Last year’s finish: 7th

GNAC coaches poll projection for this year: 11th

SFU’s basketball team is undergoing some major changes. After losing four starters from last year’s team, including star player Sango Niang, the team is heading towards a year of tempered expectations.

“Right now, it’s just about culture,” said Head Coach Virgil Hill. “It’s about developing culture and having some of the young guys being able to compete every night. If we can compete for 40 minutes, whatever the result is, it is.”

SFU was picked 11th in the GNAC coaches poll, dead last, after finishing seventh in the conference last year. So, is that something that can motivate the team? “It is motivation, but it has to be realistic” said Hill. “We can say ‘Screw those guys, we’re going to try and be in the top three.’ Well, that’s just not realistic at this point, just based on our personnel.”

This season marks a homecoming of sorts for Hill. He was a player on the men’s basketball from 1989–1993, and now he’s returned to take charge of his former team.

“It’s interesting in that, as a player or student, you always think that you can do things better. [. . .] So now I get the chance to almost remedy some of those things I didn’t think were the right things to do. But it’s a pretty cool feeling when I talk to my former teammates, we look back 25 years ago and go ‘Wow, you were the snot-nosed freshman, and now you’re running the team.’ It’s certainly an interesting position to be in.”

Hill’s experience as a former basketball player at SFU may help him to ease into the role more naturally, as it has already proven helpful in relating to his students. “What a lot of people don’t understand is how difficult school is here [compared to the United States], and so to balance school along with your academics and athletics is a challenge,” explained Hill. “Having been through that, I understand what it’s like. So to help the guys and relate to them, I can relate in every way, shape, or form, from being a freshman all the way to [being] a senior.”

One of Hill’s biggest challenges will be to replace outgoing player Sango Niang. Niang averaged 22.6 points per game last year, as well as 29.2 minutes per game. “You don’t replace a guy like that,” Hill said. “He was a special player. He was as quick, fit, and athletic as probably any point guard SFU has ever produced, and probably the top two or three points guards in Division II. So you don’t replace a guy like that. It now has get spread amongst everyone else.”

Despite the loss of the programs star player, coach Hill is excited about a couple of new recruits, such as Oshae Gairey and Tyrell Lewin. “[Oshae] is a kid that has another gear to him. He’s a Canadian kid, but he grew up in the States.

“[Tyrell] is a guy that I think is underrated,” Hill added. “He came out of high school without any big [reputation] to him, but I think he’s actually pretty good. When you see him play, every day he gets better and better. Once he can develop physically, adding another 25 to 30 pounds of muscle, he’s going to be a load for people to handle.”

The team will play its next game against UBC in an exhibition match on Tuesday. The Clan will start GNAC play on December 3 against Seattle Pacific.

SFU lost a heartbreaker Thursday night playing against the Central Washington Wildcats, losing 15–12 in the fifth set to cause their second straight loss.

“I thought we played well enough to win,” said Head Coach Gina Schmidt. “They had an outstanding blocking night, I think that was the difference.”

Central Washington played a strong defensive game — 21 blocks to SFU’s seven — making sure that the Clan had a hard time finishing rallies.

SFU started the first set well, gaining the first two points of the match, including one off a kill by sophomore outside hitter Christine Howlett, who along with Devon May led SFU in kills with 15 each. The Clan would continue to rack up the points, leading the Wildcats 8–4.

However, the Wildcats eventually clawed their way back into the set — taking control of the action, and making the first set 25–20.

SFU answered right back, winning the second set 25–16, with four consecutive points to wrap up the set.

For the third set, SFU looked as if it would carry the momentum from the second set, opening the set with three consecutive points. However, Wildcat point streaks — separate four point runs and five point runs — came to haunt the Clan, despite their near comeback: they racked up four straight points and cut a six point lead to two before Central Washington claimed the set 25–22.

The fourth set saw the Wildcats with an opportunity to put the game away, and win it in four; for a while, they had the upper hand, leading SFU at various points throughout the set. However, an unanswered five points by a hardworking Clan team forced a set five, giving SFU a 25–20 victory in set four.

Despite some hard working rallies at the beginning of the set, SFU dropped the fifth set 15–12, with six of Central Washington’s points coming from SFU attack errors. And despite losing the game 3–2, SFU actually led in scoring — 75–73 in total points in SFU’s favour — as well as kills, with SFU’s 58 to the Wildcats’ 51.

Coach Schmidt listed errors — SFU had 42 to Central Washington’s 25 — as something the team needs to work on.

“We clearly are able to slow teams down defensively, now we just have to be a little more efficient on offence. We actually scored more kills than them, but almost doubled their number of errors — that kills our hitting percentage,” she explained.

With the loss, SFU Volleyball drops below .500 with a 9–10 overall record and 5–6 record in the conference.

Two weeks ago I read an article in this very paper entitled “Screw the Blue Jays.” I just moved to Burnaby six weeks ago from Whitby, Ontario, and am extremely disappointed that I am missing what is most assuredly an incredible atmosphere back home.

My love affair with the Blue Jays goes back to the late 1980s, when my dad would take me to Exhibition Stadium. We used to get $2 seats in the right field bench area and then sneak down behind home plate, or sit in the outfield for $4. I remember the agony of the 1987 season when the Jays lost seven straight games, including a painful 1–0 defeat on the final game of the season to blow a 3.5 game lead in the division and miss the playoffs.

My fondest Jays memory as a kid was attending the final game at Exhibition Stadium. This was a thriller that saw former MVP George Bell hit a walk off home run in the 11th inning to close the stadium.

The Skydome was an incredible novelty during its first years in operation. It was such a surreal experience when the roof would open or close during a live game. The World Series years were incredible. I watched every game during both playoff runs and ran around the room when Otis Nixon grounded out in 1992, and Carter “touched ‘em all” in 1993. In 1993, I also attended the victory parade. As I matured, I went to fewer games, but still had a soft spot for my boyhood team.

After I moved back to the Greater Toronto Area nine years ago, I started going to games again despite the team’s relative lack of success.  It was so much fun to ride the train downtown, go to the game and then party on Front Street. My last game before moving out west was ironically against Kansas City just after the Price and Tulowitzki trades.

Once again, the Dome was electric, just as it had been in my youth. My buddy Travis and I painted our chests and made several signs to welcome Kansas City Royals First Base Coach Rusty Kuntz. We are not Kansas City fans by any means, but we were paying homage to the man with the most awesome name in sports.

Around campus I had seen some Jays gear, but not too many people were talking about the team. Last week, though, I went to the Highland Pub to catch the deciding game between Texas and Toronto. The entire bar was packed with Jays fans yelling and screaming with every twist and turn of the game. The Bautista bat flip home run brought the house down!

If the Jays do go on to win the World Series, this may become one of the great moments in Canadian sports history. I felt the warmth of home that day at the pub. To see so many passionate Jays fans this far from home was a great demonstration of Canadian unity and pride. It showed that the Blue Jays truly are Canada’s team.

On Saturday October 17, the SFU hockey team played their home opener against Eastern Washington University in front of a packed house at Bill Copeland Sports Centre. Unfortunately, a promising first period was the best that the Clan could muster. Four straight EWU goals put this game out of reach early in the third, and the Clan ended up losing 5–3.

“Very poor performance by the guys in red,” said Head Coach Mark Coletta after the game. “We’re going to have to take a long look in the mirror and figure out what we come back with on Monday. I think it was a lack of effort, and hopefully we can turn it around.”

    The game started off with last year’s leading scorer Beau Walker generating an early chance with his speed. It wasn’t the last the Clan defence saw from him on the night, as he was a threat whenever he touched the puck. “He’s a great hockey player, and he’s going to find his spots,” Coletta reflected after the game. “He did that tonight.”

Eastern Washington got the first goal of the game, courtesy of Trevor Zakrajsek. After killing off a double minor for high-sticking, SFU tied the game up with Tyler Basham snapping a low shot past the goalie. Mike Sandor almost gave SFU the lead, but after the first period the score was tied at one.

“We’re going to have to take a long look in the mirror.”

The wheels started to fall off in the second period. After SFU had a couple of great chances, EWU took the lead when Brett Matthews buried the rebound in front of Liem. SFU went down the ice after the faceoff but and scored, but the goal was disallowed — the referee ruled that the puck was kicked in. That proved to be a crucial decision, as later on in the powerplay EWU player Jesse Collins scored to make it a two-goal game.

Beau Walker added a shorthanded goal near the end of the period to make it 4–1. SFU was badly outshot in the period; they only put four on target, compared to EWU’s 13.

The third period wasn’t much better. Walker added his second of the game to put the win out of reach. SFU were able to get two near the end of the period, which capped off a good stretch of play for the Clan — but it was too little too late, and the final score was 5–3 for EWU.

One thing the Clan needs to work on is their discipline. At several points during the game, it was an SFU parade to the penalty box. A total of 38 penalty minutes were called against SFU, with 14 alone called against defenceman Darnel St. Pierre.

“That was a focus point all week: ‘Stay out of the box,’” said Coletta after the game. “Obviously the message didn’t get across. We’ll have to figure out a different way, perhaps internal discipline, to keep guys out of the box. You’re never going to win hockey games when you’ve got 20, 30 minutes’ worth of penalties.

“Overall, we just make sure we’re sticking to our systems,” he added. “The guys will get better. It’s one game out of 24.”