworth, led the West in sacks after sacking Saint Mary’s quarterback Ben Rossong on two consecutive plays.

“The two talented defences made the offences a little disjointed,” Stefan Ptaszek, McMaster Marauders and West head coach, said. “Austin Kennedy moving his feet, passing, and creating, and the two pass interference penalties that got us the touchdown was the offence in the second half. Other than that, it was all Tyler Crapigna.”

Although the East-West Bowl was the main event, players arrived earlier in the week to participate in the CIS combine as well as their team practices. In the short week, coaches were tasked with preparing players from across the country for Saturday’s game.

“You have to be a sponge when you’re out here,” Ainsworth said. “With so many coaches teaching you so many different things, with all their different approaches, it’s a challenge to gather all that knowledge.”

The week is all about learning and displaying talent to the coaches and scouts. Participation in the event is based on draft eligibility for the following year. The East-West Bowl is meant to showcase draft eligible university players that the CIS feels will interest scouts—an opportunity Tyler Crapigna had no choice but to revel in.

Naira Ahmed // GAZETTE

Bob Vigars, long-time Western cross-country coach and kinesiology professor, will be inducted into the London Sports Hall of Fame.

Vigars, who recently announced he will retire later this year after 45 years at Western, is among the seven inductees that were recently named by the London Sports Council. This year’s group, which also includes former NHL player and current CBC colour commentator Craig Simpson, will be honoured during a ceremony on November 7. Vigars will enter the hall in the “builder/ coach modern” category.

Despite his storied career—he has won a total of 43 championships, more than any other coach in Western history—Vigars said this announcement came as a surprise. However, he was pleased when a member of the Hall’s selection committee told him the news about a month ago.

“Obviously you feel honoured,” he said. “I was particularly happy when he told me the other inductees and who they were because I have a connection with a lot of them.”

Vigars explained he’s known Simpson’s parents for years, and the Simpson kids used to attend the London-Western Track and Field Club he founded.

Vigars also explained his connection with fellow inductee Willie Weiler, a former Canadian Olympic gymnast and current London resident.

“Being a dabbler in much but master in none, I did some gymnastics and we all knew the name Willie Weiler,” Vigars said.

Although this latest tribute cements Vigars into London sport history, he has long been revered as an influential coach in the university athletics community. Throughout his 45-year career, Vigars has been instrumental in promoting track and field and cross-country, as well as fighting for the equality of female sport.

Vigars has coached six teams at Western including men’s and women’s track and field, cross-country and gymnastics and has been named a Canadian Interuniversity Sport coach of the year 14 times.

Earlier this year, Vigars announced he would retire in December after coaching Western’s cross-country team for his 46th and final time. As part of his final season, Vigars and the Mustangs will host the CIS cross-country championships, marking the seventh time nationals will be held on the course Vigars designed at London’s Thames Valley Golf Club.

Although the second round of the playoffs is already underway, there are lessons to be learned from round one.

The first thing we learned from round one is that a high-powered offence is not necessary for games to be exciting. The match up between the Los Angeles Kings and the St. Louis Blues is a prime example of this. Both teams in this series boast a near identical style of play. They have built their teams from the net out and focus on gritty play and puck possession. In my opinion this was the most exciting series to watch in the first round, and depending on how it all looks when the dust settles, it could turn out being the most exciting series of the entire playoffs.

The second lesson learned from the first round is that no matter how old and faded they might seem, you can never count out the Detroit Red Wings. This is a team that has seen their talented veteran defensive corps become completely depleted over the last two years with the departures of Brian Rafalski and Nicklas Lidstrom—arguably the second-best defenceman to ever play the game. Additionally, the team relies heavily on their aging core of Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Thomas Holmstrom while filling out the rest of their lineup with younger, more inexperienced players. However, the Red Wings have perhaps the best coach in the league in Mike Babcock and proved why they have the longest running streak of making the playoffs, taking down the Anaheim Ducks in seven games.

However, with all of this being said, the most important lesson learned is that playoff experience and Stanley Cup experience is an x-factor not to be overlooked. 16 teams make the playoffs every year, eight teams move on to the second round and peppered among those eight teams this year are the league’s last five Stanley Cup champions—the Los Angeles Kings, the Boston Bruins, the Chicago Blackhawks, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Detroit Red Wings. And guess what—every one of those teams (except for Chicago, who dominated the Minnesota Wild) was forced to grind it out during their respective series and relied on their experience to win in either six or seven games. It is one thing to be dominant during the regular season, but things are different during a grueling seven-game series. This year is just another great example of how hard it is to reach the Promised Land if you haven’t fought your way there before.

The car has yet to be driven, so there aren’t available statistics for top speed or horsepower. But the car kept the 600cc engine from last year’s model, and the team is hoping that with a slate of improvements, they’ll be able to surpass their previous records—last year’s car could hit 100 km/h in just 3.4 seconds.

The new car offers a few improvements over last year’s model, like a more efficient cooling system, a lighter radiator, and a more developed throttle body to improve handling. The team also added adjustable pedals—which they hope will net them extra points in the design category at competitions—and a more ergonomic driver’s seat.

The team began designing this year’s car in June—only a few weeks after last year’s car began competing—and began building in November.

“We started our work nights at 6:30 twice a week, and worked for probably five to eight hours a night on the work nights, and on Saturdays we would put in a full eight-to-ten hour day. The last couple months, quite a few of us have been putting in seven days a week, 40, 50, 60 hours into the car a week,” Adam Bezzina, technical lead for the team, said.

The new car will see its first race over the weekend of May 11 and 12, at the Michigan international speedway. Some 20 teams from universities around the world gather there each year for the competition, organized by the Society of Automotive Engineers, where cars are judged both for their performance on the track and for the quality of their engineering.

But before that race, there will be one last addition made to the car. There is a new spoiler in the works, a feature that the team has shied away from in the past, that wasn’t quite ready in time for the unveiling.

Fine-tuning the car’s aerodynamics will be a major goal of the team next year, according to Jeff Mock, a third-year mechanical engineering student on the team. But in the future, the team may be looking at making some significant changes to the car.

Mock, who has been with the team since his first year, is set to take the wheel as technical lead next year after Bezzina graduates. Next year, he wants to start planning for the team to make the eventual leap to an all-electric vehicle.

Though it would be a big change, Mock explained “the fundamentals” of the car wouldn’t change too much. It would mean switching to an electric motor, “but from a mechanical engineering standpoint you don’t really handle any of that too differently,” he said.

“The big challenge would be battery management, because that’s something where we’d probably have to bring in some electrical engineers, or definitely advance some of the knowledge that we have on the team,” Mock explained.

That goal, however, is still a few years down the road. In the meantime, the team will start the planning process, and do as much as they can with their new wheels.

“I love it,” Mock said of the new car. “I think it’s a lot better prepared. We’ve considered a lot more things. It’s looking good to me, I don’t think we’re going to run in to many of the same issues that held us back last year.”

However, a note of technicality is needed. During their quarter-final match-up, though arguably still the underdog, Canada defeated a depleted team from Spain. Most notable absentees were former world number one Rafael Nadal and current world number four David Ferrer—but hey, a win’s a win.

Now with this recent victory—especially with an exhausting five-set doubles win by Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil—Team Canada most certainly should be proud of their accomplishment—the nation surely is.

Canada has been absent from the world stage of tennis for years, sparking many to question why exactly our nation couldn’t produce prodigious tennis players like the United States, Russia or even much smaller nations like Serbia. While Nestor is one of the best doubles players in the world and is worthy of national praise, unfortunately doubles lacks the prestige of singles, so much of his accomplishments go under the radar.

But since the rise of Milos Raonic, the 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ontario, there’s been a resurgence of tennis within Canada—most noticeably in media coverage.

The Davis Cup win seems to fit into a romantic narrative of Canada’s remarkable tennis revival. And even more appropriately it was Raonic that won the pivotal game that thrust Canada into the upper echelon of tennis nations—technically.

However, in tennis, unlike sports such as soccer, hockey, or even baseball, global competition takes a backseat to individual success.

Tennis success is based on winning grand slams. And the grand slams operate on an individualistic basis—even doubles—where you represent yourself rather than your nation. When someone thinks of Roger Federer, his nationality isn’t what comes to mind—Swiss, by the way—rather, it’s his personal tennis achievements. People recognize him as Roger Federer, not that player who competes for Switzerland.

That’s not to say nations do not revel in the success of players. In fact, many countries root for their tennis greats. Serbia, as a nation, completely rallies behind Novak Djokovic and Great Britain ardently embrace Andy Murray during Wimbledon every summer. There is national honour in tennis, then, but it just piggybacks on individual success.

There’s nothing wrong with Canada finding extreme satisfaction in the recent Davis Cup success—we should. But given the constraints of the tennis world, what might instill more enthusiasm in Canadians is if Raonic starts to make deep runs at grand slams soon.

Granted, he’s only 22 years old and already ranked number 15 in the world, so he’s done us good so far. But I’d hazard a guess that many Canadian tennis fans would feel an overwhelming amount of pride if Raonic could stand in the middle of Centre Court at the All-England Club and hoist the Gentlemen’s trophy. Or if he could raise his racket in the air at Arthur Ashe Stadium just as legends such as Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Federer have done before him.

Canada has put together a team that is a legitimate tennis threat, and that’s a major step forward. But in the traditional realm of tennis, individual achievements are what determine success. Canadians have a reason to be proud of their country’s Davis Cup success, but for now, Raonic is our only shot at national tennis glory.

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It isn’t uncommon to hear the casual fan react to a play with the automatic response of, “that was so gay” or attempt to get a player’s attention by screaming, “hey, Pedroia, you are such a fag”. These calls are unacceptable in any environment, whether it is family-friendly or slightly more explicit.

When recently cut, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Brendan Ayanbadejo expressed that he had been in contact with up to four players who have expressed that they may become the first athletes to come out in a team sport. With marriage equality being a prevalent issue in America, the environment of sports is still an unfortunate breeding grounds for this hate speech.

With homosexuality’s place in competitive team sports inevitable, it is time for professional sports—specifically the athletes and fans—to embrace it.

This exposure to homosexuality in sports comes at a pertinent time in the MLB season. With Jackie Robinson Day around the corner, and the release of the biographical movie entitled 42, it is ridiculous to believe that intolerance like this still exists. Just as Robinson was no worse an athlete because of the colour of his skin, the first—and every subsequent—homosexual athlete will be no worse because of their sexual orientation.

Sports needs more role models like Ayanbadejo and Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe in order to break the stereotype of homophobia in sports. Just like Robinson’s ascension to the top of the sport, it will take outside influences for a homosexual athlete to be accepted into professional sports.

Just as Robinson had Pee Wee Reese to support him through the hardships, it will be essential for athletes to support their potential future—or current—teammates to support each other in order for the culture of homophobia to change for good.

So next time you attend a game, think of the precedent that the drunk teenager beside you is setting when he calls Derek Jeter a faggot. Hopefully 60 years from now we will look back at professional sports and scold the bigot filled culture.

Jays fans, stay away from the panic button.

With the off-season hype all but faded away, I urge everyone to stick with it because the baseball season is a marathon and not a sprint. Some great teams lose a ton of games, but in the end, it is the entire body of work that is looked at, not a sluggish opening series.

You are not going to win every game in the season. Heck, a great team will probably lose a third of their total games. The Washington Nationals ended the 2012 season with the best record in baseball and they lost a total of 64 games over the course of the season. Meanwhile, the San Francisco Giants won the World Series and they lost 68 games over the course of the season.

It is the nature of a 162-game season that some days you’ll hit bloop hits and some days you’ll hit home runs. For this Jays team, the hype may have been a curse, and these losses may have actually been a blessing in disguise.

Though this is a veteran team, they may take time to develop the necessary chemistry and the spotlight may not have been the best place for that chemistry to develop.

The bandwagon is a tough place to be and with the Leafs in the playoffs, the bandwagon is getting lighter by the minute. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Leafs and I know I am able to split my allegiances between the two teams, but the baseball season is about patience.

When October rolls around, I still believe the Jays will be kicking. Regardless of their April record, the Jays will contend. Dickey’s knuckler will start falling in, Ricky Romero will figure it out and make it back to the majors and when all is said and done, everything will fall into place.

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