January 2020 Sports Review

January has been a busy time for our competitive sports teams. The hockey program certainly had an eventful month. They have impressed in league play and are coming off a big win over cross-town rival Frances Kelsey. They also hosted their annual showcase game with St Georges in front of a boisterous Brentwood crowd. The team played hard but ultimately fell short and St Georges took home the victory and with it the Saville Cup.  Nonetheless, the team battled right to the end and acquitted themselves admirably. The school was immensely proud of them. Finally, in mid-January, the team was able to go over to Vancouver to where they played a couple games and were able to take in a Canucks game. Needless to say, it has been a fun few weeks for our hockey players. The senior girls basketball team tipped off the month hosting their own tournament in the Foote Athletic centre. Then, during spirit week, the girls played some inspired basketball against Shawnigan. To provide some context, the girls had lost previously to Shawnigan 30 points; the Showcase game was a very different affair! The came right down to the wire and our girls almost came away with the win losing by just 4 points. This week they head up to Kwalikum SS to compete in the North Island playoff and hopefully qualify for the Island playoffs which happen later in February. The junior girls basketball team has also had an impressive start to the year. They recently returned from the ISA tournament where they captured silver, our best finish in recent years. They have rolled through league play and have sewn up first in the Mid-Island Division. The girls are set to host Islands February 13-15.  While we expect them to show well at Islands, the most exciting news for the junior girls team is that they recently won a provincial championship qualifying tournament which means that no matter what the outcome at Islands, our Junior Girls are heading off to Langley later in February to compete in the big dance – this is an extraordinary accomplishment at the junior level where as a 2A school, we have to compete with all the larger 3A and 4A schools. We will need to check the history books but this may very well be the first time our Junior Girls basketball team has ever qualified for a provincial championship.   We have also had a junior B girls basketball team competing in a number of different tournaments and even representing the school in some league games.  Amazingly, these girls have more than held their own against A teams from other schools and they even won a tournament at VIU last month. On the boys side, the Junior A team has had a productive January.  They hosted and won both the ISA Championship and the Brentwood Challenge and have recently returned from a trip to Vancouver where they were able to play against two of the top teams in the province.  While the boys did not win either game they hopefully garnered some valuable experience. They begin their playoff’s February 13-15 at Belmont SS where they will fight to try earn a berth to provincials.   Our Junior B boys have also been rocking in January. Coach Warner has an army of players that are improving at an astonishing rate. The boys showed well competing against many ‘A’ teams at the ISA Tier II tournament and they have managed to claim first in their mid-island league and head into playoffs next week.  The senior boys team have had to shake some rust off coming out of the holidays but are starting to round into form. They finished second in both the Claremont and Victoria Police Tournament and last weekend finished 3rd in our very own 16 team Countdown to Playoffs tournament. The boys start North Island playoffs in Kwalikum February  13-15a. Our squash team has also been busy playing in a number of Victoria based mens tournaments and they had their best showing in years at the ISA tournament hosted at Shawnigan this past weekend where they came away with a silver medal! The action only gets hotter in February as we get into basketball playoffs and the hockey team hosts our annual Ross Cup tournament – we will keep you posted on all the results!