SPORTS Royals badminton wins tournament number two at Capilano College 3, ccsivs sini with partner, Stephanie Ko (Burnaby, West Hill Collegiate te defending national champion Royals badminton team _Institute), won the women’s doubles event before combining kept up the pressure on the other colleges by convincingly to win the mixed doubles competition. Alvin and Melody winning the season’s second tournament. have now won four individual events and amassed a record After going 5-0 on Saturday at the team event, despite of 20-0 for the season so far. playing one player short, there was no let up on Sunday. The team will now prepare for a nationally ranked The Royals came out hungry and were very professional in tournament in Edmonton late December before hosting the their preparation, sweeping all five individual events for next collegiate tournament on January 10" and 11". the second tournament running. Shawn Zhang and Lynn Huang proved winning the first tournament was no fluke by going undefeated in winning the men’s and women’s singles events. Last year’s players of the year, Melody Liang (Burnaby, Guongzou Academy), and Alvin Lau (Vancouver, Gladstone Secondary) had very strong tournaments by winning two events each. Alvin, with partner Chi Lin Li (Richmond, Kaoxiong High), easily won the men’s doubles, and Liang, Tyson Sexsmith of the Vancouver Giants F.. years, the best goaltenders in the world have come from Quebec. Recently, however, that trend has started to shift west. Nowhere in the entire Western Hockey League (WHL) is there a better example of that right now than Tyson Sexsmith of the Vancouver Giants. Aside from having the best name in the history of sports, Sexsmith is proving to be not only the best goalie the Giants have ever had, but one of the best that the entire WHL has seen in its 42 year history. Sexsmith is still only 19, but he’s already made his mark on league history and established himself as a winner. On November 7" of this year, Sexsmith recorded his 22" career WHL shutout against the Prince George Cougars in a 5-0 win. That put him into sole possession of the WHL’s all time career shutout record. Sexsmith is now in his fourth complete season with the Giants, and third as the starter. During that time he’s appeared in two Memorial Cups, once as the team’s backup goalie in 2006 and once as the team’s starter the in 2007, the year the Giants won the national junior championship. During his tenure in Vancouver, Sexsmith has shown himself to be a big game money goaltender. One of the main reasons that the Giants are so good, year in and year out, is because of Sexsmith. During the Giants’ Memorial Cup winning effort, Sexsmith went 4-1 in the tournament, allowing just seven goals for a tournament leading 1.40 goals against average and a rock solid .939 save percentage. In the WHL playoffs that preceded the Memorial Cup, Sexsmith was just as good. So far this season, he’s sparkled. When Sexsmith is in net, the Giants have an opportunity to win every night. With the Giants, Sexsmith has been a huge part of Vancouver’s two Memorial Cup appearances, two Western League finals appearances (one of which they won) and three B.C. Division Championships. While he has so far been passed for top goalie honours and membership on Canada’s World Junior Championship teams, he has sacrificed those more personal accolades for winning in Vancouver. It might be due to that lack of personal accomplishments that Sexsmith slipped from projected first round draft pick status and into the fourth round, where the San Jose Sharks selected him 91* overall. How he fell that far is a mystery that almost every team will regret not solving earlier. Sexsmith is one of three goaltenders on Canada’s pre- tournament roster for this year’s WJC. It is expected that this year will finally be his. Judging from his performances so far this season—and his shiny new shutout record—it seems to be only a matter of time before he’s leading the nation to gold. Men’s volleyball team pours it on in home opener By Geoffrey Lenahan After squeaking out a 25-23 first-set win, the boys Ao« road trips to Vancouver Island, Kelowna, and went on to overpower Capilano, taking the second set 25-13 through the Kootenays, the Royals volleyball teams were before finishing the sweep with a 25-20 third-set victory. looking forward to playing a game after a good night’s sleep Offensively, the Royals were led by Torey Wiebe with 18 in their own beds and the men made a point not to waste the _ kills and Mike Plantinga with 11. Setting up those two chance. throughout the night were Kaleb Dawe and Steve Steel, who Facing the Capilano Blues, the team Head Coach, Brad _ recorded 63 and 67 percent perfect passes, with a 3.13 and Hudson once led, the men embarked on protecting “the 3.50 passing average, respectively. Kaleb also added four lion’s den.” kills, two blocks, two aces, and six digs. “Visiting teams need to know they are going to get The volleyball teams are at home again this weekend, our best match every time they step onto our court,” is the hosting the CBC Bearcats Friday, November 21", and the mantra Coach Hudson instills into his players, and this past UFV Cascades are paying a visit on the 22". First serve for Friday was a great start. the women is at 6 p.m. and the men follow at 7:45 p.m. 14