Happy Christmas Eve!
If you've got your stocking already hung and you don't want those pesky sugar plum fairies dancing in your head just yet, take a few minutes to join us as we look back at the best moments in North Shore sports from the past 12 months.
In this issue — Part 1 of our three-part year in review — we remember the thrills and spills that happened from January to June. Enjoy!
January
North Vancouver's Liam Firus got the party started with a bronze medal finish at the Canadian figure skating championships held in January, a result that earned the 21-year-old a spot on the Canadian Olympic team.
Seven-time national champion Patrick Chan won gold again with a score of 277.42 while Kevin Reynolds, a North Vancouver-born skater who grew up in Coquitlam, placed second with a point total of 242.45. Firus's showing accelerated a career trajectory that pointed towards the 2018 Olympics. He was more than happy to debut in Sochi, though, where he went on to finish in 28th place. "He is one of the really nicest kids," said Lorna Bauer, his longtime coach with the North Vancouver-based Vancouver Skating Club, after Firus put together his strong showing at the Olympic trials.
"He's got good manners, he's respectful, he shows up every day and he works hard. Even when he's sick he shows up and I usually have to send him home - that's how dedicated he is."
• • •
West Vancouver's Fred Schulhof set a pair of age-group world records at the Ebbtides Masters Swim Meet held in January. Schulhof set world records in the 200-metre backstroke and 100-metre backstroke in the 95 to 100-years-old category.
After the race Schulhof was non-committal about participating in any future races.
"I never plan any further than a week ahead, in fact a day ahead," he said with a smile.
• • •
North Vancouver's Colton Sissons made his NHL debut with the Nashville Predators on Jan. 28, picking up an assist and a +1 rating in a 4-3 win over Winnipeg.
"The first shift my head was just spinning on my shoulders," Sissons said after the game. "After I got my first shift out of the way I settled down and got a little bit more comfortable and could play my game a little bit better."
The Predators picked Colton in the second round, 50th overall, in the 2012 NHL entry draft. He played 17 NHL games last season, picking up a goal and three assists. He also scored a team-leading 25 goals in 62 games with the Milwaukee Admirals, earning a spot in the AHL all-star game.
February
The North Shore was well represented at the Olympic Games held in February in Sochi, Russia.
North Vancouver-born figure skater Kevin Reynolds the podium, earning silver in the newly created team competition. Reynolds landed three quadruple jumps in his routine to help him rack up a score of 167.92, second only to Russian hero Evgeni Plushenko in the men's free skate portion of the team event.
"It was amazing," Reynolds said. "From start to finish I could hear Team Canada cheering me on in the background."
West Vancouver's Georgia Simmerling made her second Olympic appearance at the ripe old age of 24. She took part in alpine skiing in 2010 but switched over to ski cross for 2014. In Sochi she posted the eighth fastest time in qualifying and then won her first elimination heat before crashing hard in the quarterfinals. She ended up in 14th place while teammates Marielle Thompson of Whistler and Kelsey Serwa of Kelowna won gold and silver.
Simmerling didn't have to wait too long to find a podium though as she claimed bronze in a World Cup race March 16 and followed that up with another bronze at the World Cup finals one week later.
The Sochi Games were painful yet rewarding for 2010 golden girl Maelle Ricker of West Vancouver, whose mere presence in the starting gates was a minor miracle — she suffered a compound fracture in her arm just 19 days before the Olympic snowboard cross competition.
Ricker's bid for a repeat gold — with two plates and 16 screws holding her arm together — started well as she posted the fourth fastest qualifying time at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park near Sochi. She fell, however, in her first elimination heat and ended up placing 21st overall.
"I (didn't) have my usual pull out of the gate," Ricker said following the event. "It just kind of all fell apart there in the quarter-final. My start wasn't anything to write home about and it just got worse and worse as I went down the course. Usually I'm able to refocus and get back on point, especially in pressure situations. I can usually pull up my socks and dig deep, but that was really not the case today."
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The Capilano Blues women's volleyball team capped off a strong 2013-14 season by winning silver at the PacWest championships on their home court, earning a trip to the national championships. The Blues battled No. 1-ranked VIU in the provincial final and seemed ready for an upset but lost all momentum when star hitter Sarah Pettersson suffered a serious knee injury on one of the final plays of the first set.
Capilano went on to finish fifth at the national championships.
March
The North Van Wolf Pack scored the first playoff victory in franchise history in March, erasing a 2-1 series deficit with three straight wins to beat the Delta Ice Hawks in six games. The Pack sealed the deal with a 4-3 win on the road.
"Not necessarily elation, more like relief," head coach Matt Samson said about finally getting a series victory. The team joined the PJHL as the Squamish Wolf Pack in 2008 and moved to North Van in 2011. "It's definitely been a long time coming. It just feels like a weight off of our shoulders. . . . If we didn't do that this year it would have been a very big disappointment." The season came to an end in the next series as the Pack was swept by the powerhouse Richmond Sockeyes.
• • •
North Vancouver soccer star Rachel Jones suited up for Team Canada at the FIFA U17 Women's World Cup held in March in Costa Rica. The Canadians showed well in the tournament, advancing out of the group stage into the quarterfinals. There they faced Venezuela and lost 3-2 in a tight and entertaining match. Jones played big minutes for Canada at fullback throughout the tournament, including the entire quarterfinal match.
• • •
An epic North Shore rivalry reached the province's highest stage in March as the St. Thomas Aquinas and Windsor senior girls basketball teams battled in the B.C. AA championship final. The rivals met five times before the championship final with each game finishing with a winning margin of three points or less. On March 8 the final chapter played out at the Langley Events Centre and it was a fitting ending. The teams battled through 14 lead changes and six ties until Windsor had the good fortune of holding the lead at the right time to claim a 69-64 win. In overtime, of course.
"You can't get much closer than that," said Windsor head coach Peter Sprogis. "If the game had gone on for another five minutes we would have been right back in it," said STA head coach Anthony Beyrouti. "We just ran out of time."
• • •
North Vancouver native Sonja Gaudet won the third wheelchair curling gold medal of her Paralympic career at the Sochi Games in March, becoming the first Paralympic curler to claim three golds. Gaudet, who was nominated as Canada's flagbearer at the opening ceremony for the Paralympics, also won gold medals in Turin in 2006 and Vancouver in 2010.
• • •
North Vancouver's Brielle Bellerive and Hannah Miller both won gold with Team Canada at the 2014 IIHF Ice Hockey U-18 Women's World Championship held in Budapest, Hungary. Canada scored a thrilling 1-0 semifinal win over Russia to make the final where they topped the United States 5-1 to claim gold.
"Everyone just — I can't explain — they just freaked out, jumped over the boards," said Bellerive about the scene at the final buzzer. "It was amazing. The biggest dog pile. . . . A few people got hurt but it was worth it."
April
The North Shore Winter Club Winterhawks Bantam A1 team was flying high in April as they won the Western Canadian Bantam AAA Championships held in Kelowna.
The Winterhawks claimed the title with a thrilling 4-3 double overtime win over the Lloydminster Heat with Nolan Kneen playing the hero by scoring the sudden death winner 11 minutes into the second overtime period.
The Hawks continued to soar at the end of April as three members of the team were picked in the top 5 during the Western Hockey League's bantam draft. Team captain Jordy Bellerive was the first Winterhawk to be picked, going second overall to the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Kneen came next, going third overall to the Kamloops Blazers as the first defenceman off the board. Forward Justin Almeida was picked fifth by the Prince George Cougars.
All told, seven players from that Winterhawks team were taken in the draft, all going in the first seven rounds. Head coach Jim Dinwoodie said this was a special team.
"This type of team only comes around once in a while. They all bought in, they played hard for each other and played for the right reasons, and that's why they were successful."
May
Griffin Reinhart — of the famous West Vancouver Reinharts — captained the Edmonton Oil Kings to victory in the MasterCard Memorial Cup championships held in May in London, Ont.
The Oil Kings, Western Hockey League champions, defeated the Guelph Storm 6-3 to earn the Memorial Cup. The Storm scored first, just one minute into the final, and held a 2-1 lead in the second period but the Oil Kings poured on the pressure as the game wore on, scoring three straight goals to make it 4-2 at the end of the second period. Henrik Samuelsson scored twice in the third - part of a five-point night for him - to seal the victory.
"We never gave up," Reinhart said after the win. "I think that's been a theme of ours this year, we've been down before and we just kept climbing back up."
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The Rockridge Ravens senior boys rugby team got a big boost late in the season to help them earn their first provincial AA championship since 2010. Grade 12 scrum half Adam Martin missed the entire regular season as he rehabbed from a torn ACL but made it back in time to hit the pitch for provincials where he helped put the Ravens over the top.
Rockridge met a familiar foe in the final when they took on their cross-town rivals from Collingwood. The Ravens battled to a 7-3 lead at halftime — Martin opened the scoring with a diving try — before building up a 28-10 lead in the second half. Collingwood scored in the final minute to make it 28-15 but that was the end of the action. Rockridge's other tries came from Wyatt Vickerstaff, Jackson Claridge and Brandon Leschert while Angus Carroll, co-captain along with Mitch Melenbacher, kicked four tough converts in the swirling wind.
Martin was named to the Commissioner's 15 team as Rockridge's team MVP. The win was especially sweet for Martin who had to watch from the sidelines in 2013 as Collingwood claimed the championship with a win over Rockridge.
"I really felt like I let down the team not being able to play there — all this year I've been trying to get back on it," he said, adding that the contests against Collingwood are always the most intense matchups of the year.
"All of our guys know each other from Capilano (Rugby Club) and all of the other leagues so there's a massive rivalry," he said. "We've always been out to get them. It's always the most physical game and always a really close game."
June
North Vancouver resident Ellie Greenwood won the 89.2-kilometre Comrades Marathon held in South Africa June 1. Greenwood erased an eight-minute deficit over the final 18 kilometres to blow by eight-time champion Elena Nurgalieva of Russia and win by more than five minutes, finishing in a time of six hours 18 minutes and 15 seconds. Greenwood, a first-time champion in the prestigious ultramarathon, ran the final seven kilometres in 27:45, the second fastest time of any male or female in the race.
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Sam Reinhart — also one of the famous West Vancouver Reinharts — was picked second overall by the Buffalo Sabres in the National Hockey League entry draft June 27. "I've envisioned myself in this position, coming in here at this point in time," Reinhart said after the draft. "I know I have a lot of work ahead, and I know I'm going to continue to work." Reinhart is another link in the chain that his family started in 1979, when his father Paul Reinhart was drafted by the Atlanta Flames, and went on to play 11 NHL seasons with both the Flames and the Vancouver Canucks.
Sam is also joining both of his brothers, Max and Griffin Reinhart, in the NHL ranks. The Calgary Flames selected Max in the third round of the 2010 NHL draft, while Griffin was picked in the first round, fourth overall, by the New York Islanders in 2012.
Although his NHL career is officially just beginning, Sam has already received accolades for his talent on the ice. He was named the WHL's 2013-14 Player of the Year and Most Sportsmanlike Player of the Year after racking up 105 points in 60 games with the Kootenay Ice. He also suited up, with brother Griffin, on the Canadian team that finished fourth at the 2014 World Junior Championships held in Malmo, Sweden. Before that Sam was the captain of two teams that won gold medals for Canada - one at the 2012 Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament and the other at the 2013 under-18 world championships.
