CHRONICLE 16-17 ISSUE 10

22 The Chronicle February 7- 13, 2017 chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Sports
Romain sets up v-ball team
Logan Caswell
The Chronicle
Megan Romain sets the ball into
the air. Her five teammates on the
wood floor shout in an uproar as
one player smacks the volleyball
over the net. Both teams rally the
ball back and forth. Supporters
stand in awe as Romain jumps up
and blocks the ball from flying over
the net. Her teammates erupt in joy
as the starting setter celebrates winning
the set with her team.
“It all started when I was ten and
playing for the Durham Attack.
The funny thing is they actually cut
me the first time. But they ended
up feeling bad for the players who
didn’t make it and they ended up
making another team,” says Romain.
“My mom actually coached
the other team.”
From one team to another, Romain
bounced between two different
teams before starting at the
Photograph by Logan Caswell
OCAA (Ontario Colleges Athletic
Association) college level. Megan Romain (15) sets up her team against the Seneca Sting.
“I played three years above my
age group so I started playing competitive
with the Durham Attack
during the under 13 years of age
season to the under 16 years of age
season, went to the Scarborough
Diamonds the next year, returned
to the Durham Attack the year after
and finished my last OVA (Ontario
Volleyball Association) season with
the Diamonds before joining the
Durham Lords for the 2015-2016
season,” says Romain.
Durham Attack, one of the OVA
teams, is where Romain found longtime
friend Jayden Kennedy.
Kennedy is now a member of the
San Diego Toreros in California
and played her under-15-years-ofage
season with Romain as teammates
on the Attack.
The two have been best friends
ever since.
Kennedy played three seasons
with Romain for the Durham Attack
during their under 15 to under
17 years of age seasons.
“Megan was my first friend in
the volleyball scene,” says Kennedy.
“Although she’s not the biggest player
on the court, her confidence and
desire to win make her stand out.”
Romain had a great first year as
a Durham Lord. She went on to be
awarded “Rookie of the Year” in
her first season with the Lords. In
18 matches played, she averaged
6.91 assists per set with a 0.59 hitting
percentage.
A positive role model has helped
Romain as she grows her volleyball
career.
Her mom, Lesreen Thomas, a
former player for the OVA’s Centennial
Colts, has been a huge influence
on her volleyball career and
coached her daughter during the
2011 summer season.
“I was and still am a volleyball
player,” says Thomas, who, in her
free time, still plays the middle position
recreationally and also played
at the same level her daughter is
right now.
“I had them with me all the time
while I was in the gym so all my
kids picked it up at a younger age,”
says Thomas.
Now, age 20, Romain is in her
second year of eligibility for the
Durham Lords. She is studying
in the Human Resource program
at Durham College, and has made
an impact on her team on and off
the court.
In her second year, Romain has
taken on more of a leadership role
and is helping other players, such as
Camille Lefaive, adapt to new roles.
“She’s an awesome person. Always
has such a positive spirit and that’s
important because I’ve switched
roles into setting. Taking on a new
position is tough so she has really
become my support system,” says
Lefaive. “I consider her my sister.”
Tony Clarke has coached Romain
for the past two seasons. During
that span, Romain’s team has
only lost one OCAA regular season
game going 19-1 last season before
losing in the bronze medal game.
So far the team has been perfect
this season with a 15-0 record.
“She is small and plays big,” says
Clarke. “Some people underestimate
her because of her size but out
of no where she’ll come up with a
big block at the net.”
Romain continues to draw praise
from those around her.
“There is still so much growth
with Megan. She works hard and
has a great work ethic,” says Clarke.
“She wants the best for the team
and everyone around her.”
As Romain continues her volleyball
career at the college level, she’ll
continue to block opponents at the
net and make sure her teammates
have that perfect set to kill over the
mesh.
With only two games remaining
after last Thursday’s game against
the Canadore Panthers, Romain
has hopes for her team throughout
the rest of the season. “Hopefully I
can help my team win a gold medal.
We haven’t won one since 2002.”
The ball is in the air for the Lords
but with Romain getting used to
her role on the team, the road to
the finish for Durham looks to be
promising.
Fans still love the Generals
Tyler Searle
The Chronicle
Despite trading away their top two
players at the deadline, the Oshawa
Generals’ fan base remains
very loyal.
Just ask any of the close to 6,000
spectators who filled the Tribute
Communities Centre Jan. 29 to
watch Oshawa fall 4-0 to the London
Knights, the second-ranked
junior team in Canada.
“There is not a bad seat in the
house,” said Deb Smid, a long time
Generals fan who grew up in Schumacher,
Ont. While she likes the
arena, she is not a fan of its recent
name change away from its original
moniker—the GM Centre.
“We hate the name Tribute. It’s a
backwards and insignificantly lame
name. We still call it the GM.”
Despite a full house at the game,
the crowd wasn’t too lively.
“General fans are very quiet,”
said Bob Nelson. “There’s a lot of
people sitting on their hands here.”
This was true, as the fans needed
to take direction from the scoreboard
to make some noise.
Despite the relative silence, the
Oshawa Generals have had loyal
fans over their 80 year history. With
junior hockey being limited to players
under the age of 20, franchises
constantly have to shuffle and retool
their teams to come up with new
stars every season.
However, this often means tough
decisions have to be made.
Shannon Bulgeo, who has followed
the Generals for 25 years, was
devastated to learn that the, “heart
and soul,” of the Generals, team
captain Anthony Cirelli and top
defenceman Mitchell Vande Sompel,
were traded to the Erie Otters
and London Knights respectively
earlier this month.“When my husband
came home and told me the
news, I wanted to send my tickets
back. They were traded on the same
day. They got to play one last game
together."
Although many fans, including
Bulgeo and her daughter, were
displeased with the trade, but they
understood why it was done. The
Generals’ management is looking
towards next year in hopes of creating
a team that is strong enough
to compete and host the Memorial
Cup.
Oshawa, wants to prepare their
team as much as possible for next
year, and have deemed this year
lost.
“London is just too good,” said
Bulgeo. “Though we might have
played it better with those two
players. Management are aware
that even though we are strong in
the east, we will be defeated by the
west.” The Generals got draft picks
from the deals, as well as centre Allan
McShane and defenceman Ian
Blacker.
Bulgeo also said that the Generals’
will also need a new goalie for
next year. Their starting goalie, Jeremy
Brodeur, is an average player
in his final year of OHL eligibility.
She said that Kyle Keyser, Sunday’s
starting goalie, simply isn’t good
enough to carry a team.
These are some of the major
issues faced by OHL teams.
Regardless of the decision, the
one common thread that ties them
all together are loyal fans.
“It’s the history,” said Nelson,
who has been attending Oshawa
Generals games since the days of
Bobby Orr in the 1960s. “I’ve been
to all their Memorial Cup runs...
It’s a true saying they have. ‘Once
a General, always a General’. And
that’s true for the fans as much as
the players.”
Alex
Debets
'Backs
need to
work on
reducing
number of
penalties
Men's team
is playing
man down
too often
With three losses in their last four
games, the Ridgebacks men's hockey
team is looking very different
from the team we saw go 5-0 in October.
Currently, the Ridgebacks sit
sixth in Ontario University Athletics’
(OUA) Eastern conference and
have pretty much secured a playoff
spot with only six games left in the
regular season.
Arguably, the Ridgebacks are
set up for their second post-season
run in program history,
and the record doesn’t matter
if they make the playoffs.
The Ridgebacks do have a monkey
on their back, and it’s their penalty
issues.
While nine wins and three losses
at home isn’t bad, only five wins
in fourteen games on the road are
concerning. The problem that is
plaguing the Ridgebacks bench
is not goal scoring, it’s not washy
goaltending, and it’s not fatigue. It’s
penalties. More specifically penalties
on the road.
You cannot win games playing a
man down, especially in a league
as competitive as the Canadian
Interuniversity Sports league
(CIS). A win in this league is never
secured, until the game is over, and
the Ridgebacks have learned this
lesson multiple times, like in their
back to back games against Lakehead.
While the team managed to
hold down a 3-2 win in overtime on
their first game, the following was
met with 18 minutes of penalties,
and a 2-7 loss. This has been the
trend in the 2016-17 season for the
Ridgebacks.
To ensure they do not run themselves
out of the playoffs, the team
needs stop taking so many penalties
on their last two games. The team
doesn’t have an easy run to the playoffs
now either, with games against
the Eastern No. 2 Queen's, and the
team that swept them last year in
the playoffs - UQTR.
It’s not all rainclouds though, this
is one of the best teams the Ridgebacks
men’s hockey program has
seen. But if the team wants to carry
the early success of the season into
the playoffs they need to eliminate
penalty minutes on the road.