Upon further review
photo by Alex Martin
Mural, mural, on the wall...
SOME STUDENTS SEE it every day. Not the ones who live on campus (though they certainly could), but the ones who take the bus in from the east and south ends of the city. As they look through the windows on the approach to campus, they see the Sports Complex come into view. While they might notice the Gee-Gees logo, or glance at the sign for the new Draft pub, they will no doubt see the giant face of a hockey goalie.
It may be hard for those students to imagine, but just last year those windows adorning the front of the Sports Complex had more vacancies than the Bates Motel. The university was never very good at promoting its athletes around campus, and that could always be seen by the bareness of our building walls. No banners, no flags, no posters.
That was until last spring, however, when Sports Services went on a blitz of their own by hanging large posters of Gee-Gee athletes around campus. Now, students can’t walk through Montpetit Hall (Warren Ward) or beside Morriset Library (Matt Bolduc) or across from the Sports Complex (various athletes) without seeing a determined face looking back at them in garnet and grey. The large placards stare at those below like stained-glass windows featuring religious figures overlooking church pews.
While they’re certainly a welcome addition, it’s unfortunate that one stands out way more than the others—yes, that mural with the giant goalie face, featuring third-year Riley Whitlock, on the front windows of the Sports Complex. Not that it’s a bad picture, or that the guy is bad (he’s a great goalie, actually) but it’s what the university wants him to represent.
As the largest and most visible poster of all, it garners the greatest attention for whichever team it showcases. What did men’s hockey do in order to deserve it? Perhaps the reasoning behind it is that Ottawa is a hockey city. Everyone here knows the sport, plays it, or knows someone who does. We’re willing to pay big bucks and head out to Kanata just to sit and watch it.
Maybe the reason, then, is that it promotes our city’s favourite sport. But shouldn’t it be promoting the university’s best sport instead?
Men’s hockey, though popular and fun to watch, has not been hugely successful in recent years. The team finished 12-11-5 last season, leaving them in last place in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Far East division. The year before? 14-12-2, good for third place. The year before that? Same position, only they were 11-12-3. The last time the team won their division was 2003–04.
A more successful team, or at least one certainly worth showcasing more to the city, is women’s soccer. The team finished 9-2-3 in the OUA East last year, which was good for second place. They made it to the OUA Finals and advanced to the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) national championships. They finished in first place the year before, going 13-2-1, and they followed that up with a trip to nationals too. In fact, they’ve made it to nationals four years in a row, and they even won a championship in 1996. As of Sept. 14, they’re 119-14-39 all-time in the regular season.
Where is their poster? Walk over to to Matt Anthony Field. If you look at the back wall of the Sports Complex from there, you’ll see two smaller posters. One has defensive back Chayce Elliot of men’s football. The other one is shared by an anonymous women’s rugby player, and a women’s soccer player.
The front windows were already taken.
