Irish Coquiam of the No. 1-seeded St. Patrick's Celtics of Vancouver, drives to elude the defence of the Handsworth Royals on Saturday during Sweet 16 action on Day 1 of the 2020 B.C. junior boys basketball championships. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

2020 B.C. Junior Boys Basketball Championships: Powerhouses St. Pat’s, Churchill, Kelowna and Walnut Grove survive the Day 1 grind! Here’s our complete look!

LANGLEY — The top four seeds and and six of the top eight are still alive as the B.C. junior boys basketball championship hit Day 2 on Sunday with the quarterfinal round at the Langley Events Centre.

Centennial Centaurs head coach Gordon Betcher accepts the spoils of victory in 1972 after a win over the North Delta Huskies. (Photo property of the B.C. High School Boys Basketball Association 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

The 75th anniversary Diamond draw hits the Final Four! Kaz, Disbrow, Putzi, Betcher, Bradley and Parmar all share their thoughts on B.C. hoops history!

NORTH DELTA — As our Elite Eight round rolled around this week, and the committee entrusted with selecting the winners in our 75th anniversary B.C. high school boys basketball all-time tournament bracket delivered their latest set of verdicts, I knew it was time to pick up the phone and talk with some of the people […]

Abbotsford's St. John Brebeuf Bears are headed for their first ever B.C. senior girls AA tournament. (Photo property of St. John Brebeuf athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

The adventure of Brebeuf’s basketball Bears: Big dreams and baby steps have Abby’s SJB senior girls B.C. AA tourney-bound!

ABBOTSFORD — Put enough baby steps together, and it’s only just a matter of time before you begin to make a path out of the wilderness along a journey you can call your own.

Chris Kennedy was once again the host of the B.C. girls basketball live draw presentation which aired Wednesday evening from the Langley Events Centre. (LEC photo)
Feature High School Boys Basketball High School Girls Basketball

Your home for B.C. championship brackets: Plan your hoops week right here with all five upcoming provincial tournament draws

LANGLEY — We’ve got all five of the B.C. high school championship draws released over the past few days right here in one place.In order, you’ll find the B.C. senior girls 4A, 3A and 2A tournament draws, followed by the B.C. junior girls and boys draws.Under each draw, we’ve provided a handy URL to click […]

Following her stint playing for Canada at the NORCECA qualifier in October, Hilary Howe has been playing at a new level for the 22-2 TWU Spartans women's volleyball team. (Photo by Scott Stewart property of Trinity Western athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Women's Volleyball

After 2019’s five-set national tourney heartbreaker, TWU Spartans head coach Ryan Hofer asks “…how can we all be two points better?”

LANGLEY — The more Ryan Hofer stared at a set numbers which represented perhaps the most crushing defeat in the history of Trinity Western women’s volleyball, the more clearly he was able to decipher their truest meaning.“Two points,” Spartans’ head coach Hofer exclaimed Wednesday morning when the topic got around to his team’s epic five-set […]

When Oak Bay's Griffin Arnatt (left) and A.R. MacNeill's Everett Swaim clashed back in December at the Tsumura Basketball Invitational, the provincials were a long ways off. This week, with the Vancouver Island championships set to tip off, the Bays move back into the spotlight as a Quad-A honourable mention. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

02.19.20 edition Varsity Letters B.C. boys high school basketball rankings: Bays, Flyin’ Lions, Fighting Saints and Deer Lake all rise up!

NORTH DELTA — We’ve hit the start of zone championship tournaments.They’ve got new names… like South Fraser, Fraser North, East Valley and Sea-to-Sky, yet the stakes are still high for the 16 teams at each tier attempting to punch tickets to the B.C. tournament March 4-7 at the Langley Events Centre.There was plenty of 4A […]

UBC head coach Kevin Hanson wants his star senior Jason Cohee "...to just be himself" when the 'Birds open against Saskatchewan on Friday as part of the Canada West's revamped post-season format. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Men's Basketball

UBC men’s basketball: Thunderbirds’ head coach Kevin Hanson weighs the pros and cons of new Canada West playoff format

VANCOUVER — The eight remaining Canada West men’s basketball teams have no margin for error under the conference’s new and radically-revamped playoff system.

John Oliver Jokers' Queenie Salazar can't fight back her tears of joy after the Grade 9 guard helped South Van's John Oliver Jokers to their first B.C. senior girls basketball championship tournament berth in 27 years last week in the school's own gym. (Photo by Wilson Wong 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball

The Joy of John Oliver’s basketball Jokers: After 27 years, ‘perpetual underdogs’ have their day, punch tickets to B.C. Quad-A championships!

VANCOUVER — Before he can can even begin to express the joy these days that comes from being a John Oliver Joker, Pat Lee offers an apology to the curious reporter at the other end of his cel phone connection.

Seaquam's Bob Hoy (left) and Richmond's Ron Putzi eye a free throw during the 1988 title game at the PNE Agrodome. (Photo property of the BCHSBBA 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball

Who made the Diamond Jubilee Elite 8? Let’s just say the 1970’s looking like a new Golden Age!

(Due to technical difficulties encountered here at VarsityLetters.ca over the past two weeks, several stories, including this one, had not been posted here on our main site, which is now back to being fully operational as of Feb. 17, 2020. We thank you for your patience and your continued loyalty to B.C.’s most trusted source for […]

Fraser Valley's Deanna Tuchscherer has enjoyed a brilliant rookie debut in the Canada West. (Photo by Dan Kinvig property of University of the Fraser Valley athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Girls Basketball University Women's Basketball

“…Hey, she just pulled a Dirk!” UFV’s fab frosh Tuchscherer making like a U Sports’ Nowitzki

(Due to technical difficulties encountered here at VarsityLetters.ca over the past two weeks, several stories, including this one, had not been posted here on our main site, which is now back to being fully operational as of Feb. 17, 2020. We thank you for your patience and your continued loyalty to B.C.’s most trusted source for […]