JUST DAYS REMAIN BEFORE THE OUA EAST GIANTS TIP OFF AT TD PLACE ARENA
The best basketball game that the lovely city of Ottawa has to offer is coming up this Friday on Feb. 6 at TD Place Arena. Who are the teams? Well, you probably could have guessed if you are not a casual, it’s the U of O Gee-Gees facing the Carleton Ravens for the annual Capital Hoops Classic. With over 7,000 fans flooding the stadium to see the most highly anticipated game in the OUA Basketball regular season, you wouldn’t want to miss it—so get your tickets here.
This year’s Capital Hoops certainly won’t be like last year’s as the Gees are still trying to find their footing due to both teams having lost a lot of talent since last season. Looking at the all-time series however, it is certain that the Gees have been underdogs, with the Raven men’s team leading 13-5, and the women’s 12-5.
Currently, the Capital Hoops win streak for the Gees men’s squad is going on two years now, but the women’s squad has lost for the past four years.
Hopefully, women’s basketball’s head coach Rose-Anne Joly can break the Capital Hoops curse. With the help of the OUA’s fourth and second leading scorers Bailey Russell and Allie McCarthy, the team poses a serious threat on offense, but will have to train hard on the defensive end if they want to stop the Ravens.
The previous game between these two teams was very close, ending in a final score of 64-63 for the Ravens.
In the regular season, the Gees are 10-8, and are on a two game winning streak, having beaten Algoma by 40 points and Lakehead by 10. They sure do have some serious momentum coming into Capital Hoops.
The Men’s team, led by coach James Derouin, is looking to extend their winning streak to three years. The team has been on absolute fire throughout the regular season. Despite starting the season off slow, they are now on a four-game winning streak and are heading into Friday’s match-up with a 12-6 record.
The two teams are both at the top of the OUA East standings, but the Ravens are leading the charge with four more wins than the Gees. It will be a battle of offence versus defence as the Gees post the third-best offence in the league, thanks to their big three scorers, Brock Newton, Owen Kenney, and Alec Phaneuf, whereas the Ravens post the best defence in the league by a large margin.
May the best team win, and may TD Place Arena be packed with Gee-Gees fans—let’s cheer on the Gees as they take on the formidable foe from across the canal.
