Simon Fraser head coach Mike Rigell catches a moment on Terry Fox Field during fall training camp 2021 to chat with top returning quarterbacks Brandon Niksich and Justin Seiber. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Extra practice time a huge benefit for SFU, UBC heading into Friday’s Shrum Bowl XXXIV, and why the revival of the crosstown classic kicks off a local university football renaissance!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Talk to those in the know, and the future of the Shrum Bowl becomes something much more than a game local football fans hope gets played each season.In its fabled past, both UBC and SFU have had their turns declining the game (it has been played 33 times in 55 years heading […]

A snow plow begins the job of clearing a heavy Tuesday snowfall from the surface of Terry Fox Field at SFU Stadium in the early afternoon hours of Wednesday. The host Red Leafs are set to face the visiting UBC Thunderbirds in the first Shrum Bowl in 12 years on Friday evening. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

After a fresh coat of the white stuff, Terry Fox Field gets a Wednesday dusting as we prepare for a winter classic Shrum Bowl! Our preview includes three Thursday stories!

BURNABY — Friday night’s resurrected Shrum Bowl atop Burnaby Mountain could not be coming at a better time for Simon Fraser football.The school’s new SFU Stadium at Terry Fox field is still shy of its second birthday, the program is in it’s first season as the newly-minted Red Leafs, and on Nov. 12 the team […]

We've got the latest updates to boys and girls schedules for TBI 2022 at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

TBI 2022: Burnaby Central boys, Pitt Meadows girls draw into the fold after late cancellations, latest draws now available

LANGLEY TOWNSHIP – There have been a pair of late changes to both boys and girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational eight-team draws, prompting us to re-publish those affected brackets.In the boys TBI, Langley Secondary has dropped out of the Langley-Surrey region eight-team draw. Taking their place will be the Burnaby Central Wildcats, who will now oppose […]

Semiahmoo's Marcus Flores (12) and Andre Juco (11) are part of the Quad-A No. 1-ranked Thunderbirds' team which will face Eastside Catholic on Dec. 9 during TBI week at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Quad-A No. 1 Semiahmoo brings Seattle-area’s Eastside Catholic Crusaders and top prospect Cofie to the LEC! 35 years after Richmond-DeMatha, the B.C.-U.S. tradition continues!

LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — The players on B.C.’s No. 1-ranked senior boys Quad-A basketball team likely aren’t aware of it, but when South Surrey’s Semiamoo Thunderbirds take to the court later next month at the Langley Events Centre, they’ll be paying a bit of a tribute to one of this province’s pioneering programs: The 1980’s-era Richmond […]

As Shrum Bowl 2022 approaches, UBC Thunderbirds head coach Blake Nill found time to chat and joke with coaches from rival SFU this past weekend during the B.C. high school Subway Bowl semifinals at BC Place Stadium. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Shrum Bowl XXXIV: With a new QB at the helm, UBC Thunderbirds set to climb Burnaby Mountain on Friday for meeting with SFU Red Leafs in first clash since 2010!

VANCOUVER — B.C.’s football community has gone 12 years without the ability to anticipate, watch and debate another Shrum Bowl clash.Consider that for a second, and you could also say that it’s been a dozen years since the coaches at UBC and rival Simon Fraser have actually had common ground on which to both greet […]

Riverside's Avery Sussex and the rest of her Rapids shoot for the first B.C. senior girls varsity hoops title in school history this season. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. senior girls Top 10 hoops rankings! As 2022-23 tips off, it’s Riverside, McMath, Mulgrave and Credo sitting as the team’s to beat!

LANGLEY — A new season of B.C. senior girls high school basketball begins next week.And to get you ready for the all big opening tip-offs, Varsity Letters presents the latest official pre-season rankings at all four tiers.It’s a talented quartet off tiers to be sure, and what makes it even more interesting is the fact […]

Cole Bekkering and the rest of the Semiahmoo Thunderbirds carry the boys Quad-A No. 1 ranking into 2022-23. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. boys high school basketball 2022-23 pre-season rankings have arrived! Semiahmoo, St. Pats, STA and Unity Christian each earn No. 1 status!

LANGLEY — With the 2022-23 B.C. boys high school basketball season just days away from official tip, it’s time to unveil the new Top 10 rankings for all four tiers.As a note to Varsity Letters’ readers, I have previously (for the past 20 years or so) ranked the boys largest tier of play — from […]

Slinging on his way to the best QBR of his collegiate career in last Saturday's win over West Texas A&M is Simon Fraser senior quarterback Justin Seiber. (Photo by Ethan Cairns property of SFU athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

After taking the road less travelled, Simon Fraser senior quarterback Justin Seiber reflects on adversity, the game of his life and a Shrum Bowl opportunity!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — With the end of his football career now just weeks away, Justin Seiber admits he is pondering a professional path into the world of sports analytics.All of that seems fitting in light of the numbers that the 6-foot-3, 200 pound Simon Fraser senior quarterback put up last Saturday as the previously-winless Red […]

Fraser Valley's Deanna Tuchscherer and the rest of the Cascades have their highest national ranking in a decade this week at No. 2 in the latest U SPORTS national poll. (Photo by Tanner Geringer property of UFV Cascades athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

Made-in-B.C. and ranked No. 2 in the nation! Here’s three big reasons the Fraser Valley Cascades could be Bronze Baby contenders!

ABBOTSFORD — Ten years after, there’s a new band of basketball teammates shining the spotlight on the Cascades’ women’s basketball program at the University of the Fraser Valley.Precisely one decade after its most successful Canada West regular season, one it which it went 18-4 and was perched wire-to-wire within the top four of the U […]

We're looking for one more girls team to complete our field at the 2022 Tsumura Basketball Invitational. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Help! Tsumura Basketball Invitational looking for one more girls team for Dec. 14-17 tournament at Langley Events Centre!

LANGLEY TOWNSHIP — Hello B.C. senior girls basketball head coaches.It’s Howard Tsumura here, and I am writing to you with news that we are looking to fill an opening — due to a very late cancellation — in one of our brackets at next month’s 2022 Tsumura Basketball Invitational (Dec. 14-17) at the Langley Events […]