LANGLEY — On Saturday, in a 2:30 p.m. clash at the Gerald McGavin UBC Rugby centre, the young Trinity Western Spartans men’s rugby team will mark its first match in the inaugural Coastal Cup series as its’ first-ever 15’s meeting with the powerful, tradition-laden UBC Thunderbirds.In advance of that match, Varsity Letters got a hold […]
Tag: UBC Thunderbirds
UBC Football 2021: Postmarked ‘Texas’, Garrett Rooker emerges from ‘Birds deep talent pool to be named starting quarterback ahead of Saturday’s opener at Alberta!
VANCOUVER — Sometimes, stuff happens that makes you want to thank your lucky stars.For UBC Thunderbirds head football coach Blake Nill, one of those days was May 8 of 2020.“Some days are better than others,” wrote Nill that day on his official Twitter account in announcing that quarterback Garrett Rooker, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback out […]
UBC women’s soccer 2021 home opener: When it comes to goals, ‘Birds national MVP striker Danielle Steer takes the wheel and points the way!
VANCOUVER — There was a moment, back in the spring of 2016, when Danielle Steer might have wondered about the direction of the UBC Thunderbirds’ women’s soccer program.A shining Grade 11 youth soccer talent with both Coastal F.C. and her school team at Elgin Park Secondary in Surrey, Steer was in the midst of taking […]
UBC Football 2021: Thunderbirds’ head coach Blake Nill dubs his diminutive, speedy receiver trio of Soriano, Phillips, Williams as ‘The Smurfs’ ahead of Saturday opener at Alberta!
VANCOUVER — As children of the 2000’s, you couldn’t blame a certain trio of UBC Thunderbirds’ receivers for being a little perplexed last week when head coach Blake Nill announced during a team gathering that he had discovered their perfect nickname.“I have these three guys who are all around 5-10 and they have burners,” explained […]
UBC’s Dane Kapler: How the ‘Birds freshman running back and son of San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler found the vision to blaze a football path to Vancouver!
VANCOUVER — Dane Kapler has always been able to see the forest for the trees.In an allegorical sense, there he was Tuesday, the UBC freshman running back and forestry major taking a hand-off at the team’s fall camp and bursting through a seam from behind the Thunderbirds’ thick-stumped offensive line.And, of course, in a twist […]
Simon Fraser vs. UBC: The classic men’s B.C. university basketball rivalry is re-born! Mark down Nov. 20 at SFU for a rowdy Buchanan Cup tip-off!
BURNABY — For once in a long while the basketball stars at Simon Fraser and UBC have aligned.The end result?The Lower Mainland’s longest standing men’s basketball rivals have agreed to make Saturday, Nov. 20 the date for the resumption of the classic Buchanan Cup series, this edition seeing the Thunderbirds traveling up Burnaby Mountain to […]
SFU vs. UBC: Friday’s men’s soccer derby clash at new Fox Field Stadium proves nothing has wilted in Lower Mainland’s oldest cross-town rivalry!
BURNABY — The Lower Mainland’s most enduring university men’s soccer rivalry unfolded Friday evening as it always has, and the best part of all? It had nothing to do with the final score.Simon Fraser against visiting UBC within the home team’s new stadium complex at Terry Fox Field, complete with an actual rousing crowd.“It’s massive,” […]
Trinity Western-UBC women’s soccer: “It’s in the blood of the two schools…” True words as third decade of dynastic rivalry opens with 3-3 draw!
LANGLEY — You could say it was a pretty quiet day for the resumption of the greatest rivalry game in the history of U Sports’ women’s soccer.An early-week 5 p.m. start on a day which began with some drizzle, on a campus still weeks from the opening of classes, accompanied by the calendar’s earliest-ever clash […]
UBC track and field: Two years after its greatest day ever, head coach Primeau & his ‘Birds undaunted in belief that more golden days are ahead!
VANCOUVER — As a student in UBC’s School of Applied Plant and Soil Sciences, Rowan Hamilton is learning the ins and outs of helping to sustain all that is essential within our fragile eco system.Something of a towering tree himself at 6-foot-3, Hamilton is also a key reason that the eco system of a UBC […]
CFL Draft 2021: As UBC sends three linebackers to the pros, coach Nill says B.C. Lions got ‘steal of the draft’ in Vernon’s Ben Hladik!
The UBC Thunderbirds have sent players to the Canadian Football League at every position imaginable, yet after Thursday’s draft proceedings were complete, it was pretty hard to not call them Linebacker U.Three Thunderbirds linebackers had their names called, including a homegrown product that UBC head coach Blake Nill could not hold back his praise of.“His […]