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)
Feature University Football

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)
Feature University Men's Basketball

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 […]

Simon Fraser's Sasha Vujisic played a game-changing role over his seven minutes on the floor Friday as the Red Leafs won their first game of the season at the West Region Crossover in Arcata, CA against the host Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

Simon Fraser Red Leafs work for biggest comeback win in head coach Steve Hanson’s tenure, as new post Sasha Vujisic brings paint presence in 83-75 win at Cal Poly Humboldt!

ARCATA, CA — Last winter, two years into his studies in computing science at Simon Fraser University while on a ever-lengthening hiatus from the game, big man Sasha Vujisic wandered into the office of Red Leafs’ men’s basketball coach Steve Hanson and asked if he could try and earn a spot on the team for […]

They're back! Kelowna's Nash Semeniuk, is pictured here being guarded by Claremont's Nico Vickers (left) and Dak Amor during on Day 1 of last March's B.C. Quad-A championship. All three rising seniors are on tap to take part in TBI 2023 Dec. 6-9 at the LEC. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

BOYS DRAWS-TSUMURA BASKETBALL 2023: Who’s playing who in Round 1 of our Super 16 and Select 16 pools Dec. 6-9 at the LEC!

LANGLEY — Start the countdown to the 2023 edition of the Tsumura Basketball Invitational senior boys basketball tournament Dec. 6-9 at the Langley Events Centre.After months of planning, we’re thrilled to unveil the two brackets of 16 which will comprise the 32 teams taking part in this year’s festivities.Competing in both the Super 16 and […]

UBC running back Isaiah Knight gave the Thunderbirds' ground game everything it needed Saturday in Edmonton as the visitors topped host Alberta 23-10 to win its first Canada West regular season title since 1999. (Photo by Don Voaklander property of Alberta Golden Bears athletics. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

UBC Football: First Canada West crown of the century comes in gritty defensive win at Alberta as Leonard, Townsend, Soriano help hold Golden Bears out of the end zone! Bisons next as Hardy Cup playoffs open at home!

Even if they had been trying, the football gods could not have placed the UBC Thunderbirds within the margins of a more character-defining script than the one which the Blue-&-Gold found themselves writing Saturday on the road and on the final day of the Canada West regular season.It was one of those regular-season ending, winner-take-all […]