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)
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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)
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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)
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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 […]

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 […]

Slinging on his way to the best QBR of his collegiate career in last Saturday's win over West Texas A&M is Simon Fraser senior quarterback Justin Seiber. (Photo by Ethan Cairns property of SFU athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
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After taking the road less travelled, Simon Fraser senior quarterback Justin Seiber reflects on adversity, the game of his life and a Shrum Bowl opportunity!

BURNABY MOUNTAIN — With the end of his football career now just weeks away, Justin Seiber admits he is pondering a professional path into the world of sports analytics.All of that seems fitting in light of the numbers that the 6-foot-3, 200 pound Simon Fraser senior quarterback put up last Saturday as the previously-winless Red […]

UBC's Keijaun Johnson has been all over the ball all season long. What he was doing in a season-opening win back in September over the Alberta Golden Bears at Thunderbird Stadium ([pictured), he continued to do Saturday in Regina. His game-changing 46-yard interception return helped vault the Thunderbirds into next Saturday's Hardy Cup championship final in Saskatoon. (Photo by Richard Lam property of UBC athletics 2022. All Rights Reserved)
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A SUNDAY READ: UBC’s Keijaun Johnson reminds us all of the heart-stopping power of playoff football! Road underdog ‘Birds shock Regina for Hardy Cup title game berth!

Playoff football’s most defining moments have a way of coming out of the shadows and taking our breath away.Yet beyond the most obvious ways in which they dole equal parts joy and despair to their most loyal fans, they also seem to deliver, with barometric precision, a universal truth about their victors.That’s what I was […]

One of the best UBC head coach Kevin Hanson has coached is Jadon Cohee. This season Cohee returns after a brief absence as one of the team's assistant coaches and will bring the energy on the bench Friday as SFU pays a visit to War Memorial Gymnasium. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Buchanan Cup 2022: UBC hoops notes include the return of Jadon Cohee, our look at three rising ‘Birds in Luka Lizdek, Nikola Guzina, Triston Matthews and more!

VANCOUVER —Kevin Hanson loves the fact that his 2022-23 Thunderbirds are getting a great taste of post-season atmosphere before the conference season even gets a chance to tip off.On Friday, a little over two months after the ‘Birds kicked it all off in front of a near-capacity home crowd of 2,103 on Aug. 16 with […]

Simon Fraser forward Jahmal Wright is one of only three returning Red Leafs with substantial playing time in 2021-22. SFU unveils its new team on the road Friday as it visits War Memorial Gym to face the UBC Thunderbirds in the Buchanan Cup classic. (Photo by Wilson Wong property of SFU athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature High School Boys Basketball University Men's Basketball

Buchanan Cup 2022: “Coach, you’ve got a lot of new guys…” Simon Fraser Red Leafs face host UBC Thunderbirds on Friday with a new-look team intent on finding some instant karma!

BURNABY — A reporter takes a seat last week in the Burnaby Mountain office of Simon Fraser head men’s basketball coach Steve Hanson, offering an apology ahead of what must be the most obvious observation of all.“Coach, you’ve got a lot of new guys…”Willing to indulge his inquisitor in the playful manner in which the […]

UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu has proven himself to be a plug-and-play standout at both tackle and now guard this season. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
Feature University Football

UBC Football Notebook 10.19.22 edition: An O-line overhaul sparks ‘Birds run game ahead of Huskies’ Saturday visit, plus more football Thunder Bolts!

VANCOUVER — A UBC football team able to define its identity through the ground game.As easy as it is to over-complicate the modus operandi, it’s always been that simple when it comes to predicting success or a lack thereof for the 2022 edition of the gridiron Thunderbirds.Today, as we open up the notebook from the […]