The new school year offers up new friends, new classes and a new look for Golden Gaels teams. The summer months—full of coaching changes, recruiting efforts, training programs and competitions in Canada and around the world—have produced several teams to watch this year.
The sports story of last season was the men’s and women’s rowing teams, who each brought home an OUA banner.
The women will seek to defend the banner with the return of former Journal Athlete of the Week Jenny Hogsden, who last year finished second in the women’s single at the national championships. The men’s team returns lightweights Simon Gowdy and captain Dave Carnegie, both training hard to defend their crown.
“We are excited, [and] I expect another solid team,” Carnegie said. “Our program has been strong enough to recruit some great guys.” This recruiting class includes some potentially top-flight rowers. A strong rookie class suggests that there are still spots up for grabs on the roster; many of the current top athletes had never been in a rowing shell when they arrived on Queen’s campus in their first year.
The rowing team trained hard this summer, with two female rowers and nine male rowers participating in the Canada Summer Games. Gowdy participated last week in the U23 worlds and was a gold medalist last year at the competition.
“We are hoping to win OUAs again,” said Sarah Roth, women’s rowing captain. “We are working hard at placing higher at Nationals.” Many other teams on campus this year will also be under the microscope. The focus will be most intense on Kirk Muller and the men’s hockey team. Muller, a former NHLer and Stanley Cup champion, takes over behind the bench from departing coach Chris McDonald. The hockey team, which finished out of the playoffs last season, has struggled on the ice for the past couple of years, but the addition of Muller may raise the spirits of the Gaels players and fans.
Gone from last year’s team are three of the top defencemen—captain Tyson Plesuk, Sean Leathong and Brett Dean—along with leading scorer Mark Norman. Yet there are still some bright spots remaining, including former OHLer Brad Walford and Brady Olsen, who scored all ten of his goals in the second half of last season.
The women’s hockey team, which has consistently been one of the best in the OUA, will have to contend for a playoff spot without Elizabeth Chiasson. Chiasson, Journal female athlete of the year in 2004, leaves after becoming the OUA’s all-time leading scorer. Michelle Clark-Crumpton and Keri Baker, both OUA all-stars, return to the Gaels and the hope is that they can contribute enough to dull the sting of Chiasson’s graduation.
Although Muller is the highest-profile new coach on campus, both the men’s basketball team and the women’s volleyball team have new leaders at the helm.
Coach Chris Oliver, who helped the men’s basketball Gaels to their first record of .500 or better since the 1970s, has moved to coach the Windsor Lancers. Filling the void is former assistant coach Rob Smart, brother of Dave Smart, head coach for the national champion Carleton Ravens.
Coach Smart welcomes back Neal Dawson, the OUA East defensive player of the year, who has been training with the national development team. Jordan Balaban, one of the many players the Gaels tried at point guard last year, returns to Kingston with a bronze medal as a member of the Canadian national team at the Maccabia Games in Israel.
With a front court of Dawson, Brendan O’Leary, and Cam Eby, the Gaels keep together a unit that is one of the most talented in the OUA. Their off-season improvement should help give the Gaels a chance at posting a winning record.
The women’s basketball team loses Amy Goodday, one of the top players in the OUA last year, and Sarah Cameron, who both graduated from Queen’s. They leave former Journal Athlete of the Week Claire Meadows and Nathalie MacNeil to do most of the scoring. The Gaels must find players to replace Cameron and Goodday in the post in order to return to the playoffs.
Chris Galbraith takes over as coach of the women’s volleyball team, replacing Jamie Mastorakos, who was with the team for four years. Galbraith has been an assistant coach for the men’s volleyball team for three years and is taking over a young women’s team.
Returning from last year’s team, which narrowly missed the playoffs, is OUA East second team all-star Amanda Digel. This year’s team will have to mold together quickly if they hope to return to the playoffs.
The women’s soccer team, which finished second in the OUA last year and won bronze at Nationals, returns CIS all-Canadian and former Athlete of the Week Eilish McConville.
Coach Dave McDowell said he is confident in his team’s ability.
“We expect to be at the top of the league,” he said. “Yet it will take us a while to mold together.”
The Queen’s football team went through a major adjustment last season after the graduation of two-time Hec Creighton trophy winner Tom Denison. The football team is also waiting to know whether running back Bryan Crawford and wide receiver Iain Fleming will return for their final year of eligibility. Both players are currently on CFL practice rosters, but can make the decision in August to return to school.
The football team welcomes a recruiting class as healthy competition for the Gaels incumbents.
Leading up to their next university seasons, several Gaels will represent Canada on the world stage. Along with Gowdy at the U23 championships and Balaban at the Maccabia Games, Kate Chambers—the goalkeeper for the women’s soccer team—will be playing for Canada in this summer’s World University Games, and Braden Novakowski will compete in Track and Field at the Pan Am Junior Athletics Championships.
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