It鈥檚 10 for the 10s. As the 2010s draw to a close, here is a look at the top-10 Island sports stories of the decade:
1. THE WHL RETURNS: After 17 years away following the departure of the Cougars, the inexcusably tardy Western Hockey League finally returned to the capital in 2011-12 in the form of the Victoria Royals. Although deep playoff runs have eluded the Royals, the franchise became the leading staple of the local sports scene and a study in consistency as one of only three WHL teams to not miss the playoffs in that span from 2011-12 to 2018-19.
2. NASH ENTERS HOOPS HALL: Steve Nash鈥檚 career, as sublime as it was ground-breaking, was capped in 2018 with induction into the Basketball Hall of Fame. The Victorian became only the second Canadian raised in this country through high school to be inducted. The only other is the inventor of the game himself, James Naismith, whose name graces the basketball hall in Springfield, Massachusetts.
3. WINTER GOLD: It was ironic for an Island better known for producing Summer Olympians that the two Olympic gold medals this decade came from the Winter Games 鈥� Jamie Benn of Central Saanich in men鈥檚 hockey at Sochi in 2014 and Mount Washington-produced Cassie Sharpe of Comox in women鈥檚 freestyle skiing half-pipe at Pyeongchang in 2018.
4. SHINING SUMMERS: The bulk of the 10 Olympic medals won by Island or Island-based athletes this decade, however, came through the Summer Games. Some of the names providing the most memorable moments at London 2012 and Rio 2016 included Ryan Cochrane, Richard Weinberger and Hilary Caldwell in swimming, Gillian Carelton and Catharine Pendrel in cycling, Emily Zurrer in soccer, Ghislaine Landry and Charity Williams in sevens rugby and Malcolm Howard, Andrew Byrnes, Will Crothers, Gabe Bergen, Patricia Obee and Lindsay Jennerich in rowing.
5. RYDER鈥橲 WILD RIDE: The cautionary Island sporting fable of the decade. From top five in the 2010 Tour de France to becoming the first, and still only, Canadian to win a Grand Tour championship by capturing the 2012 Giro d鈥橧talia, Ryder Hesjedal of Colwood spun quite a story on roads all over the world in lifting Canadian cycling to heights never before contemplated. A part of the tale, however, included the revelation in 2013 that Hesjedal was unable to escape the often-sordid history of his sport. He admitted to doping in the past and said he 鈥渃hose the wrong path,鈥� adding: 鈥淚 sincerely apologize for my part in the dark past of the sport. I will always be sorry.鈥� What an eventful and telling story, any way you wish to view it.
6. THE BEAUTIFUL GAME: A pivotal decade for Canadian soccer 鈥� capped with the awarding in 2018 of the 2026 World Cup to sa国际传媒, Mexico and the U.S. 鈥� had big Island ramifications. One of FIFA鈥檚 stipulations is that sa国际传媒 must have a domestic pro league. So the Canadian Premier League launched its inaugural season in 2019, with Pacific FC as a charter club, as pro soccer returned to the Island for the first time since the Victoria Vistas of the defunct CSL in 1989 and 1990.
7. PLAY BALL: The boys of summer established Royal Athletic Park as the place to be on lilting June and July nights. The Victoria HarbourCats were established in 2013 and have led the West Coast League in attendance in six of their seven seasons.
8. LUCK OF THE IRISH: The Victoria Shamrocks had a decade of success with four Western Lacrosse Association titles and four appearances in the Mann Cup national championship, highlighted by the Canadian title in 2015.
9. HOME SWEET NEW HOME: The opening of Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre and the Q Centre were the biggest Island sports venues stories of the 2000-2009 decade. The corresponding sports venues stories for this decade were the construction of the state-of-the-art CARSA Gym, on the University of Victoria campus, and expansion of Westhills Stadium in Langford. What the Memorial Centre did in elevating the Victoria hockey experience, CARSA has done for hoops and Westhills for soccer and rugby.
In Nanaimo, however, it was the opposite. The other big Island sports venue story of the decade was the overwhelming 2017 referendum rejection vote for a new arena in the Harbour City, which meant the Kootenay Ice of the WHL became the Winnipeg Ice instead of the Nanaimo Ice.
10. OUR GAMES, TOO: Vancouver and Whistler got the credit, but we all footed the bill for the 2010 Winter Olympics. After the flame arrived in Victoria from Greece, Islanders filled ferries to watch the sporting spectacle unfold on the mainland. And quite a show it was, from Steve Nash鈥檚 turn as an opening-ceremony cauldron lighter to Sidney Crosby鈥檚 golden goal on the final day.
HONOURABLE MENTION: Perhaps no single sport gave as wide an arc of colourful storylines as rugby, particulary the Langford-based national teams, from the beloved Beardos in the 2011 World Cup to the Olympic bronze medal in women鈥檚 sevens at Rio 2016 to the typhoon-shortened 2019 World Cup in Japan.
When it came to particular Island athletes from the decade, Jamie Benn and Tyson Barrie of Victoria emerged as legitimate NHL players of consequence and Joe Hicketts, Matthew Phillips and Alex Newhook had some dazzling moments on local ice sheets in junior hockey. Michael Saunders of Victoria became a Canadian vote-in folkhero in having his MLB all-star game moment in 2016 and Olympian Cam Levins of Black Creek broke Jerome Dayton鈥檚 hardy 43-year-old Canadian record in the men鈥檚 marathon in 2018. Few moments, however, were more poignant than the outpouring of emotion after the death this year of two-time Olympian and former UVic Vikes basketball great Eli Pasquale.
