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Arts & Entertainment, Film and TV

Burton’s 3D visuals can’t save one-dimensional characters

by Grace Glowicki on

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Considering the combination of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and Lewis Carroll, it’s a real shame that Alice in Wonderland falls as flat as it does. The film is not dark enough to be Burton’s, the Mad Hatter is not distinctive enough to be Depp’s, and the story is not clever enough to be Carroll’s. And so, we must regretfully admit that our latest fall down the rabbit hole was not only bland, but a waste of time, money, and talent.

The story is confusing, because while the film is called Alice in Wonderland, it is not based on Carroll’s novel Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. This particular Alice (Mia Wasikowska) is 10 years older than she was on her first adventure, and this time she tumbles into a land called Underland, presented as a similar yet distinct version of Wonderland. The plot has a loosely developed drive: Alice must slay the dreaded Jabberwocky (named after Carroll’s poem) – a dragon-like creature that looks right out of Harry Potter – but getting to that point feels rushed and choppy. In fact, the audience never has enough time to care about anything or anyone onscreen.

And of course, Alice in Wonderland is in 3D. What is it about this gimmicky technology that people are so crazy about? What could have been a decent movie feels like a simulator ride at Disneyland – all that was missing were the moving chairs. The dizzying shots in Alice are so concerned with looking cool in 3D (think objects popping out at the audience and things in the foreground going in and out of focus) that they take away from what’s actually going on in the scenes, further distancing the audience from the plot and the characters.

Burton is undoubtedly a fantastic director who has often delighted audiences with his dark imagination. However, it may be the case that technology is ruining him. Like in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, he again uses CGI to enhance his character’s features. Though aesthetically interesting, this technique causes Alice in Wonderland to have an artificial, air-brushed quality, instead of demonstrating Burton’s ability to transform actual spaces and people into strange gothic realities. Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow, and Sweeny Todd are great films because they present a twisted view of reality, rather than a digitally modified one.

Despite the anticipation of Depp’s Mad Hatter, this character also suffered due to the rushed nature of the film. It also took a while to comprehend the many accents he uses, and perhaps his character wasn’t that original: in his first scene he walks across the tea party table, and his movements and gestures reek of Captain Jack Sparrow.

Thank God for Helena Bonham Carter’s dead-on role as the Queen of Hearts. With a big head, white face, and endless bag of sour remarks, she manages to stay captivating throughout the film. A particularly hilarious scene is when she demands entertainment from her prisoners Tweedledee and Tweedledum, who she calls her “fat boys.” Often screaming “Off with his head!” followed by blank blinks, she is fabulous and the most Burtonesque thing in the film – by old Burton standards, that is.

Recipes, Student Life

Back to basics: margaritas

by Shannon Kimball on

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Canadian-Mexican cuisine is one step below Tex-Mex: anything that’s spicy and can be served with a tortilla is labeled as Mexican food. While I can’t change the food – the best Mexican food ingredients are nearly impossible to find in Montreal – the margaritas are certainly fixable.

Most margaritas are a slushy, watered down mixture of tequila, lime juice concentrate, and sugar. Unnecessary ingredients like frozen tropical fruit, lemon-lime soda, and water only further dilute the tequila. Add protein powder and toss it all in blender, and you have yourself a spiked fruit smoothie. While that might be a good way to end a workout, I like my margaritas to taste like tequila, with a hint of lime juice.

This recipe gets back to the roots of the famous Tijuana drink, without the frills. Simple syrup replaces grainy sugar, and Cointreau adds an orange undertone that brings out the flavours of the tequila. While lime juice is a necessity, too much will make your throat burn and requires additional sugar, so only add as much as you can handle.

A note on mixing: blending any drink with ice dilutes the flavor because half of the contents of every sip are water. Shaking a margarita with ice (a sealable coffee mug and a strainer can be substituted for a cocktail shaker) keeps the drink cold without diluting the alcohol.

Ingredients

  • 1 shot agave tequila
  • 1/2 shot Cointreau (Grand Marnier can be substituted if you don’t want to splurge, although the flavor will be distinctly different)
  • The juice of 1-2 limes
  • 1/2 cup ice cubes
  • A dash of simple syrup
  • Kosher salt

Directions

  1. To make the simple syrup, mix two parts sugar with one part water and heat until viscous. This can be made in large batches and refrigerated for later use.
  2. Run a lime wedge along the rim of a cocktail glass (do not use water – this dissolves the salt). Pour the salt onto a plate and dip the glass until a thin rim of salt forms.
  3. Pour the ingredients over the ice into a shaker. Shake until condensation appears on the outside, and strain into the salt-rimmed glass, ice-filled glass. Garnish with a lime wedge.

Student Life

Students Supporting Disabilities

by Janet McMullen on

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While many students are directly or indirectly affected by disabilities, until now, few have felt comfortable enough to talk about it with their peers, fearing discrimination or lack of understanding from others. Students Supporting Disabilities (SSD), a new McGill club, is working to change this.

The mandate of the club is simple: to provide an open social support network for students who have been affected by physical or mental disability in one way or another. While most club members either have a disability or know individuals with disabilities, others are also welcome.

“The club caters to people who want to learn more about disabilities and how to bring about awareness and understanding,” says Molara Awosedo, president of SSD.

The group, which is currently working towards becoming an official SSMU club, was initiated at McGill last semester after Awosedo and co-founder Silvana Lovera discovered that they shared something in common: both have siblings with autism. They found a support network in each other and wanted to extend this to the rest of the McGill community.

“Just because of the relief we felt with each other, we thought it would be cool to start a group,” remarks Lovera, executive vice-president of Students Supporting Disabilities. “[We wanted to] let other people, who probably don’t know someone who has a sibling or friend with a disability, just [meet others who have had] the same experience growing up,” adds Awosedo.

In keeping with their mandate, a significant portion of meetings is devoted to discussion centered on disability. At each meeting, the group focusses on a specific discussion topic, such as how disability has impacted members’ goals or how to cope with being in a different province than affected relatives.

“[We had] one meeting where we just stayed for an hour-and-a-half talking and it didn’t feel as if I was being pulled or dragged to a meeting,” says Lovera. “It was kind of a cool way to socialize and get to know people.”

The group has also been dedicating much of their time and effort to planning their upcoming “R” word campaign. Through posters on campus, a website, and word of mouth, SSD hopes to make students aware that using the word “retard” is unacceptable and hurtful, even if comments are not directed toward people with disabilities.

“Words are used mistakenly all the time and within the wrong context,” explains Awosedo. “We hope to bring forth the knowledge that the words retard and retarded hurt people … With this, they might catch themselves before using it in their everyday lingo.”

In future years, the co-founders hope to see the group extend further within the McGill and Montreal communities. The co-founders are optimistic about the future of SSD, but note that most of their executive and club members are graduating this year and, if the club is to continue to grow, SSD needs more support from younger students.

SSD members find the experience fulfilling. “You get a network of people who understand something about you that most of your friends don’t,” says Lovera. “It’s not that it’s something bad, it’s not that it’s something that we keep secret, it’s just a different kind of understanding.”

SSD hopes to spread this sense of understanding and acceptance toward people with disabilities in the McGill community.

Students Supporting Disabilities meets Thursdays at 5 p.m. in the SSMU cafeteria. If you are interested in learning more, please e-mail Molara Awosedo and Silvana Lovera at [email protected].

Arts & Entertainment, Music

CD REVIEWS: Zeus: Say Us

by Ryan Taylor on

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Zeus’ debut album Say Us may want to make you skip spring altogether: it’s got summer written all over it.

Getting their start as Jason Collett’s backing band, the men of Zeus have crafted an album of hooks, harmonies, and good ol’ fashioned rock. And I mean ol’ fashioned when I say it; almost everything from the guitar tones to the aforementioned harmonies have a strong retro vibe that recall the best of the sixties.

The songs range from heavy head-bangers (“You Gotta’ Teller”) to laid-back simmerers (“I Know”) and everything in between. It’s this variety that keeps the album feeling as fresh as possible, given its classic bend. If one thing is certain, it’s how good these songs will sound blasted from your car stereo on your roadtrip mixtape.

People will no doubt complain that Zeus are living too much in the past, simply reheating a meal better served by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but to do so would be missing the point. This Toronto band does classic rock and they do it well, and as much as these songs may reference rock of old, they aren’t imitations.

What’s most impressive is how the Zeus fingerprint remains indelible amongst the familiar retro-isms, taking the best sounds of the past and giving them Zeus’ original flavour. Besides, as a rock band, is there any better time to be revisiting than the sixties and seventies?

Opinion

SSMU Election Endorsement: President Sarah Woolf

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After careful consideration, the McGill Tribune Editorial Board proudly presents our fifth annual SSMU election candidate endorsements. While this year’s ballot includes two acclamations, we still provide our analysis of each candidate’s potential, along with our thoughts on the referendum questions (page 9). We’d like you to keep our endorsements in mind while voting, but ultimately, it’s your decision. Do some research by reading our candidate interviews in the news section, and cast your ballot online at ovs.ssmu.mcgill.ca by Thursday at 4 p.m.

The Tribune’s choice for Students’ Society president is current Arts Senator Sarah Woolf. Woolf is an articulate and experienced student politician who has been active on SSMU Council for the past two years. She has a firm grasp of the major issues facing SSMU, as well as practical and detailed plans for how she would tackle those issues.

Woolf understands the presidential portfolio and should be able to work effectively with the rest of the SSMU executives. She was impressive in the candidates’ debate, and has run a strong campaign centred on fighting tuition hikes, renegotiating SSMU’s Memorandum of Agreement with McGill, and improving student services. The Tribune is confident that she will be a forceful and rational voice for student concerns both within the Society and to the administration.

We are concerned, however, about Woolf’s ability to control her emotions when she becomes passionate about an issue. While approachable and personable in social interactions, Woolf can be brusque and polarizing when she disagrees with fellow student politicians. While we agree that executives should be outspoken, we hope Woolf will employ more diplomacy and tact if she is elected.

The Tribune sees this presidential election as a two-horse race, as a minority of the Tribune editorial board supports Zach Newburgh for president. Newburgh has a wealth of organizational experience as SSMU speaker of council and the president of Hillel Montreal. He displayed a pragmatic knowledge of SSMU politics and procedures in interviews, and would likely work to strengthen the organization without seeking to unrealistically overhaul SSMU.

However, Newburgh leaned heavily on buzzwords during candidate debates and an interview with the Tribune – relying on catchphrases like “building community” instead of substantive policy ideas. His idea for a SSMU café – where executives would sit for an hour per day to meet with students – is unnecessary, and his focus on strengthening Greek Life seemed like a strategy to draw votes from fraternities, rather than a legitimate campaign issue.

While Trip Yang and Stefan Link have good intentions and a few good ideas, neither is qualified to be SSMU president. Both have no experience with the internal workings of SSMU, and we’re at a loss to explain why they aimed for such a lofty position without first acquiring some basic experience in the day-to-day operations of the Society. In the debates, Link was unaware of the existence of the McGill chapter of the Quebec Public Interest Research Group – a sign that he lacks the necessary knowledge to take charge of an organization with a multi-million dollar operating budget.

Although Link’s two main campaign issues – 24-hour library service and a student run food co-op – are interesting, he displayed a poor grasp of the challenges of implementing either of those services. The library budget and staff are already stretched thin, and student-run businesses are notoriously expensive and difficult to manage. While Link seems to have picked up much of the rhetoric and important issues in SSMU politics, he lacks the concrete plans needed to accomplish his goals.

Similarly, Yang is right to insist on GA reform – but we don’t think televising GAs would do much to increase their democratic nature. Yang has no experience participating in student politics, which is reflected in misguided campaign ideas such as a massive dodgeball game and “pre-emptive” fundraisers.

However, it’s heartening to see that the presidential portfolio attracted four candidates this year – a trend towards greater participation that is reflected in contested races for all but two executive positions this year. This year’s executive has done well to encourage potential candidates by making themselves more accessible. We hope next year’s executive will expand upon their efforts.

Sports

Patriotes pulverized as Redmen complete series sweep of rivals

by Adam Sadinsky on

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McGill hockey fans broke out the brooms on Friday night, as the Redmen eliminated a longtime rival – the UQTR Patriotes – by a score of 7-4 to sweep the Ontario University Athletics East Division Final. A standing-room-only crowd was energized from the opening faceoff until the final buzzer, and the celebration continued in the Redmen locker room after the game. The game was the last at McConnell Arena for the home team this season, and the win qualified McGill for the OUA’s Queen’s Cup, as well as the University Cup National Championship later this month in Thunder Bay.

“All along I knew that this team was one of the top teams in the country, and although we ranked behind [UQTR] all year, they were scared of our talent and speed,” said Jim Webster, who led his team to a school record for wins in his first season as head coach. “We were just playing hockey the way it should be played. I told them that the National Championship should be our goal from the first month. I think they’re starting to think that I’m not crazy. They’re starting to believe. If we put our heads to it I believe we can be national champions.”

As usual, the shining stars of the game were McGill’s top line of Francis Verreault-Paul, Alexandre Picard-Hooper, and Andrew Wright, who combined for an impressive 12 points. Verreault-Paul, who led the OUA in scoring this year and has brought his high-flying act into the post-season, notched two goals and three assists, making him McGill’s top scorer on Friday night.

“All year long our line has done a great job,” said Verreault-Paul. “In the playoffs you have to keep it up. We didn’t want to finish here, we want to keep it going to Thunder Bay.”

The key to Friday’s game was discipline – a factor which has decided many of the team’s games this season. With captain Yan Turcotte suspended for the series after a spearing incident against Carleton in the previous round, the Redmen knew that staying out of the penalty box would be necessary in order to take down the physical Patriotes.

“We were ready,” said Verreault-Paul. “We knew that Trois-Rivieres would come in here to win. We did a good job on our power-play tonight and didn’t give them any chances.”

The McGill power-play was especially good in the deciding game, going 4-5 on the man advantage. The Patriotes, on the other hand, were only 1-4 with the extra man.

McGill got on the board early, when Picard-Hooper snuck in front of the net on the power-play to beat Patriotes goaltender Jean-Christophe Blanchard. With the crowd rocking from the early goal, UQTR sought to silence the fans by scoring twice to take their only lead of the game. Unfazed, the Redmen exploded for three goals in the last five minutes of the period, and took a 4-2 lead into the first intermission. Picard-Hooper and Verreault-Paul each had a goal and three assists in the first period alone.

“They took the lead, but we never stopped, we never panicked,” said Verreault-Paul.

The Redmen kept their scoring touch in the second frame, tallying twice to take a 6-2 lead and effectively put the game out of reach. Freshman Sebastien Rioux – who finished with a goal and an assist on the night – scored the series-clinching goal near the nine-minute mark on a slap shot from the point. The power-play goal would ultimately hold up as the game-winner.

“You think about it every day and you want to score that goal,” said Rioux, who credited the capacity crowd for helping his team defeat their provincial rivals. “When it happens you’re just so happy [and] you want to live forever on that goal. We all knew that we could beat them as long as we worked hard, but with that kind of crowd you get wings.”

Verreault-Paul would go on to power the puck into an empty UQTR net at the end of the final period to set off the celebration fans and players were waiting for. Redmen goaltender Hubert Morin – whose spot as the starting goalie was up in the air at the start of the season – pumped his fist and pointed to the crowd in gratitude.

“I waited for my chance to step up and take the first spot,” he said. “It was just unreal for us to get that far. The feeling hasn’t sunk in yet. We have a shot in the Queen’s Cup and Nationals, but right now I’m just going to enjoy this game and Monday we’ll get back to work.”

The Redmen will travel to Thunder Bay twice in the next two weeks, first to face the seventh-ranked Lakehead Thunderwolves in the Queen’s Cup on Saturday, and then again for the University Cup National Championship tournament the following weekend.

Behind the Bench, Sports

THIRD MAN IN: Nothing to Cheer About

by Tori Crawford on

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With March Madness upon us, spectators sometimes forget that there will actually be two sports on display throughout the competition: basketball and cheerleading. NCAA cheerleaders, unlike their compatriots in the NFL and the NBA, deserve that name. Professional sports “cheerleading” would in reality be more properly referred to as dancing, since these teams’ performances are more akin to what you might see on a Saturday night at a gentleman’s club than what goes on at cheerleading national championships.

NFL and NBA cheerleading is to the sport of cheerleading what powderpuff football is to the Superbowl: an oversexed, stereotypically feminine voyeuristic spectacle that completely denigrates a legitimate sport. It is impossible for anyone familiar with competitive cheerleading to deny its classification as a sport. It combines gymnastics, dance, endurance, performance, and pure athleticism. It’s as physically and emotionally demanding as other competitive sports. It’s the activity that sends the highest number of high school and college athletes to the hospital every year.

However, for as long as professional sports cheerleaders continue to be known by that moniker, real cheerleading will never reach its full potential. Although the latter’s popularity has exploded, professional sport cheerleaders remain the most visible “cheerleaders” on the continent, and thus inform the majority of society’s perception of what it is that cheerleaders do. If the extent of your cheerleading knowledge is limited to flashes of half-naked women jumping up and down on the sidelines, it’s understandable to be sceptical of its classification as a sport. However, most of these women would not last five minutes at a competitive cheerleading team’s practice, let alone make the team.

That raises another issue. Many of the best cheerleaders, especially at the university and college levels, are male. Professional sport cheerleading teams, however, are composed entirely of women. This further stigmatizes society’s conception of the sport as well as the male athletes who have devoted their lives to it. These men work as hard as the football and basketball players they are there to support, and are in fact often much stronger and more physically fit.

Admittedly, both types of cheerleading share similarities in terms of physical appearance. However, unlike professional sports cheerleading, competitive cheerleading makeup and outfits are not about sex. They’re about visibility and functionality. Just like gymnastics and figure skating, heavy makeup is necessary in order to be seen by judges and large crowds that are often located far from the athletes. In addition, cheerleading is a sport in which flexibility is paramount; any outfit that constricts the athletes’ movement would make feats such as a back handspring full twist or a front tuck basket toss impossible to execute correctly.

With an unprecedented surge in popularity, the codification and standardization of its rules and regulations, and the entrenchment of an entire subculture, competitive cheerleading has come a long way in the past twenty years. But there’s one thing that’s holding it back from being on par with football, basketball, soccer and hockey. It’s time to stop calling the mockery that de-legitimizes both the sport and its athletes what it is not – cheerleading.

Sports

McGill dominates Carabins to win fifth straight Quebec crown

by Shawn Stenhouse on

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The McGill women’s hockey team continued its domination of CIS competition last week, finishing off the Montreal Carabins on the road after winning the series opener at home on Wednesday. With Friday’s series-clincher, the Martlets celebrated their 84th straight win in CIS play, as well as their fifth consecutive conference championship. But while the outcome of Friday’s game was obvious from the opening faceoff, the Martlets were forced to work for their points on Wednesday night, as they played their last home game of the year, winning 5-2 at McConnell Arena.

Senior Rebecca Martindale led the way for McGill, netting two markers and tallying a helper on forward Jordanna Peroff’s goal midway through the first period. Despite McGill’s lofty position as the top-ranked team going into Nationals, Head Coach Amey Doyle stressed the importance of keeping her team levelheaded.

“We have to focus on one game at a time,” she said. “We don’t want to get into any bad habits. We want to make sure we’re rolling and paying attention to detail.”

League MVP Cathy Chartrand, who led all Quebec defencemen in points scored, opened the scoring at 12:18 on the power play. Thirty seconds later, Peroff scored to increase the team’s lead to 2-0, thanks to Martindale’s assist. Peroff would return the favour later in the period after a boarding call against the Carabins’ Marie-Andree Leclerc-Auger put the Martlets on the power play. Montreal’s Vicky Denis finally got her team on the board with 17 seconds left in the period.

After being outshot 21-6, the Carabins came out much stronger in the second frame, dominating the Martlets for the first 10 minutes of the period.

“There was a little bit of a lull,” said Doyle. “We lacked a bit of that competitiveness. I thought it was important that we took that competitiveness back.”

The game’s shift back into McGill’s favor was marked by an unassisted goal by freshman forward Chelsey Saunders midway through the period. The goal appeared to re-energize the Martlets while simultaneously taking the wind out of the Carabins’ sails. Despite their impressive start, Montreal failed to register a goal during the period.

The Martlets began to roll in the final period, and played a strong defensive game in order to maintain their lead. Martindale ended any hope of a Montreal miracle at 4:42 in the third, again with the help of Peroff. The only other goal in the game would come from Montreal, when the puck took a funny bounce and flew past Martlet goaltender Taylor Salisbury’s shoulder.

A major part of McGill’s defensive success was their gritty style of play, as players consistently sacrificed their bodies in order to block shots and keep the puck in the offensive zone, something the Carabins weren’t quite as willing to do.

“That’s something that we do really well,” said Doyle. “As long as we get the job done, get the pucks in the net, we’re not looking for the pretty goals. It’s not a huge part of our game, but it is an important one.”

The Martlets rode their airtight defence all the way to a 3-0 shutout to capture the Quebec championship on the road two days later. Again, the Martlets dominated Montreal, registering almost double the amount of shots on goal. Forward Amy Soberano’s goal in the first period held up as the game-winner, and fellow forward Anne-Sophie Betez scored twice in the third to put the game out of reach. Salisbury was perfect in the net, stopping all 21 shots the Carabins threw at her.

Now, Doyle and her team will turn their attention to a much larger goal: a third straight national championship banner. For the third game in a row, McGill will face the Carabins, who find themselves at Nationals in the first year of their existence as a team. Compeition tips off at 4 p.m. on Thursday, and the entire tournament will be webcast live by SSN Canada.

Sports

McGill bounced in QUBL semis

by Kailan Leung on

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If there is one thing the McGill men’s basketball team made clear to spectators and scouts this year, it’s that the Redmen can play with anyone in Quebec. Stacked with young talent, the future of McGill’s men’s basketball program appears to be in good hands, and if Head Coach Craig Norman can figure out a way to get his team to perform with some consistency, the Redmen could be a force to be reckoned with as early as next season. Right now, however, Norman has little else to do but ponder the future, after his Redmen were bounced out of the first round of the QUBL playoffs on Saturday evening, losing 69-60 to the Laval Rouge et Or.

The Redmen outscored their opponents in the first, third, and fourth quarters, but were demolished in the second stanza as Laval turned up the defensive pressure to hold McGill to eight points. The Redmen shot a dismal 1-11 from three-point territory in the first half, and finished the game at less than a 20 per cent clip. McGill’s veterans failed to provide the offensive punch needed to make it to the gold-medal round, as scoring stalwarts Michael White, Matt Thornhill, and Pawel Herra combined to shoot 9-35 from the field.

Stepping up for the Redmen was American Winn Clark, who ended his impressive rookie campaign on a positive note, scoring 13 points and dishing out three assists. With newly announced Quebec Rookie of the Year Olivier Bouchard inactive for Saturday’s game, junior guard Sebastian Gatti manned the point and finished close to a double-double with nine points and eight rebounds. Despite Gatti’s contributions, McGill severely missed Bouchard’s speed, shooting, and all-around court-savvy. A highly touted recruit from College Montmorency, Bouchard’s impact on the team was immediate – he registered six points, four boards, and seven assists in his first university game, against the NCAA’s St. John’s Red Storm – and he figures to play a major part in the success of the program for years to come. Bouchard finished the year scoring a shade under 10 points per game, to go along with 3.7 assists while shooting 35 per cent from three.

The Redmen struggled during the preseason and dropped their first two contests in regular season play before picking up the pace late in the new year. McGill went on a tear to catapult themselves into playoff contention, winning six of seven from mid-January to February. Thornhill capped an illustrious career at McGill by taking home Player of the Year honours last week, after averaging 18.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, while ranking eighth in the CIS in three point field goal percentage.

Joining Thornhill and Bouchard as year-end award recipients was 6-foot-7 freshman Nic Langley, a Golden, B.C. product who spent time with Canada’s National Elite Development Academy and joined Bouchard on the all-rookie team.

With their eight regular season wins, the Redmen posted their best conference finish since the 2001-2002 season. Although McGill once again failed to impress in the postseason, the team’s development over the course of the season gives hope to Redmen fans looking forward. Norman has a plethora of talented athletes to work with next year, but still lacks an inside post presence. Nevertheless, the future is bright for the Redmen, and McGill fans can expect great things next season.

Sports

Silver finish

by Kailan Leung on

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With Saturday’s loss to the Laval Rouge et Or in the QSSF championship game, the McGill women’s basketball team concluded a rollercoaster ride of a season. While a 13-15 overall record – McGill went 5-4 in non-conference play and finished 8-11 in Quebec competition – cannot be considered cause for celebration, the Martlets closed out the season competitively, and appear to have the pieces in place to become a force in the near future.

McGill’s postseason run served as an excellent indicator of the team’s multiple strengths and weaknesses. Last Wednesday, the Martlets scored an impressive 77-59 road win over the second-seeded UQAM Citadins. The sudden-death victory launched McGill into Saturday’s gold-medal game for the first time in 13 years. But the Martlets simply could not keep up with the bigger, more experienced home team, and the match ended in a 36-58 blowout.

Throughout the season, the Martlets lived and died by the three-point shot. More than a third of McGill’s field goals came from behind the arc, yet the team only connected on 30 per cent of their attempts from long range. In comparison, Laval and UQAM – the top two teams in Quebec – connected on a higher percentage of threes over the course of the season despite taking fewer shots. In Wednesday’s semifinal against the Citadins, the Martlets were masterful from the perimeter, shooting 45 per cent for the game. Four players reached double figures in scoring, and the team recorded 20 assists – 11 more than their season average.

While the Martlets used Wednesday’s game to show just how dangerous they can be when on target, Saturday’s championship match proved the exact opposite. McGill misfired on 17 of their 19 attempts from downtown, and wound up shooting a dismal 18 per cent overall for the game. The Martlets attempted to utilize star forward Anneth Him-Lazarenko in the post, but the talented sophomore’s offensive production was limited inside all game long.

Although McGill couldn’t quite pull off a fairy-tale finish to the regular season, Head Coach Ryan Thorne’s team has reason to be optimistic going forward. Freshman guard Marie-Eve Martin exhibited confidence and savvy far beyond her years, and joined Him-Lazarenko as the only other player to average double-figures in scoring. Fellow rookies Helene Bibeau and Francoise Charest were also impressive, and should improve dramatically before the start of next season.

With a go-to player in Him-Lazarenko, a confident shooter in Martin, and a cast of young, solid contributors, look for the Martlets to take a big step in league play next year. While the veteran leadership of seniors Nathifa Weekes and Stephanie Bergeron will be missed, the future for McGill women’s basketball is bright. A year from now, expect the Martlets to be coming off yet another title game, but this time, with a different result.

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