8 THE VOICE, TUESDAY, NOV. 24, 2015

EDITOR OWEN MUNRO

SS poris

UBC in first Vanier since 1997

Thunderbirds travel to Quebec City to take on defending champions

By JASON HAMILTON

BC’s football team has earned a spot in the 2015 Vanier Cup, an achievement that hasn’t been accomplished in 17 years.

The Thunderbirds will face off against the University of Montreal Car- abins, the defending Vanier Cup cham- pions, this Saturday, Nov. 28 at Telus Stadium in Quebec City. The game will mark UBC’s first Vanier Cup appear- ance in 17 years.

The Thunderbirds have been on the road since the Nov. 17 and are current- ly in Quebec City prepping for Satur- day’s game.

Kevin Wiens, starting defensive back for the Thunderbirds, is feeling the support his school is giving him.

“The President of UBC sent us a con- gratulations after our win over St. Francis Xavier, and the student body is really starting to care about the foot- ball team,” he said.

But UBC’s student body, nearly 60,000 strong, is just the beginning for Wiens, who hopes that he and his team will have all of B.C. behind them come game night.

Aaron Bailey, President of the UBC Alma Mater Society said although they haven’t planned anything yet, there will most likely be a viewing party at a local pub.

“I know throughout the year we’ve been having pre-beer gardens and tail- gate parties to support the Thunder- birds and we have been trying our hardest to pack that stadium and give them that confidence to hopefully pull offa ridiculous win this Saturday,” Bai- ley said.

But despite the Thunderbird’s mo- mentum, UBC’s alma matter president doesn’t expect the road ahead to be an easy one.

“T think it’s going to be a very close high scoring game cause both our teams are quite offensive. I would say UBC edges out Montreal by a field goal, maybe like 34-31.”

Wiens said the weather shouldn’t be a factor for the Thunderbirds, after bat- tling tough conditions in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

“T think our last 3 games we have dealt with either rain or just really cold or windy,” Wiens said. “I believe by now we can adapt to the environment.”

UBC will meet the Carabins after Montreal defeated the Guelph Gry- phons 25-10 in the Mitchell Bowl earlier

dc.

UBC THUNDERBIRDS ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT photo

b

The UBC Thunderbirds hoist the Uteck Bowl after beating St. Francis Xavier 36-9 on Sat. Nov. 20

in the day.

Wiens said that the Thunderbirds should be worried about the Car- abins’ strong starting running back, Sean Thomas-Er. Thomas- ‘ Er rushed for 170 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries in the win.

Joe Stewart and friends were

arguing over whether they were going to watch the game at a lo- cal pub or if they were going to throw a party at their friends Al- ex’s house on Saturday as they were going to invite themselves over.

Not all of UBC plans to watch the game this Saturday though, as many students are gearing up for final exams, including Kevin Xu and Russel Engebretson who both said they are going to be too busy to watch the big game.

MIKE F. CAMPBELL submitted photo | This year’s edition of the

Vanier Cup will be the 51st. It is UBC’s sixth time in the national championship, and | first since 1997. ‘

AARON BAILEY President of the UBC Alma Mater Society

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Iwould say UBC edges out Montreal by a field goal, maybe like 34-31

Basketball teams finding momentum

Men’s and women’s teams win one and lose one on Vancouver Island in final games before holidays

By SEYEDMOSTAFA RAZIEI

lege basketball teams will come

back from their holiday break with momentum after finishing the first-half of their seasons with wins over Camo- sun College.

On Friday, Nov. 20, Vancouver Island University Mariners (VIU) hosted Lan- gara, where the women lost 82-51 and the men lost 102-78.

For Paul Eberhardt, head coach of the men’s team, the result was expect- ed as VIU is currently ranked the num- ber one team in the Canadian Colle- giate Athletic Association (CCAA) national rankings.

“VIU is a very big team and we are a bit of a smaller team. They are a very

Te: men and women’s Langara Col-

talented team,” Eberhardt said. “We are playing at a very fast pace, but I think we are not in the shape that we must be.”

He also said that Langara must work on rebounding and improve their fit- ness in order to do a better job in the second-half of the season.

On Saturday night at Camosun Col- lege in Victoria, the women redeemed themselves with a 73-53 victory, while the men won a close game, 77-74.

For Grant Galbraith, who plays cen- tre for the men’s team, it’s a competi- tive league for a young team, but he believes Langara has a real good chance in the second-half to continue to win more games.

“Christmas break is a good opportu- nity for all of us to work on our skills individually,” Galbraith said. “I am proud that none of us are really great, but we are able to come together really well.”

Mike Evans, head coach of women’s team, said that in the face of the final

exam break, it will not be easy to get players together to practice.

“When we come back, we will just practice every day until our league playoffs start,” said Evans. “Because we are such a young team, our practic- es and intensity of our practices will help us.”

The women’s team consists of seven first-year players.

“It is a big difference in physical abil- ity, maturity and experience,” Evans said. “Learning how to compete against those players is sort of the next step for us.”

® Falcons’ Tally t*)

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL MEN'S BASKETBALL W-D-L W-D-L

3-4-0 5-2-0

Ranked: 5th Ranked: 3rd

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Christmas break is a good op- portunity for all of us to work on our skills indi- vidually GRANT GALBRAITH

LANGARA FAL- CONS FORWARD

Ski season launch draws big crowds

Vancouver’s big three mountains open early with large snowfalls and cold temperatures on horizon

By MURRAY B. HUNT

season got underway a little earli-

er than normal this year, with not one but three resorts to choose from for skiers and snowboarders.

Whistler Blackcomb, Cypress Moun- tain and Grouse Mountain began oper- ating their lifts this weekend, after snowmaking and recent natural snow helped the resorts open a week earlier then scheduled.

Marcello Cellai, a first-year Langara College business student from Italy said he is excited for the upcoming sea- son. Cellai is from Sestriere, Italy, the site of the 2006 Winter Olympic men’s ski championship.

“Tm looking forward to skiing on an- other Olympic ski slope this winter,” he said. “I like to relax and enjoy the snow with friends and to take time and en- joy the winter.”

Whistler had a successful opening

T: Whistler and Vancouver ski

weekend, where they had a snow base of 77-centime- ters and over 4,000

he» MARCELLO CELLAI

First-year busi- ness student

people on opening

day alone, accord-

ing to communications coordinator Emily Wright.

“Whistler was busy with 4,343 people taking to the slopes on opening day. It has been a great start to the season and we are about 30 centimeters above our snowfall from last year.”

Grouse Mountain had a 35-centime- ter snow base and had an additional 57 centimeters of snowfall during the weekend. Julia Grant, communications manager for Grouse, said that they had several local skiers and riders, noting the upcoming cold temperatures in the forecast this week will add more snow to their base, on top of the snow they will make themselves.

“The combination of the snow and sun brought lots of people out onto the slopes.” said Joffrey Koeman, sales and marketing director of Cypress Moun- tain.

“It has just started to snow and we expect about 20-centimeters of snow over the next 24 hours,” Koeman said. “It should be clear after that, so we would be able to open up more terrain.”

Blackcomb, the second mountain at Whistler is scheduled to open this com- ing Thursday.

PAUL MORRISON submitted photo A Skier at Whistler-Blackcomb