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Rain, the Unwelcome Visitor Again
Saturday, October 20, 2007
by BillMartin
Rain has once again forced changes to the National Championship schedule. While day one games were completed as planned, Ottawa and Durham woke to a postponement of their Saturday morning match-up.

Overnight rain, at times heavy, washed out the fileds for the planned 10:00 am encounter. Officials were confident the field at Kiwanis Park could be groomed in time for a 1:00 o'clock start. However, the alternate field at University de Moncton was declared out of service for the day.

Tournament organizers were forced to put their heads together to re-work the schedule on the single field at Kiwanis. If the weather clears as forecast, officials feel they can manage the four games that remain in the balance of today's round robin.

The big problem is whether the series results in any ties in the standings. CIBA/ABIC rules insist that no team is eliminated by mathematics, so tie breaker games were tentatively scheduled for later today. By delaying the round robin, tie breakers could become a sticky point affecting tomorrow's playoff schedule.

At the end of Friday's round, Concordia was 2 and 0 but ABU, Dalhousie and UNB were all at 1 and 1 while Ottawa and Durham trailed at 0 and 1. With the next game scheduled between those two, one of them was going to create a four team deadlock.

Rain has been a most unwelcome participant in the last number of national tournaments. Kevin Bullock fears, "I'll go down in history as the league President who couldn't finish a tournament." He was referring to the 2004 event which was completely washed out after the round robin. That championship was awarded to Queens as they led all teams after the prelims.

Bullock's term as President has spanned the last four years and rain has played an unfortunate role in each of the tournaments under his watch. Not surprisingly, Bullock says, "I hate rain."

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