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 […]

Dane Kapler was mobbed by his teammates after he went on a 66-yard TD run Friday against Alberta to give UBC a lead it would not relinquish before a sell-out homecoming crowd at T-Bird Stadium. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2023. All rights reserved)
Feature University Football

Switch to slotback imbues UBC’s power-train running back Dane Kapler with a double-dose of on-field danger! McCaffrey-like moments vindicate coaching staff’s gutsy off-season switch!

VANCOUVER — If you spent any amount of time sniffing around UBC’s fall camp in August, it didn’t take any time at all to realize just how deep and talented the 2023 ‘Birds looked on paper.That, of course, is the net effect of ringing the bell from top to bottom for what looks like four […]

UBC Thunderbirds' quarterback Garrett Rooker faced the Alberta Golden Bears during Canada West football action Friday, Sept. 22 at Thunderbird Stadium in Vancouver. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2023. All rights reserved)
Feature University Football

A Sunday Read: Like Miami Dolphins’ Tua Tagovailoa before him, UBC quarterback Garrett Rooker puts gruesome hip injury behind him and lifts Thunderbirds to national title relevancy!

VANCOUVER — All similarities are of course unintentional, yet it seemed there were so many times this past Friday night at a sold-out Thunderbird Stadium that the cocked arm of UBC quarterback Garrett Rooker had an overflow crowd of 7,100 in the same state of rapt anticipation normally associated with a maestro’s baton at the […]

The UBC Thunderbirds excelled on both sides of the ball, opening the new Canada West season with a 25-10 win over host Regina on Friday. (Photo by Piper Sports Photography 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

UBC football 2023: As Rooker’s return & Sudden Sam’s arrival spark impressive 25-10 road win over Rams, Thunderbirds’ young linebacking core takes giant step forward in Regina!

On a night when lofty preseason prognostication had put them in a place to answer the most elemental question of all, the UBC Thunderbirds provided a resounding response.So, was the latest edition of Point Grey’s gridiron Blue-and-Gold worthy of their co-No. 1 ranking to begin the Canada West football wars this season, right alongside the […]

Trinity Western's David Mutabazi (right) dribbled past Ajay Mitchell of Santa Barbara on Tuesday at the Langley Events Centre as the Canada West's Spartans played host to the visiting, NCAA Div. 1 Gauchos. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters. com. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

A SUNDAY READ: Tsumura on the joys of summertime basketball, NCAA Div. 1 foreign tours, and the road-less-travelled path of Trinity Western’s electric David Mutabazi!

LANGLEY — The best part of ageing into an ‘old’ basketball writer?For me, it’s that rare but reassured feeling I get, when against any reasonable expectation, a player straps the fortunes of his team on his back, and in this case almost carries them to an improbable upset.That is the place I found myself this […]

Frank Linder (right) and the rest of Nanaimo's Dover Bay Dolphins put on a show at the provincial tournament last March. The rising Grade 11 and the rest of the Dolphins make a Langley return in December for the 2023 TBI at the LEC. (Photo by Blair Shier property of Vancouver Sports Pictures 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

TBI BOYS 2023: Our 32-team Tsumura Basketball boys unveil includes BC biggies, plus Cali’s Santa Margarita & Calgary-St. Mary’s, all at the LEC!

LANGLEY — The vast majority of B.C.’s very best teams will once again take to the court when the boys 2023 Tsumura Basketball Invitational tips off Dec. 6-9 at the Langley Events Centre.Yet as part of our latest December classic, which this year features two distinctly separate 16-team fields, we’re also thrilled to announce a […]

Riverside's Avery Sussex (left) and Walnut Grove's Kyanna Knoedel squared off in last March's B.C. Quad-A final at the LEC. Both players and both teams return to same friendly confines Dec. 13-16 for the Tsumura Baseball Invitational. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2023. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

TBI GIRLS 2023: At 32 teams strong, here’s our full team reveal for the latest girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational, set to tip Dec. 13-16 at the LEC!

LANGLEY — Best ever?Admittedly, it’s a superlative that gets tossed around a little too lightly these days.Yet as it pertains to the overall quality, depth and competitiveness of what will be the 2023 senior girls Tsumura Basketball Invitational, it’s one that seems more likely than not to hit its mark.For the first time ever, the […]

Oak Bays' Finnley Lillis (left) and the rest of Victoria's Bays will come into the 2023-24 B.C. senior boys Quad-A basketball season with the province's No. 1 ranking. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2023 by special permission. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

B.C. boys preseason Top 10 hoops ranks: Oak Bay, Lord Byng, Pacific Academy, King David top the early charts!

LANGLEY — Just in time for summer, here is B.C. School Sports’ preseason senior boys varsity basketball rankings at all four tiers.Digest all of this as you anticipate the road to the 2024 provincials this March at the Langley Events Centre:BASKETBALLTOP 10 RANKINGSB.C. SENIOR BOYSPRESEASONQUAD A1 Oak Bay Bays (Victoria) (VI)2 Vancouver College Fighting Irish […]