B1

By BILL HUNT
hunt.bill@dailygleaner.com

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The St. Thomas Tommies have postponed tonight's scheduled Atlantic University Sport Men's Hockey Conference home game against the Saint Mary's Huskies and will make a decision this afternoon on whether they can play Saturday's scheduled game against the Acadia Axemen.

STU head coach and athletic director Mike Eagles said "half the team . . . I think we counted 11" players have displayed flu-like symptoms.

"We don't have anyone who has tested positive for H1N1. At this point, we have 11 guys with the flu and that's where we're at. Whether they're diagnosed with whatever from a doctor, that's where we're at. The doctors are pretty overwhelmed right now. We don't have a doctor waiting to see 20 of our hockey players."

The team tried to conduct a practice yesterday, "but the guys are just not well," he said.

Eagles, who missed practice himself the previous day due to the flu, is "on my way back. I'm hopeful, on a day-by-day basis, that the guys can improve as much I have."

If they do, the Tommies will host the Axemen as scheduled Saturday at 7 p.m. at the LBR.

"We're not going to make a decision until (this) afternoon," he said. "The way this flu has been running, things can kind of turn around. If the guys are feeling (today) like they're feeling right now, we can't play. But we won't know until then. We're not committing to cancelling Saturday because we want to see what the guys are like (today)."

The Huskies have already been forced to postpone a pair of games, including one here last Saturday night against the University of New Brunswick Varsity Reds, due to flu-like symptoms among their own players. They've played just five games, fewest of any team in the AUS.

Eagles called the AUS office first and was referred to Saint Mary's athletic director Steve Sarty.

"You let the other team know that you're not ready to compete, because we have too many guys who are sick," Eagles said.

The V-Reds are going forward as scheduled to Antigonish tonight to face the St. Francis Xavier X-Men and to Halifax on Saturday to face the Dalhousie Tigers. Both are 7 p.m. starts, to be broadcast on CHSR-FM, 97.9 FM.

AUS Soccer

The UNB Varsity Reds, third -place finishers over the regular season schedule, will begin their battle for the Atlantic University Sport Men's Soccer Conference championship today when they face the sixth-place Universite de Moncton Aigles Bleus in the noon hour quarter-final at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

The St. Francis Xavier X-Men and University of Prince Edward Island Panthers square off in the other quarter-final at 3 p.m. Waiting in the wings are the first-place Cape Breton Capers and the second-place Dalhousie Tigers, whose opponents will be determined by today's results.

Semifinal winners meet Sunday at 1 p.m. in the championship game.

Cape Breton Capers midfielder Andrew Rigby was named AUS player of the year after scoring one goal and setting up 12 more for the Capers, who scored 36 goals over the course of the regular season. Max Maund of the St. Francis Xavier X-Men was named the AUS rookie of the year.

Lewis Page, in his 10th season at the helm of the UPEI program, was named the league's coach of the year in a vote of his peers, the third time he's been cited for the honour. The Panthers finished fourth this season with an 8-5-0 mark.

The student-athlete community service award goes to Guiseppe Scichilone of Gondola Point, N.B.

The fifth-year fullback with the Saint Mary's Huskies is a team captain and carries an academic grade point average of 3.29. Scichilone is a member of the Saint Mary's Athlete's Council, participates in the Excel Child Care Programming at Inglis St. Elementary in Halifax, and has volunteered with the 65 Roses for Cystic Fibrosis Run in each of the past three years. He also coordinates intramural soccer at Saint Mary's and hosts open mic sessions at the Gorsebrook lounge for students on campus in his spare time.

AUS basketball

Brent Baker's UNB Varsity Reds host the Dalhousie Tigers in their Atlantic University Sport Men's Basketball Conference regular season debut tonight at 8 p.m. at the UNB Main Gym. The V-Reds are looking to improve on last year's 3-17 finish. UNB also hosts St. Francis Xavier X-Men at 8 p.m. Saturday.

Jeff Speedy's UNB Varsity Reds make their regular season debut against the Dalhousie Tigers tonight at 6 p.m. to lead off the basketball doubleheader. V-Reds are looking to improve on their 8-12 mark and fifth-place finish of a year ago. They host St. FX tomorrow night at 6 p.m. as well.