Favorites Fall Like Flies At Tournaments

Wow, what a weekend of great high school basketball and hockey in the Greater Toronto Area - and some teams realizing they may not be as untouchable as they might think.

Just goes to show that in this wild and often wacky world of sports, even the top teams - often oblivious to others - took it on the chin. Yes, maestro, some good teams now know what it is like to lose games to others who are better.

The only good thing for those, who thought they were invincible, was the fact that these were not season-ending playoffs.

Let's start with senior basketball and eight of the teams in the Star's Top Ten last week lost and were eliminated from the tournament spotlight. Just Oakwood, who won the Silver Fox in Hamilton, and Richardson, the winners of the Blessed Mother Teresa Invitational in Toronto, left their respective tournaments with the championship awards.

A far cry from all the hype and bragging. I think it proves that any one of 10 teams could win the Ontario Quad-A gold medal when the boys' hoops playoffs take place in March in Oshawa. Then again, No. 11 or 12 might also get lucky.

Of all the people who I spoke with prior to the weekend, on the phone or via e-mail, none picked Oakwood or Richardson to win. So, it begs the question: what happened to Father Henry Carr, Loyola, Pickering, St. Marguerite d'Youville, Mother Teresa, Eastern Commerce, Vaughan, Martingrove and St. Edmund Campion?

Maybe some over confidence?

Maybe getting beaten by a better team?

Maybe understanding that no one team is dominating this year?

And it wasn't just on the hardwood, how about the ice too.

St. Andrew's of Aurora, some claim the best collection of high school hockey players on a team this year, coasted to an 11-0 win in the opening game of their own tournament. Then, the Saints got beat - and left their home rink without the prestigious gold medal from the MacPherson tourney.

Some of those 'ole boys were hiding behind their tartan skirts.

Appleby of Oakville, a team made up of plenty of youngsters, skated off with the title after a thrilling game that needed three periods of overtime. The only other game that I can recall watching, that may have matched this one in excitement, goes back to 1999 in Dryden when St. Andrew's beat Upper Canada in a provincial semifinal - also in OT.

Comments

[Go UCC]

Sounds like I missed a great hockey game at the St. Andrew's tournament. Guess that school needs to do a better job recruiting more players if they can't even win their own event.

[Lou DiMonte]

You have hit it right on.
Lots of these players and coaches figure all they have to do is show up and they get a win. They can pound teams in their leagues but reality sets in when they play others.
So many teams can win the basketball championship. Let's see which one has the discipline, fortitude and talent.

[Gary]

Some teams are lucky they have tournaments so when they get kicked in the pants in the playoffs they can always look back at their tournament games and the early signal.

[James]

You have hit a sore spot for many school teams and that is the fact that talent is there but it's lazyiness and attitudes that are problems.
Also, let's not forget that these are young people playing and they can make lots of mistakes.

[Rich]

Sounds like UCC is a little bitter that SAC is beating them at their own game by recruiting in hockey players... I guess I would be a little upset too if I won CISAA all the time when I was the only team recruiting players and can't win at all now that other teams recruit..

the point is, recruiting is good for highschool hockey because it raises the level of play and makes it interesting...for example, Mount Carmel (who SAC beat 11-0)is first in their division in their league and only lost by a goal to St.Marcellinius (ranked 3rd in GTA by the star rankings)... kinda shows the difference in calibre between the CISAA and the rest of high school hockey

[Dobber]

Yeah, who are you kidding?
When you have a budget, like the private schools do to attract student to schools and also camouflage things, there is a difference in calibre.

[hockey fan]

If the public and catholic schools made the effort to build school programs that all their best student athletes would want to buy into instead of opting to play outside the school for "rep" and "club" teams then many of these schools could easily compete with CISAA schools in hockey. I remember back in the 70s and early 80s when schools like Monarch Park, and Michael Power used to dominate in hockey and were among the best teams in the province every year. St. Marys seems to be the only non CISAA school playing at a high level. Maybe they can offer some advice to others on how to build and maintain a hockey program at the school level.

[Bobby]

Come on people, who is kidding who now.
High school basketball is Toronto has gone down the toilet. It's just not the same anymore. The good players and good coaches amount to a few teams and it shows.

[Tiger]

The provincial playoff in basketball should be more like an NCAA format and not the way OFSAA has it right now.
They need a playoff with the best teams and that attracts interest and large crowds.
The ridiuclous system used by OFSAA now of teams making it that aren't always league champs is morbid.

[Dash40blog]

Thanks David for your hockey updates. It would be nice to see more high school hockey coverage on our local tv networks since Canada is supposedly the "hockey capital of the world." As for B-ball teams falling, the problem is most of the kids see playing on a team as a status symbol and not a privilege. That in my opinion goes back to coaching.

[Basshat]

Tiger, you want a system that is "more like an NCAA format" yet you criticize OFSAA for allowing teams that aren't league champs to participate. Is this because you haven't watched the NCAA tournament since 1975, the last year in which only league champions were allowed? Try to get your facts right while blaming OFSAA for everything.

[Donaldson]

Bring back the old days when it was fun, and safe, to go watch a high school game.
Now, I have to worry about abusive spectators, kids with weapons, ridiculous admission charges and watch some lousy games.

[D.F.]

OFSAA once ran an NCAA basketball format for girls and never went back claiming a variety of excuses and mainly because it was costly and not great to have teams make the trip for one game.
Yet, OFSAA allows teams to participate with below .500 records. That's brutal.
They need a real championship.

[Sports Junkie]

OFSAA should be more creative and think "out of the box" by coming up with playoffs in sports like basketball and hockey - even as a test - that only has the best teams.
Let's spark some enthusiasm and get interest rather than the staus quo stuff.
Gosh, year after year it's boring watching this OFSAA playoff and especially when you have good teams choosing to win by opting for the easier route so they can wallop some teams whose only thrill is saying they got to an OFSAA playoff.