Sports
LangleyAdvance | F r i d a y , S e p t e m b e r 2 4 , 2 0 1 0 |
Ice hockey
A27
Civil courts
TWU hockey graduates to varsity Couple sues NHL player The Titans will be known as the Spartans, and their home opener is scheduled tonight (Friday) at the Langley Events Centre.
After a 20-year absence, Trinity Western University will once again see men’s hockey wearing the Spartan logo and colours. Spartan director of athletics Murray Hall and dean of human kinetics Dr. Blair Whitmarsh recently announced that Spartans varsity hockey has returned. “We enthusiastically welcome men’s ice hockey as the newest team to the Spartan family,” Hall said. “Adding a Canadian favourite to our sport menu is an important step in the growth of hockey at TWU. There is a big upside to this new Spartan sport. We can’t wait for the puck to drop this fall.” Despite the 20-year absence from the varsity program, men’s hockey has been alive and well at TWU. Recreation services has had club hockey for many years in the form of the TWU Titans and the TWU Bombers. However, over the years, the Titans have grown past club status and have competed in the British Columbia Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL) for the past five seasons with Whitmarsh and the School of Human Kinetics taking control of the program this past year. “The Titans hockey team, under the direction of Dr. Chuck MacKnee and, most recently, Dwayne Lowdermilk, has been a strong club team for many years,” Whitmarsh said. “After all these years of challenges and triumphs, it is very exciting to see the Titans hockey team making the transition to full varsity status within the department of athletics. The name change to Spartans signifies a strong commitment by the university and the department of athletics to see university hockey flourish and grow.” Current head coach Dwayne Lowdermilk, who was behind the Titans bench this past season, also coached Spartans hockey in 1988/89,
A husband and wife from Langley are taking legal action over an Olympic assault.
Troy Landreville/Langley Advance
Trinity Western University forward Josh MacKnee moved towards the goal with the puck while being chopped at by an Okanagan College Crusaders defenceman during the BCIHL championship tournament at Langley Events Centre this past March. TWU will add ice hockey to its varsity programs this fall.
while MacKnee, who has been coachAbout the BCIHL ing TWU hockey for over 20 years The league was created in 2005 and the Titans since their inception in with the purpose of providing student 2001, has been instrumental in keepathletes with opportunities to achieve ing hockey active at TWU academic success while over the last two decades. competing at a high“Adding a The Spartans hockey level of intercollegiate program was first hockey. Canadian developed in 1973/74 It currently has seven favourite to our when the team comteams – the University sport menu is an peted in the Fraser of the Fraser Valley, Valley Hockey League. Okanagan College, important step In 1976/77 the Spartans, Selkirk College, Simon in the growth of under head coach Allan Fraser University, Kotanen joined the Thompson Rivers hockey at TWU.” BCCAA, where they conUniversity, Trinity Murray Hall tinued to play until the Western University 1990-91 season. and the University of For more information on Victoria. TWU Spartans hockey, visit the TWU Each BCIHL team plays a 24-game website at: gospartans.ca or email league schedule that is comprised of hockey@twu.ca two two-game home-and-away series The Spartans open the BCIHL seawith each team. The top five teams son tonight (Friday) at the Langley in the league’s regular season then Events Centre, where they will host the face off in a BCIHL championships, a University of the Fraser Valley. Game round-robin tournament held each year time is 7 p.m. in March. Visit: www.bcihl.ca.
The Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens rivalry has just heated up more. Dylan Richardson and his wife Brenna are suing Leafs centre Mikhail Grabovski, alleging they were both assaulted by Grabovski in a brawl in Yaletown during the 2010 Games. Dylan Richardson was wearing a Canadiens jersey at the time. They filed a civil suit in the B.C. Supreme Court on Sept. 14. Richardson claims he was downtown on Feb. 20 when Grabovski punched him in the face, causing him to lose conciousness, and leaving the autobody technician with a head injury, multiple facial fractures requiring reconstructive surgery, trauma to his back, teeth and eyes, memory loss, a change in personality and ongoing headaches. “Immediately after striking the plaintiff Dylan Richardson with the intent to further humiliate and denigrate (him), the defendant assaulted and committed a battery on the plaintiff Brenna Richardson by punching (her) in the face,” the Canadian Press reported the document said. The Richardsons want punitive damages, as well as reibursment for lost income and healthcare expenses. Grabovski, in Vancouver to play with the Belarus hockey team, was arrested by Vancouver police after the confrontation, but never charged because VPD didn’t believe there was any likelihood of atttaining a conviction. The brawl in question started with an argument in a bar and escalated into a streetfight involving more than a dozen people, many of whom had been drinking. Grabovski had a broken wrist at the time of the incident, and couldn’t play for Belarus. Grabovksi was held in jail for seven hours and released into the custody of his parents. Asked for comment after the incident, Leafs and U.S. Olympic team GM Brian Burke said: “As far as I know, he’s healthy. Stupid but healthy.” Grabovski didn’t have much to say on the matter at the Leafs training camp this week. “I had a bad injury, bad start, not just for me, for the team,” he told the Toronto Star about last season. - From the Vancouver Province
WHAT’S ON AT THE EVENTS CENTRE…
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• Trinity Western University Spartans Season Opener vs. UFV Hockey Club – 7 p.m., Friday, September 24th • Trinity Western University Spartans vs. Aldergrove Kodiaks 1 p.m., Saturday, September 25th
TICKETS
on sale at
www.langleyeventscentre.com or phone 604-882-8800