The view from the Woods

The Queen’s men’s football team is having a season to remember. With running back Mike Giffin breaking records and the Gaels’ defence looking increasingly invincible, they are receiving accolades from all directions, and rightfully so.
But I’d like to draw attention to a team accomplishing great things with much less fanfare: the men’s rugby team.
Fans too lazy to walk all the way to Richardson Stadium on Saturday afternoons have been treated to some dominant performances by the rugby team. The team has steamrolled their way to a 5-1 record and first place in the OUA. Their only loss was on the road to Brock University, and that was due to a week off, a long road trip, and an overall lack of focus. Since then, the team has outscored their opponents 57-13, including a 41-0 whitewash of RMC last Saturday.
At the professional level, football is much more accessible to North Americans than rugby. For this reason, I was a rugby neophyte for most of my life. But after having grown accustomed to the game (although I still don’t understand some of its horrendously complicated rules), I can say it’s quite a treat to watch the Queen’s team play.
The Gaels are fast, hard-hitting, well-disciplined and entertaining to watch. Captain James Potter seems to have this innate ability to run at full speed from one end of the field to the other and somehow end up right at the spot where an unsuspecting opponent is carrying the ball to deliver a bone-crunching hit. Potter’s fellow centre Steve Shortly needs four opponents to bring him down, while a number of the Gaels’ backs have great speed and use it well.
Coach Peter Huigenbos seems to have the game down to a science. His team is disciplined and rarely strays from its game plan, but there is nonetheless room for improvisation, which makes the game all the more entertaining.
What makes rugby fun to watch is that unlike other contact sports, there is a lack of significant equipment. Without a helmet the game becomes much more personal, and one feels much more involved when you can see the players’ faces and interactions more closely.
This weekend likely won’t be Queen’s fans last chance to watch the rugby team. They’re slated to host a semifinal game next weekend, and they’ll only lose to Trent on Saturday if someone pays off the referee. But if Richardson Stadium is too far or you can’t scrounge five bucks, it’s worth knowing that there’s an outstanding alternative.

The Philadelphia Flyers are a team to be reckoned with, and it’s not just because their players seem to have a penchant for attempting to take off the heads of opposing players.
The actions of Steve Downie and Jesse Boulerice, and the following suspensions, are issues that have been beaten to death.
As a longtime Flyer hater, I would love nothing more than to see them keep their spot in the league’s basement this year. But let’s look beyond Philadelphia’s hooligan tendencies for a moment, because they have overshadowed a team that no one has given enough credit.
The Flyers were terrible last year. Their 56-point season was last in the league by far and the team’s worst season ever. Longtime general manager Bob Clarke resigned and star centre Peter Forsberg was traded as a part of the disaster.
All the talk over the summer has been how the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers will battle for the Atlantic Division title, and potentially the Eastern Conference as well. The Hockey News picked the Flyers to finish out of the playoffs.
To me, new GM Paul Holmgren has done an excellent job re-tooling his team within a short period of time, and the problems that plagued the Flyers last year will soon be long forgotten.
Martin Biron is a legitimate NHL goalie, something the Flyers have been missing for years. His acquisition from Buffalo at the trade deadline last year will make a huge difference this season. Success starts with the goaltender, and Biron will deliver.
The Flyers’ defence was porous at best last year, with the molasses-slow pairing of Derian Hatcher and Mike Rathje leading the way. Since then, the Flyers have added all-star veterans Jason Smith and Kimmo Timonen. Both are former captains whose veteran presence will aid the development of young studs such as Braydon Coburn and Randy Jones. Hatcher was the team’s second-half MVP last year and will do better with less ice time. Rathje is now the team’s eighth defenceman.
The Flyers’ forwards, led by 41-goal scorer Simon Gagne and $10-million man Daniel Briere, have it all. Scott Hartnell and Jeff Carter provide size, Mike Richards is an all-purpose player who kills penalties extremely well, and Joffrey Lupul is set to rebound from an off-year. R.J. Umberger and Sami Kapanen are solid depth players. Scott Upshall was lost in Nashville, but came over in the Forsberg trade and blossomed at the end of last season.
All in all, the Rangers and Penguins are impressive, but it’s conceivable that the Flyers will challenge for a division crown. They certainly have the tools, and as long as they don’t get kicked out of the league for more head-hunting, they should be a fun team to watch.