The NHL handed Anaheim Ducks’ star defenceman Chris Pronger an eight-game suspension Saturday for his March 12 stomp on Vancouver Canucks’ forward Ryan Kesler. Originally, Pronger had been let off the hook—the league told him Thursday night he wouldn’t be suspended. When the mainstream and Internet media began criticizing the decision, though, the league miraculously dredged up a clearer camera angle documenting the stomp and suspended Pronger for eight games.

Lindsay Fowler and Amanda Patzalek were the women’s hockey team’s first responders this year. As student-trainers, they acted as the team’s primary resource for dealing with injuries.
Fowler, PHE ’08, said working with the hockey team meant an intensive time commitment all year. The team’s lack of a home arena and early-morning practices made her job difficult this year, Fowler said.

What do past and present NHLers Steve Rucchin, Cory Cross and Mike Ridley have in common?

The Colour Awards are less than a week away, and although the year did see several successes—with male and female OUA Conference Rookies of the Year in both varsity basketball and volleyball—many of Queen’s most competitive teams saw their seasons end earlier than they had hoped.

The Gaels men’s and women’s curling teams have found success thus far at the inaugural national curling championships, held in Waterloo this week. The women, fresh off a silver-medal performance at the OUA championships Feb.18, won their opening match in dramatic fashion Wednesday afternoon. They took two points in the last end to claim a 7-6 victory over the Regina Cougars but lost an 8-6 match to the Manitoba Bisons Wednesday night when Manitoba stole two points in the final end. The men opened with a 6-4 win over the St. Francis Xavier X-Men Wednesday evening.

There’s a lot of gloom among Seattle SuperSonics fans these days, after out-of-town owner Clay Bennett rode in on his high horse with a ridiculous list of demands that was sure to be turned down, paving the way for him to walk off with a historic franchise slung over his saddle.

Last month, three athletes under 21 died in the span of two days.

The men’s basketball team was rewarded for their hard play this season in Thursday’s announcement of the Ontario University Athletics awards.
Forward Jon Ogden was named the OUA East Rookie of the Year, after a season in which he averaged 11 points, five rebounds and 26 minutes per game. He also had 9 blocks and 14 steals this season.

The Queen’s fencing team competed in the OUA finals held Feb. 17 at the Royal Military College. The team ended its season in spectacular fashion, earning a variety of medals and awards.
Women’s captain Joanne Ko brought home a gold medal for her performance in the épée individual event.
Ko also won the Dr. Al English trophy, awarded to the winner of the épée individual event every year, and led the women’s épée team to a bronze in the team event.

Members of the men’s hockey team received some individual recognition Wednesday after the team’s best season in 25 years.
Second-year head coach Brett Gibson was voted OUA East Coach of the Year by his peers. Goalie Ryan Gibb was named the OUA East’s Most Valuable Player, while leading scorer Brady Olsen won the OUA’s Most Sportsmanlike Player Award. Gibb was named a first-team OUA East All-Star and Olsen was named a second-team All-Star.

The men’s rugby team got a chance to play in warmer surroundings on a trip to Argentina over Reading Week.
The Queen’s rugby club sent two teams to Argentina for games in Buenos Aires and the resort town of Mar Tel Plata. The second team lost two hard-fought games, but the first squad rallied in Mar Tel Plata after being down 12-5 to score three tries in the final 15 minutes of the game to win 27-19.

The English Premier League’s plan to play one round of matches overseas each year, approved in principle by the clubs Feb. 7, makes sense for many reasons. The Premier League is already one of the most influential sports organizations in the world: it makes $1.7 billion annually from TV revenue alone, much of which is from foreign broadcasts.

The OUA champion McMaster Marauders’ perfect season came to a halt at last week’s national men’s volleyball championships when they were upset in four sets by the seventh-seeded Winnipeg Wesmen in the first round.

The women’s basketball and volleyball teams both saw their playoff runs end early, losing in the quarter-finals.
The volleyball team lost on the road Feb. 15 against the top-seeded University of Toronto Varsity Blues. Despite their higher seed and home-court advantage, the women’s basketball team fell 67-58 to the Carleton Ravens Feb. 16 at Bartlett Gym.

Rookie figure skater Sarah Farrow was the Gaels’ medal leader as her team skated to a third-place finish at the OUA championship last week in Guelph.
After finishing day one in seventh spot, Farrow helped the Gaels to a one-point victory over Laurier in the overall standings.