Hello sports fans, it's time to lift the lid off the local athletics scene and see what's cooking.
For the appetizer, I'll start with university basketball.
Fans attending Laurentian University women's basketball games
over the years have grown accustomed to bearing witness to many
great individual and team efforts.
This past Saturday was no different.
During a lopsided 107-41 win over RMC, Lady Vees' forward
Cassandra Carpenter smashed the OUA all-time career rebound
record. With 21 points and eight rebounds, Carpenter set a new
mark for rebounds for a career with 781.
It was the Lady Vees' eighth straight win.
It is absolutely mind-blowing when you look at what Carpenter
has achieved in four seasons.She was an unknown rookie and has
turned into one of the most dominating female players in
Canada.
The five-foot-11 Kanata native has kept OUA record book
officials busy.
Here's just a sample of other notable achievements Carpenter
has established in the history book.
She holds down the most points scored in one season with 499
and also owns third place for one season with 427.
For rebounds in one season, Carpenter is entrenched in the
second and third overall spots with 230 and 215,
respectively.
Entering this season, Carpenter was sixth in OUA all-time
scoring with 1,259 points. She has piled up 396 points so far
this season.
What's really scary about Carpenter's accomplishments is she
has the chance to improve on all her statistics next season as
she has one year of eligibility remaining.
Who knows? One day Carpenter might be on a Canadian national
team representing our country. It could happen because she's
that darn good.
Devoted fans of the men's team had plenty to cheer about this
weekend as well. Going into the weekend, the Voyageurs had
dropped seven straight games. Big performances were needed if
the team was going to keep any playoff chances alive.
Those performances came from Brody Bishop and Lucas Wiebanga.
Both men led the way by shooting out the lights. In the two
wins, Bishop supplied 38 points, while Wiebanga knocked in
31.
The wins kept Laurentian in the hunt. They're two points out of
the last playoff spot, held by Ryerson, who lost both their
weekend games.
This Friday at the Ben Avery Gymnasium, Laurentian and Ryerson
take to the court at 8 pm. This game could decide who goes on
to the big dance and who goes home crying.  It should be a
great game.
Now, for the main course…a dish of cross-country skiing
news.
Cross Country Canada (CCC) is encouraging female skiers across
the nation to celebrate International Women's Day during the
months of February and March by organizing a Ski Day.
And they're offering plenty of help.
By checking out the CCC website (
www.cccski.com
), interested individuals can easily find all the information
they need to host a Ski Day.
Once on the website, scroll down the left side, look for the
Archive title and click the January link. It will bring up news
items for the month and click on the story entitled, Organize a
Women's Cross Country Ski Day.  This site has seven great
tips on how to organize a day and 11 things to consider. It
also gives contacts for skiing experts for further advice and a
sample agenda, showing how easily a fun day can be planned.
Next, is dessert: a serving of NHL stuff.
Valley East boy Andrew Brunette is having a career year with
the Colorado Avalanche. The stocky six-foot-one, 212-pound
forward has 19 goals and 46 points in his first 52 games.
He's on pace to break his previous single season best marks in
goals and points. Brunette is on course to score 29 goals and
71 points. His previous best for goals was last season with the
Avalanche, when he popped 24. His previous best for points was
in 2001-02, when he played for Minnesota, with 69.
Brunette is now in his eighth full season in the NHL. He has
come a long way from his days in the OHL, where he was one of
the most prolific scorers.
Brunette once scored 62 goals and 100 assists in just 66 games
in 1992-93. He wasn't given much a chance to make it at the
highest level, but his determination and hard work ethic has
made him into a consistent and well-respect professional.
And here's a little snack. The Cambrian women's volleyball team
has made a statement to the rest of the OCAA they're real
contenders for the league championship this year.
Back on Jan. 13, the squad lost 3-1 to Algonquin, dropping
their record to 8-3. Since then, the women have been red hot.
They have racked up four straight wins, including most recently
a decisive 3-0 victory over Durham (who was 11-2 at the
time).
Overall, the women are now 11-3 and hold down first place in
the Central East Division.
Cambrian is mentioned in the same breath as other powerhouse,
championship-calibre clubs such as Nipissing, Humber, Algonquin
and Durham.
Leading the way is Laura Fowler, who's one of the best players
in the league. She's a league leader in kills (155) and
points-per-game with 4.73.
The Golden Shield round out their regular season with a match
up against Georgian College Saturday, at 2 pm at Cambrian.
