It wasn’t the wins and losses that created the biggest sport stories of 2017. It was the people and the way they responded to adversity that stood out during a momentous 12 months.
Cutting the long list of acchievements and events down to five is not an easy task, but the NOWsports department sticks its neck out once more in trying to select a top-five of the year’s best.
There’s no doubt there were a lot of people to cheer for in 2017.
1- Playing for Bernie – the St. Thomas More Knights senior football team entered the AAA high school season unranked and with an interim coach, but faced a personal loss that touched the sports community.
A month into the season, long-time head coach Bernie Kully died after a short battle with cancer. While it sent the school community reeling, it also brought everyone, especially the football team, together.
The Knights honoured their coach by continuing to march all the way to the B.C. Subway Bowl semifinals before falling 28-21 to the eventual B.C. champion New West Hyacks.
In their first game after Kully passed away, the team knocked over the then-No. 1-ranked Terry Fox Ravens, and kept the undefeated streak going right into the playoffs, finishing the regular season at top the Eastern Conference with a 7-0 record.
Lineman Sam Steele, who suffered an injury early in the semifinal game, was among a handful of players honoured. He picked up the league’s provincial defensive MVP award. STM also had to play its final three games without star running back/linebacker Tyler Eckert.
“Even right down to the last defensive stand, when the huddle broke it was still ‘One-two-three Kully!’ They were playing for something bigger than themselves, and that’s why it was so emotional for them at the end,” remarked interim head coach Steve De Lazzari.
2- A shocking shakeup– the saga of the Burnaby Lakers got good, then weird, and finally, disappointing during a breakthrough yet frustrating 2017 Western Lacrosse Association season.
Under the guidance of new coach/general manager Jim Milligan, whose credentials include various Mann Cup and NLL wins as an assistant coach, the club was in the thick of the race for first place. But then team governor Ed Safarik unexpectedly relieved Milligan of his coaching duties with a few games left. While the club would end up with its first-ever league title with Peter Tellis behind the bench, they were unable to escape the first round of the playoffs, falling in seven games to Victoria for a second straight time.
“This is pretty fresh, it still stings,” Tellis said after an 8-7 season-ending loss. “It stings for the guys in the room, it stings. It’s going to take some time to get over...”
Although they didn’t get any playoff hardware, members of the team did well in individual awards, with Robert Church earning the Commission Trophy as Most Outstanding Player, while Eric Penney collected the Leo Nicholson Memorial Trophy as Most Outstanding Goaltender. Both were also first all-star team selections, joining teammates Justin Salt and Eli McLaughlin.
3- Armed and dangerous – Scott Webster made like Aaron Judge and put a long-distance stamp to the Burnaby Bulldogs’ season. Shawn Schaefer then came in and wrapped it up.
The senior men’s baseball team powered their way to a Canadian national title, beating the Fredericton Royals 5-3 in August in Victoria.
Webster’s three-run blast led off the seventh inning and gave them a 5-1 lead. While Fredericton put a run across in the bottom of the seventh, Schaefer closed the door with his second appearance of a long day.
“(Schaefer) did more than you could ever hope for in a pickup, starting two games on the mound and closing out the final,” remarked Bulldogs manager Mike Sinclair.
Schaefer, who earlier in the day went the distance in a nine-inning semifinal win, joined the club after having knocked the Bulldogs out of the provincial final earlier in the month.
4- Mat-triculation – Adversity proved to quite the fuel for Burnaby’s Sara Brinkac. The Burnaby Central grad grappled her way to the 60-kilogram title at the Canadian Cadet and Juvenile wrestling championships. Brinkac, who overcame knee surgery and a disappointing result at the high school provincials, defeated Ontario’s Kirti Saxena 10-9 in the final, with the winning points coming in a takedown with 30 seconds left. Based on the performance, Brinkac was named the Outstanding Juvenile women’s wrestler of the tournament.
“That was (Brinkac’s) first national title and it was exactly what she needed,” remarked Coast Wrestling head coach Frank Mensah.
5- Gold redemption – there was a satisfying finish to this year’s run to the B.C. AA senior girls soccer final for St. Thomas More. For a second year in a row they played in the final, but this time they emerged triumphant, beating Okanagan Mission 1-0.
Kyra Armenta, one of seven Grade 10s on the Knights’ roster, supplied the game’s only goal. Picking up her fourth shutout of the tournament was Lauren Cadiente, while Caileen Corbett was voted to the Commissioners 11 all-star team.
