Jan. 9

Pronghorns Looking For First Win

A favourite quote from Coach Dan Vanhooren of the Calgary Dinos says ” Don’t assume anything … assumption is the mother of all foul-ups!” ( not those words exactly, but the quote from Coach Bobby Knight wouldn’t be suitable for this family bulletin). One might be tempted to assume the Dinos should sweep away the 0-12 Lethbridge Pronghorns in the two Canada West League games this Friday and Saturday at ‘The Jack”, but Coach V will surely be impressing upon his lads the necessity to come ready to play their best each and every time the ball is thrown up.

On paper it should be a blowout, but ‘that’s why they play the games’. Calgary needs to maintain momentum and develop the killer instinct to compete at a high level in every Canada West contest regardless of the opponent, and protecting home court is paramount if they are to claim top spot in the Central Division. So who are these Pronghorns, and why are they struggling?

Lethbridge lost four starters, their 4 high scorers, and two good posts off the bench.
Even with those guys last season, the ‘Horns were 10-20 overall.
Their ‘best five’ appear to be …
Ryan Anderson, from Churchill , Calgary … an undersized, but aggressive post man
Richard Steed, from Scarlett, Calgary, veteran guard who can lead the team, improved scorer
Danhue Lawrence, new Christmas recruit from Toronto, has a big rep, can score
Quinn Van Gaalen, 1st year guard from Foremost, good shooter and hard worker
Shawn Nelson, tsf shooting guard from LCC, great outside threat
they are losing games by an average of 24 pts. per game, and losing the battle on the boards by 12 per game. They shoot at a 40% clip while opponents are 50%. The ‘Horns are even lousy free throw shooters … 57% on the year compared to 71% for their opponents.
The bottom line is that Coach Mike Connelly has his work cut out for him in trying to salvage some positives for his younger players, and keep trying to make progress towards better times for his team.

Meanwhile, the Dinos have a couple of players on the mend from weekend injuries against the Bears; Ross Bekkering has a bad ankle, but is likely to recover and see some action, while Tyler Fidler is dealing with a painful thigh bruise, which will need treatment this week. The Calgary power inside really appears to be too much for Lethbridge, and we might expect to see a little longer bench this week from the Dinos with back-ups itching for some action.

Jeff Price will battle a familiar foe in Steed, a point guard rival when Beaverbrook played Scarlett in Calgary High School games. Price is steadily establishing himself among the top floor generals in the league, but will get no quarter from Steed, who has been a thorn in the Dinos’ side in past contests. Cody Darrah snapped a shooting slump last weekend, and he should figure prominently in the two Lethbridge games, while the steady play of Josh Lovestone will surely buy him some floor time as well.

Any time the opponent is Lethbridge, it is a big game for Henry Bekkering and brother Ross (if we keep calling him ‘brother Ross’, he may feel he’s destined for the priesthood!). Henry leads the Calgary scoring parade with
18 pts. per game, while Ross the Younger is averaging a double double with 10 boards and 11.5 pts. per game. Robbie Sihota is scoring at a 14 pt. per game pace, and Price leads all free throw shooters with a stellar 93%, a full 10% higher than 2nd place Alex Steele from Alberta.

Notes …

> the Dinos rose to #4 in the CIS coaches poll this week …

Last Ranking League Record Total Votes
1. Carleton (43) #1 10-0 516 votes
2. UBC #4 10-2 430 votes
3. Acadia #2 7-1 331 votes
4. Calgary #7 10-2 317 votes
5. Concordia #3 4-2 267 votes
6. Guelph #10 7-2 259 votes
7. Ottawa #12 9-1 247 votes
8. Brandon #5 11-1 191 votes
9. Alberta #9 8-4 136 votes
10. Cape Breton NR 8-1 129 votes
11. St. Francis Xavier NR 6-2 114 votes
12. Brock #15 5-4 99 votes
13. Toronto #13 8-2 97 votes
14. Saint Mary’s #6 5-3 82 votes
15. Western NR 4-5 55 votes

How Acadia is at #3 is baffling … the Axemen lost to friggin’ Manitoba, who are a sterling 3-16 overall ! Rankings are so subjective, and bias leaks in, of course. The difficulty is the wildcard spot at Nationals, which is largely based on these season long rankings.

> UBC Edges Clan Tuesday at SFU … T-Birds rode the coattails of two bench performers, Dwayne LaBranche (26 pts. and Kyle Watson 20) to beat SFU.

> When queried about top grade 12s in Alberta this season, a veteran Alberta HS coach asked “Do you mean besides Dom?” That would be Dominyc Coward, the 6′6″ forward , who plays for Allan Gallup’s Bert Church Chargers in Airdrie, and who is clearly the #1 high school recruit this year.