Caps look for first win vs Galaxy

Vancouver soccer club & fans hope for early goal to spark team on Saturday

Vancouver plays Toronto earlier this month at BC Place. cass LucKE PHOTO

By CASS LUCKE

espite a rocky start to the
season, Vancouver White-
caps FC are emerging
from their bye, well rested
and ready to bounce back for this week-
end’s game against the LA Galaxy.

Home-field advantage hasn't helped
the Caps yet, with a draw and a loss at
BC Place early in the season. Saturday’s
game will be at home and the Caps and
their fans hope to add a win to their
season record.

The return of David Ousted, Chris-
tian Bolafios and Kendall Waston’s
returns should make up for the mid-
fielder, Brek Shea, but a trip to Mex-
ico on Tuesday for the CONCACAF
Champions League semifinal against

the Tigres UANL, will likely put first

stringers on the sidelines Saturday.
2016’s Canadian U-17 player of the
year and 16 year old left-wing for Caps,
Alphonso Davies, said that the outcome
of previous games won't influence his
team’s performance on Saturday.
“We're just approaching it like a
regular game,” Davies said. “We didn’t
have a great start but the break came
at a good time and playing [Galaxy] at
home definitely gives an opportunity to
feed off the energy of the crowd.”
Saturday’s game will be the platform
for announcing March’s Coldwell Play-
er of the Month award. Coldwell Bank-
er realtor and four-year Whitecaps’ sea-
son ticket-holder Haze Hartwig agrees
an early goal will spark the crowd’s en-
ergy and keep the team going.
“I've never left a game feeling
bummed about the team, even if the

outcome isn’t what I wanted,” Hartwig
said. “The team and coaches are con-
sistently target-oriented and there’s al-
ways a great atmosphere.”

Like a few Whitecaps, Galaxy players
Giovani dos Santos, Gyasi Zardes and
Ashley Cole have suffered early injuries,
but will be back in action this week, ac-
cording to the Galaxy organization.

The Galaxy/Whitecaps scoreless
match last April provides an interesting
preview for Saturday’s game.

In an interview on the Caps’ website,
head coach Carl Robinson said that the
LA Galaxy are a great team, but the
Caps are as well.

Despite some injuries and suspen-
sions, they are going into the game with
full confidence, Robinson said.

The game is at 7 p.m on Saturday
night, at BC Place.

Another
losing
season

Canucks will finish the
season without making
the playoffs ... again

By JASON GILDER

\ J ancouver Canucks fans are ex-

pressing disappointment about

the 2016-17 season, but are still
optimistic about the team’s future.

After making the NHL postseason
in seven of nine seasons, the Canucks
have failed to qualify for the playoffs
for the second-consecutive season. In
playoff contention midway through the
campaign, the experience of fellow Pa-
cific Division teams was too much for
a youthful Canucks club, who currently
sit 12th in the Western Conference
with 69 points.

Kingsley Bailey has been the manag-
er of Vancouver Ticket & Tour Service
on Beatty Street since 2000 and said his
ticket sales are at an all-time low. Bailey,
an avid Canucks fan, conveyed his dis-
satisfaction with the team this season.

“We've made some bad mistakes, the
scouting has been poor,” Bailey said.
“They need some help.”

Bailey also said a main reason fans
arent flocking to Rogers Arena is the
anticipation that the team won't play
well. Furthermore, many fan favourites
like Ryan Kesler, Kevin Bieksa, Alexan-
dre Burrows and Jannik Hansen have
left Vancouver.

Kyle Triebar, a marine operator and
firefighter, has cheered for the Canucks
for 15 years. Although disappointed
with their losing trends, Triebar is op-
timistic about the team’s future, as the
team is stacked with young potential.

“Tm excited for the future,” Triebar
said. “That’s a huge positive that keeps
drawing me to watching games right
now.

As the Sedin-era winds down in
Vancouver, young hopefuls such as Ben
Hutton, Troy Stecher and Brock Boeser
bring promise to the Canucks fanbase.

A decade-long fan from Portland,
Steven Hillibush is attending his first
Canucks game and said he looks at this
as a rebuilding season.

“They're gonna have down years ev-
ery once in awhile,” Hillibush said. “So
definitely stick with it.”

The Canucks are coming off a 4-1
loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday
at Rogers Arena.

Finalists Storm

Competition rises
as UBC's annual
athletic event
comes to a close

By CHRISTOPHER THOROSKI

inalists of UBC’s annual event,
F Storm the Wall, compete to be

champions as the university cel-
ebrates the event’s 39th year.

Founded in 1978 by Nestor Korchin-
sky, Storm the Wall is a three-day event
that has grown to be the largest intra-
mural event in North America.

Students,
faculty, alumni
and
nity members
run, swim, bike
and climb in

individual and

commu-

“My favourite part is
seeing people get over
the wall that have

joy and their happiness is what makes it
all worth it.”

Over 800 teams, five people per
team, registered this year and despite
the rain, UBC Recreation expects that
the number of spectators will reach the
thousands.

Farris Bahassan, a student at UBC’s
English Language Institute, competed
in the Wall Challenge Final and al-
though he didn’t finish with a podium
ranking, he said he really enjoyed the
event.

“Tt was so much fun, but I’m so tired,”
Bahassan said. “Working as a group is
the best part.”

Allie Donaldson, a second year ki-
nesiology student at UBC, ran 1.5 km
before joining her team, Salt Squad, and
climbing over the
wall.

Despite finish-
ing in last place,
Donaldson _ said
that they were
happy with the

team races, the never done it before.” results.
final obstacle “We didn’t
bei 12- — ALLY ANDERSON, UBC RECREATION

eing a even expect to
foot wall. make it this far,”

Ally Anderson, the marketing and
communications coordinator of UBC
recreation, has been working on the
event for two years.

She said that it’s a great way to bring
the campus and the community to-
gether.

“My favourite part is seeing people
get over the wall that have never done
it before,” Anderson said. “Seeing their

Donaldson said. “So the fact that we
did is amazing.”

Donaldson also admires the team
building that the event requires and
believes that it brings her friends closer
together.

“It’s a different type of teamwork that
we don't do in school.... Going over the
wall is very terrifying, but because of
that it’s my favorite,” Donaldson said.

ges

Clockwise from top: Wall Challenge final competitor gets pulled up the wall by teammates and volunteers; Participants of the campus-wide men’s final climb
the wall; Team Salt Squad from left to right: Katherine Wong, Olivia Zawadiuk, Sydney Lopes, Allie Donaldson and Pauline Chuang. cHrisToPHeR THOROSK! PHOTO