If you haven’t noticed yet, there is a new sport on campus, tetherball. Move over Spartans, the ultimate sport is here. The pole is located behind Robson and it is a prime spot to resolve any disputes or have an extreme workout. Funded by TWUSA, the tetherball pole allows students a new means of getting active this spring. The sport has evolved since the olden days of elementary school playgrounds, now it is serious. Be prepared for long heated matches that will challenge even the toughest of players.

Reuben Moes masterminded the creation of the pole and he says that there is even a time capsule hidden in the earth around the pole for future generations to discover and enjoy. It contains varied goodies that should prove meaningful for people in the decades to come.
So, if you happened to be your elementary school’s fourth grade tetherball champ and want to reclaim your title, now is the time and here
is the place.

Yo, holla all my digest readers,
my blog so fresh it’s fo sho’ the leader.
I kick it all up in my whitie-white beater,
Don’t be hating yo I ain’t no cheater.

Thanks fo listening to my weekly news.
My hyped up reports or my sad story blues.
This year sailed by like bein’ on a cruise,
But now it’s time to complete my dues…

Sorry my peeps it’s my last edition,
But don’t you worry God’s got a mission.
God’s got your back so please do listen,
Otherwise life will be done and you’ll be wishin’.

He’s the reason for my success,
Without him I’d be far less!
He is the uniter, aka the mesh
Life storywriter, he sure does bless.

Sports are my dream and my passion;
But God’s the one I want to fashion.
I look to him when my life’s a crashin’.
I thank God that his word is not a ration.

Thanks fo readin’ this crazy print.
Ten minutes of fame; that was my stint.
My times is up I get the hint,
Hope you enjoyed this blog like a pillow Mint.
Lata!

This year’s Can-Am hockey game was unlike past years of the event for a few reasons. The game took place at the LEC for the first time and the environment couldn’t have been any different. With the feeling of being in a small-barn gone, the players were left to decide the outcome of TWU’s most anticipated and supported hockey game on campus.

The game itself was interesting at some parts and slow during the others. This year’s squad of Canadian women appeared well practiced, skilled, and even tough. Numerous hits throughout the night landed the American men on their butts, leaving the men looking up from the ground, asking themselves, “What just happened?” Not only did the Canadian women dominate the game physically, the also dominated the scoreboard. Canada won the game 6-1 and left little chance for the Americans all night to showcase their depressing lack hockey talent.
With fans dressing up in unique and thought perplexing attire, the overall event was a complete success, continuing TWUSA’s tradition of putting on this fabulous event.

Jill Forsyth, one of team Canada’s many scorers, described her goal, a snipe into the top corner of the net, as shocking. “It felt like the greatest thing ever! One of those moments where you are shocked at yourself for somehow pulling it off, yet had so much adrenaline running through your body you didn’t know what to do! I just started screaming I was so amazed.”

While Forsyth along with many other fellow Canadian women dominated the score sheet, the game was not without some aggressive behaviour. A plethora of “lumberjack slashes” took to the American men’s ankles, while jaw-dropping open ice hits stunned the crowd. To add into the excitement, the physical play did not end there, as Merissa Ratzlaff and Tyler Jacobson even dropped
the gloves.

Overall, another wild game, another wild outcome, just another Can-Am.

The top story of the year goes to the women’s Spartans soccer team for winning their second consecutive CIS National Championship. The amount of difficulty in winning even one championship is hard enough, let alone doing it in back-to-back years. However, while the top story may tell you the result of the sporting event, it doesn’t tell you how. The reason it is the top sports story this year is how they won. Kristen Funk’s incredible goalkeeping in the shootout along with a goal of her own paved the way for the Spartans to beat the Queen’s Gaels to advance to the final. In the end, the Spartans beat PEI to win the 2nd consecutive championship, as well clinching Trinity’s top sports story of the year.

On the other side of the pitch, the men created some of their own excitement, hosting the CIS National Championships. While the dreams of winning a national championship at home didn’t work out, not even the poor weather and field conditions could stop the Spartan Faithful from coming out in numbers, supporting their team in one of the most suspenseful shootouts in recent memory. Their semi-final was devastating in many ways, but their quarterfinal and third place games were terrific.

On the basketball side, neither the men’s nor women’s teams really generated anything of value. The women’s team did poorly and the men’s team was utterly disappointing. With no berth in the playoffs for either team, the Spartan basketball teams did earn themselves one nomination, the “Figure it Out” award. TWU is waiting to hop on the bandwagon and truly embrace a winning basketball program at TWU. However, with high expectations and poor results, hopefully recruiting for the upcoming season will present some gifts.

On the volleyball court, the Spartans teams both enjoyed a successful campaign that saw the men in the CIS Championship and the women lose in the playoffs. Unlike the basketball side, the Spartans who enjoy spiking and digging actually met and surpassed expectations. Both teams clinched spots in the playoffs and had successful regular season play to earn themselves a chance for national glory. While the men’s team ended up losing in the final in the classic volleyball match up against Alberta, both teams look on track for a successful campaign in the upcoming season.

The tournament started off intense and maintained its level of competitiveness throughout the day. In Pool A, the Debt Free Dragons opened up their round robin play against StrikeForce3000. The Dragons defeated StrikeForce by a score of 16-6 that eventually saw the Dragons pummel ‘I’d Hit That’ by a score of 25-4, clinching the top seed in the pool. I’d Hit That later went on to beat StrikeForce 10-8 in a battle for second place, rounding up the Pool A side of the bracket.

On the other side of the round robin, the Titans Hockey team showed their athleticism by capturing top spot in Pool B, defeating the Legend Killers (13-3) and Dumplings (14-2). The Legend Killers then went on to tie the Dumplings 8-8 to tie for second in the division.
In the first round of the playoffs, unique playoff system saw the 2nd vs. 3rd place teams in the round robin play each other again.

StrikeForce upset I’d Hit That in extra innings 14-13 to advance to the semi-finals against the Titans, while the Legend Killers lived up to their name defeating the Dumplings 14-8 to play against the Debt Free Dragons in the other semi-final.

After the Titans defeated a beaten up, broken, and hardly functional StrikeForce team, the Titans ended up playing the Debt Free Dragons in the final, who defeated the Dumplings 20-2. In the end, the Debt Free Dragons took home the championship, defeating the Titans 11-6 in a close affair, bringing an end to a stellar day.

Event organizer, Janna Brinkman mentioned that the baseball tournament was a fantastic event for everyone. “It was great! It seemed like everyone was having a great time! Having sunshine the whole day was also amazing and helped keep the atmosphere fun and enjoyable” noted Brinkman. Overall the tournament continues to grow in size and enthusiasm, which, Brinkman added, is a positive environment for everyone to play. “It also provides an alternative means of sport that we don’t offer in normal intramurals, and lots of people really enjoy playing ball, so this is a great way to get out and have some fun!”

Tears… Many, many, tears explain my deep, and passionate emotion towards this last blog. As I sit here contemplating in my dimly lit dorm room, smelling a strongly scented French vanilla candle, and unwinding to Zac Brown, I’ve begun to reflect on a certainly special year. We’re winding down people, and it’s certainly caused some potent nostalgia in the form of some serious water works. Let us reminisce on a truly blessed year in the good old moist city of Langley.

Women’s soccer hammered out another title, mad respects. Men’s soccer had another serious title run that’s only going to keep them hungrier, we all know their taking it next year. Women’s basketball scarcely missed the playoffs and will be building upon a new coach next year, which is super exciting. Women’s volleyball had a heartbreaking [Canada West] final four experience that is only going to give their young team more experience for team that only loses one senior. And men’s vball.. I’d be lying if I said a part of these tears wasn’t directed towards the heart breaking loss in southern Kamloops. Watching those last few games reminded me of why we play sports, for moments like that win over Laval.

For all my boys, love you all. Going to miss the squad. All the good times in San Diego, Utah, and trips will never be forgotten. I am truly blessed to have been apart of this team. I’m going to miss all my seniors and all you guys who decided that playing next year wasn’t in your best interest. To my blog followers, thanks for reading, this blog, hopefully next year I can do something similar. Everyone GOOD LUCK on your exams, pray for each other, lets hit some high ’s peeps. Have a good summer everyone, l8er days!!

Earlier in the season, commissioner of the CMCHL, Nathan Sather commented that the Bomber’s hockey team should “re-evaluate their team picked from tryouts” due to the lack of talent their team would display within the year. However, Sather must have been surprised as the Bombers not only finished with a 13-11-0 record, good enough for 48 points, finishing third in their division.

TWU’s other unofficial hockey team, the Renegades, finished one point ahead of the Bomber’s with a record of 11-10-3 for a successful campaign. However, in the slimmest of chances, both TWU teams ended up playing each other in the first round of the playoffs, turning up playoff emotions that saw the Renegades defeat the Bombers in last years final.

The Bomber’s went on to a shocking OT overtime goal from Rick Fairley to defeat the Renegades 4-3 that saw goaltender Brandon Mcilmoyle save 33 of 36 shots. Justin Vaughan had 2 assists on the night to help the Bombers into the semi-final match up against another archrival, the Uptown Mayhem.

The Mayhem dominated play all night, defeating the Bombers 9-3. The Bomber’s opened the scoring with goals from David Giesbrecht and Brad Dryburgh in the first period before surrendering the next 6 goals in the game. Justin Vaughan scored the final goal of the season for the Bombers and will look forward to a promising campaign in the upcoming 2010-2011 season.

Although it may seem like a long time ago, a good story always needs to be written. About a week and a half ago, the men’s Spartan volleyball team went to CIS National Championships at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops.

The tournament hosted the top eight teams in Canada for the simple prize of university glory forever. The Spartans entered as the 4th seed and played their opening round match against Queen’s University. The Spartans took the match in three sets (25-19, 25-23, 25-19) off of Steve Marshall’s 15-kills performance. The Spartans dominated the match in every possible statistical category, holding the Gales to an offensive efficiency percentage of only 26 per cent.

The win earned the Spartans a berth into the National semi-finals against the top ranked team in the tournament, Laval Rouge et Or. Laval came into the tournament having not lost a game in the Quebec conference and had made an appearance at the tournament for the past 13 consecutive years.

Overall, the Spartans were in for a battle and they got one. Laval opened the match with a first set victory over the Spartans, 25-22, led by Frederic Desbiens, who had 22 kills on the night. The Spartans then returned the favour in the second set by handing out their own 25-22 victory before allowing the Rouge et Or to take a 2-1 set lead, beating the Spartans in a close set the entire way, 25-23. Laval matched TWU’s shots all night with help from secondary offensive players Karl De Grandpre (14 kills) and Jonathan Marcoux (10 kills).

With their backs against the wall, the Spartans again battled back with a 25-23 victory in the fourth set to take the semi-final match to a fifth and deciding set. Steve Marshall (25 kills) and Marc Howatson (16 kills) refused to let the Spartans die in the fourth, which finally set up the fifth set.
In one most the most dramatic, nerve racking university sports games in recent memory, the TWU Spartans defeated the Rougue et Or 20-18 in a fifth set tie-breaking, extra points game. The win propelled the Spartans into the CIS National Championship where they would play a too familiar enemy, the
Calgary Dinos.

The Dinos had done some hard work on their side of the bracket as well, upsetting Alberta on the way to their finals appearance. Once the game started though, the Dinos played anything but nervous. The Dinos appeared calmer in the first two sets of the match, against some disputed referee calls that seemed to give them the energy the needed to defeat the Spartans in the first two sets 25-22, 25-21. Steve Marshall was sensational for the Spartans all night which allowed them to power back in the third set giving them the game in a close 25-23 nail biting, elimination set for the Spartans.

However, the volleyball gods were in favour of the Dinos on this day as they clinched their first national title in 17 years against the Spartans, 27-25, in another epic set. Coach Rod Durant of the Dinos was quoted on the CIS website as saying, “we came into this tournament knowing that we had to play our best volleyball. We got better as the tournament went on. We struggled against Dalhousie on the first night, but some guys came in and got our energy back. We simplified our play and it worked. We were underdogs against Alberta and found a way to play hard. This game was a battle as well.”

Overall it was an exciting and promising tournament for the Spartans who have already clinched a spot in next year’s CIS National Championship through hosting the event at the Langley Events Centre in 2011.

For the past two weeks, Trinity Western University students have likely been climbing up walls and swinging from one section to another during chapel. While this is slightly exaggerated, there is nothing but complete truth in the fact that the student activity fee has began to pay its dividends. Located on the far section of the gymnasium is a stunning new bouldering wall that gives students a new on-campus way to spend their free time.

The wall, constructed mainly by Daryl Page and designed by David Wilson at a cost of nearly $15,000, is completely operational. Students only need to hand the gym supervisor their student card and sign their signature for unlimited hours of climbing and fun. During the first semester, Page was noted for saying his HKIN 120 “Rock Climbing” class is always filled to capacity (24 students) with a waitlist of 60 people, making it his goal to expand rock climbing in an educational setting and extracurricular atmosphere. “The goal is trying to push non-tradition sports on campus, the style of rock climbing that has no need for specialized equipment for such ropes and harnesses, since it is limited to lower climbs” said Page.

In additional to the bouldering wall, the fitness centre in the gymnasium has also received some upgraded equipment. The recreation fee has also helped in purchasing new dumbbells for students to use. The dumbbells will be a quality upgrade in the fitness centre due to the amount of interest generated by weight training classes available on campus and through students looking to exercise on their own time.

Overall, students are beginning to see results from the recreation fee. Check in next week, as the final component to the recreation fee will be discussed at length: the soccer field.

However, Canada’s top disappointment at the Games was likely in the sport of sledge hockey. Canada, who came into the tournament as the overall favourite to win gold, had to settle for 4th place, after losing to Japan 2-1 in the semifinals. The game was seen as a major shock within the sledge hockey community, followed up with the United States of America clinching the gold medal with a 2-1 win over Japan in the gold medal match. In the bronze medal match, Canada again was upset by Norway, with a score of 2-1, failing to achieve Canada’s goal of sweeping the hockey sports in the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Overall, while it appeared to be a well-run, well-supported Paralympic Games, there were problems.

The first issue came about when CTV decided not to broadcast the Opening Ceremonies live on their network for all of Canada to enjoy. Most Canadians had to watch the replay the following morning, while only regional coverage of the actual ceremonies were broadcasted live.

In an article written on the Globe and Mail website, President of the International Paralympic Committee, Sir Philip Craven stated, “It absolutely smacks in the face of one of our four values, which is equality. So, when I heard this, I was not very happy about it, at all.” Since this time, CTV aired the Closing Ceremonies for all the country to see.

In the end Craven ended by saying “I think they’re really missing out, not getting it to the rest of the country. These are Canada’s Games, and they should be all over the country. It seems they’ve partially responded. I’m glad there’s been some improvement, but it’s not everything that should have been done.”