Missing football on TV after the Super Bowl? Worry no more! As the Champions League gets back into action this week, ensuring that you can still get your football fix (of the European variety, that is). Here’s a preview of what’s to come:

Last year’s champions Barcelona get into the thick of things with a tough match against Arsenal FC. The Catalonians are favoured, with Barcelona’s ridiculous Suarez-Messi-Neymar power trio sure to cause a plethora of problems for the Gunners. Arsenal might make it competitive in their home leg, but I expect Barcelona to take the London side apart at the Nou Camp.

Prediction: Barcelona wins 6–1 on aggregate

Another London based side taking part in the second round is Chelsea, who’ll be feeling a bit of déjà vu this year, as they’ll be playing the French champions Paris St. Germain. These two sides also played each other in the second round a year ago, with PSG coming out on top due to away goals. With Chelsea’s struggles in the EPL this season, PSG’s total domination of Ligue 1, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic being the unstoppable beast that he is, it looks like the French side will come out on top once again.

Prediction: PSG wins 3–2 on aggregate

The final English side taking part is Manchester City, who will be up against Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv. While City will be heavy favourites, they have an impressive history of choking in European competition, so this game is truly up in the air; however, I expect that they do have enough talent to make it to the next round.

Prediction: Manchester City wins 5–2 on aggregate

The final this year is taking place at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy. While no Milan teams feature in this year’s Champions League, two Italian teams still have a chance to win on home soil. One of those teams is Roma, who will be heavily outgunned against Real Madrid. While the likes of Edin Dzeko and Francesco Totti will probably nab a couple goals, Real’s Ronaldo, Benzema, Modric, Rodriguez, Bale, etc. will prove to be too big of a challenge.

Prediction: Real Madrid wins 7–3 on aggregate

The other match with an Italian side is arguably the juiciest of the bunch, Juventus vs Bayern Munich. Juventus will heavily rely on their solid defensive skills, but I suspect that Munich’s Muller-Lewandowski tandem will be too much for Juventus to handle.

Prediction: Bayern Munich wins 3–0 on aggregate

Zenit St. Petersburg vs Benfica might not have the glamor of other matches, but this fixture does give you a great chance to accumulate Air Miles. The distance between the two clubs is 3600 km, so the team with best in flight movies will come out on top — that being Zenit, after being inspired by Eisenstein’s classic “Battleship Potemkin.”

Prediciton: Zenit St. Petersburg wins 4–3 on aggregate

PSV Eindhoven vs Atletico Madrid is bound to also be a fantastic series. It’s only two years ago that Atletico was runner up, and they’ll be looking to go one step further this time around. PSV will be a tough hurdle to climb though as they knocked out Manchester United in this year’s competition, but Atletico should be able to navigate this Dutch challenge.

Prediction: Atletico Madrid wins 1–0 on aggregate

Finally, we have Wolfsburg vs Gent. Gent is the first Belgian team since 2001 to make the second round, and I think they’ll continue their impressive run by surprising the Wolves of Germany. While they don’t have any household names on their roster, their strong showing in the group stages and in the Belgian Jupiler League makes me think that they’re more than capable of punching above their weight.

Prediction: Gent wins 2–2 on away goals

Last year, SFU’s softball team had what Head Coach Mike Renney called a “mediocre year.” They finished sixth in the conference, and have been picked to finish seventh in the annual preseason Coaches Poll.

“You know, at this point [the standings are] pretty much wide open,” coach Renney told The Peak. “We’re in the early stages of what I would call a rebuilding process.”

“Having said that, it often comes down to chemistry at this point. We got a good group of seniors in terms of experience and numbers, but we haven’t produced on a regular basis yet. So if the seniors have a good year, we’re going to have a good year.”

The team will have six returning seniors for the season, and Renney expects them to lead the team throughout the season, and show the younger players how it’s done for the future.

“Lead through example and performance, and certainly help guide the underclassmen,” he said on his expectations for the seniors. “Their stats themselves have to certainly be at the top end of the team. But again, it’s going to be them bringing up either our new kids or younger kids, bringing them up to speed quick enough so that they can all contribute.”

One of the biggest challenges heading into the season is how to prepare. Due to the weather, the team has not been able to practice much outdoors, instead having to practice regularly in the gym. There has been a couple of times where the team had to scrap plans to play inside, due to snow being on the field.

“This is adversity,” said Renney. “Quality rises to adversity, and that’s what we hope to do. We certainly have had good success from the past, coming from a gymnasium to an outside softball field [. . .] you got to deal with wind, you got to deal with weather, all those sort of things. So, we’re practicing at 6’oclock in the morning when the university is still asleep, and so our athletes are getting up early and dealing with that adversity. Now they get to sleep in and play a game under the daylight.”

Another challenge for this team will be scoring runs, as they were last in batting average and other major offensive categories. But Renney stresses a balanced approach will bring more success.

“I think it’s a combination of offence and defence. You just simply can’t put them in separate vacuums. Because if we’re struggling defensively, and we’re giving up more runs, that puts more pressure on the offence, and then the offence gets tight. If we can cut down on some of the runs against, keep us in more games, the offence will be a little more free swinging, so to speak. And they both hand in hand will support each other.”

The Clan’s first home game will be February 28 against rivals Western Washington.

Coming into Thursday night’s game against Saint Martin’s University, most would have expected a comfortable win for SFU. The Clan looked for their 10th win of the season, while Saint Martin’s was ninth in the GNAC with just three wins. But after blowing a 15 point lead in the second quarter, SFU was able to win the game 84–74, led by a record-tying performance from Ellen Kett.

“I thought at times we were very good, and at times we were horrific,” said Head Coach Bruce Langford. “In the first quarter we moved the ball very well, we got our baskets [. . .] but in the second [quarter] we were terrible defensively, we were careless, we were lazy at times. We certainly let them back in it. In the second half we kind of continued a bit of back-and-forth between the two.”

Before the game, Elisa Homer was honoured by SFU Athletics Director Theresa Hanson for breaking the GNAC record for most three points shots made in a single game. She then proceeded to score the first points of the game with a corner three. SFU moved the ball around beautifully in the quarter, and at the end it was 26–13. It looked like it was going to be a blowout.

The second quarter was a different story. SFU at one point was getting outscored 18–2, and Saint Martin’s was hitting big shots. At the end of the first half, SFU was down a point and shell-shocked.

“He said we weren’t competing hard enough,” said Ellen Kett on coach Langford’s halftime address. “We looked a bit tired, our hands weren’t up on defence, we weren’t moving our feet. So he said, ‘make sure you’re competing.’”

The Clan came out competing in the second half, with Elisa Homer sinking a free throw to immediately tie the game up. That seemed to give SFU confidence, as they outscored the visitors by nine in the quarter, thanks in large part to Kett’s incredible vision. The fourth quarter featured Rachel Fradgley’s 25th point on the night, a career high for her at SFU. Dagger threes by Kett, Homer, and Vanessa Gee sent SFU off with a 84–74 win.

Kett finished with 16 assists on the night. This tied the GNAC record, and was one assist shy of the SFU school record. She probably could have broken it as well, but fouled out with five personal fouls near the end of the game.

Said Kett, “I really didn’t know until [coach] Langford said that after I fouled out [. . .] I don’t mind passing the ball, it’s what I look for most of the time, I’m more of a pass-first player. When everybody makes their baskets, it’s easy for me to make assists. So credit to everybody else for making all their shots.”

“I thought it was a good night on her part, except for her fouls,” said Langford on the record setting game by Kett. “[If] she could have stayed in the game longer, she could have broken the record. But she doesn’t care about that. She cares about the team win.”

The SFU Clan Men’s Basketball team were defeated 86–66 by the Alaska Anchorage Seawolves on Saturday night in front of a strong crowd of Clan-faithfuls. Offensively, the Clan executed quite well, connecting on 49 percent of their field goal attempts and sinking seven of their 15 three-point attempts. The loss though, marked their 18th consecutive loss.

However, SFU’s defensive struggles continued, as they allowed the Seawolves to connect on 50 percent of their field goal attempts, and committed 31 fouls, which resulted in an astonishing 39 free throw attempts by Alaska-Anchorage. This was essentially the ball game, as the Seawolves connected on 32 of 39 attempts, while the Clan made only 11 of their 18. Starting Guard Max Barkeley’s performance was particularly indicative of the Clan’s overall performance.

At a key point in the first half, with SFU trailing 25–20, Barkeley received a technical foul, his fourth of the game while on the bench. The Clan was gaining some momentum prior to this lapse in judgment after a Tyrell Lewin basket was followed by a long three-point make by Hidde Vos. Oshea Gairey and Bowen Bakken then made key defensive plays which were followed by the technical foul.

SFU would rally back with a 6–0 run to close the quarter, highlighted by a Gibran Sewani offensive rebound and put back. The play was followed by an incredible steal by Freshman Oshea Gairey, who sprinted the length of the court, connected on the layup while being fouled, and made the ensuing free throw with just 2.7 seconds left on the clock.

The second half saw Alaska-Anchorage slowly stretch the lead to 10 with 9:11 left and then pull away. The game concluded with a steal by the Seawolves’ Sekou Wiggs on the game’s final possession, which resulted in an emphatic reverse dunk. The Clan was also undone by the play of Seawolves guard Brian McGill, who netted 34 points on just 15 field goal attempts.

Second-half SFU highlights included the bare-knuckles intense defense of Bowen Bakkan, who also made back-to-back three-point baskets. There was another dunk in the game by  Redshirt Junior Gibran Sewani. His offensive rebound put back he converted into a three-point play and, a highlight-reel blocked shot on defence.

Sewani made the case for increased playing time with a very efficient offensive performance that included 16 points on seven of nine shooting. Tyrell Lewin, too, had an exciting two-play sequence where he banked in a long two to beat the shot clock and then took a charge at the other end. Oshea Gairey who finished with 12 points and six assists continued to demonstrate toughness and perseverance with several fine plays in the second half.

February 3 marked the NCAA’s National Signing Day, the first day that a high school student can sign a binding letter of intent with an NCAA school. Since then, with a stable coaching staff, SFU Football has announced 30 new members of the team.

The announcement of 27 new players on Signing Day is up from only two last year — one of whom rescinded his national letter of intent in order to play with UBC.

Also, by March 9, 2015, the team had announced four new recruits, while in 2014, the team waited until May 8 to announce their first 11 prospects.

On National Signing Day 2016, the names just kept coming, creating the kind of excitement that elite American schools must feel on National Signing Day, or that hockey fans feel during the NHL Draft.

In large part, this is because this recruiting season was the first full one with a head coach in place since 2012/13, after former head coach Dave Johnson was dismissed in December 2013 and Jacques Chapdelaine left the program in December 2014.

“Recruiting is the lifeline of your team, so it was extremely important to hit the ground running, and put together a class that both had depth in talent and depth in numbers, to try and rebuild this roster,” said Head Coach Kelly Bates. “It’s no secret up here what people have gone through the last few years with coaching turnover — it has hurt recruiting tremendously.”

The recruiting class contains 16 BC high school seniors and two NCAA transfers.

Bates was particularly excited about three local players who will play receiver for the Clan: Gavin Cobb, AAA player of the year at Mt Douglas in Victoria; Nathanael Durkan, who played quarterback at John Barsby in Nanaimo; and Rysen John, a six-foot-seven wide receiver and BC provincial all-star.

“Those three guys bring in a mix of size and athletic ability, are committed to getting better, and are just great young kids,” said Bates.

At quarterback, SFU added three players: Jack Graham of Long Beach, CA; Patrick Pearson of Kinmount, ON; and Conner Richardson, a transfer student coming from Pima Junior College in Tucson, AZ.

Richardson, who was a back-up at NCAA Division I Eastern Washington before transferring to Pima, will likely get the starting position.

“We tried to get him last year from Eastern Washington, but their head coach contacted me [. . .] we really wanted him last year, but he really wanted to give Division I opportunity another try, and I didn’t expect to see him this year,” said Bates. “What really sticks out about Conner is that he’s just a good man off the field, and when you combine that with his competitiveness, his skillset, everything he brings to the table, it’s a complete package.

“Right now we’re fairly inexperienced at the quarterback position — going into spring ball, we’ve only got one quarterback on the roster, and he’s not seen a snap of game time action yet. Conner, with the experience he has, will be named the starter to begin with. However, recruiting isn’t done yet, and Conner welcomes competition.”

The Clan also added running back Jalen Jana, a Division II transfer from Cheyney University, who played at St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby two years ago.

With 30 new players coming, SFU has added quite a bit of depth, something the team lacked last year. However, recruiting season is not quite over, as Bates is still looking for some more talent.

“We’re still looking for offensive linemen — it’s tough to find lineman on either side of the ball [. . .] but that’s no different than any other team.”