It was a conference-opening effort that tried to dispel the notion that the UBC Thunderbirds had actually held practices before they took to the field on Friday night at Regina’s new Mosaic Stadium.Of course they had, and of course they remain one of the nation’s most talented teams.Yet the No. 7-ranked ’Birds (0-1) can’t exactly […]
University
Soaking it all up, Clan senior linebacker Leech brings patience, Herdman-mentality to new starting role
BURNABY MOUNTAIN — As a health sciences major at Simon Fraser University, Clan middle linebacker Jordan Leech is aware of two different definitions of the word ‘osmosis’.
UBC’s Alex Morrison returns to ‘Birds for football ‘finishing school’, new tight end gig preps him for CFL future
VANCOUVER — UBC’s Alex Morrison may not have made the final cut with the Montreal Alouettes this past June, but he’s determined to make the CFL his future, and the big man in his corner back home at Thunderbird Stadium is doing everything he can to help ensure that happens.To that end, ‘Birds head coach […]
The Power of Maddy: Clan senior Madison Power a foundational key in success of SFU volleyball
BURNABY MOUNTAIN — Ask Gina Schmidt about her first official day on the job as the then-new head coach of the Simon Fraser Clan volleyball team and you get a story filled with both comedy and karma.“I watched one practice where they weren’t really doing a lot of game play,” Schmidt remembers of a day […]
TSUMURA: My ‘Top 5 takeaways’ from ‘Birds preseason football opener as UBC tops Alberta 33-30
The UBC Thunderbirds’ youthful ways led to some anxious moments on Wednesday.Yet its first-unit players, in all three phases, looked as devastating as they ever have as the Blake Nill-era entered its third season in the Southern Interior.With quarterback Michael O’Connor and a healthy UBC offence, bolstered by a deep core of running backs and […]
‘Sugar Shane’ brings sweet feet to Thunderbird Stadium, ex-STMC back ready to take flight with ‘Birds
VANCOUVER — If the reports from training camp carry over into the regular season, then a popular touchdown anthem at Thunderbird Stadium this fall is going to be a sound bite of the line ‘Sugar, Sugar’ from that infectious 1969 bubble-gum pop smash by The Archies.
UFV men’s soccer fashions resilient roster, young Cascades end preseason in 1-1 draw with SFU Clan
ABBOTSFORD —More depth. Better recruits.And maybe a chance to improve on the school’s U Sports’ regular-season wins record from a season ago?It’s a credit to the Fraser Valley Cascades men’s soccer program that those are its most prevalent preseason themes because if you do the math on paper, the team which opens Canada West conference […]
Clan strikes early, frosh talent fantastic as SFU topples UBC 2-0 in season-opening superpower clash
VANCOUVER — When it comes to setting the bar in the preseason, Simon Fraser’s Clint Schneider and Mike Mosher of UBC both reach for the sky.In fact if you read the preseason stories on two of Canada’s elite men’s university soccer programs on each school’s official website, both began with the two head coaches re-affirming […]
Varsity Letters on summer vacation, set to return in mid-August
To all of my loyal Varsity Letters readers: As you have likely noticed, I have embarked on something of a summer sabbatical.It’s time to re-charge batteries and think ahead to new and better ways to cover the upcoming 2017-18 B.C. high school and university sports seasons.The past half-year has been filled with change for myself […]
2017 FINAL BC Recruits List baseball, hockey, athletics, field hockey, rowing, wrestling, LAX, golf
It has been so rewarding seeing all of the response and interest to the 11th annual B.C. Recruits List Week which wraps up today with our overall list! After spending its first decade in the pages of The Province newspaper, it has found a happy home here at Varsity Letters