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