The OCAA needs to wake up and treat their athletes with the respect they have earned with their play.
Unfortunately, the Thunder’s loss to Humber at the OCAA Women’s Basketball Provincial Championship meant that they would have to play in a bronze semi-final game at 10 a.m. the very next morning. If the Thunder won that game which they did they would have to play another game at 5 p.m. later that day.
Would the OUA let that happen? No! Would the CIS let that happen? No! Is the OCAA just trying to prove that they are the “bush league” compared to their university cousins? Seems like it.
Let me do some logistics here. The Thunder had played on Thursday at 3 p.m. against St. Clair, stayed to watch part of the 6 p.m. game and then went back to the hotel to call it a night.
Friday, they played and lost a hard fought and emotionally draining thriller against the eventual champion Humber Hawks at 6 p.m.
The game ended around 7:45 p.m. and the team returned to the hotel around 8 p.m. with tears and vomit from a devastating stomach that was just beginning to become a story in the tournament.
So in its infinite wisdom, the OCAA thinks it makes competitive sense for this team to play the next morning.
I watched this tournament. I saw the emotional and physical beating these players went though over those three days. To make those players possibly play three games in 24 hours is completely insane.