The holidays are in full swing — I hope your turkey still tastes good here on Day 3. Here's a tip: put gravy on everything. What other time of year can you get away with gravy waffles? Anyway, to help you soak up that last little bit of holiday magic we're presenting Part 2 of our three-part North Shore sports year in review. In this issue we look back at the top moments from July to December. Dig in!
July
Those fancy mountains we've got here on the North Shore aren't there just to look pretty — they're also there to breed champions. North Shore riders cleaned up at this year's Canadian Mountain Bike Downhill Championships held at Sun Peaks resort in July.
Vaea Verbeek of North Vancouver led the way, winning a Canadian title in the elite women's category. Other first-place finishers included North Van's Daniel Shaw, who won the junior men's (U19) division and Michael Mooney, who took top spot in the master men's 50+ category. Silver medals went to North Van's Colin Yarrow in the master men's 40-49 group and West Vancouver's Henry Fitzpatrick in the cadet men's (U17) division, while Martin Newman of North Vancouver scored bronze in the master men's 40-49 division.
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West Vancouver's Susan Clarke can legitimately claim to be the fittest 55-59-year-old woman in the world after winning that category at the CrossFit Games held in July in Carson City, Calif. The annual competition pits amateur athletes from around the globe against each other with participants all completing the exact same exercises in an effort to qualify for the big show. The competition at this year's Games was heated - literally. Temperatures in California were pushing near 40 C on the competition field. "The equipment was smoking hot," said Clarke. "I think everybody has burns on their hands from the pull-up bar. Literally it was so hot that it blistered our hands."
This was the 55-year-old audiologists first trip to the Games. Clarke led a strong contingent of North Shore masters competitors at the event, including Debby Brouwer, who placed ninth in the same division that Clarke won as well as Terry Peters and Richard Roston who finished sixth and seventh, respectively, in the masters men 60+ division.
August
North Vancouver gymnast Scott Morgan landed on the podium four times at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow this summer, claiming two golds, a silver and a bronze. The Flicka Gymnastics Club member won gold on back-to-back days to finish off the gymnastics competition, first winning on the rings and then flying back to the top of the standings in vault.
"It was spectacular to get up there on the podium and hear the Canadian anthem," said Morgan. "It's something you dream about as an athlete." Morgan's silver medal came in the floor event while his bronze came in the team competition as he helped lead the way for the Canadian men as they finished third behind England and Scotland. Morgan wasn't the only North Shore athlete to hit the podium in Scotland. Swimmer Emily Overholt, then just 16-years-old, helped her team win silver in the 4x200-m freestyle relay.
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The North Shore Twins came about as close as you can to winning a championship in August without actually scoring the coveted gold medals. The Twins fought their way to the final of the B.C. Premier Baseball League championship tournament in Whalley where they fell in extra innings to the No. 1-ranked Langley Blaze. Trailing 2-1 and down to their final out in the top of the seventh, the Twins rallied with Surya Viswanathan starting things off with a single and then scoring on the very next pitch when Taylor Wright ripped a clutch double.
The Twins then seemed destined for the win after scoring in the top of the ninth, but Langley loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth and then won it on a two-run double from Dakota Currey.
"Tears was all I had left after yesterday," Viswanathan tweeted following the game. "We showed what it means to be North Shore Twins . . . we went out as lions."
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Marcos Baghdatis won his second Odlum Brown VanOpen tennis tournament in August, showing off his strong defensive game and sumptuous drop shots to beat Farrukh Dustov of Uzbekistan 7-6 (6), 6-3 in the final. The Cypriot, who has beaten the sport's best in his long career, first won the VanOpen in 2009. Injuries dropped his ranking in 2014 so he needed to pick up some points at smaller events, but he also had fond memories of 2009 in his mind when he decided to come back to the Hollyburn Country Club hosted event.
"The vibe," he said, when asked what he liked about the event. "The vibe of the people and the atmosphere here. It's honestly one of the best there's so much energy going on throughout the week here."
In the women's final Australian Jarmila Gajdosova topped Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (3) in a match that started quietly but built to a dynamite finish capped off by a third set tie-breaker.
"I just kept fighting and in the end I came back," Gajdosova said after accepting her championship trophy. "I knew she was going to be a tough match."
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North Vancouver's Cole Keffer helped Canada score a thrilling 17-16 win over the four-time defending champs from the United States to claim gold at the World Junior Ultimate Championships held in Italy in August. In the final the underdog Canadians took a slim lead and held it throughout the contest. The Americans, however, eventually tied the game 16-16 forcing universe point (that's ultimate's exciting way of saying next point wins). And then, just like that, it was over — one quick throw and then a long bomb to Canada's Darren Wu who soared above two U.S. defenders to grab the winning point.
"You could hear the crowd go crazy over his catch, " said Keffer. "It's kind of surreal. The moment that we won was one of the best moments of my life. And then after, thinking about it, it's a surreal feeling — we're the best team in that age group in the world."
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It was an early Sunday morning in August but the crowd that packed into the Capilano Rugby Club, 140 strong, was fired up to see some World Cup history. Three of their own — Andrea Burk, Hilary Leith and Mandy Marchak — were in the starting lineup as Canada was taking on England in the final of the Women's Rugby World Cup. Canada started out well, taking it to England in the first 10 minutes of the game. The tide soon turned, however, as the experienced and hungry English — they lost in the final of the past three World Cups — slowly pulled away, building an 11-0 lead in the first half. Canada fought back to make it close before a fast and bruising run from Emily Scarratt — a dominant player throughout the game — sealed the win for England and ended the greatest World Cup run in Canadian rugby history one step short of the ultimate prize.
The party inside the Capilano club mellowed as the clock ticked down to the final whistle but once the game was over, all that was left was an enormous amount of pride for the players and team.
"For us it's just overwhelming to get those three on the team," said club president Ken Robinson. "That was absolutely spectacular. I know full well how much work they've had to put in."
September
North Vancouver's Lauren Wilkinson helped Canada win silver in the glamour event of the 2014 World Rowing Championships, the women's eights.
The Canadians finished second behind the United States at the championships held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The 1-2 finish mirrored the podium placements for the two countries at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games. "It's not what we wanted, but we fought hard," Wilkinson said. "We are going to go home and train, there is still a lot of speed to be gained."
October
In October the number of Reinharts with NHL experience doubled as Sam and Griffin debuted on back-to-back nights, joining their older brother Max and father Paul in the league's ledger.
Sam made his NHL debut for the Buffalo Sabres in their season opener Thursday, Oct. 9 at the age of 18, less than four months after being picked second overall in the 2014 NHL draft. One day later Griffin made his debut with the New York Islanders.
"It means my parents are busy," joked Sam when asked what it meant for him and his brother to make their debuts on back-to-back nights. Sam was sent back to the WHL after a brief stint with the Sabres while 20-year-old Griffin has split his time between the Islanders and the AHL's Bridgeport Sound Tigers this season, picking up one assist, a plus-one rating and six penalty minutes in eight games with the big club.
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The Carson Graham Eagles and Handsworth Royals battled in an all-time classic Buchanan Bowl that came down to the wire with Carson securing a 49-48 victory. The Royals erased a two-touchdown deficit in the quarter, scoring their final major in the last minute of play to make it 49-48. Handsworth elected to go for the win with a two-point convert rather than kicking for a tie, and their bid for the end zone fell short.
Carson ended up going the furthest of all the North Shore senior football teams this season, winning their opening round playoff game before losing to Mission, the eventual silver medalists, in the quarterfinals.
North Shore/Burnaby-based Mountain United Football Club scored their first ever Canadian Soccer Association National Club Championships medal in October and it came from a surprising source. The club's U17 boys won bronze at a national tournament they weren't even supposed to be at: the U-18 Cup held Thanksgiving long weekend in Surrey. The team, comprised completely of underage players for the U18 division, was given a late invite to the tournament after Newfoundland and Labrador dropped out. The Mountain squad more than held its own against older teams, blasting its way into the medal round and securing bronze with a penalty shootout win over Alberta after a 0-0 tie in the third-place match.
North Vancouver's Dzenan Bezdrob scored five goals in the tournament, earning a share of the Golden Boot award.
November
The North Van Wolf Pack racked up an incredible 17-game win streak that spanned all of October and most of November. The run for the PJHL junior B team started with an 8-1 win over Port Moody Oct. 1 and didn't end until a 4-1 loss to Richmond Nov. 29.
"It was just getting everybody to buy in," head coach Matt Samson said about the streak. "We have good players — they're highly skilled and can get us out of trouble. But I think now we've just been working on really getting into our system, focusing on the details of the game whether it's our neutral zone play, our defensive zone, our gap control, our face-off play. It's little things like that, and then getting everyone excited to know that we have a shot at winning it this year and making sure that guys are having fun when they come to the rink every day and know that we've got to keep pushing ourselves."
Heading into the holiday break the Pack sported a 24-4-0-2 record, sitting two points behind Richmond for top spot in the league while having played three fewer games.
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The incredible, improbable run of the Sutherland Sabres senior boys soccer team came to an end in November with a 3-0 loss to Surrey's Panorama Ridge in the provincial AAA final at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West. The magic began in 2013 when the Sabres — a AA-size team that hadn't won a North Shore title at any level since 1997 — made the bold move of jumping up to the top AAA ranks and commenced mowing down opponents, winning the North Shore banner before going on to claim the provincial title with a thrilling overtime win against Burnaby Central. Most of the players from that team returned this year and the Sabres stayed hot all the way to the 2014 provincial final where they finally met their match. Kerman Pannu put on a virtuoso performance for Panorama Ridge, scoring a golden hat trick to give the Thunder their first ever provincial AAA title.
The Sutherland run may have been a surprise for outside observers but it wasn't for those close to the team.
"A lot of these boys we've coached since they were five or six years old," said coach Bill Mahon. "We knew when these guys were going into Grade 8 there was a good nucleus here. It didn't come as a surprise."
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The Argyle Pipers senior girls volleyball team put on a powerful display to win the B.C. AAAA title in in November, dominating the competition to claim the school's first ever provincial volleyball banner. The Pipers, boasting an entire starting lineup made up of Grade 12 players, only dropped one set while bashing their way to seven straight match victories to take the title. The clincher came in a 3-0 sweep over the No. 2-ranked Riverside Rapids from Port Coquitlam.
"This team has been a really special team from the get go," said Kathy Finch, Argyle co-coach along with John McGowan. "It's very exciting for these girls to win the school's very first provincial volleyball banner. . . . The girls have earned their spot on that trophy for sure. They put a lot of time into volleyball."
Outside hitter Anna Price was named tournament MVP while outside hitter Kendra Finch and middle blocker Sarah Haysom were named to the tournament's first all-star team.
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North Vancouver's Manuel Osborne-Paradis came flying out of the gates to start the 2014-15 World Cup ski campaign, scoring silver in the season-opening downhill held in Lake Louise, Alta., Nov. 29. The man known as Manny actually tied for second with France's Guillermo Fayed, just 14 hundredths of a second behind winner Kjetil Jansrud of Norway. The podium placing was Manny's first in nearly five years, his last top-three coming with a silver in Switzerland in January of 2010. The national team veteran was thrilled to make it back onto the podium.
"It feels really good," he said. "I was nervous today because I knew I could podium and this was the best chance I have had in a long time."
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Moments after he won his first ever Canadian Cross Country Running championship Nov. 29 in Vancouver's Jericho Beach Park, North Vancouver native Chris Winter was asked how he was able to catch up to rival Kelly Wiebe in a frantic finish and pull away for the win. His response: "I unleashed the bear."
Recalling the quote later, Winter says he has no idea where it came from.
"After you run 10 kilometres you've got a lot of adrenalin and endorphins going," he said with a laugh while trying to come up with a few more exact words to describe how he chased down Wiebe in the final kilometre, sprinting through shin-deep mud and snow to earn a narrow victory. "Honestly, I dug deeper than I ever have before."
With 600 m to go the runners were emerging from the sloppy course onto the grass of the home stretch where cheering fans, including a vocal crew of Winter's family and friends, were waiting. Winter passed Wiebe with 500 m left and held to win by four seconds.
"You couldn't script a better race," said Winter. "The crowd loved it, there was just two guys hammering each other."
December
West Vancouver's Sam Reinhart earned a spot on Team Canada for the World Junior Hockey Championships for the second straight year. Last year Sam and older brother Griffin suited up as Canada finished fourth in Sweden.
This year Sam, picked No. 2 overall in the 2014 NHL draft, was named an assistant captain and will be counted on as a team leader as the Canadians try to claim gold for the first time since 2009.
The tournament will run Dec. 26-Jan. 5 in Toronto and Montreal.
