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The Victoria Cougars have checked a regular-season title and Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League playoff championship off their to-do list in 2015-16.

There was a hint of irony in that in a season in which the new University of Victoria CARSA gym facility opened, the best Vikes performances were turned in by athletes who play on field and turf in the great outdoors.

The metaphorical samba beat grows ever louder as August nears. The winter of training is done on Elk Lake in Saanich and Lake Fanshawe in London, Ont. It’s time to get on with it.

Of the two great bat-and-ball sports in the world, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ was influenced more by American culture and fell into the baseball sphere.

SPOKANE 5 VICTORIA 2 (Royals lead series 2-1) Losing was simply not an option Tuesday for the Spokane Chiefs if they wanted to have any chance in their first-round WHL playoff series against the Victoria Royals.

Having dusted off the Powell River Kings in four straight games could come back to haunt the Nanaimo Clippers, who will have sat for nine days before getting into their first matchup of the sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½

The Victoria Cougars blew some daylight between themselves and the Campbell River Storm in what had been a tight Vancouver Island Hockey League playoff championship series.

Bruce Wilson can still remember the rumble of the crowd increasing ominously with every footstep as he led sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, as captain, through the tunnel to the pitch at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

The Victoria Royals might again be feeling a little blue on the blue-line. And it’s got nothing to do with the club’s jersey colours.

The Condo Group Vancouver Island Pro Tour swings into the 2016 season today with the opening stop at Cordova Bay Golf Course. It is the first of 15 scheduled events for top club professionals on Vancouver Island.