With the hours dwindling to a few, here are the top 10 Island sports stories of 2023:
1. HOST WITH THE MOST: If it was happening anywhere, it was happening here. From Canucks training camp and Christine Sinclair’s penultimate game for sa国际传媒 in soccer to the Paris Olympic qualifiers in rugby and the Canadian women’s basketball team, the Island became hosting central.
Also in 2023 came the announcements that the sa国际传媒 Lions will play the first game in their 70-year CFL history outside Vancouver at Royal Athletic Park next Labour Day weekend and that Victoria would be featured nationally next month on the Sportsnet-broadcast Hockey Day in sa国际传媒.
2. HAMMER TIME: Ethan Katzberg of Nanaimo, with his distinctive hairstyle and moustache, cut quite the swath in winning the gold medal in the men’s hammer throw at the 2023 World Athletics championships in Budapest.
3. SANTIAGO SALSA : Katzberg, with gold, was among the Island athletes who took part in 17 medal wins at the 2023 Pan Am Games in the Chilean capital. Other Island medal notables, in a key preview to the 2024 Paris Olympics, were surf-boarder Sanoa Dempfle-Olin, squash player Nicole Bunyan, steeplechaser Alycia Butterworth, softball player Emma Entzminger, field-hockey player James Kirkpatrick and rugby players Caroline Crossley, Carissa Norsten, Lachlan Kratz, Jack Carson, Matt Percillier and Jake Thiel.
4. MARATHON MAN: Cam Levins of Black Creek broke his own Canadian record in the marathon for the second time in less than a year by running 2:05:36 to place fifth in the Tokyo Marathon in March. It was also the fastest time ever recorded by a North American, besting American Khalid Khannouchi’s 2:05.38 in the 2002 London Marathon. Levins followed up by winning the Royal Victoria Marathon half-marathon race in October in record time.
5. CURLMANIA: The Victoria Curling Club rink won the 2023 sa国际传媒 men’s championship to become the fifth VCC rink to play in the Brier national championship, and the first since 2007, and the seventh Island rink overall to play in the Brier.
6. SOLID WOOD CONSTRUCTION: Nanaimo product and former Victoria Grizzlies forward Matthew Wood, a load at six-foot-three, was selected 15th overall in the first round of the 2023 NHL draft by the Nashville Predators and is currently representing sa国际传媒 at the world junior championship.
7. MAFFIA MAGIC: The University of Victoria, led by sa国际传媒 West MVP and U Sports leading scorer Diego Maffia, brought back sweet March memories of yesteryear as the Vikes men’s basketball team recaptured the imagination of the city by winning the conference championship. The run ended in the national semifinals but what a ride it was as the Vikes rekindled evocations of the glory years.
8. REBEL YELL: Another team awakening the echoes was the Westshore Rebels, a spotless 12-0 through the 2023 sa国际传媒 Football Conference regular season and playoffs before losing in the Canadian Bowl to the annual powerhouse Saskatoon Hilltops, who won their 23rd national junior championship. It was the third trip to the Canadian final, and the first since 2016, for a Rebels franchise looking for its initial national title.
9. HARBOURING CATS: The Victoria HarbourCats tore through the West Coast League of baseball while filling Royal Athletic Park with enthusiastic fans by going 27-2 at home. The Cats, however, met their match in the WCL final against the dynastic Corvallis Knights, who won their seventh consecutive WCL championship.
10. BULLDOGS BITE, CHARGERS CHARGE: The Alberni Valley Bulldogs made a breathless run to winning the Coastal Conference championship to advance to the sa国际传媒 Hockey League final for the first time in franchise history. But in a familiar refrain for Island teams in 2023, the Bulldogs fell in the final to a dynasty team — in this case the Penticton Vees.
It was left to the Camosun Chargers men’s volleyball team to break the Island’s close-call mantra of the year by becoming the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association champion for the second year running.
Honourable Mentions: A fluctuating 2023 found Pacific FC making the Canadian Championship soccer semifinals against the Vancouver Whitecaps of MLS and leading the CPL much of the way before needing some gutty playoff wins to reach the league semifinal to bring a close to a very strange season … After three hapless seasons, with a pandemic thrown in for good measure, the Victoria Royals experienced a turnaround this fall as the most improved team in the Western Hockey League and appear headed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2019-20 … Spencer Carbery of Victoria was named head coach of the NHL’s Washington Capitals … Quebec golfer Étienne Papineau went from playing in the RBC Canadian Open the week before to winning the Royal Beach Victoria Open at Uplands in June to representing sa国际传媒 and placing fourth in the 2023 Santiago Pan Am Games.
