Final grades. The words sound like a death sentence handed from above. Luckily, most students are only graded once in their scholastic activities. Unfortunately for the hard-working Dinos, they’re graded once by their professors and once by the smarmy critics at the Gauntlet. Here are the final grades for the winter team sports.
Men’s Hockey — B
Talent:
Ryan Annesley was the only Dino to make the top 10 scoring leaders in Canada West, ranking fourth with 35 total points, including 19 goals. The Dinos were not able to net nearly as many goals as they were capable of, mainly due to injuries that plagued the squad during the season.
Effort:
The hockeysaurs came charging out of the dressing room every night, but would often become complacent as soon as they found themselves up, or down, in the score. While they were able to pull off victories that were closer than necessary in the first half of the season, they found themselves coming up just short after Christmas, leading to a nine-game losing streak.
Coaching:
Head coach Scott Atkinson returned for his sixth season with the Dinos, and worked with his team to clean up areas needing adjustment, specifically on the defensive end. For the first time, his team wound up with a losing record during the regular season. By the end of the season, the Dinos were playing well, but just couldn’t put teams away at the end of the night.
Achievement:
The hockeysaurs gave fans something to talk about with their seven-game winning streak in the first half of the season. But 2007 proved to be more difficult for the Dinos, as they headed into the post-season having been swept in their last four series. The hockeysaurs made an impressive turnaround in the post-season, upsetting the University of Regina Cougars in three games and earning themselves a spot against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies in the Great Plains division final. However, they fell short in Saskatoon and their season came to an end earlier than deserved.
..Alyzee Sibtain
Women’s Hockey — C+
Talent:
It started out slowly for the young Dinos, but all players on the team showed steady improvement as the season progressed. The girls grew quicker and smoother on their feet, but in the end scoring and puck retention still eluded them drastically.
Effort:
The team built their season upon the main foundations of determination and drive , playing their best hockey in the crunch time, late in the game. However, the team lost their heads on the ice in the most crucial times of the playoffs, showcasing a lack of spark that can only be attributed to inexperience.
Coaching:
Despite not being employed full-time, head coach Dean Holden and his staff have used their superb knowledge of the game to help the development of the Dinos not only as a team, but individually as well.
Achievement:
Despite once again finishing in the basement of the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference women’s hockey standings, this past season was by-far the most successful for the Dinos in recent years. They came within inches of upsetting the veteran powerhouse Mount Royal College Cougars in the first round of the playoffs, pushing their opponents to the point of breaking.
..Derek Neumeier
Men’s Volleyball — C+
Talent:
The Dinos will lose a lot of their experience, talent and leadership this summer as four players ended their eligibility this season, including Glen Handley, Tyler Fraser, Blake Adair and Ryan Lenz. Luckily for the Dinos, they retained outside hitter Scott Price, who had an inspirational season, really turning up his game in the final weeks.
Effort:
The Dinos displayed plenty of effort every time they took the court. Unfortunately, it often wasn’t enough to get them wins. What they lacked in size and the ability to finish games seemed to be the difference between winning and losing down-to-the-wire contests.
Coaching:
Head coach Rod Durrant went through a rough rookie season as a coach in Canadian Interuniversity Sport, but he has plenty of coaching experience and is very respected by his players.
Achievement:
The Dinos’ biggest achievement over the season was back in October when they won the Husky Dino Cup gold medal for the first time since 2000. The Dinos also upset the nationally fifth-ranked University of Manitoba Bisons.
..Alex Baron
Women’s Volleyball — A-
Talent:
This team had no shortage of talent. From fifth-year superstar starter Joanna Niemczewska and solid middle Willemina Stikker-Breemhaar, to the bench players, like Holly Harper, who stepped up when necessary, this team was one of the deepest in the country.
Effort:
The team’s effort seemed to lapse at key times, especially early in matches. Most notably, the team came out flat against the University of Alberta Pandas in the national semi-finals, dropping the first two sets. Though the Dinos stormed back to push the match to five, the Pandas still came away with the win. A better effort in the first two sets could have changed everything.
Coaching:
Kevin Boyles wasn’t afraid to make substitutions and to change his line ups when he saw what he had on the court wasn’t working. He put both Harper and Niemczewska on the floor and found some success with the combination midseason, but when the duo lost their combined effectiveness, he wasn’t afraid to switch it up again.
Achievement:
Though a second straight CIS bronze medal is no small accomplishment, this team had the pieces to challenge for a national title, and missed out on a great opportunity, especially with the home court advantage factored in.
..Jon Roe
Men’s B-Ball — B-
Talent:
This year’s Dinos basketball team had no true stars, besides guard Josh Feist who led the Dinos in scoring with an average of 15.57 points per game, good for 36th in Canada West basketball. However, this team didn’t have any slugs on it either. Cody Darrah, Ross Bekkering, Robbie Sihota, Jeremy Odland and Brian Finniss are all good Canada West basketball players who allowed the Dinos to wear down their opponents by simply having better depth.
Effort:
This year’s team was a gritty, bring-your-lunch-box-to-work group. They would battle until the final buzzer and would never throw in the towel, even when struggling against an opponent. They never lost a game for lack of trying.
Coaching:
Head coach Dan Vanhooren deserves much credit for turning this team around. During the first half of the season the Dinos turned the ball over a ridiculous amount during games. The team was on its way to missing the playoffs by early February, but Vanhooren managed to cut down turnovers and consequently, the team was rewarded with a berth in the playoffs.
Achievement:
Unfortunately, the team gassed its first playoff game against the University of Saskatchewan Huskies by playing poor team defence. The 91-79 loss put the Dinos in a huge hole from which they wouldn’t recover. In a best-of-three series, a team cannot afford to have a bad game. The next game the Dinos lost by a single point when their final shot rolled off the rim. With the strong finish and the core of the team staying intact, the Dinos’ future in Canada West looks promising. If this team does not have the same brutal start next year, challenging the University of Alberta Golden Bears and the Huskies for the division title is not out of the question.
..Stewart Pallard
Women’s B-Ball — C+
Talent:
Guard Lindsay Maundrell led her team in points per game, steals and assists in her final year donning the Dino uniform. She was the best, most-consistent Dino player all year and was an admirable spokesperson for the team in her first year playing the role of captain.
Big things are expected of Jamie Morck next year, as the astute post finished eighth in the CIS in field goal percentage last year, but only managed to throw down an average of less than seven points per game. Barring injury, this should improve in 2007⁄08.
Michelle Willson lost a step this year, but still had a strong performance, leading her team in rebounds and claiming eighth spot in the Canada West rebounding race this year.
Effort:
How much effort might Muggsy Bogues have to exert to beat Shaquille O’Neal in a game of one-on-one? The Dinos were grossly undersized this year, forcing them to rely on strong outside shooting to win games. But when Muggsy missed, Shaq always got the boards.
Coaching:
The Dinos have been strong in this area for years with Shawnee Harle. Any questions that may have been posed early in the season were answered with the Dinos’ 10-game winning streak that finished off their season.
Achievement:
After swiping home court advantage from the University of Saskatchewan Huskies on the last day of the season, the Dinos surrendered to the Huskies in a first round sweep.
Saskatchewan’s Shaq, Sarah Crooks, bullied the scrappy Dinos by bulldozing her way to 73 points and 37 rebounds in the two-game series.
A rocky start to the season exploded into a miraculous 10-game streak, but failure to win even one game at home in the playoffs left fans with little to celebrate.
..Todd Andre