Pronghorns and Pandas to honour Sluggo with memorial game
This one is for Sluggo. The University of Lethbridge Pronghorns women’s rugby team hits the University of Lethbridge Stadium at 2 p.m. today to host the Alberta Pandas in Canada West action, a game that carried significant playoff implications for both teams.
However, today’s game will take on another significance as both the Pronghorns and Pandas honour a coach who has left his stamp on both programs when the teams host the inaugural Ric Suggitt Memorial game, named after the Pronghorns coach dubbed Sluggo who passed away suddenly at the end of June.
“It’s special on two fronts,” said Pronghorns head coach Neil Langevin. “First, to have another tribute to Sluggo’s name, he was just such a charismatic figure and so important for both programs. Even when he was away from the programs, he didn’t come to our program until later, he had a big influence on our program because I’ve used a lot of his philosophies and he had a huge impact on me. He also had a big impact through coaching the Pandas as well as his relationship with (Pandas head coach) Matt Parrish.
“Matt and I are best friends and we talked about it right away, to commemorate Sluggo, but to discuss the meaning of the rivalry between the two schools, a healthy competition.”
Langevin and his family have donated a trophy that will be presented annually to the winner of the Canada West regular season game between the Pronghorns and Pandas going forward. Today’s tilt looms large in the standings for both teams.
The Pronghorns (1-2) lead the Pandas (0-3) by four points for fourth place and the final spot in the Canada West tournament.
With a win, the Pronghorns could move up to as high as third, but a Pandas win potentially could eliminate the Horns from the tournament depending on bonus points and points for and against differential.
Langevin noted his young roster that hasn’t been afraid to roll up their sleeves and work hard this season.
“They’ve been keen to learn. We’ve shown glimpses of (what) I would describe as topnotch rugby and there are other times where we have breakdowns and things that aren’t easy to teach in a month or two. But they’re getting stronger.”
As for success in today’s game, it’ll come down to simple defence.
“They have a lot of large talent and ball carriers and we have to make sure we stop them and tackle them,” said Langevin. “It’s really as simple as that for us. If we can tackle them, our offence will take care of itself. We have a very athletic group. We move the ball really well from sideline to sideline. Our offence is clicking pretty well. Our big focus is defence. We work on it every day on getting into position and then making effective tackles.”
Today’s game will also be one of the Canada West Games of the Week on Canada West TV and will be free for all viewers at
http://canadawest.yaretv.com/.