The year ended just as it began for Burnaby’s Sterling Middleton. The Douglas College student helped his Team Tardi curling team collect the B.C. junior men’s curling title.
Last January, the foursome – with Middleton, at third, skip Tyler Tardi, second Jordan Tardi and lead Nicholas Meister – picked up the junior title in a convincing 11-5 victory. Last week, the team – now consisting of lead Zachary Curtis, also of Burnaby – defeated Team Ballard 3-1 for the 2017 title, and will advance to the national championships next week in Quebec... The St. Thomas More Knights proved to be the hosts with the most, as the senior boys basketball team captured the STM Chancellor tournament title with a 65-56 win over crosstown rival Byrne Creek.
The Knights got an MVP-worthy performance from senior Cam Morris, who tallied 20 points in the final. Byrne Creek’s Abdul Bangura was named the final’s top defensive player, while all-star nods went to STM’s E.J. Escobedo, Richard Galicia and Byrne’s Bithow Wan and Majok Deng, on the first team, and STM’s Sajjun Shokar and Byrne’s Martin Djunga, on the second team… Burnaby’s Jacey Bailey garnered early honours in 2017 when she was named Florida Atlantic women’s basketball’s Player of the Week in January. In a pair of NCAA Div. 1 contests, the freshman tallied 19 points. The six-foot-tall guard would later transfer to Northern Arizona and is red shirted for her first season with the Lumberjacks… Having spent the season sharpening their routines, the junior ice dancing team of Ashlynne Stairs and Lee Royer landed in second place at the 2017 Canadian Tire national skating championships in Ottawa. The Burnaby-based duo, coached by former Olympic team members Megan Wing and Aaron Lowe, trailed only Quebec’s pairing of Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha by a points gap of 13.98. Sitting third overall was another Burnaby pair, Danielle Wu and Nik Mirzakhani… The Byrne Creek Bulldogs were a bundle of tenacity en route to the Lower Mainland AAA senior boys basketball title, topping Steveston-London 101-92 in the final. It wasn’t easy, either. The Burnaby squad built up a 15-point lead in the first half but ended up fending off a fierce Steveston rally to hold on for the title. “I think we showed a remarkable level of composure throughout the game,” remarked head coach Bal Dhillon… In her debut in senior women’s division, Burnaby’s Sarah Tamura made impressive strides in placing fifth overall at the 2017 Canadian Tire national skating championships in January. The Burnaby Central student, who trains at the Champs International Skating Centre under Joanne McLeod, kept pace with the likes of champion Kaetlyn Osmond and Gabrielle Daleman despite having just turned 16 a few days earlier... It’s another hall of fame honour for Burnaby Joe. Joe Sakic was inducted into the International Ice Hockey Federation’s Hall of Fame last May, celebrating a career that saw the one-time Kensington Arena rink rat pick up an IIHF world championship (1994) and Olympic (2002) gold medals.
The Cliff Avenue United Football Club marked its 60th anniversary with a big bash, with more than 250 people gathering for the celebration. Among the revellers were club founder Merrill Gordon and current club president Guido Titotto. “I had no idea it would be around 60 years later,” remarked Gordon... In the season-opening indoor track meet, the Burnaby Striders’ Nick Hsu set a furious pace. The 13-year-old sprinter ran away with a pair of gold medals at the Harry Jerome Indoor Games, in the 60- and 600-metre races. The Striders’ Jaeland Cummings collected gold in the 13-year-old girls’ 60m dash... Champions in deed and design, the Burnaby South Rebels proved unstoppable at the junior boys basketball provincials in Langley in March. The squad downed Sir Charles Tupper 58-46 in the final, with Baltej Sohal earning the tourney MVP award. The Rebels entered the tourney seeded eighth, but climbed into the final with 20-point wins over Lambrick Park, Argyle, Okanagan Mission and West Vancouver in the semifinal... The Grandview Steelers’ playoff run took them to the Pacific Junior B Hockey League’s semifinal, where the Delta Ice Hawks provided the only stop sign. Banged up and exhausted, Grandview ran out of gas and fell 4-1 in the best-of-seven series. It came after they prevailed 3-2 in Game Seven against Richmond in the first round... From Moscrop to Capilano University, Burnaby’s Justin Yee has made an impression on the volleyball court. The first-year Cap player was voted the PacWest League’s Rookie of the Year in men’s volleyball, after the setter-turned-power hitter finished seventh in digs, 10th in both aces and kills, and eighth in overall offence.
The St. Thomas More girls wrestling team continued its domination of the provincial scene with a fourth straight B.C. title. Garnering gold at the Salmon Arm-hosted provincials were Caileen Corbett, in 43-kilogram division, and Grade 10 wrestler Amanda Silveri, in seniors heavyweight class. “It’s been kind of surreal; I thought we had a chance, but I’m still surprised that we did it, because a lot of things have to go right,” noted STM coach Doug Corbett... Sport BC gave out their annual awards in March, and a pair of Burnaby natives were front and centre. Picking up some well-deserved hardware were Canadian women’s soccer team captain Christine Sinclair and St. Thomas More Collegiate alumna Zion Corrales Nelson. Sinclair was named the 2017 Best of B.C. recipient, while Corrales Nelson won the Female High School Athlete of the Year award for her achievements for STM in 2016 in both basketball and track and field... Cracking the top-four for the first time, the Byrne Creek senior boys basketball team flashed a glimpse of their potential at the B.C. AAA championships in 2017. Although their season ended with a hard-fought 73-69 loss to Bodwell in the bronze medal match, the Burnaby squad established themselves as a team on the rise. It came a day after they fell to South Kamloops in the semifinal. “What we take from this experience is we’ve got a little taste of how close we were,” remarked Bulldogs coach Bal Dhillon... A pair of wins, including 73-64 on the final day over Lord Byng, provided the St. Thomas More senior boys Knights with a modicum of success at the B.C. AA basketball championships. And while fifth place wasn’t what they had hoped for, it was the journey through the year – and for the many seniors, over the years – that will be remembered most of all. “We won a lot of games and accomplished a lot of things; we just didn’t get a banner,” noted STM coach Aaron Mitchell. “But a banner, that’s not what we’re about.”
This repeat was extremely sweet. The Burnaby Winter Club showed how to defend a title by dominating the competition all the way to a second-straight Western Canadian AAA bantam hockey title. They blasked Saskatchewan Valley 9-2 in the final, with hat tricks from Kyler Kovich and defenceman Ryan Helliwell. It came just two weeks after they won a second straight B.C. bantam hockey title by blanking Kamloops 6-0. Kalen Szeto counted three goals and Koen MacInnes posted the shutout, as the Bruins finished the tier 1 tourney with a perfect.. Behind a perfect 5-0 record, the Burnaby Winter Club’s peewee A2 hockey team rose to the top with a 5-2 win over Kelowna for a provincial title. Team captain Noah Gibbons scored the game’s first three goals. Over the five games, the Bruins outscored its competition 41-3... Breaking an old record, the Simon Fraser University women’s 4x100 metre relay team put on quite the show at the Oxy Invitational in Los Angeles in May. The quartet of Valda Kabia, Chantel Desch, Kira Pederson and Katherine Lucas completed the race in 46.19 seconds, shaving 3/10ths of a second off the previous best... It was double-gold for St. Thomas More’s Caileen Corbett in April, as the 17 year old won the 43-kg freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling title at the Canadian national cadet and junior championships in Windsor, Ont. Corbett only needed 1:02 to beat Kaleigh Prier for the freestyle juvenile title. She was part of a strong Pacific Rim Wrestling Club showing, with teammates Emilee Lai and Jacqueline Lew also securing gold in their respective weight classes... For Simon Fraser University’s Chris Crisologo, 2017 was a good year on the golf course. The Richmond native was named the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s Golfer of the Year for a second straight year. He finished in the top-10 of seven of nine tournaments, including a pair of titles. One of those wins was at the GNAC championships. Topping it all off was his being selected to the NCAA PING first-team All-American team by the Golf Coaches Association of America.
Burnaby welcomed a new team when the TSS Rovers kicked off their inaugural season in the United Soccer League’s Premier Development League. Playing at Swangard Stadium, the club created numerous opportunities for local talents, and while struggling in the communication department, the club finished with some flashes of promise, winning two of their final games, and a 3-8-3 record in a season that began in May and wrapped up in July... His North Burnaby Boxing Club training proved to be the winning ticket, helping Charly Dawson to a B.C. lightweight junior title in May. The 15-year-old pugilist defeated Surrey’s Gavin Bisla in a split decision. It was the third time the two had met in the ring, and the first time Dawson had come out with the upper hand... Wrapping up his university lacrosse career, the Burnaby Lakers’ Josh Byrne exited with a bunch of hardware as the Colonial Athletic Association’s Player of the Year, an All-CAA first team all star, and a USIA Div. 1 All-American. Byrne, who played for Hofstra University, led his team with 41 goals and 25 assists over 14 games... New Zealand’s Campbell Stewart edged out Australian Liam Magernnis for first place in the Giro di Burnaby’s men’s 57-kilometre race by the slimmest margin. They were two-thirds of a strong team, and at 19 and 20, were among the youngest in the competition. On the women’s side, Canadian Olympian Allison Beveridge captured the women’s crown.
It proved to be a twin spin for the Burnaby under-15 Braves. The squad captured a pair of crowns in the span of seven days, winning the Baseball B.C. AA title with an 11-9 win over Tri-City, after having taken the B.C. Minor provincial title with a 22-3 win over Ladner. Leading the way was slugger Jack Suttle, who delivered a two-run home run in the sixth to break a 9-9 tie with Tri-City… Members of Adagio Rhythmic Academy pitched together and won bronze at their first Pan Am championships. The junior team, which includes Erin Cho-Siksik, Tiffany Chung, Elena Kovacevic, Ana Lugonjic, Cecilia Moreno and Christina Xie, placed third at the Florida-hosted event in the junior division… 2008 Olympic gold medallist and Burnaby Mountain wrestler Carol Huynh was inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in November. Huynh, who trained while attending Simon Fraser University, also picked up a bronze in 2012 in London… The St. Thomas More senior girls volleyball team pushed it right to the final, finishing second at the Double-A provincials in Vanderhoof in December. Along the way, the Knights knocked off the defending champions, but ran out of gas in a 3-0 loss to Langley Christian in the final. Picking up first all-star team honours were middle Elizabeth Bilawey and Vanessa Gatto.
