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Here is the annual Times Colonist list of the top-10 Island sports stories of 2020, a year in which only one story really mattered:
1. THE PANDEMIC: Alphonso Davies and the Greek Freak, Giannis Antetokounmpo, did not play in soccer and basketball internationals on the Island as scheduled. Neither did Canada’s best Little Leaguers at Layrtiz Park as their dreams of Williamsport evaporated. The nearly 75 Island or Island-based athletes expecting to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics did not cross the Pacific. The Shamrocks, Timbermen and Vikes did not take to the floor nor the HarbourCats to the diamond in dark seasons while the Royals were cut down in mid-skate stride. Other than that, everything was fine.
2. PFC PLAYS: Consider what was cancelled or postponed, from the Olympics to the Canadian Football League. Yet the pro Canadian Premier League managed to mount a safe soccer season. That was nothing short of monumental considering the obstacles. Island-based Pacific PC made it to the playoff stage in the Charlottetown bubble.
3. JACKSON CUP: Although not nearly as complex an undertaking as the CPL’s, the Vancouver Island Soccer League managed to celebrate its 125th season by playing the Jackson Cup, and by beginning the 2020-21 season before the latest restrictions went into effect.
4. A WEE BIT O’ HOCKEY: Never before has a preseason been a highlight. But this isn’t a normal year. The B.C. Hockey League was able to conduct an extended preseason before the latest and current provincial clampdown. Winning the exhibition Island Cup in the fall was at least some small consolation for the Nanaimo Clippers after being denied their expected long playoff run last spring.
5. FORE!: Not only was golf the first sport to return recreationally, actual tournament golf did manage to creep across the barren 2020 sporting landscape. Tristan Mandur of Mill Bay won the B.C. Amateur championship, while Bear Mountain hosted two of the four pro tournaments held in Canada this year.
6. CANADA 200: The venerable Western Speedway, opened in 1954, kept alive its tradition of never having a dark season by staging one race this year. The Canada 200 lacked the usual attendant atmosphere, of course, but was still run despite the pandemic.
7. DRIVING INTO TROUBLE: Only Stewart Friesen and Trevor Boys have more all-time NASCAR starts than Josh Reaume of Victoria among Canadian drivers. The Western Speedway product was suspended indefinitely by the organization in November for a social-media post. Auto-racing news website Kickin’ the Tires, citing a source, reported icing on a late-night snack to be in the shape of a swastika. A contrite Reaume, who comes from a multi-cultural background, told the Times Colonist: “It was a thoughtless, meaningless post. There was no intent or symbolism meant. It was taken out of context. But I own it and I apologize to anyone who found it offensive.”
8. BAR NONE: A Nanaimo franchise was announced in July to create an Island derby with the Victoria HarbourCats in the West Coast League of baseball, starting next season. The official name is the NightOwls. But what really caught attention was the clever alternate jersey featuring, what else, but a Nanaimo Bar.
9. NASHTY BUSINESS: Even in retirement from playing, Victoria basketball legend Steve Nash made headlines by being named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets without any previous NBA coaching experience.
10. WORLD JUNIORS: Goaltender Dylan Garand of Langford and former Victoria Grizzlies captain Alex Newhook followed a tradition of previous players from the Island or Island teams to be named to the Canadian team for the world junior hockey championship, the current version which is taking place amid a bubble in Edmonton.
cdheensaw@timescolonist