A year to remember for Westman sports

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/12/2016 (3188 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There are a lot of people who thought 2016 was a terrible year and are glad to see it go.

For Westman’s sports scene, that was anything but the case. This year was fantastic for the region as athletes, teams and the area in general made a huge mark on the country’s sporting landscape.

The Wheat City hosted two major sporting events — the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (now U Sport) women’s volleyball championship and the Canada Cup of Curling.

The women’s volleyball event was the first Canadian university championship tournament ever put on by Brandon University in March and it was fantastic. The Healthy Living Centre was packed for Brandon’s quarter-final match and created an atmosphere that rivalled the old gym during the glory days of the men’s basketball team. The place was loud even when the Bobcats, who had an unfortunate draw and lost its consolation semifinal, weren’t playing with fans and students from schools in the area coming out in full force.

It was hard to find any complaints about the event, which was won by the University of Toronto Varsity Blues, and that says a lot about a first-time host.

The Canada Cup was just as successful at Westman Place in November and December. People from the region came out in droves to watch the seven best men’s and top seven women’s curling teams in the country, smashing the event’s old record of 33,160, set in 2012 in Moose Jaw, Sask, with the new unofficial figure of 48,786.

Curlers and fans alike loved the event and the facility and made a case that it shouldn’t have taken 15 years between Curling Canada events and that bigger bonspiels — the hope is the Brier — should land here in the near future.

As great as those events were, nothing may have been more magical than the Brandon Wheat Kings’ run to the franchise’s third Western Hockey League championship. Westman Place was hopping and electric the deeper Brandon went into the post-season. The fans came out in droves to welcome the team back from Seattle — where Brandon secured the Ed Chynoweth Cup with an 8-4 victory in Game 5 of the best-of-seven series — and they will remember that afternoon for a long time.

Brandon University had a lot to celebrate as well with the Bobcats women’s soccer team winning the Manitoba Colleges Athletic Conference title and curling returning to the school for the first time in over a decade. Janelle Vachon’s team surprised many by making it to nationals and a men’s team is in the fold to join them this season.

It seemed like bad news would be followed by good news this year as well. The Manitoba Senior Baseball League took a year’s hiatus but a new Marlins team was formed and it played in the Manitoba Junior Baseball League, posting the best regular-season record. The Marlins went on to win the western Canadian championship as well.

The future of sports looks bright in the community with the Westman Youth Football Association announcing its plans to build Boyd Stadium, a facility that will have two full-sized football fields with lighting, a concession stand and change rooms. Work continues on the Ashley Neufeld softball complex and the City is looking at building a multi-sport outdoor complex as well.

Then there’s the individual accomplishments. It was difficult to compile the list of Krug award nominees for sporting excellence in Westman because of all of the impressive feats. Among the 20 people in the list that appeared in Monday’s edition are numerous league or playoff MVPs, all-Canadians and national champions. It is one of the strongest group of nominees in the award’s 59-year history.

There were numerous others who had great season who could have been candidates as well. They include Canadian novice women’s all-around artistic gymnastics champion Quinn Skrupa, provincial figure skating champions Casey Bertholet and Julia Patenaude, provincial women’s singles, doubles and mixed doubles tennis champion Samantha Lee, Baseball Manitoba player of the year Curtis Plett, three-time Manitoba Games swimming medallist Kienan Scribe, Manitoba Game track and field double gold medallist Jade Gray, national women’s hockey team member and University of North Dakota Fighting Hawks captain Halli Krzyzaniak, and Vincent Massey Vikings football head coach Mike Steeves.

Yes, there were a lot of bad things that happened in the world in 2016, but this was a year to remember for athletics in the region. After a year like this, I’m excited to see what 2017 has in store for us.