News Archive

 

The 1st and 2nd XV boys’ rugby teams and the Iron Women girls’ XV hosted a trio of games last Friday (May 5) to go along with the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new stone pathway at the Derek Hyde-Lay Rugby Pavilion. The 2nd XV got off to a rough start in the opening match before mounting a tenacious comeback, while the Iron Women and the 1st XV won their Stadium Series matches, which will help determine their rankings going into their respective provincial championships.

 

The Iron Women prevailed 21-5 over Langley’s D.W. Poppy, the defending AA provincial champs, to continue their perfect season and are now ranked No. 1 in BC. “We have some very skilled and experienced players that are fantastic leaders who guide the more inexperienced players daily,” head coach Mrs. Shannon Atkins said. “This inclusive way to learn has been very beneficial to us.”

The weather was staggeringly hot, but the water was calm last weekend as Shawnigan hosted more than 600 athletes from schools and clubs across BC for the annual Shawnigan Lake School Regatta, an event the School has been running on an annual basis since 1962.

 

It isn’t often that a regatta this size gets all its races in without a hitch, but the cooperative conditions made for a smooth event this year.

 

“It was a fabulous weekend through and through,” commented rowing coach and science teacher Mrs. Erica Hamilton, who led the team that organized the regatta. “Rarely do you get a regatta that runs precisely on time for 118 races in a row. We were blessed with the most beautiful weather.”

 

Mr. Tim Murdy, Shawnigan’s Director of Sport and longtime rugby coach, added another honour to his mantel last weekend when he was presented with the Citation of Excellence Award from BC School Sports.

 

Mr. Murdy was one of three coaches from across the province who received the award at the BCSS Awards Dinner at the Hilton Whistler on Friday, May 12. According to BCSS, the award recognizes “outstanding coaches and their distinguished contributions to their sport and athletes. The recipient of this award guides student-athletes to success through the philosophy of fair play and sportsmanship for a sustained period, while displaying values consistent with BCSS and school sport.”

 

Always humble, Mr. Murdy said he was caught off guard when the honour was announced last month and is quick to point out that he is not the only person responsible for the success of his teams over the years. He has been fortunate to work with many good programs, and says that the support he has received makes winning championships more rewarding because more people are invested in it.

 

Students lined the lane from Renfrew Road to the Main Building on Wednesday afternoon to welcome back Shawnigan ice hockey player Morgan J., who helped Team Canada take gold at the 2023 IIHF U18 Women’s World Championship, which wrapped up on Sunday, January 15.

 

Morgan, a Grade 11 student and the leading scorer of Shawnigan’s U18 Prep girls’ ice hockey team, was the lone Vancouver Island representative on the Canadian team, which clinched gold by beating host Sweden 10-0 in the tournament final.

 

“It was amazing,” Morgan recalled. “I was still in shock, even a few days later. I couldn’t believe it: ‘I’m in Sweden and I just won a gold medal.’”

The action on the ice took a back seat at the Canadian Sport School Hockey League’s first-ever outdoor ice hockey game.

 

Shawnigan’s U17 Prep boys’ team squared off with Coeur d’Alene Hockey Academy in the open-air arena at Sun Peaks on January 6, and while it was a league game with points in the standings at stake, the results were secondary to the game’s other purpose — as a fundraiser for Hockey Fights Cancer.

 

“Hockey was incidental,” Shawnigan U17 head coach Mr. Jeff Compton commented.