A WHO TO CALL: Sports Editor A.P. McCredie 985-2131 (113) ky ARLENE ent eT Ne COLLEGE BASKET- | BALL... Both Capilano College basketball squads tip-off their 1994 seasons this weekend at the College's Sportsplex facil- ily. The men’s team — coached by Phil Langley — play SFU tomorrow night at 5 p.m. in a pre- season exhibition game. The Biues open their season against Camosun College on Nov. 11, and play their home-opener the following Friday (Nov. 18) against College of New Caledonia. The Lady Blues, mean- while, tip their season off this Friday at 7 p.m. as they face Meriloma at the Sportsplex. Both Cap teams will be in action on the final weekend of October, as the college hosts their annual Blues Tourname- nt. The men’s team will take on Camosun., Okanagan and Mt, Royal, while the Lady Blues wiil contend with Fraser Valley, Douglas and Okanagan. SOCCER... Hieu Nguyen scored both goals for the North Shore Selects as the B.C. rep team shut out Manitoba 2-0 to win the bronze medal at the U-19 Canadian Champion- ships in Halifax last weekend. The team, coached by Gunther Frey, was seed- ed number one going into the Thanksgiving Week- end tourney. The North Shore Amazons, meanwhile, fin- ished fourth on the girls’ side of the U-19 national tournament, also held in Halifax over the weekend. ° Like their raale coun- terparts, the B.C. rep team, coached by Peter Phillips, was seeded num- ber one. It was the first time that both B.C. U-19 teams to play in the nationals were from the same dis- trict. TEWS PHOTO Mike Wakefield WINDSOR DUKE Ray Lewis (right) is stripped of the ball by St. Thomas Aquinas’ Neville Collett during a recent senior boys’ soccer match at Loutet Park. The Fighting Saints won the game 1-0. This Friday at 3:45 p.m., the undefeated Sentinel Spartans (6-0) host Argyle (4-1-1) in a must-win game for the Pipers. Team vreaks 30,000 mark with win over Saskatchewan A.P., NicCredie "2 « THOSE WERE THE FINALS OF THE VANTZEE TOUANAMEN IT WASN’T the prettiest game of the season, but the B.C. Lions’ 23-22 win over Saskatchewan last Saturday night was most certainly the loudest. For the first time this season, over 30,000 football fans made their way through the revolving doors at B.C. Place. And when Lui Pasaglia kicked the game-winning field goal (for the second game in a row) with just five seconds to play, the 31,955 strong let out a roar that hasn’t been heard around the enclosed field’s parts since Pink Floyd brought their travelling light show to town. Owner Bill Comrie was no doubt roaring the loudest. The embattled furniture salesman finally — even though his team has been at and near the top of the West divi- sion all year — saw the turnstile count put him into a profit-making position. (According to Lions’ beancounters, 25,000 warm bodies is the break-even mark). The victory was thé tenth of the year for the Leos, equalling their total for all of last year. They have three games remaining in this year’s campaign. More importantly, the win keeps B.C. three points ahead of the Edmonton Eskimos, who also won by a single point last weekend with a 33-32 come-from-behind victory over the hapless Hamilton Tigercats. No doubt a playoff run (capped with a home-field Grey Cup appear- ance?) would erase the memory of many of the sub-20,000 games the Lions have hosted this year. Word out of the Vancouver Canuck camp is that if not for their wild Staniey Cup ride last spring/sum- mer, the coffers would have been empty. So Comrie’s glee at the Lions’ win fast Saturday probably included the fact that the win moved his team one step closer to a playoff berth. Calgary has already clinched a spot in the West, while in the lowly East both Winnipeg and Baltimore have locked up playoff appear- ances. Which brings us to a question that is keeping the CFL brass up at night. Will the Grey Cup be a bust if the Lions aren't playing in it? Two years ago that same sce- nario befell Toronto the Good, as a SkyDome battle of the Prairies (Calgary vs. Winnipeg) drew the smallest Grey Cup crowd since 1975, the year Buffalo Bill head honcho Marv Levy coached the Montreal Ailouettes to a 9-8 loss over Edmonton in Calgary. The CFL apathy in Toronto was the biggest story that came out of the 1992 Grey Cup. (Incidentally, the Stampeders won the game 24- 10.) While it’s true a Lions appear- ance in the dome on Sunday, Nov. 27 would pretty much guarantee a sell-out, a game featuring the high- powered Doug Flutie would no doubt also send the turnstiles spin- ning. And with professional hockey and baseball on ice, and the subse- quent bad taste left in the mouths of thousands of fans, a Grey Cup game in Vancouver could be just the thing to divert the cynical wave crashing around North American sports franchises. Saturday night's game — though not one for the ages — was a great night for every money-paying foot- ball supporter. After a bobbled snap on a field goal that would have sealed the win for the Roughriders, the Lions marched into Lui’s range and stole the victory. For a brief second, with Crazy Geerge leaping up and down beside me on the sidelines and rabid fans puching the air and high-fiving one another in the stands, grey B.C. Place was alive with the sounds of a winner. The CFI. may be limping along, but the B.C. Ligns, and local foot- ball fans, are enjoying a great sea- son. And don't count on those grid- iron supporters staying away from the Grey Cup, Lions or not.