By Jeff Paterson
With all of the hype surrounding the start of another Vancouver Canucks season this Thursday (October 9) and the Vancouver Whitecaps scheduled to play for a United Soccer League championship on Sunday (October 12), it might be easy to lose sight of the fact that there are two big local football games being played over the next couple of nights.
On Thursday, it’s the 31st annual Shrum Bowl with the University of British Columbia taking on Simon Fraser University at Thunderbird Stadium on the Point Grey campus. SFU is 4-2 on the season and atop the Canada West standings while UBC is 2-4 and in danger of missing the playoffs – so there’s more on the line Thursday than just crosstown bragging rights. Kickoff is set for 7:00 p.m. and 10 percent of ticket sales will be donated to the BC Football Hall of Fame in memory of Bob Ackles.
On Friday, the BC Lions play the opener of back-to-back games against the Edmonton Eskimos under the dome. The Lions, Calgary, and Saskatchewan are all tied for top spot in the West Division with 9-5 records while the Eskimos are sitting at 8-6. Altough it remains unclear how things will unfold over the final four weeks of the season, the Lions know that if they win their remaining four games, they will win the division for a fifth straight year. The Lions and Eskies game starts at 7:30 p.m. on Friday night.
Enjoy the start of the hockey season and support the Whitecaps, but don’t forget the footballers. This is the their time of year.
