Longtime former Pitt Meadows senior boys basketball coach Rich Goulet passed away Sunday at the age of 74. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong photography 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

RIP, Coach: For Pitt Meadows & STM’s Rich Goulet (1946-2021), basketball was his student, his teacher and the air that he’d breathe

PITT MEADOWS — On Sunday, on what would be the final day of a life so completely devoted to his greatest passion, Rich Goulet made a simple request.“Scoresheets. He was asking for scoresheets from a Grade 9 basketball tournament,” said his nephew Dave Goulet who was bedside at the hospital, tending to the needs of […]

The RMS Queen Mary chugs into the harbour in New York City in June of 1945, still sporting the grey assemblage it was given during World War II. The story behind the colour of the British passenger liner is directly tied to one of the most unique nicknames in all of B.C. high school sports. (Public domain photo courtesy National Archives Catalog)
Feature High School

A Sunday Read: Why do nicknames matter? The origin story of Vancouver’s Lord Byng Grey Ghosts!

VANCOUVER — The best high school nicknames have always carried an understated power.In just a word or two, they offer not only an instant connection across the generations, but a way of paying homage to unique histories and traditions that each can so proudly call its own.In fact at their very best, they are so […]

The Sardis Falcons mascot welcomes Varsity Letters' readers to our list of B.C. high school sports nicknames. (Photo property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School

Nicknames, nicknames: We’ve got the nicknames (of almost) every high school in B.C. right here!

Somewhere in my head is reserved a sacred space for not just my favourite high school teams of all time, but the ones with the best nicknames.In what started out as an early-pandemic project last March before going into a very extended hibernation, has today, a year later, emerged as something of a finished product.With […]

Imagine a B.C. high school basketball tournament where every team is called the Cougars! Our fantasy nickname invitational list makes it happen, and one of the invitees would be the Gold River Cougars. (Photo property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Invitation by nickname alone! Imagine a BC high school tourney just for Eagles, or Cougars, or Bears? Check out our list of the craziest invitational fields ever!

Eagles rule the roost when it comes to the single most popular nickname in all of B.C. high school sports.From Kitimat’s Mt. Elizabeth Eagles in the Northwest, to Surrey’s Johnston Heights Eagles in the south, a total of 15 of the 314 B.C. high schools we list nicknames for today, have the majestic winged-wonder installed […]

The mighty eagle in flight. (Public domain photo)
Feature High School

COMING SUNDAY: The history and the hilarity of B.C. high school sports nicknames, plus, our list of every school’s moniker reveals the most popular!

Hope you will join us Sunday when Varsity Letters unveils a three-part project, all centred around B.C. high school sports nicknames.We will not only provide our list of nicknames for every school in the province with at least one senior varsity team, we’ll explore one longtime school’s particularly unique nickname, explaining in the process how […]

The North Delta senior Huskies pose 50 years ago today with the spoils of victory. (Photo courtesy BCHSBBA 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Fifty years ago today, North Delta’s basketball Huskies became B.C.’s first-ever dual junior and senior boys champions

Fifty years ago today, on March 27, 1971, a pioneering double-double took place on the hardcourt at the Pacific Coliseum when the North Delta Huskies became the first boys basketball program in B.C. history to win both the junior and senior provincial crowns in the same season.The sweep was completed when the Huskies defeated the […]

Simon Fraser women's head basketball coach Bruce Langford has already seen the impact of his program's recently-launched IMPACT Mentorship Program, one which has involved past and current players like (left to right) Laura van den Boogaard, Georgia Swant and Brittany Fraser. (Photo graphic by Gabriel Lynn property of Varsity Letters 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Basketball

A Sunday Read: SFU women’s basketball celebrates the power of connection, uniting past and present through its IMPACT mentorship program!

BURNABY — There are many variations of the parable which informs us that in learning we teach, and that in teaching we learn.Boil those words down to their essence, however, and what remains is the singular feeling of a journey coming full circle.Laura Kalenuik, née van den Boogaard, like so many other former student-athletes, has […]

Sir Winston Churchill's Marah Dykstra will help lead her team as one of the new additions to the 20-team field at the 2021 Tsumura Basketball Invitational at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of Wilson Wong 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

Tsumura Basketball Invitational: Churchill, Seaquam, SMUS join girls draw as boys, girls 40-team field now official for December 2021!

LANGLEY — We are thrilled with the 40 teams who have now finalized their participation in this coming December’s 2021 boys and girls Tsumura Basketball Invitationals at the Langley Events Centre.(The full list of finalized teams is included at the bottom of this story)Yet what has us even more excited is the response we have […]

Anthony Luyken and his daughter Aieisha. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of UFV athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

The Luyken Legacy: For UFV’s father-daughter duo of Anthony & Aieisha, building community through basketball is a lifelong calling!

ABBOTSFORD — Anthony and Aieisha Luyken are a father and daughter with a most special tie to the sport of basketball.Today, Varsity Letters is happy to help share, through the efforts of one of our founding partners, the Fraser Valley Cascades, the story of their incredible, life-defining love affair with the sport and its impact […]

As the final second ticks off the clock, Sasha Vujisic (right) and the rest of the Burnaby South Rebels culminate the 2019-20 season as B.C. champs. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School

A SUNDAY READ: What both sides are saying in the emotional debate regarding BC School Sports’ proposal for a new power structure in BC high school sports!

LANGLEY — Varsity Letters is presenting both sides of the debate leading up to the pivotal voting day on B.C. School Sports’ pioneering governance proposal, set for the association’s May 1 annual general meeting.If passed by a two-thirds majority plus-one vote of the province’s eligible base of 460-plus athletic directors, all 19 of BCSS’ member […]