The University of Manitoba Bisons men’s basketball team kicked off their regular season on the road this past weekend, looking to accomplish two things. The first was to knock off a top-10 nationally ranked team, in Saskatchewan. The second and more substantial goal was to defeat the Huskies for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
After falling to Calgary in a Canada West Play-In series last February, the University of Manitoba Bisons men’s basketball team is hungry to return to the postseason this coming year. With a number of critical players from squads across the conference graduating, the parity is as high as it’s been in years, giving the herd an opportune chance to rise in the standings for 2015-16.
To say that Joey Nitychoruk was highly touted coming out of high school would be an extreme understatement. Along with being a significant contributor on the U17 provincial squad, the six-foot-six wingman was also named the top high school basketball player in Manitoba in the Winnipeg Sun coaches’ poll during his senior year with St. Paul’s High School in 2010-11.
Experienced, composed, and with a clever trick or two up her sleeve, the University of Manitoba Bisons’ Megan Graca knows her way around a CIS pitch. This season, the midfield maestro leads the team with five assists in 12 appearances and is set to conclude a memorable university career.
Debuting in the CIS this past season, goalkeepers Logan Grzenda and Madison Wilford are well on their way to leaving a lasting imprint on Manitoba soccer as well.
It didn’t take Jesse Walker long to figure out that football was his calling. A fairly gifted soccer player growing up, Walker stepped onto the gridiron for the first time midway through grade eight, and the rest is history.
September 14, 2014 is a day Amir Ali won’t soon forget. Ali, a University of Manitoba Bisons men’s basketball player, was doing a normal transition drill in practice. “I was just attacking the rim, same move I’ve done a million times,” he said.
University of Manitoba midfielder Amanda Wong is only in her second year, yet her astounding ability to control soccer matches has spectators and the Bisons taking notice.
At the start of the 2015 CIS football season, it appeared that the Saskatchewan Huskies boasted the most diverse backfield, with Tyler Chow, Jarvis James, and Shane Buchanan. Three games into the current campaign, however, it’s become evident that the Manitoba Bisons have earned that distinction.
Four former local collegiate standouts will be making their way to Mexico City this September for the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) 3-on-3 North American World Tour event, after placing second in the Hoop It Up basketball tournament.