Simon Fraser Red Leafs Tate Christiansen (left) and Matthys Van Bylandt, a pair of North Vancouverites and Handsworth Secondary graduates, have an emotional and energetic surge to the Simon Fraser Red Leafs in their redshirt-freshman seasons on the hill. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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Rookie Red Leafs rise to new challenges atop Burnaby Mountain! Ex-Handsworth stars Van Bylandt, Christiansen lead with work ethic while their talents begin to shine for Simon Fraser!

BURNABY — A mere three minutes of viewing may not be enough to constitute any kind of a scientific sample size.Yet if you were among the small crowd gathered earlier this month for the CCA Div. 2 Canadian Tip-Off Classic at the Langley Events Centre, you might have at least developed a pretty strong hunch […]

Montreal's Iraghi Muganda dives for the end zone as he eludes the defence of UBC's Ryan Baker (14) and Ben Sangmuah (15) during Saturday action at the 2023 Vanier Cup in Kingston, Ont. (Photo by James Paddle-Grant property of Queen's Athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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Vanier Cup 2023: UBC’s national title bid falls short at the hands of Montreal’s historic post-season defence! Carabins keep Thunderbirds’ offence out of the end zone to hoist U SPORTS gridiron spoils!

KINGSTON, ONT. — They came east to play the biggest game of their season, but to win it they had overcome a defence whose numbers told a tale of invincibility.And in Saturday’s Vanier Cup national championship final, it was a heavy dose of those historic credentials which not only kept the UBC Thunderbirds out of […]

Behind a 36-point performance, SFU senior Jessica Wisotzki led her team to a win over Minnesota Moorhead at the West Gym, it was the team's fifth straight victory. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

For Simon Fraser’s Jessica Wisotzki, a new single-game scoring standard caps five-game win streak, Red Leafs’ star senior also says ‘sharing the rock’ with sister Sophia part of ‘…a special bond!’

By Howard Tsumura(This story appeared in its original form at athletics.SFU.ca Re-printed here via kind permission of Simon Fraser athletics)BURNABY — The Simon Fraser women’s basketball team opened its season with three straight losses on B.C. soil during the recent CCA Div. 2 Canadian Tip-Off Classic, inviting questions as to just how long it was […]

UBC's 1987 Western Bowl hero Mark Nykolaichuk (far right) celebrates with fellow 'Birds football alums (left to right) Bill Barber, Mike Bellefontaine and Terry Cochrane at the 2023 Hardy Cup championship game played at Thunderbird Stadium. (Photo courtesy Mark Nykolaichuk)
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UBC’s Vanier Cup ties that bind: It’s been 36 years since Mark Nykolaichuk’s Western Bowl pick-six sent host ‘Birds to ’87 final! Saturday, he’s at Vanier Cup ’23 to support UBC’s latest national title bid!

VANCOUVER — It was a moment etched in time for Mark Nykolaichuk.And fittingly, when readers of The Province newspaper opened their Sunday tabloid to the front page of the sports section on the morning of Nov. 15, 1987, what they saw captured that precise moment to perfection.“UBC Back In Final” the headline screamed, along with […]

Thunderbirds' Cesare Rednour-Bruckman puts the straight arm on St. FX punter Max Capriotti on his way to a punt return touchdown Saturday as the Thunderbirds defeated the Atlantic champion X-Men 47-17 in the Mitchell Bowl national semifinal at Thunderbird Stadium. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved).
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UBC at Vanier Cup 2023: Through Soriano, Kennedy and a kid named Chez, how three blank football canvases now paint Thunderbirds’ title-contending DNA!

VANCOUVER — How do you define the image of a Vanier Cup national title contender?How about through the actions of three UBC defenders, who over the early stages of the second half of Saturday’s Mitchell Bowl national championship semifinal game at Thunderbird Stadium, made the kinds of back-to-back-to-back plays which not only reversed the momentum […]

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Tsumura Basketball 2023: Follow your favourite TBI teams with our complete four-day brackets for all 64 of our boys and girls entrants!

LANGLEY — This past week we unveiled the opening-day draws in each of our four separate 16-team boys and girls pools at next month’s Tsumura Basketball Invitational senior boys and girls tournaments at the Langley Events Centre.Today, we’ve got the complete Wednesday-through-Saturday brackets for all four divisions of play.BOYS (Dec. 6-9)SUPER 16Click on link below […]

Alex Motherwell of the SMUS Blue Jags returns as a senior this season as the Victoria squad looks to claim the B.C. senior girls Triple-A title. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

B.C. senior girls basketball Top 10 rankings! Preseason polls rate Riverside, SMUS, Mulgrave as teams to beat for B.C. hoops glory!

LANGLEY — A pair of defending B.C. champions, and a silver medallist from a season looking to strike some elusive gold of its own this season.That’s the back-story behind three of B.C.’s best teams, each of whom carry No. 1 rankings into the new 2023-24 campaign.Quad-A B.C. champion Riverside Rapids of PoCo and Double-A B.C. […]

Mulgrave's Eva Ruse (right) towers over Holy Cross' Kaitelyn Takeuchi during Day 3 Final Four action at the 2023 B.C. senior girls high school basketball championships. Last March. Both teams return to the LEC next month for the Tsumura Basketball Invitational. (Photo by Mark Steffens property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

Girls Draws – Tsumura Basketball 2023: Who’s playing who in Round 1 as the best of B.C.’s very best gather Dec. 13-16 at the LEC!

LANGLEY — The very best of B.C.’s best.That’s the quickest and neatest way to sum up the 32 senior girls basketball teams who can now begin preparations for their opening-round opponents at B.C.’s home away from home for high school hoops.That’s right, today we unveil the two 16-team independent draws which will compete at the […]

Simon Fraser's Irish Coquia, fresh off leading St. Patrick's to back-to-back B.C. senior boys titles, as well as a junior championship, is working on becoming a complete guard over his debut campaign with the Red Leafs. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Simon Fraser athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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Irish Coquia: As Red Leafs tip off vs. Hawaii Pacific, Simon Fraser’s pure freshman standout ready to work on his defence while bringing a ready-to-roll offence to SFU after winning three B.C. MVP awards for St. Pat’s Celtics!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — I can picture the late, great Lorne Davies smiling a lot these days about a kid named Irish.When the founding father of Simon Fraser athletics planted the pioneering idea of his student-athletes competing against U.S.-based competition upon the school’s opening in 1965, he no doubt harboured a hope that one day SFU […]

UBC offensive tackle Giovanni Manu and his teammates hoist the spoils of victory after the 86th Hardy Cup game won 28-27 by UBC on Saturday afternoon at Thunderbird Stadium. (Photo by Rich Lam property of UBC Athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
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A SUNDAY READ: It’s a Hardy Cup instant classic quiz: What’s 95 yards long and 52 seconds long? For UBC Thunderbirds, it’s the measure of a most historic moment! Comeback win over Alberta keeps Vanier Cup dreams alive!

VANCOUVER — It is already being talked about as one of the greatest single minutes in the history of UBC Thunderbirds football.And if you were one of the 1,966 who gathered Saturday at Thunderbird Stadium for the 86th edition of the Hardy Cup championship game, then you can count yourself among the fortunate few able […]