Browse "Sports & Recreation"

The Vancouver Grizzlies were a basketball team. Spurred on by the intent of the National Basketball Association to expand to Toronto, Vancouver Canucks owner Arthur Griffiths launched a bid to secure an NBA expansion franchise for Vancouver in 1993.

"The hockey players are coming to Vancouver," said Evan Ince, who is three and was a bit overwhelmed last week. Celebration whirled around him at Vancouver's General Motors Place arena in the wild moments after the International Olympic Committee voted to stage the 2010 Winter Games in little Evan's backyard.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC is a men’s professional soccer team that plays in Major League Soccer (MLS).

IT WAS A WEIRD first reaction.

The Vanier Cup, so named after Governor General Georges VANIER (1959-67), was first awarded in 1965 to the winner of an invitational football game called the Canadian College Bowl.

The Vezina Trophy is awarded to the best goaltender in the National Hockey League during the regular season. Created in 1927 in honour of Georges Vézina, who died in 1926 at the age of 39, the trophy was originally awarded to the goaltender with the best goals-against average. Beginning in 1946, it was presented to the main goalie for the team that had allowed the fewest goals in the regular season; in 1965, it was expanded to include all of the team’s goalies who had played in at least 25 games. Since 1982, the winner has been determined by a vote among all NHL general managers. Voting occurs at the end of the regular season and the trophy is handed out during the NHL Awards, following the Stanley Cup playoffs.

The playing court, 18 m x 9 m, is divided by a centreline. Above the centreline is an extended net, placed 2.43 m high for men and 2.24 m high for women. The goal of the game is to send the ball, according to the regulations, over the net to the floor on the opposite court.

Water polo is a sport played in water, generally a swimming pool, by 2 teams of 13 players each (7 per team in the field of play at one time), with the object of propelling a ball through the opposing goal.

Water skiing is a sport in which competitors slalom, perform tricks, and jump on water skis while being towed by a speedboat. The sport was derived from snow SKIING and aquaplaning and was started in the US by Ralph Samuelson in 1922. It is perhaps the fastest-growing, all-family competitive sport.

 This spectacular indoor sport is composed of 2 events: the snatch, and the clean and jerk. In the snatch, the athlete lifts the bar to arm's length in one continuous motion. In the clean and jerk, he lifts the bar to his shoulders, then jerks it overhead to arm's length.

​Wheelchair basketball is one of the most popular team sports for athletes with disabilities. In 2014, over 2,500 Canadians were active in the sport as athletes, coaches, officials and administrators.

The road north from Vancouver to Whistler is paved with good intentions, but not nearly enough passing lanes. The Sea-to-Sky Highway winds high above Howe Sound, past Bowen, Gambier and Anvil islands; past ferries and freighters and barge-burdened tugs; past the chill plunge of Shannon Falls and fly-sized rock climbers high up the brooding face of the Stawamus Chief at Squamish.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a football team in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Blue Bombers have alternated between the league’s West Division and East Division. They have been part of the West Division since 2014. Since its founding in 1930, the team has won 12 Grey Cup championships. In 2019, the team won its first Grey Cup since 1990 when it defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33–12. After the 2020 season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blue Bombers defeated Hamilton in the 2021 Grey Cup by a score of 33–25. It marked the team’s first back-to-back championship since 1962, and the first in the CFL since the Montreal Alouettes in 2010.

​The Winnipeg Falcons was a hockey team of the early 20th century that was made up almost solely of players of Icelandic heritage.

The Winnipeg Jets are a professional hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The original Winnipeg Jets competed in the World Hockey Association (1972–79) and in the National Hockey League (1979–96). The team was sold to American interests in 1996 and moved to Arizona, becoming the Phoenix Coyotes (now the Arizona Coyotes). In 2011, True North Sports & Entertainment Limited bought the struggling Atlanta Thrashers franchise and relocated it from Georgia to Winnipeg, renaming the team the Winnipeg Jets. Forbes magazine placed the value of the Jets at US$375 million in 2017, and at US$650 million in 2022.

Despite early successes, women have had to fight to be involved in sports, and to be recognized for their athletic achievement. While female participation in sports has boomed over the last three decades, many girls and women still face barriers and discrimination in the sports world.

​On 9 August 2012, millions of people in Canada and around the world watched the Canadian women’s soccer team take on France for the Olympic bronze medal.

World Hockey Association, professional HOCKEY league established 1971 (first season of play was 1972-73) to challenge the NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE. Canada was well represented in the new league, with teams in Ottawa, Québec City, Edmonton and Winnipeg.

World University Games, also known as Universiade, were first held in conjunction with the Congress of the International Students' Federation (CIE) in Warsaw, Poland, in 1924.

Humans wrestled first for survival and eventually for sport; in fact, drawings on cave walls portray a form of freestyle wrestling. Wall paintings in Egyptian tombs from about 2000 BC depict matches that show moves very similar to those practised today.