Silent Night: Dover Bay Dolphins Quiet the Home Team Collingwood Cavaliers To Advance to Sr. Boys Finals
COLLINGWOOD CAVALIERS Sr. Boys VS DOVER BAY DOLPHINS
DEC. 13TH, 2024
Written by Cam Yates
Pre-game notes
A clash of defending champions is taking place in the second semi-final of the 2024 No Regrets tournament as the reigning provincial AA champions Collingwood Cavaliers take on the reigning AAA champions Dover Bay Dolphins of Nanaimo. Collingwood is currently ranked #3 in AA while Dover Bay, having moved up to AAAA, is ranked #2 behind the uber-talented Spectrum Thunder and just ahead of the Oak Bay Bays at #3. The Island 4A championships are going to be a bloodbath this spring with three legitimate provincial contenders vying for only two berths to the LEC.
Dover Bay looked exceptionally polished in their dominating wins over Charles Hays and OKM in the first two rounds of the tournament. They are fresh off an impressive title capture of the Tsumura Invitational last week and are an unusually-complete team for the high school level: they’re big, tough, disciplined, well-coached, and boast a heck of a lot of talent to boot. 6’7 Frank Linder leads the charge and it’s easy to see why coaches from both UBC and SFU were present at yesterday’s game to scout him. However, Linder is far from the only standout - 6’7 Hudson Trood and 6’5 Andrii Zhukov have clearly spent some time in the weight room and are tenacious rebounders, while grade 10 standouts Joe Linder (younger brother of Frank) and Dane Schmidt are capable playmakers and scorers.
Meanwhile, Collingwood lost a host of graduating seniors but also return a balanced attack of key contributors in forwards Finnegan Murphy and Julian Hinders, talented guards Sam and Tony Li (not related but they do often get early-morning shots up together), and under-the-radar sharpshooter Louis Dhingra. Moreover, they have some notable depth with a talented group of grade 11s who finished 5th at the untiered Junior Boys Provincial Championships last spring.
1st quarter
Frank Linder wins the tip and immediately gets the ball back to start the game off with a massive one-handed dunk just four seconds into the game. I’m probably not supposed to curse in these Game Stories but holy ess-aitch-eye-tee, what a way to set the tone for the game.
Just one down-and-back later, Dover’s senior guard #14 Evan Slater drains a triple for a 5-0 lead, but the Cavs’ #6 Tony Li responds with a pull up 3 of his own to get the Cavs on the board.
Right off the bat, the Dolphins’ size and physicality is evident as the Cavs are struggling to rebound and keep the ball out of the paint.
The younger Linder gets to the rim with ease for a layup, then shortly after drains a 3… a quick timeout by Collingwood coach Andy Wong as the Dolphins take a 13-4 lead just two and a half minutes in.
Out of the timeout, the Dolphins hit another 3 by the Dolphins #13 Van Suiter, his 2nd of the game, and the lead is already in double digits. Did I mention Dover is talented? I didn’t even include Slater or Suiter in my pre-game writeup but they’re helping to display the depth of talent I was referring to. My bad, fellas.
Yet another 3 by Joe Linder! It’s a long-range barrage in the 1st quarter as Dover Bay is 5/5 from deep and open up a 19-4 lead just three and half minutes into the game. The Cavs look a bit stunned and I can’t say I blame them - what an electric start by Dover.
On the defensive side of the ball, Frank Linder is displaying his versatility by picking up the Cavs star grade 11 guard Sam Li full court, but Li manages to get separation to swish a floater for some much needed offense for the Cavs.
A classic old school underhand scoop draws the and-1 by big man #34 Hudson Trood to stretch the lead to 20 points just 5 minutes into the game.
For the Cavs, #6 Tony Li and #21 Jake McAdam connect in the pick and roll, before Dover finally misses a 3 pointer.
I need to take a moment to talk about the younger Linder brother. He cans two more triples and has yet to make a poor decision at either end of the floor. While I have heard he is a good player, I am blown away by his high motor, decision-making, and shot-making. He’s only a 10th-grader playing up to the varsity level and it looks like he’s been doing this for years (he did get a 2nd team all-star award at AAA provincials last year as a 9th grader - not shabby).
An and-1 by Frank Linder with 1:37 left stretches the lead to 40-13 at the end of the 1st quarter… this has been all Dover Bay so far. They are known for their size and physicality but they’ve displayed a very high level of skill and shooting so far.
2nd quarter
Collingwood’s #3 Louis Dhingra opens the scoring in the 2nd with a putback… Dover comes right back with points of their own in the paint.
The Cavaliers’ forward #13 Sam Layden subs into the game and scores on a roll for his first touch of the game. 46-27 Dover.
Dover’s #33 Dane Schmidt cans a triple to stretch the lead to 25… I’m having flashbacks to this kid cooking my U15 club team for 25 points last spring.
Multiple offensive rebounds by Frank Linder results in a putback layup, and the Dolphins just seem like they’re too big and relentless on the boards for the Cavs to handle.
Halftime
Dover Bay 66, Collingwood 38
Leading scorers:
Dover: Joe Linder 20 points
Collingwood: Toni Li 12 points
3rd quarter
It’s more of the same, as the Dover onslaught keeps coming. The Cavs cut into the lead but Dover goes on a run and the lead balloons to 35. Joe Linder is putting on a point guard clinic. Dover’s size and discipline is simply too much to overcome, as the Cavs battle hard and manage to get some scoring going but are unable to get the stops they need to cut into the lead.
4th quarter
The most notable play of the 4th is a rare assist from referee Andrii Babyk, as an errant pass bounces off him in transition and is promptly picked up and a 3 pointer drained by the Cavs… great play by Andrii.
A notable shout out to the Cavs spirit squad who refuse to stop banging their buckets and cheering despite the significant score disparity. Credit also deserves to go to the Cavaliers team who continue competing hard despite a near-perfect game played by Dover Bay, who showed why they are amongst the province’s very best teams and will be in contention to potentially take down defending 4A champs Spectrum in March.
Tomorrow’s final should be an exciting matchup - the Dover Bay Dolphins vs the St. George’s Saints, 6:00pm at Handsworth.
Final score
Dover Bay 122
Collingwood 83
Player of the game: Dover Bay #11 Joe Linder, 30 points