Neil Meechan named as Canadian Sevens Captain

The Canadian National Senior Men's Sevens team is off to Dubai on Friday, Feb. 27 for the Rugby World Cup Sevens. On the roster of Canada's 12 top sevens players are five Vikes - one of which has just been named Captain.
Neil Meechan may not be a man of many words but he certainly leads by example. Whether it's on the international sevens circuit or back home playing in the CDI Premier Leauge, Meechan's opponents fear him and his teammates look up to him. He's a tough player known for his aggression and quickness at the breakdown.
The national side is certainly in good hands as they face off against South Africa, Scotland and Japan during their opening day of competition.

Kayla D = MVP, Forstbauer receives comeback award, and Gudgeon an All-star

Kayla Dykstra
In the most shocking news of the year, Kayla Dykstra of the Vikes women's basketball was named the Canada West MVP.

Who would have ever thought the leader in scoring (18.6 p/g), leader in rebounding (11.2 p/g), the owner of the leagues top field goal percentage (61%) and the catalyst to the best defensive team in the conference would win the award. Still can't believe it.

All jokes and sarcasm aside, Kayla Dykstra put together just an unbelievable year of basketball. She was destined to win this award from about January onward and was about as sure a bet as President Obama was on Election day.

Night in and night out Dykstra would craft double double performances like she was working the 24 hour drive-through at Tim Hortons. To finish out the regular season Kayla D would put together back-to-back weekends worthy of Canada West Player of the Week recognition. I would stay posted to the Horn because there could, and probably should, be one more award. Possibly a CIS National Player of the Year award? Time will tell.

Vanessa Forstbauer
You don't usually think about your heart. It's just something that you take for granted. It keeps you going and pumps blood. But students that have never struggled through Human Anatomy at UVic really have no clue how it works, other than it beats and can be crushed on Prom Night.

Yet for the Vikes Vanessa Forstbauer, her heart became the only thing she could think about. Forstbauer began to notice something was abnormal with her heart roughly two years ago during a Vikes practice. At first, Forstbauer and numerous doctors thought she had an irregular heartbeat. The problem wouldn't subside however, becoming more persistent and noticeable with every practice.

Forstbauer was forced to take a year off and undergo a surgical procedure. After numerous tests, it was discovered that the Chilliwack native had what is referred to as Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT). In English it mean that she had extra electrical tissue in her heart, or a short circuit, that caused increased heart rate and palpitations. The surgery performed successfully froze that extra tissue, making it torment, and thus allowing her heart to pump out the correct amount of blood during exercise.

When the 2008-09 basketball season came around Forstbauer was ready to return to the Vikes lineup. She didn't miss a beat. The third year forward started in all but one of the Vikes games, finishing second on the team in both points (8.2 p/g) and rebounds (7.0 p/g). Hustle, grit and hard work were just a few adjectives to describe Forstbauer's unwavering contribution to the Vikes this past season.

For her amazing return to the court, Forstbauer was awarded the recipient of the Tracy McLeod award as the Canada West Comeback Player of the Year.

Mitch Gudgeon
The Senior from Oak Bay was selected to the Canada West second team all-star team for his efforts during his swan song season. The big man led the Vikes in scoring (15.6 p/g) rebounding (10.1 p/g) and dunks over seven footers. His rebounding totals ranked 3rd amongst conference leaders and point total ranked him 15th amongst league leaders.

Stats aside, Gudgeon left a lasting impression with the Vikes program on and off the court. This selection is the final chapter to what was a terrific collegiate career.

Re-cap

In case you're just tuning in this would be my "first post" seeing as I had to remove my last post. A long story short, my last post was considered "campaigning too early" when I said that I was running for the UVSS elections! So I had to remove the post and was disqualified! It's an unfortunate scenario, but more bizarre than anything. If you plan on running for the elections be sure to read the entire 20 page manual of do's and don'ts from section A to J plus all the miscellaneous sub headings in between! They have no leniance towards inexperienced first-time nominees apparently! My only thought is that they miss out on a chance to finally include a whole other percentage of campus population for once and not just the same people who run and same people who vote. Oh well! Maybe next time!

As co-president of the varsity council I thought I would also take this opportunity to update you on what's on the go! First and foremost... February athletes of the month:

TEAM of the month: Women's basketball
FEMALE athlete: Kayla Dykstra (Women's Bball)
MALE athlete: Doug Csima (Men's Rowing)

A special shout out to Kayla!! She was just named Canada West MVP and her team mate Vanessa also won a major award so congratulations to both of you on a great season!!

In the works with the Varsity council are the following:

• "Rubik's Cube Pubcrawl" held mid to end of March (each sport will be dressed as a certain colour from a rubik's cube and by the end of the night you must have talked to someone on the other teams and collected an article of clothing or accessory of each colour!) Tickets will be on sale soon!
• Athlete and Awards banquet (+Vikes Hall of Fame) April 1st I believe is the date and we will be organizing a get-together afterwards so plan ahead wisely!
  
• Graduating players ceremony will be held separate from the banquet so look out for more news regarding that!

That's all for an update on my end! Congrats again to the Men's and Women's basketball teams for a great canada west season, to the Women's soccer team for a good record in Florida over reading break, and to McKenzie Downing and the swim team for a solid performance at Nationals!!!

Campus Showdown

All of us students have sauntered down it before at some point during our time at UVic. Heading to Ian Stewart for a workout from campus or stumbling home from a night at Felicitas, McCoy Road is a staple thoroughfare for UVic students. Yet perhaps you didn't know that the skinny road is the only thing that separates the UVic Vikes rugby team's Wallace Field and their arch rival Velox Valhallians home pitch.

This rivalry has taken a backstage over the past few years due to the Valhallians futility in both the Island and Premier League. But so far in 2009 the Valhallians have been far from league bottom feeders, jumping out a 4-0-1 record and currently sitting atop the CDI B.C. Premier League standings.

Saturday at Wallace Field the Valhallians would love nothing more than to upset the undefeated Vikes and assert themselves as the team to beat not just in Gordon Head, but on the Island.

Kick-off for this much anticipated showdown will go at 2:45.

Spartans roster gaffe nearly gives Vikes second life

There were a few moments on Tuesday where it looked like the UVic Vikes men's basketball team would be given a second chance in the 2009 Canada West Playoffs. Days after losing in the elimination Game 3 to the Trinity Western Spartans, the Vikes discovered that there was something not quite right with the Spartans lineup in Game 2 and 3.

The violation was simple. The Spartans broke the playoff rule that teams must "freeze their roster lineups at 12 through an entire three game playoff series." Simply put, the rule states that the same 12 players that dress for game one must be in the lineup for each proceeding game in the series, and no new player (a 13th player) may draw into game 2 or 3 regardless of injury, illness or fatigue to the original 12 players.

This is what Trinity Western did.

12 players played game one. 12 players saw the floor in game one. Nothing wrong with that.

But in game two, Spartans rookie Head Coach Scott Allen would elect to insert Daniel Demian into the lineup and take out Ryan Froese. And than in game 3, Allen would dangle with his lineup again, scratching Joe Vroom and inserting Froese back into the lineup.

The musical chairs on the bench is fine during the regular season, but is a no-no in post season basketball. It gave a clear advantage to the Spartans as it allowed them to insert fresh legs in for game two and three. In each of the three games all 12 Spartans players saw floor time.

This violation of Canada West rules was hotly discussed on CIS Blogs and discussion boards across Canada and had many thinking that the Spartans could, and maybe should, be forced to forfeit the series against the Vikes.

So yesterday, after hours of speculation the Canada West came down with their decision. Rather than force the Spartans to forfeit the series, or at the very least, make the Spartans and Vikes replay Game 3, the Canada West suspended Scott Allen for two games and fined Trinity Western Athletics Department $1000 dollars.

The Horn understands that forcing the Spartans to forfeit the series with the Vikes may be slightly unfair and a bit extreme. The Spartans players had nothing to do with this inexcusable mistake made by their rookie head coach. However, you cannot deny that the Spartans got a sizable advantage by having a fresh body on their bench in each game. Remember the Vikes lost by just one in game 1 and by just two in game 3. You're telling me that a rested player in a three game series doesn't make a difference in a two point game. Come on!

Furthermore, the two game ban for Allen is inconsequential.

Take a look at the Canada West playoff picture. There is pretty much no conceivable way that the Spartans don't get the wild card berth into the Canada West Final Four. They have the third highest CIS National Rankings of the six playoff teams remaining. Yes, Allen will miss the upcoming weekend series against the UBC Thunderbirds at War Memorial. Who Cares!
It doesn't matter if the Spartans lose by 10 or by 50. They will in all likelihood get that berth into the CW Final Four and be within one victory of going to nationals in Ottawa.

Meanwhile, over on the Island basketball is finished.

After the way the Vikes lost game one and three, to now have this happen is just a terrible way to finish a promising year.
The roller coaster of emotions that the players must have felt over the past few days. Unimaginable. I don't understand why they couldn't have had a winner take all game on Thursday at War Memorial with the winner taking on the T-Birds.

I never in my wildest dreams would think that i would write the following three words on the Horn.

But it's all that Vikes fans can do now.

GO BIRDS GO

Spartans, Birds crush Vikes dreams

Ouch!

This one is going to sting for a long time. A very long time.

Playoff basketball came to a screeching halt Saturday night, as both the Vikes men's and women's basketball teams dropped heart breakers in do-or-die situations.

The Men (Game 3 vs TWU)

Over in Langley the men came out in the do-or-die game three flatter than a 99 cent slice of Second Slice Pizza. The Spartans used their crazy crowd at the David E. to jump out to a 25-16 first quarter lead. They would keep the pedal-to-the-medal in the second Q and would enter the break up by 27 points! Over Right?
Nope! As whatever Coach Beau said, or most likely yelled, during the break it was heard loud and clear by the Vikes, as they came out in the final 20 minutes a team possessed.

Led by Senior Tyler Hass, the Vikes erased the massive deficit with a 25 point explosion in the 3rd quarter. Hass, playing in what would be his final game of his hallmark collegiate career, poured in 22 points and refused to let his team go quietly into the night. Hass hit what TWU's radio announcer would call a "NBA sized 3" with 24 seconds left to cut the Spartans lead to 85-80. He would than be fouled on a three-point-attempt with just 15 seconds left. The Victoria native would hit his first two but miss the third. Jacob Doerksen would grab the 'board and than stick it to his former teammates by knocking down both his free throws to put his squad back up by 5. However, Hass would rise up again as he nailed yet another bomb from the corner to put the Vikes back within two with less than 10 seconds to go. But after Lous Hurd missed both his free throws the Vikes were unable to grab the board, allowing Jamie Vaughn to swoop in and grab the loose ball. Devastating way to lose a game, as the Vikes and the red hot Hass were unable to muster up a final attempt for a game tying shot.

After what transpired in Game 1 (see video in post below), to have this happen in Game 3...just devastating. Being down 27 at half and than to come that close in front of that crazy crowd. Heartbreaking.

One shot was the difference between a date with UBC at War Memorial gym and going home for good. An unfair outcome for a team that was far too good to have their season end in mid-February. This team was built for success in the playoffs. Built on defence and grit. But as the CIS BLOG mentioned, the competition in the Pacific Division is outstanding.

You have to feel for the Seniors Hass and Gudgeon. They wanted nothing more than a return trip to Ottawa for Nationals.

Still a very solid year for a team that climbed as high as No. 6 in the CIS National Polls and put together a regular season record of 17-6. However, the rebuilding process and forward thinking must start, and start quickly, as next year the Vikes will have some massive spots to fill with the absence of Hass and Gudgeon.

The Women (Game 2 UBC)

As painful as the outcome from the men's series in Langley, perhaps what transpired on the Island was even more gut-wrenching.

The lady Vikes were playing a do-or-die game of their own, down 1-0 in their series against the defending National champs from UBC.

The women also had a halftime deficit of their own to overcome, as an absolute abysmal 2nd quarter had the Vikes down 8 heading into the halftime break.

But Ashley Yee, the only fourth/fifth year player on the Vikes, put her squad on her back in the 2nd half and led the charge as the Vikes clawed their way back and actually led by two heading into the final quarter. Yee finished the night with 18 points and gave the Vikes some much needed secondary scoring as the Birds were draped over Kayla Dykstra all series long.

The final ten minutes had both teams get some clutch buckets from the most unlikely of sources. Two rookies, T-Birds Lia St. Pierre and Vikes Debbie Yeaboah, played liked seasoned veterans down the stretch as they exchanged back-and-forth buckets. With the score tied at 62 with only 30 seconds left, UBC had the ball and held for last shot. The 'Birds would miss their shot however and the Vikes Dykstra would grab the board. But it was the rookie St. Pierre who darted into the key to steal the Dykstra outlet pass and go hard to the rack before Dykstra was forced to foul her. With the Vikes season on the line, St. Pierre would deliver the knock-out blow by calmly draining both foul shots. Unreal poise shown by the recruit from Moncton, New Brunswick.

A great regular season record and likely a MVP award for Kayla Dykstra could not translate into any sort of post-season run for the Vikes. But it will be used as a painful learning experience for the Vikes, as unlike the men, the ladies lose nobody from this years squad. They will be right back here next year, and this bitter defeat will go along way in terms of experience and motivation for the upcoming summer workouts.


Two season's ending much too quickly for the Horns liking.

That's sport though, and as they say "there is always next year".......i guess.

Some mayhem on the mainland, and upsets on the Island

First off gotta say sorry for the delay in getting a new playoff post up on the Horn. A couple of ferry rides will cause that.

But how about the series that is shaping up over in Langley! Wow. The Horn was over there on Thursday and what an absolute mad house the David E. Enarson Gymnasium is. Just a incredible atmosphere and an incredible game Thursday night. The Vikes weathered an early Spartans storm and battled all the way back to actually lead by 5 with 4 minutes to go. However, "The Shot Hurd Round the Pacific" would come in the final seconds of the contest as Spartans gurad Louis Hurd hit a buzzer beating 3 to give the Spartans the 64-63 victory. The highlights from game 1 can be viewed below or on the UVicVikes channel on youtube

Yet, the resilient Vikes who only lost back-to-back games once all season long battled back in game 2 on Friday night. Led by Jeff Cullen's game high 24 points, including 9 in the final frame helped the Vikes stave off elimination and force a deciding game 3 tonight at the David E. The place should just be a nut house again but the Vikes have the momentum on their side and are really thriving playing in front of a hostile crowd. Game 3, winner take all. What more could you ask for!!!

Over on the Island the UBC T-Birds women's flew into McKinnon Gym and stunned the UVic Vikes with a 57-54 victory. The Birds had a great game plan as they completely devised their defence around shutting down the Vikes superstar post Kayla Dykstra. It worked as Dykstra was held quite for the majority of the night. The Vikes will need a complete four quarter effort in game two and start hitting those free throws if they want to extend this series to Sunday.

Its do-or-die time for both our Vikes teams, so get out to McKinnon and cheer on our girls than tune into TWU's radio broadcast and listen into the boys!

Playoffs..... We talking 'bout Playoffs

Playoff hoops is finally upon us.

Starting tonight the men and women's Vikes basketball teams will embark in what they hope will be a long and prosperous journey to national greatness.

The men will start their best-of-three series tonight in Langley against their old buddy Jacob Doerkson and his upstart Trinity Western Spartans. As the playoff preview discusses, the Vikes will not only have to deal a regular season MVP candidate in Doerkson, but will also face the rowdy Spartans fans who cram the cozy confines of David E. Enarson. The gym (Pictured Right) is widely considered the loudest and toughest place to place in all of CIS basketball. The Horn will be giving live updates from the mad house all Thursday night long, so be sure to check back as the Vikes look to spoil the party.

On the other side of the Georgia Strait, the Vikes women's will get one more nights rest before they welcome in the defending CIS National Champion UBC Thunderbirds. The best-of-three PAC-D semis will get going Friday night at 7 PM. This series should also be intense from the get go as there is certainly no love loss between these long time west coast rivals. If for whatever reason you can't make it down to Shields Court, you can catch the entire game on the Vikes Streaming Network

Wishing men's basketball best of luck

The women's basketball team is just finishing up a good week of practices to get ready for the playoffs against the UBC Thunderbird's this weekend. We're super happy to be playing in Mckinnon gym in front of a home crowd for the first time in any of our careers at UVIC. The only downside to playoffs? We don't get to watch the men's team take on the Spartans in their own playoff challenge. The men play their first game tonight, and I hope everyone will be cheering on the men from the live broadcast if they couldnt make it over to Abbostford for the game.
Good luck Vikes!!!

Finally....Some Vikes Video

After weeks of promising, the Horn has finally delivered some game highlights. This video is a recap of Seniors night on Saturday, as the Vikes men rolled all over the Thompson Rivers WolfPack. Mitch Gudgeon's 3 first half dunks are all included. Look for full video/highlight recaps of both the men's and women's first round playoff series next week.

Candidate for CIS dunk of the year

The Vikes Mitch Gudgeon had a few dunks on the weekend that were impressive, but not quite as impressive as the one that Ryerson's N'Kruma Hylton threw down back in December. Love the bench!

Rugby team picking up right where they left off

Lost in all this chatter about playoff basketball is the scorching hot start by the UVic Vikes men's rugby team. The reigning Island Champs from the fall season are a perfect 3-0 to start the CDI B.C. Premier League and sit atop the standings with 13 points.
This Saturday the Vikes will head up the Malahat for a date with the Cowichan Piggies. The Piggies come into the weekend sitting in eleventh, and only have 1 point to show for through 3 games.

The Horn's already getting a whiff of that sweet smell of Bacon.

The Week Ahead

Wow! the regular season is over, and we have finished on a roll which is awesome.
Just thought I would give you a sneak peek at the week ahead for the woman's basketball team as we prepare for playoffs. Come tomorrow it is right back to work to get ready to go. ONLY three practices to go until it is DO or DIE time. The week will be spent trying prepare as best we can for the UBC Thunderbirds. Everything from on the court practice, to recovery after, and getting enough rest is important as this is the week the season comes down to... the weekend that you work so hard for so that you can keep alive for another weekend, another round. You just never know where you might be able to go.

Feel good story of year

It took six seasons, 128 games, and 5120 minutes of basketball. Finally, after years of futility and frustration, it happened.

Congratulations RMC. Hope you celebrated accordingly!

Vikes stars shine bright to close out regular season

No more trial runs. No more experimenting. And certainly no more opponents with 2-and-20 records. It's time to start growing the beards and dusting off the towels.

The Vikes men's and women's hoops teams dimmed the lights on the 2008-09 regular season this past weekend. In the final two contests of the season, a couple of Vikes stars shone very bright and gave the McKinnon faithful fans tons of optimism heading into the second season.

The four-for-four Vikes weekend was led by a pair of career performances by Mitch Gudgeon and Kayla DykMVPstra (sorry for the typo). Their effort on the Fri and Sat night was a perfect way to wrap up their terrific regular seasons, and for Gudgeon, a Hollywood scripted finish to cap off a hallmark five years of basketball at McKinnon Gym.

The long and grueling quest for national glory will begin next week for both Vikes teams, with the Women hosting the defending CIS National Champion UBC Thunderbirds in the opening round of the best-of-three PAC-D playoffs. The men got no love from Winnipeg (And we thought Cyril had connections in that city) so they will be forced to travel to the not so friendly confines of David E. Earnson Gym to take on their old friend Jacob Doerksen and the rest of the Trinity Western Spartans. However, before we look forward to the opening round of the playoffs, lets look back at what transpired this past weekend. The Horn will have a full playoff hoops preview in the upcoming days!

The Women

You know whats scary. Like really scary. Terrifyingly scary. The fact that Kayla Dykstra has two more years of eligibility. She can't possibly dominate a league more than she dominated the Canada West in 2008-09. Nobody in the conference even came close to stopping her this season. If she does not win the leagues MVP award it will be the biggest injustice in voting since George Bush was re-elected President back in 2004.

This past weekend Dykstra put an explanation mark on her record setting year. Friday night she realized a career high in scoring when she poured in 33 points to go along with 13 boards in the Vikes 78-52 victory over UFV. The next night, another personal career high, as she set a new mark in rebounds by grabbing 23 in the Vikes 65-56 win over TRU. She also locked up the Canada West scoring title with her fifth straight 20-plus effort, netting 21 points on 8-17 shooting. Ohh ya I almost forgot, Saturday night's monster game saw her end up just two blocks shy of recording her first ever triple-double.

Lets just take a quick look at her year:

• 18.6 points-per-game (1st in the Canada West and the second straight year that a Vike captured the scoring title (Ryan McKay last season 18.3)
  

• 11.2 rebounds-per-game (1st in the Canada West)

• 61% field goal percentage (1st in the Canada West)

• 1.4 blocks-per-game (6th in the Canada West)

Like I said, scary good. If I am the UBC T-Birds i would maybe spend just a little time in practice this week preparing for #14.

The Men

Talk about going out in style. Seniors Mitch Gudgeon and Tyler Hass likely played their last games on Shields Court on the weekend. And if it is their last game, they certainly left a lasting mark. Just ask the rims.

Gudgeon, obviously upset that the Horn labeled him as the grinder and Hass as the high-flyer, threw down three You Tube bound dunks in Saturday's victory against a very over matched TRU team. The Horn will post these dunks in the coming days but if you weren't there to see them in person you sure missed out on some huge crams by #33. The best one coming in the second quarter when the big man received a Ryan MacKinnon pass at full speed and went ride down broadway before cramming all over three unsuspecting WolfPack defenders, (although i'm not sure defender is the best word to describe their effort on that play, or on the night for that matter). Just Nastyness from Gudge!

This dunking display came after his huge Friday night performance where he set a new career high in rebounds, grabbing 20 in the Vikes victory over the Fraser Valley Cascades. That night also included a 21 point effort on the offensive end, giving him his first 20-20 performance of his career. Like i said, a great way to finish.
A send off right up there with Wayne Gretzky's final waltz around MSG and Seinfelds final hour on TV.

Well not quite, but close...sorta.....well not really, but you see what i am getting at.

"A" News feature on Hass and Gudge

We talked about it yesterday on the Horn and here is another piece on Mitch and Tyler's five year career with the Vikes. The video starts playing about 8 seconds in.


I like Jordan Cunnigham's question to the guys about if they are going to cry during the ceremony.
The Horn's prediction is Tyler no, Mitch.....maybe.
Its okay Gudge, we wont judge

Forstbauer gets some much deserved recognition

She is the queen of the intangibles. Constantly doing what Head Coach Brian Cheng refers to as the "dirty work". Without her the Vikes unstoppable high-low offense, that leads to so many easy baskets for post Kayla Dykstra, would have no high. And to think her college career could have easily been cut short if it wasn't for successful off-season surgery.

Vanessa Forstbauer's return to the Vikes this season has been nothing short of remarkable. A year removed from an irregular heart condition that forced her to watch all of last season from the stands, Forstbauer has returned to the Vikes lineup and started in every game but one. She enters the weekend averaging a shade over 8 points-per-game and is second on the Vikes in rebounds grabbing 7.0 r/g. However, it's the energy, hustle, and incredible court vision that she brings to the table that makes Forstbauer so valuable

Friday's Times Colonist feature on Vanessa details her return to CIS basketball and the hurdles that the Chilliwack native had to overcome.

You can see Forstbauer and her teammates this weekend as they look to cap off an incredible regular season that has them winners of their last seven, and 14 of their past 15. Tip-off for Friday's contest against UFV goes at 6:00, while the regular season finale on Saturday against TRU goes at 5:00. Both games can be viewed on the Vikes Streaming Network

Saying goodbye to two hometown boys

One is perhaps the most athletic player to ever suit up for the Vikes. The other is possibly the toughest player to don the blue and gold in quite some time. One terrorized opponents above the rim, while the other made his living in the paint. One was renown for his nasty dunks and massive blocks, the other noted for tenacious rebounding, tireless work ethic and silky smooth touch around the rim.




Although different in style, Victoria local products Tyler Hass (Pictured Above) and Mitch Gudgeon (Left) have both had their unique blueprint on Vikes basketball over the past five years. This weekend the senior duo and co-captains of the Vikes will take to Shields Court for one final weekend of regular season basketball.





To put the pair's prolific careers into perspective take a look at these numbers and tidbits.

Tyler Hass

• The high flying Tyler Hass has scored over 1000 points during his acclaimed Vikes career. The Langford native was named a Canada West second-team All-star last season, and was honored with the conference's Defensive Player of the Year award back in his sophomore campaign (2005-06).
  
• Hass started all but five of his 106 games with the Vikes. He will leave UVic having averaged 10.3 p/g and 4.6 rebounds-per-game. However, numbers don't do justice the athletic forwards ability to change the outcome of a game with one play. Very few players in CIS basketball had the ability to bring people out of their seats the way big #14 could. His dunks were Legendary. His blocks just down right mean. As A Calgary Dinos player said to me after last weekends game,

  "Hass is fearless! He is like the only player that would ever challenge Bekkering above the rim, and not only did he challenge him, but I thought he got a clean block off. Man he can jump."
  

  Although Hass was whistled for the foul on the play, that quote pretty much summed up Hass's career at UVic. Afraid of no one and more than willing to challenge anybody above the rim.
  

Mitch Gudgeon

• The gritty Mitch Gudgeon sits just 17 points shy of 100o for his Vikes career. Gudge has led the Vikes in rebounding in each of the past two seasons and currently sits third in the conference in 'boards-per-game averaging a shade under 10.

• During his five years Gudgeon averaged 9.5 p/g and snagged 5.1 boards-per-game. Like Hass, Gudgeon's contribution to the Vikes can't simple be measured by the numbers. The 6"7 post developed into a team leader and exemplified what it meant to wear the Vikes colours. Gudge could beat opponents with his back to the basket or face up, as his offense arsenal included his signature baby hook or his Tim Duncan like 12 footers of the window. The Oak Bay grad was also a dynamic rebounder, often taking it upon himself to ensure the Vikes would win the nightly battle on the glass.
  

Both players have left a lasting impression at UVic and would like nothing more than to cap off their careers by bringing playoff basketball to Victoria. Although the Vikes will need the Trinity Western Spartans to lose one of their final two games for that to happen, the Vikes can do their part by taking care of business this weekend. And you can do your part by making your way to McKinnon Gym this weekend to say adieu to two Vikes greats.

Must see footage of coach striking timekeeper

Teams are always trying to deliver that knock-out punch in the final minutes of a close basketball games. It can be a big three pointer or a massive dunk to put an explanation point on a victory.

However, the Assistant Coach of the St FX X-men took that to a whole new meaning in a recent game against Cape Breton. With his team down 3 points with 12 seconds to go, Gary Gallimore became irate at the Cape Breton time keeper who failed to blow the horn and signal to the referees that STFX wanted to call a time out. What transpired was shocking, as Gallimore reached over the scorers table and struck the student official. Bedlam ensued as both teams left their respective benches.

Check the video out. Its long but really picks up around the 6:00 minute mark

League Play Wrapping Up

Thanks Jane for the birthday shout out. It was a great way to spend the weekend having two wins.
One more practice to go before the last weekend of regular season games...wow does the season fly by fast. From training camp in September, first league games in October and now almost on to playoffs. It is a great feeling to know that we have home court advantage going in to the first round. It will be the first time I get to play a playoff game in my home gym...I can't wait.
It is also seniors night on Saturday, and for the first time in my years with the Vikes the womens basketball team has no members graduating. Talk about exciting for next year.
But enough about the future, what is on everyones minds right now is this weekend. We have two games, first against UFV on Friday and then TRU on Saturday. We are looking to continue to build on our season, always being better than the game before and striving to become the best team we can possibly be.
Hope you all come out to watch some action packed games this weekend, and recognize the great accomplishments and many contributions of Mitch and Tyler (mens basketball) as Saturdays game is the last regular season game they will play as UVic Vikes.

#14 turns #22!

The talk of Vikes women's basketball this year has undoubtedly been Kayla Dykstra, who had yet another unbelievable weekend against Calgary and Lethbridge. Thunder pretty much summed up the games but what he failed to mention was that it was also Kayla's birthday on Friday! Not a bad way to enter her 22nd year. So, on behalf of the womens basketball team, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAYLA! keep on rockin.