JANUARY
• The Elphinstone senior boys went into the Christmas break with a glass half-full, half-empty kind of feeling.
Although they were 11-5 overall in exhibition and tournament play, the team was still not firing on all cylinders, a fact head coach Mike Sopow said had to change when the Cougars opened league play against St. Thomas Aquinas.
• Sunshine Coast hockey players were busy playing at several tournaments across the Lower Mainland. The Atom Rep Blues finished their Christmas holidays in style at an eight-team tournament in West Vancouver at the Hollyburn Country Club.
Meanwhile the two Peewee C teams played at a large tournament in Surrey.
• Madeira Park’s Joe Antilla scored a big goal helping the UBC Thunderbirds to the Great Northwest Showcase tournament title in Burnaby.
• Roberts Creek’s Stuart Richey helped lead the Thompson Rivers University WolfPack men’s volleyball team to a place they have never been — a top five spot in the national rankings.
• Halfmoon Bay sisters Lorren and Heather Benko were well on their way to successful tennis careers after an impressive 2013 which saw them win several events and pick up silver medals at the provincial championships.
• A big third quarter propelled the West Vancouver Highlanders to a 74-68 win over the hometown Elphinstone Cougars in the championship final of the Cougar Classic senior boys basketball tournament.
• There were no losers at the Gibsons Curling Club. After a successful three-day men’s bonspiel, the division winners decided to split the prize money and the accolades.
• Midget rep Blues team captain Tyler Graham was selected to play in the 37th annual Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association Midget Scholarship tournament.
• The Sunshine Coast Boxing Club relocated to Coast Martial Arts. Forced to leave their Chamberlain Road location of three years due to a rent increase, the boxers were faced with shutting down the boxing club until a new home was found, but Shawn Phillips from Coast Martial Arts stepped up and a new partnership was formed.
• The Chatelech Secondary School ski and snowboard team’s season was off to a great start, as they filled the podium in their first two races.
FEBRUARY
• The Midget Rep Blues clinched the league banner and the top seed for their minor hockey league playoffs.
• The Atom Rep Blues finished the regular season on a winning note with a hard fought 7-4 win over the Whistler Hawks. The Blues finished with a league play record of 14-3-3 and were expecting a high seed for the playoffs.
• Curlers from as far away as Manitoba enjoyed good curling and warm hospitality at the annual 16-team mixed bonspiel at the Gibsons Curling Club.
• For the first time in Sunshine Coast Minor Hockey Association history, the Bantam C Blues captured the Lions Gate divisional banner.
• The Elphi senior boys basketball team won the North Shore league title and were the top seed heading into the playoffs.
• The Sunshine Coast Skating Club had skaters competing at Winterskate/Regional Championships in Chilliwack. Four skaters, John Mailey, Cooper Jones, Isabella Jones and Hanna Matsumoto, represented the club. Each brought home a gold medal.
• Sunshine Coast Special Olympics team The Bears and Sunshine Coast RCMP officers came together for a spirited game of floor hockey.
• The Sunshine Coast Minor Hockey Association had a successful weekend on and off the ice, playing host to a pair of successful tournaments in Sechelt and Gibsons.
Teams from Surrey, North and West Vancouver and two teams from Whitehorse took part with Sunshine Coast teams winning one tournament and finishing second in the other.
• Gibsons Ryan Dempster announced that he would not pitch in 2014 with the Boston Red Sox, citing personal, health and family issues as the reason. He did not announce his formal retirement, choosing to make that decision after the 2014 season wrapped up.
• The Elphi Cougars won the North Shore playoffs and would enter the provincial AA high school championships as the number five seed.
• The Pender Harbour senior girls clinched a berth in the single A provincial championships after finishing second at the Lower Mainland championships.
• The men’s soccer league teams at Ted Dixon Field held a pre-game memorial to honour the passing of Barry Johnson, an accomplished, long-time fixture in Coast soccer who at one point played within the Whitecaps organization.
• Four members of the Elphi wrestling team were off to the provincial championships in Prince George.
• The Chatelech ski and snowboard team finished a strong season and were sending several ski and snowboarders to the provincial championships in Whistler.
MARCH
• Wrestlers from Elphinstone Secondary School came home from the provincial high school wrestling championships in Prince George with some impressive results.
Alex Ratcliff finished second in her weight class, Alysha Monk was fourth, Nolan O’Reilly seventh and Scout Stipec finished with a win and two loses in her first provincial championship experience.
• The Sunshine Coast Boxing Club’s Scott Ewen had a successful ring with a unanimous decision win over Langley light heavy weight Kevin Dhanda.
• George Vourtsis added to his large collection of boxing awards when he was named co-winner of the bout of the year award for 2013 with Burnaby’s Ron Price for the war they waged at the River Rock Casino in Richmond on March 15, 2013.
• At the provincial AA basketball championships, for the first time since 1980, the Elphinstone Cougars senior boys finished with a 3-1 record and fifth place overall. The fifth place showing was the highest for any Coast basketball team at a provincial championship.
• The bantam Rep Blues were heading to West Kelowna for the provincial championships. This season was stellar for the Blues, who compiled a record of 24-3-2.
• The Peewee C1 Blues were Lions Gate League champions after a shootout win over North Vancouver. The Blues finished third in the league standings with a 12-2-1 record and went on a winning streak through the playoffs with a 4-0-1 record.
• In his second season as an assistant coach, Halfmoon Bay’s David Arduin helped lead the SUNY Geneseo Knights to the NCAA Division III men’s hockey Frozen Four national championship.
• The Sunshine Coast Atom Rep Blues added to the Sunshine Coast Minor Hockey Association’s banner year by bringing home its own banner after winning three-playoff games at the Final Four Tournament in New Westminster.
• The U14 rep Thunder struck for a pair of impressive cup wins, taking the North Shore Cup and qualifying as the district representatives for provincial play downs.
• As the winter season came to a close, the Sunshine Coast Skating Club held a successful year end performance at the Gibsons and Area Community Centre.
Friends and family members packed the Community Centre to pay tribute to the young skaters who presented a recital of the skills learned this season.
• Fifty bunnies and jackrabbits gathered at Dakota Ridge to celebrate the closing of another successful ski season. Everyone enjoyed the sunshine to participate in a biathalon, sprints and scavenger hunts.
APRIL
• The Ya Yas won the 2014 women’s soccer league title after defeating the Blazers 4-2 in a rain-soaked championship game at Ted Dixon Field in Sechelt.
• Sunshine Coast Scorpions won round one of the Provincial Coastal Cup playdowns, beating Surrey FC Liverpool 2-0. Jordan Kammerle and Finn Rogers scored the goals, while goalie Keeran Peel earned the shutout.
• Perfect conditions resulted in a record breaking day at the 37th BMO Sunshine Coast April Fool’s Run, presented by Coast Cable.
Abbotsford’s David Jackson edged out Vancou-ver’s Kevin O’Connor for a three-second victory in 1:09:09, in the process pulling O’Connor to a new Canadian Masters 45-49 age group half marathon best.
Wildly exceeding all pre-race expectations, Gibsons’ Kimberley Doerksen not only smashed the women’s event record by more than three minutes, but she did it wearing a rainbow tutu costume, in true Fool’s Run spirit. Her 1:14:53 placed her fifth overall in the field.
• The spring rugby season was off to a great start at Chatelech Secondary School. The Chatelech rugby team travelled to North Vancouver for an all-day rugby camp hosted by the Capilanos Rugby Club and it was a hugely successful day.
• The Xenichen Wolves pulled off the men’s soccer double — a league title — and a playoff championship with an impressive 2-0 win over the Ridgepoint Bruins in the men’s soccer league final at Ted Dixon Field in Sechelt.
• School District No. 46 continued to expand their basketball programs at the elementary level, with a 12-team play day for the Grade 4/5 athletes, followed by two tournament days for the Grade 6/7s.
• The Sunshine Coast’s roller girls learned the hard way that the Black Diamond Betties are tough to beat on their home track. On the final night of the World Ski and Snowboard Festival, the hometown Betties disposed of the visiting Red Tide Warning, dominating the second half at the Whistler Conference Centre on their way to a 205-141 victory in the bout billed as “Super Brawl Sunday.”
• Members of the North Shore’s Capilano Wrestling Club showed their strength at the Juvenile/Cadet National Wrestling Cham-pionships, in Guelph, Ont.
Alysha Monk from Elphi won her first match. She lost her next two and was eliminated from the freestyle tournament.
Former Elphi standout Brandy Perry had an excellent weekend, capturing gold in the juvenile girls 60-kilogram Greco-Roman division.
