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A hint of grey shoulder stripes will adorn the Victoria Grizzlies jerseys this season, but there is nothing but blue-sky optimism for the sa国际传媒 Hockey League club which opens regular-season play tonight at 7 at The Q Centre.

The big names continue to flow in for the 2016 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship, set for Sept. 19-25 at the Jack Nicklaus-designed Mountain course in Langford.

The lede on the news release said it all: 鈥淭he Victoria Cougars do not rebuild, they reload.

If last week鈥檚 exhibition game was any indication, it鈥檚 up, up and away for the Mount Douglas Rams this sa国际传媒 high school football season.

In international sport, there usually isn鈥檛 a next year. Only a next four years. Or six years, in the case of the Canadian men鈥檚 soccer team, which must now set its sights on Qatar World Cup 2022.

Argentina XV, representing one of the powerhouse rugby-playing nations, will meet sa国际传媒 on Feb. 4 at Westhills Stadium in Langford.

All-rounder Liam Stanley of Victoria had a chance to qualify in two sports for the 2016 Rio Summer Paralympics, the opening ceremony of which is today, with Stanley among several Island athletes entering Maracana Stadium with the Canadian team.

Mark Van Helvoirt is out as head coach of the Victoria Cougars.

The Westshore Wolves lost a handful of key pieces to the puzzle with progressions to the Major Junior and Junior A levels, but co-owner and general manager Ken Carson still likes what he sees in his Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League club.

It was a tricky task to decide in a two-man sweepstake, said Victoria Grizzlies head coach and GM Craig Didmon. Didmon has selected Cody Van Lierop, a 20-year-old defenceman from Sutton West, Ont., to captain the Grizzlies this season in the sa国际传媒