Getting in on the final thoughts parade

Mark Masters (right) served in a variety of roles for SSN Canada during the national championship including as play-by-play voice, in-studio host, cameraman and sideline reporter.

What a tremendous tournament. There's so much to write it's hard to know where to start. But here goes:

- Webcasting is such a great tool for universities to use in promoting their athletes and events. During the four-day tournament every official from every university I ran into said something along the lines of, "We need to do more of this in the future." I certainly hope this results in more university sport webcasting (especially for every national championship) in the year to come.

- Keeping that in mind the University of Ottawa deserves tremendous credit for making the webcasting happen this weekend and also putting on a tremendous show. John Bower and the entire uOttawa staff did a great job making sure the championship ran smoothly.

- The great thing about university athletes is accessibility. I think what really made our coverage work was the unbelievable access we were given to players, coaches and officials. In the professional sports world you get about a minute with the top stars, but at the university level in Canada you get to really talk to the people.

- Some of my favourite moments during the competition included interviewing fans and friends of the players. There is so much more to a national championship than just the games. A national championship brings together an entire community and that's what we tried to show on the webcast all week long.

- As for my thoughts on the final outcome. Alberta was a game team, they had experience and focus and a quiet confidence that was quite impressive. McGill had the talent necessary but this was always going to be the Pandas tournament.

Thanks to everyone who tuned in throughout the championship in greater-than-expected numbers. I certainly hope you enjoyed watching the tournament as much as we enjoyed putting the coverage together.

- Mark

Championship news from around the country: Final wrap

Here's a quick glimpse of how the country's media covered the final day of the 2007 CIS women's hockey championship.

The Ottawa Citizen (and most Canwest papers) ran this story about Alberta's win Monday night.

The Sun Media chain counters with their own wrap-up story. You can read it HERE.

The Edmonton Journal focuses on Lindsay McAlpine and her remarkable journey to tournament MVP. You can read the lengthy story HERE.

The Toronto Star and other publication picked up the Canadian Press story on the championship game. Take a look by clicking HERE.

The Gateway, Alberta's student newspaper posted THIS story to their website. It features a nice picture of two Panda players embracing after the win last night. Meanwhile, in Montreal the McGill Tribune talks about the championship that got away for their Martlets. Read it HERE.

Even our national broadcaster, the CBC, jumped into the fray by posting THIS story on their website.

Christine Rivet says their will be no "bronze lining" after Laurier's upset loss to Manitoba in the bronze-medal game. Her analysis in the Waterloo Record can be found HERE.

And finally, the Chronicle-Herald in Halifax finally produced some championship coverage with a brief story about Moncton's fifth-place showing. You can view it HERE.

Considering all the media coverage I think it's safe to say university sports are on the rise across the country.

Final thought from the Sidelines

Laura Thompson (right) covered the national championship as part of the SSN Canada crew as a sideline reporter. Here she gives her final thoughts on the tournament.

Well, the weekend is over and what a weekend it’s been. It was a really great experience for everybody. I had so much fun talking to the players, coaches, parents and fans and getting a glimpse into each of the teams. For all of those, who let me talk to you, thanks. We really appreciated all the time you gave us this weekend.

Although, I’ve got to say it was a little melancholy, too, because it reminded me of some of my old volleyball teams and just how great a team dynamic can be. Lindsay McAlpine of the Pandas summed it up perfectly last night when she said, “These 25 girls are my best friends.”

For some of these girls, they played their last hockey games this weekend. Others will be back next year and now with some CIS experience under their belts, but the teams will never be quite the same as they are now. It’s one of the those things that you really need to appreciate while you have it because it’s not going to last forever and the season always seems too short once it’s over. But, for all of these girls, playing at the CIS championship will always be a great memory.

As for me, working with the SSN team was fantastic. Everyone has worked so hard this weekend and I think the results prove it. For my final thoughts, I just want to thank everyone for the great weekend, Mark, Alayne, Stuart, Warren, Mr. Burton, Nick, Dan, Alex, but especially Kevin Burton because without the brains of the operation, the webcast might never have even happened! It’s been a great learning experience. I mean, how many people can say they were on the ice during the "Panda"monium? I hope I'll be back next year and I promise, I'll work on my puns.

Final Thoughts

Warren Meredith (right) was the voice of the Gee-Gees all season long calling the games on the Streaming Sports Network. During the national championship he appeared as an in-studio host as well as in the booth handling play-by-play.

The Alberta Pandas demonstrated why they win year in year out. Two teams from the west walked away with medals and that's a huge reason why any fans of women's hockey should be happy about the result of the gold medal game. Alberta's victory secures a second seat for another western team to advance to the championships next season.

The Manitoba Bisons demonstrated the perfect reason for another western team to advance, their bronze medal. With all due respect to the QSSF, Concordia and Carleton are still building towards the point where they should be at this tournament, one of them making it to the tournament next season would in my opinion only mock what the championships top six should look like.

The Ottawa Gee-Gees finished above Concordia and Carleton, yet they still lost all their games at this tournament. The Gee Gees should feel a little better knowing the way that Alberta and Laurier finished the tournament, and should be extremely proud of fighting back from being down three in their 6-5 loss to Moncton. It was a fantastic tournament where the right teams took home the hardware. This was a great experience for myself and everybody at SSN, one more time I'd like to thank all the many people who helped us along the way.

Something had to give

Two great teams who had faced off in the finals time and time again. This time they played to decide who would have the oppertunity to face McGill. The Alberta Pandas and the Wilfred Laurier Golden Hawks played a thrilling first period. The Pandas owned the first ten minutes and the Hawks the second half. In the second the Hawks had the perfect oppertunity with two five on three powerplay situations to get right back in the game, but the Pandas killed off the penalties and returned with a ton of momentum. Halfway through the second Wielgosz was pulled from the net and replaced by Knox, it was 3-0. Knox played fantastic and gave her team the chance to come back into the game and regain some respect but at the end of the game Alberta was victorious by a score of 4-2. The most interesting thing that will be seen tomorrow at the gold medal game is the goaltenders. Labonte and Tarleton are still in my eyes relatively untested in this tournament and one of them will be the hero tomorrow night. Both teams chased the starting netminder of all the teams they played in this tourney, so does Labonte or Tarleton get chased tomorrow? It's going to be a fantastic game. Finally, the Ottawa Gee-Gees will play against Moncton for 5th...a meaningless game? Not if you ask the twelve Gee-Gees who will be playing in there last game wearing the Garnet and Grey.

Should body checking be allowed in women's hockey?

We were lucky to have Hockey Canada scout Wally Kozak on the webcast Saturday and during my interview with him he had a lot to say about the women's game in general. You can watch the archived interview HERE.

One thing that stuck out to me was Kozak's comments on body checking. He had just come from a scouting trip south of the border where he watching the NCAA women's hockey championship. He said the American game featured more body contact, not full body checking, but enough to get the tempo up and raise the level of competition.

Kozak suggested any move to allow more body contact in the CIS women's game would need to be accompanied by careful refereeing but it could be done. So I put the question out to the blog universe: should Canadian university women's hockey feature full body checking, more body contact or just keep the same rules?

Two days in the book, two days to go

Stuart Bowden is providing colour commentary for all games this weekend. Today he offers his insight on the championship thus far.

Things have played out pretty much as we have expected so far. McGill sits atop Pool A with a win over Manitoba. And we knew the Gee-Gees were going to be in tough in Pool B with games against Laurier and Alberta.

What no one expected was the undisciplined play of the young Moncton squad. Other then the Moncton fans, I think I was the most excited person to see this team play. They seemed to be just like our Ottawa team from 2003-04 that used its' inexperience to make a run to the silver medal at nationals. But after Moncton took 12 minor penalties against Manitoba, my excitement turned to disappointment. Maybe they need this trip to the Canadians to gain some experience for next year.

They say that women's hockey is a small world and that has been especially true this week. It has been great to mingle in the crowd with coaches, players, and just general hockey people that I have meet in the past. Sometimes I strike up conversations between periods and almost forget to get back to the broadcast booth.

And finally to my choice of shirt colors. It has just happened that the last two times I have called McGill games, they have fallen on a Friday. As a government employee in the National Capital Region, we are encouraged to wear red on Fridays to support the troops, an initiative started by the wives of troops at Canadian Forces Base Petawawa. Since it has been successful for McGill though, I have informed the five other coaches that I will wear their team colours for the right price.