ONE word comes up a lot when teammates and coaches describe the schedule taken on by North Vancouver twin brothers Spencer and Dyllan Quon: crazy.
This year the Grade 12 students have been stars for the Windsor Dukes senior boys basketball team while also playing junior B hockey for the North Van Wolf Pack in the Pacific International Junior Hockey League.
"That's crazy commitment," said Windsor teammate David Manshrek. "I don't know if I could do that. I mean, two sports at the same time? Just playing basketball is a lot."
The Quon brothers have been starters for the Dukes for the past three seasons and this year they were called up from the North Vancouver Minor Hockey Association to join the Wolf Pack shortly after the season began and have stuck with the club ever since. They're usually in action six nights a week, often playing both in the same day. Their schedule reached new levels of squishiness last week when they suited up for seven games in eight nights, including five straight games from March 20-24 as the Dukes battled in the Howe Sound playoffs and the Wolf Pack scrapped for the final playoff spot in their conference. On Monday, Feb. 20, it was hockey at Aldergrove, a 4-3 loss. Tuesday it was basketball, a 65-40 win over Seycove. Wednesday they were back on the ice for a big 2-0 road win over North Delta. On Thursday it was a huge 65-56 victory over Collingwood to win the Howe Sound AA basketball championship, earning Windsor the North Shore's sole berth in the AA provincials. Friday night it was more celebrating after the Wolf Pack topped Ridge Meadows 4-1 to claim the first playoff berth in franchise history.
"That's an insane week," said Wolf Pack head coach Matt Samson.
At that point another word came to mind for the twins: tired.
The Wolf Pack played again Saturday night but, with a playoff spot already in the bag, Samson mercifully gave the twins the night off along with several other regulars.
"My body hurts a lot for sure," Dyllan said with a laugh as he watched the game from the bleachers Saturday night. "We've gone five days straight, I'm so lucky to not be playing tonight. But I don't know - I love it. I'm a young kid, I guess I can put up with it."
Windsor head coach Rob Ros said he's never seen anything like it.
"I've been coaching for 20 years at the senior level, I've never had a high level hockey player able to do both."
The twins have played both sports for almost as long as they can remember and, when it came time to choose this year, they couldn't pick just one.
"It's hard choosing between one or the other," said Spencer.
"When it came down to it I couldn't really choose between the two," added Dyllan. "I just have a love for both games, I didn't want to let one go so here I am."
The twins use one of the family cars - Spencer says father Stan usually gets the other car for work, leaving mother Sandy to scramble - to zip all over the North Shore and beyond to get to practices and games. They haven't missed very many of them.
"It's not like they're here 50 per cent of the time," said Ros. "They make 90 per cent of team commitments. They're unbelievable that way. And obviously their parents are super supportive. It's been fantastic."
One more word comes up a lot when the twins' coaches talk about having a pair of tall, talented teammates out on the court or ice: valuable.
Since joining the Wolf Pack Spencer has cracked the top-six forwards, scoring 23 points, including 19 assist, in 28 games. Dyllan plays defence and works on the second power play unit. His four goals leads all D-men on the team.
"The kids are really good athletes," said Samson. "This is the first year they've really committed to playing at this high level, being on the ice. You can see how their game improves by doing that."
On the hardwood they stand out even more, forming the Dukes starting backcourt. Both were named to the all-tournament team at the Howe Sound championships.
"They're our primary ball-handlers and game in and game out we ask them to defend our opponent's best players," said Ros. "They do an awful lot for us and they're great leaders and they're great kids. I'm so happy to have them on the team."
There's still more to come. The Wolf Pack begin a playoff series against the Richmond Sockeyes March 1. The AA basketball provincials run March 7-10 in Kamloops. If the Wolf Pack series goes to games 6 and 7 there will be some conflict. The twins, however, aren't in a hurry to choose one playoff over the other.
"I haven't really thought about that one yet," said Spencer. "We've got to make it there first."
Ros has an idea about what they might need to do to resolve any dire conflicts.
"Go home and flip a coin," he said with a laugh.
A flip of the coin would make sense for the twins because there's one more word that comes to mind when they describe their own situation: lucky.
"I'm lucky I've had the opportunity with all of these things," said Spencer. "Not a lot of people get it so I'm really lucky."
