14 sports Novenmber 2, 2011 - Over the Edge A CAREER BEYOND COMPARE Inderbir Gill's Final Campus Curtain Call PUNEET HAYER SPORTS EDITOR With the 2011-2012 PACWEST basketball season ready to commence later this week, so does our excite- ment and anticipation. Plus, with UNBC’s temporary admittance into the Canada West division of the CIS next year there is added enthusiasm among the Timberwolves fan base. Sadly, as a new era of UNBC athletics begins, another one has ended. In just three seasons at UNBC, Inderbir Gill has become the Timberwolves most decorated and accomplished athlete in its history. As the cliché goes: all good things must come to an end. So as we all revel in the excitement of the upcoming basketball season and be- yond, we should also understand how we got to this point. There is no deny- ing that UNBC athletics would not be the ascending program that it is today without Inderbir Gill. Upon the 2008-2009 BCCAA season approaching, UNBC athletics and particularly recruiter Zane Ro- bison knew that UNBC had to find a star and make a statement. This was the same year that the Northern Sport Centre was to host the CCAA National Basketball Tournament. As a result, both UNBC basketball squads were awarded automatic entry in the tournament to win a national title on their home floor. At that point, the men’s basketball team had both of their international roster spots va- cant. In order to have a realistic shot at competing for the national title, the program would need to recruit CANUC PUNEET HAYER SPORTS EDITOR The Canucks will start the 2011- 2012 season with lofty expectations. After last years heartbreaking loss to the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals anything short of a championship will be a disappoint- ment. The Canucks go into this regu- lar season as the favorites in the tough western conference. The Canucks lost one major player from their finals team. Christian Ehr- hoff left for the Buffalo Sabres via free agency. The team will definitely miss his presence on their blue line. Ehrhoff plays an up tempo game and is great on the power play. Defense- man Kevin Bieksa and Alex Edler will be given every opportunity to play a bigger offensive role on the blue line. The team will be missing Mason Raymond for sometime with a back injury. During the finals the bruins fourth line really outplayed the Canucks fourth line. The Canucks The Canucks will look to add earn more banners this season. international players. Concurrently, the budget and mandates of the ath- letics program increased and allowed them to explore this opportunity. The program wanted to target an experi- enced talent, who could still play for the team long term. These parameters led the UNBC recruiters to the state of Washington, where they discov- ered Everett Community College star guard Inderbir Gill. Inderbir just finished his second year of eligibility at Everett Com- munity College in 2008 and had three years of eligibility left if he chose to play in Canada. However, Inderbir’s impressive play earned him oppor- tunities in the United States and in Canada. Among the many schools offering Gill an opportunity to pur- sue his education and basketball ca- reer were the University of Northern Montana and the University of Fraser Valley. He chose to come to UNBC because of the efforts of the recruit- ers and the unique opportunities that UNBC presented. Specifically, Inder- bir credits recruiter Zane Robison and the opportunity to join an emerging program for choosing UNBC. “Zane (Robison) was a great recruiter and I wanted to be a part of this program,” explains Inderbir. He became a major part of the program and in just three years Inder- bir has become one of the greatest athletes not only in UNBC history but that of the history of the CCAA. Inderbir is the two-time CCAA Na- went out and reshaped their fourth line this year. They acquired Dale Weise on waivers and he will be on their revamped fourth line. They will use him with Lapierre and Volpatti to round out the fourth line. The two tough wingers should help with depth when the playoffs start. Also Cody Hodgson will be a big part of this team this year. He will hopefully be a fixture on the second line with Ryan Kesler. Goaltending: The tandem of Cory Schneider and Roberto Luongo will be very effect- ive this year. Schneider should play 30-35 games this year. The extra rest should help Luongo once the playoffs start. Luongo has started slow and is notoriously a slow starter. Fans are all over him in the early going. Everyone needs to take a step back and wait until November that’s when Roberto usually picks up his game. The team tional Player of the Year for 2009 and 2010. Plus, he was the MVP for both provincial tournaments in 2009 and 2010. But his biggest accomplish- ment on the court was leading the Inderbir Gill reflects on his time at UNBC. PUNEET HAYER looks comfortable in front of both their goalies. The real season for Luongo won’t start until next April and he will get a chance to prove his critics wrong. Defense: The Canucks blue line should be one of the best in the league this year. The defensive core has tons of depth and even with the absence of Ehrhoff should put up a lot of points. The Canucks don’t have a stud number one defenseman but one through eight they are the deepest in the league. The pairing of Kevin Bieksa and Dan Hamhuis will play a shutdown role against other teams first lines. Keith Ballard will look to rebound from a poor season last year. Ballard will be paired up with youngster Chris Tanev; they will get every opportun- ity to succeed this year. They both can move the puck well and are great at making the Ist pass out of their end. men’s basketball team to a CCAA National Championship during the 2009-2010 season. Making the 2009- 2010 UNBC men’s basketball team the first Prince George based team to win a national championship in over 30 years. He kept up his stellar play in his final year the following season (2010-2011), despite the departures of his star teammates Kevan Madsen and Jose Araujo. He led UNBC to a silver medal at the Provincial Tour- nament, while capturing tournament MVP honours and another CCAA Player of the Year award. Secondly and more importantly, this marked the third straight appearance for the men’s basketball team to reach the national tournament, a feat that had yet to be done prior to that point. But it also marked the end of his career at UNBC. What gets lost in the career of Inderbir Gill is his extraordinary success in the classroom that is rare from athletes of his stature. Inderbir earned the title All-Canadian Aca- demic in 2010, which is rewarded to CCAA athletes who have excelled in the classroom and served as good role models within their academic port- folios, despite the many constraints they face as athletes. In addition, what also gets lost in the legacy of Inder- bir Gill at UNBC is that his success bred enthusiasm. His influence helped UNBC recruit many prized prospects that viewed his success at UNBC as something attainable. Plus, his leader- / 4004 sninn Forwards: The team will be strong again up the middle. The Canucks boast one of the best one two combinations at center in the National Hockey League. Hen- rik Sedin and Ryan Kesler will both be big contributors on this team. The Sedin brothers barring injury should both be in the top five in scoring this year. Ryan Kesler will look to build on the great success he attained last year.. The team will need help with secondary scoring. The team will need big years from Maxim Lapierre and Chris Higgins both will be count- ed on for secondary scoring. Manny Malhotra is still feeling the effects of his major eye injury and should get better with time. The Canucks are go- ing to play a highly skilled game and if other teams decide to take liberties on their players they will make them pay on their power play. The team boasted the number one special teams ship and charisma motivated many players to stay at UNBC and con- tinue to compete for championships. Also, he placed the words ‘champion- ship’ and ‘success’ back in the Prince George sport scene. This led to the Northern Sport Centre becoming a major home court advantage. All of which was not present prior to Inder- bir’s arrival. This has set a precedent because you simply cannot be a CIS program without competing for na- tional titles in other leagues. Much of this can be attributed to the impact of Inderbir Gill as UNBC athletics was not as competitive and enthusiastic prior to his arrival here. We have been spoiled the past few years at UNBC as we have watched a great athlete and person usher in a special time in this University’s history. The truth of the matter is there will not be another Inderbir Gill again. However, the success of UNBC athletics and the positive dir- ection in which it continues to go in is a tribute to his greatness. When asked, Inderbir said that he is still open to the possibility of returning to UNBC in another capacity, he said “of course, once a T-Wolf always a T- Wolf’. Until that time comes, do not expect another athlete quite like him. As a result, the team will not be the same without him. With all the great athletes to dawn the UNBC green and gold, Inderbir stands apart and will continue to be a monumental part of the history of the University of North- PUNEET HAYER during last year’s regular season. They will have a hard time matching that stat, they should be in the top five in both penalty kill and power play. This year’s team should have an- other huge regular season. They play in the easiest division in the league this should help them down the stretch. The team will try to avoid a hangover from last year’s finals. The Canucks have a very innovative general man- ager in Mike Gillis and you can bet he will use every resource available to avoid a hangover. The Canucks have 82 games to play before their real sea- son starts. This team will and should only be judged on their playoff per- formance. The Canucks faithful will not be happy with anything less than a parade down Robson Street.