Go back 14 years at Carleton.
It’s 1998, and the university is creeping towards cutting its football program. Poor on-field performance year after year is an instigator. In 1998 alone, the team finishes with a record of 1-7 and misses the playoffs. Next to football, in ‘98 there is no hockey program; it will be 2007 before Carleton has a team. There isn’t even a rink here.
The Ravens men’s basketball team is still adolescent in its development, but it is about to take centre stage nationally, as it is the year 1 B.D.S. — one year Before Dave Smart. In the years between 1999-2012, the men’s basketball team, with Smart at the helm, will go on to capture eight national championships, one shy of the all-time Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) record.
The women’s basketball team has been winless in two entire seasons of play. On Nov. 3, 1998, they snap a losing streak of 44 games. In the fall of 1998, men’s and women’s soccer finish with a combined record of 10-12-4 and both teams miss the playoffs.
Jump forward. It is March 2013, and it is a whole different ball game at Carleton University.
“This year would be the best in our history,” Carleton’s director of athletics Jennifer Brenning said.
Seven varsity sports teams have been in post-season competition this year. Of those teams, two — men’s soccer and men’s and women’s water polo — showed themselves at nationals this fall. The women’s soccer team had their own playoff run and put forth a solid effort, but lost to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees on Oct. 28 in a game that could’ve gone either way.
Coming a long way from their former image of the late ‘90s, the women’s basketball team finished the regular season with a record of 15-5, and team captain Alyson Bush has propelled her squad to the CIS Final 8 in Regina, Sask. from March 15-17.
Head coach of the men’s basketball team Smart was awarded CIS coach of the year for the sixth time, and his Ravens are set to compete in the men’s Final 8 tournament this week in Ottawa as well. They are on the hunt for that glorious ninth national championship, which would push their already supreme record past Ken Shields and the University of Victoria Vikes.
Next to men’s basketball, two other varsity teams are leaving their mark at Carleton. Women’s fencing and women’s water polo took command at the OUA finals this year and both teams reclaimed a championship for the second year straight.
Adding to this list of firsts is the promising campaign of the men’s hockey team, who competed in the OUA East division finals for the first time in their history. They showed they would not be eliminated without a fight; a fight that lasted four overtime periods in a decisive third game, which resulted in a heartbreaking loss.
Inevitably, it is the buzz around the return of a football program, that met a bitter end 14 years ago, which completes this sports package. The world they enter seems poles apart from the one they left. Head coach Steve Sumarah, who brings to Carleton a squad with a tremendous amount of hype behind them said, “With so many teams going to nationals, you’re putting the pressure on me to make sure we do OK out there.”
With this amount of success at the varsity level, it gives one the impression that sport is thriving at Carleton University, which Brenning sums up in one word: experience.
“To have a successful program you need strong leadership and coaches that understand what it takes to be successful,” she said. “We have a group of coaches this year that have been there, they know what it takes, and they have a tremendous amount of experience.”
