Canisius Sports Roundup

Well the Griffs are playing tonight against lifelong Arch Rival Niagara tonight. Who they never beat, because they are usually not as good as Niagara. The Griffs 2-1 in their last 3 games, and Niagara is 1-2 in their last 3 games. (Though the Griffs lost 4 in a row before that and Niagara won 3 in row before that. This was the only way I could make the Griffs look good.)

The Griffs in the past couple weeks have pulled themselves from the basement in the MAAC to 2nd last place in the MAAC, and with some good play, could move into the middle. You know maybe get a win in the MAAC tournament, before being dispatched by a much better team.

But Frank Turner is leading the team in most statistics, which is good because he's the team leader and everything goes through Frank. Chris Gadley has become a good transfer for the Griffs and Julius Coles and Greg Logins are also solid pieces in the puzzle. But then the offensive depth drops off after that. They are still growing into what they need to become. They are better then last years awful team, and will improve next year. Though on average are being outscored 5 points per game.

Niagara is not a good matchup for the Griffs. So don't except a Griff win tonight, especially in the Gallagher Center.

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The Womens team, is a different story. They are having quite the year. They are tied for 2nd in the MAAC and 15-5 on the year. They have won their last 3 games, and 12-1 in their last 13. They are hot and playing well heading into the most important time of the year. We can expect good things from the Lady Griffs come March in Albany. (The only good thing we can expect in Albany)

Utah transfer Marie Warner is powering the Griffs with 17 points per game, almost 8 rebounds a game and a 45% shooting percentage. If only the Griffs could pick up more Canadians who wanted to be closer to home. Russell and Cavo are helping out with 11 and 9 points per game. But its obvious the team is riding Warner towards a MAAC title, hoping to beat mighty Marist.

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The Men's Hockey team, is the definition of .500. Well they were until yesterday, after a sweep by RIT. Canisius' budding rival in Atlantic Hockey. The Griffs swept Air Force last weekend, leading into high hopes against RIT at home. But as usual the Griffs don't pull through. They are now 9-10-4 overall and 7-8-2 in conference, good for 6th place. The Griffs usual place in Atlantic Hockey Conference.

Dave Kotusch is the leading goal and point scorer on the Griffs with 15 goals and 23 points, in 23 games. Jason Weeks has 22 points and Josh Heidinger has 21 points. The griffs have 8 guys in double digit scoring. Which is good for 23 games. They have balanced scoring. They are also decent in net, well when Andrew Loewen is between the pipes. His .917 sv% and 2.93 GAA are pretty decent for College Hockey.

The Griffs have conference mate Sacred Heart at home this weekend, so lets hope for a sweep to move above that .500 mark.

MAAC Tourney Time!!! (Ladies first)

Hey its tournament time baby!!!!! The ladies tip off at Noon today in Albany to kick start the best Mid Conference tournament in the Northeast. Rider and Loyola will start things off in the 7-10 game that plays midweek at noon. The under over on attendance is about 15 people. Then the marquee game of the day starts around 2pm. With our beloved Lady Griffs take on those less then stellar reputation ladies from Niagara. I think we all know what they say about girls from Niagara.

But it doesn't really matter. If you're playing today, you are not going to win the tournament. Especially not going to beat Marist this year.

Lets look at why Marist is going to roll on to the Big Dance.

1. Undefeated in MAAC Play (18-0) 28-2 on the year
2. Highest scoring team in the MAAC
3. 2nd best defense in the MAAC
4. Win games on average by 15 points.
5. Shoot 80% from the line
6. Shoot 45% from the field
7. Teams shoot 35% from the field against them

Thats 7 reasons why the Red Foxes will roll onto to the title and get throttled by a bigger better team in the tournament. But hey with that record they might get a higher seed and beat somebody. Its all about MAAC love here at GCFB. Unless its Niagara. That school can burn to the ground.

The Lady Griffs are a bit young. But they can win a few games. Terry Zeh has experience, but this isn't the year. Next year the Griffs will put together a season to compete for the MAAC championship.

A Pair of Losses for Canisius

The men and women of Blue and Gold, went into action last night, and both came out with losses. One a pretty obvious result, the other another disappointing loss.

We'll start with the Men who march on for the 0 win season, with another loss this one to Buffalo 68-59 last night at Alumni Arena. The Griffs now stand at 0-5. Willie Hassell once again led the Griffs with points with 12, but of course shot 4 for 19 from the floor and 2 for 13 from behind the arc. So Willie wasn't to shy about putting the ball up last night, of course he couldn't hit a thing, so maybe he should have gave the ball to someone else. The only other player in double digits was Frank Turner with 10 points, and he only had 5 turnovers last night, thats an improvement. The Griffs shot a decent 33% last night but were only 19% from behind the arc. The Griffs seem to be cutting down on the turnovers with only 14 last night, but still can't shoot on a consistent basis so until they put every aspect of a game together, they won't win. This team won't win until they play perfect. Thats not a good sign.

Next up St Bonaventure on 12/1

The ladies rode into Notre Dame on a pretty good streak, beating teams they should and only losing to West Virginia, so playing the 22nd team in the country is only going to help them, right?. And just like you would expect got soundly beaten, 93-46. It also didn't help that Notre Dame shot over 50% for the game, at least they Griffs could have gotten was a cold team. Laura Buetow and Amanda Cavo led the Griffs with 10 points a piece. This drops the Lady Griffs to 3-2 on the season, but both losses to Big East teams. And big losses to Big East teams. The talent difference from mid major to major major in womens basketball is staggering at times.

Next up at Wright St on 12/1

While I was out (part 3)

(a random shot of downtown Philly)

It was the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but that didn't mean that our beloved Canisius College Athletic teams were on Holiday. The big 3 were in action and except for the ladies things didn't go so well.

The Men continued their march for a 0 win season. With a 70-63 loss to Long Island on Saturday. Willie Hassell led the way with 19 points, FrankTurner and Robinson both were 2nd with 11 points a piece. Tomas Vazquez Simmons continued his season long block party with 7 blocks in the game. His presence inside of late with 15 blocks in the last two games, earned him MAAC Co rookie of the week. Well the the obvious players are coming forward so far with Frank Turner being the playmaker, leading in assists and turnovers. Vazquez Simmons is the man in the middle with 20 blocks in 4 games and only 1 start. And Elton Frazier is the all around man. Leading the team in rebounds and shooting percentage. But they need more production from everyone if they want to make this a season.


The Women continued their solid play against similar opponents. With a 70-62 win over Buffalo on Saturday. They are now 3-1 with their lone loss to West Virginia. Amanda Cavo continues to be the one leading the way for the Lady Griffs with 16 points. Russell with 15, Drysdale with 14 and Buetow with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Now thats what I call all around scoring. Plus they shot 48% for the game now thats some good shooting. The ladies are positioning themselves well for the MAAC run later in the season, after some non conference games to make them better. I like what I'm seeing from Terry Zeh and the Lady Griffs.

The Hockey team on the other hand, went to Oxford Oh, to play the Number 1 team in the country Miami Redhawks, and they promptly got beaten soundly both games. On friday they were a little competitive losing only 4-0, getting outshot 33-15. The game on saturday, oh boy, talk about not in the contest. The Redhawks pasted the Griffs 11-1, with Eric Rex (1) getting the only Griff goal on the night. The Griffs were outshot on the night 41-10. Oooo thats bad. The back to back losses move the Griffs to 2-9-2 on the season.

The mens teams aren't doing so well this year. So keep it up ladies.