Volume 96, Issue 69
Friday, January 31, 2003
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Purple Pipe: men's hockey and J-Gro
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Niru
Somayajula/Gazette |
| THAT BALL IS NOTHIN' COMPARED TO THE PURPLE PIPE. Jimmy Grozelle holds the real trophy, the Purple Pipe, along with the 50 point ball that was presented to him at Wednesday night's game. |
This past weekend
was a huge one for Western athletics, so choosing the Purple Pipe winner
was not an easy task.
On Friday night at Thompson Arena, the billing for the Lakehead/Western
hockey game was unparalleled, and big performances ran rampant. Western
left winger Ryan Held stole the show with a four-goal performance in a
9-2 win over the Thunderwolves. OK, so he gets the coveted Purple Pipe,
right? Not after Saturday.
Jimmy Grozelle threw a monkey wrench into the Pipe proceedings by dropping
50 points on the University of Waterloo on Saturday afternoon in a 95-92
overtime win for the Mustangs. That high-point total just happened to
be the best single game scoring performance in Western basketball history
and seventh in Canadian history. Try these stats on for size – 17
for 20 from the floor, five for six from beyond the arc and 11 for 12
from the free throw line. So Grozelle gets the Pipe (which he received
two weeks ago as well). But wait, the hockey team still had to play their
second game that night against Lakehead.
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| Dave Picard/Gazette |
Western right winger
and former Purple Pipe winner, Tim Zafiris, decided he was going to pop
home a hat trick against Lakehead in a 5-4 win. Not only did Zafiris turn
the trick, but his final goal was also the game winner and he had his
nose right in the mix of all the rough stuff on Friday night.
Oh boy, we've got a mess now.
Now throw into the mix that Western goalie Mike D'Alessandro played great
in both games against Lakehead and Darren Mortier had two power play goals
on Saturday night, while Joe Talbot netted two the night before.
A big dilemma faced the already strenuous process of deciding the weekly
Purple Pipe winner. Well, we can't not give it to Grozelle, but Held and
Zafiris had such great games against a great team, as their squad put
to rest any rumours that they were not up for the challenge of repeating
as National Champions. Arguments ensued, outside opinions were consulted,
facts were double checked and still no clear-cut winner. Well, hell, our
Pipe had enough love to go around, so we gave this week's Purple Pipe
to Jimmy Grozelle and the whole damn hockey team.
– Ryan Hickman