Spectrum's Justin Hinrichsen (left), battling in the paint with West Vancouver's Malcolm Lotz at the 2022 B.C. junior boys Sweet 16 at the LEC, has come into his own as a 10th grader on the senior varsity Thunder, in town to play in the Tsumura Basketball Invitational beginning Wednesday at the Langley Events Centre. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Tsumura Basketball 2022: A chip off the old hoops block, Grade 10 Justin Hinrichsen helps lead Spectrum Thunder precisely 30 seasons after dad Eric’s B.C. title with Carihi Tyees!

Justin Hinrichsen doesn’t spent a whole lot of time thinking about it.“It just happens,” the 6-foot-3, 165-pound Grade 10 guard/forward with Victoria’s Spectrum Thunder admits when asked how his rare combination of athleticism, talent and instinct has managed to intersect in such a timely fashion just weeks into his first season of senior varsity hoops.“I’ve […]

The UBC Thunderbirds celebrated an 18-17 Shrum Bowl victory over the SFU Red Leafs on Friday atop Burnaby Mountain as the crosstown clash resumed after a 12-year absence. (Photo by Jeff Sargeant property of UBC athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Its Friday rise from mothballs complete, Shrum Bowl’s 34th performance seizes the magic right back, its charm defined by both its ferocity and its foibles! UBC tops SFU in an icy 18-17 classic!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — As B.C.’s football gods looked down from above at the frozen tundra of Terry Fox Field on Friday night, the actions of their collective super-powers made it readily apparent that they were an immortal group of gridiron fans scorned.Who dare deny them the pleasure that would have come from watching the past […]

Her combined two-point, three-point and free throw percentage numbers put Simon Fraser's Jessica Wisotzki in a rare category of shooters as the Red Leafs set to open GNAC play Saturday against Western Washington at the West Gym. (Photo by Paul Yates property of Simon Fraser athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

She’s 196 per cent Wiz! It all adds up for Simon Fraser’s Jessica Wisotzki who is “…shooting the three better than anyone we have ever had” Red Leafs set for GNAC opener against WWU Vikings!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Steve Nash, Reggie Miller, Mark Price, Steve Kerr… and Jessica Wisotzki.Huh?The numbers never lie, and on a Thursday morning ahead of his team’s Great Northwest Athletic Conference season-opener this Saturday at home to the powerhouse Western Washington Vikings, Simon Fraser Red Leafs’ veteran head coach Bruce Langford is asked the impossible: Can […]

Football Canada president Jim Mullin, who worked his first Shrum Bowl as a 13-year-old statistician in 1978, picks three of the most memorable crosstown clashes in which he provided the play-by-play call. (Photo property of Krown Kountdown U 2022, All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Jim Mullin: The venerable voice of 14 Shrum Bowl broadcasts re-visits three classic crosstown SFU-UBC clashes ahead of Friday’s epic re-start at Fox Field!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Jim Mullin is the Keith Jackson of the Shrum Bowl.Behind the mic for 14 of the crosstown classics since 1990, the current president of Football Canada is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to not only reflecting on the most human moments of the province’s very own gridiron treasure, but on what […]

Back in the early 1980s, Jay Prepchuk, who would go on to serve on both the UBC and SFU coaching staffs, was a record-setting pivot for Simon Fraser. (Photo property SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

Having grown up in the game, Simon Fraser’s 1980 Shrum Bowl MVP Jay Prepchuk, a former UBC and SFU coach, cherishes the return of the grand game!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — If there’s one area that any wannabe Shrum Bowl historian will find tough sledding, it’s determining the reasons why the series stuck to either U.S. or Canadian rules for extended periods of time throughout its history.For example, as local broadcaster and Football Canada president Jim Mullin points out, the reason the first […]

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 […]