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Hartley Miller's Slap Shots - December 9th Edition

By Hartley Miller

How many times have you heard that winning a championship is difficult, to repeat is harder, and to three-peat is the toughest? 

The PGSS Polars Senior Girls Volleyball Team, the two-time defending BC champions, entered the Quadruple-A Provincials in Mill Bay on Vancouver Island as the third ranked team. A medal, possibly gold, again, was not out of the question. However, the Polars, ironically, finished in 9th place as 9th seeded Semiahmoo ended up winning the BC title. 

Head Coach, Al Tong says, “I think first of all the competition was really, really tough. I mean right from 1 to 14, any of those teams could do really well”. He also added, “It's tough when you don't play to your potential, and then you realize that the team that won the title, that's the team you beat in the round robin, and that was the only loss that that team had”.  So, what happened to the PGSS squad that featured seven returning players from last year's team that captured gold? 

The teachers strike did not help their situation as the shortened season by three weekends resulted in less travel than previous years. “I think one of the things that may have hurt us a bit is we didn't get a chance to see a lot of these teams. We weren't able to go down to the Lower Mainland to play this season” said the soft spoken Tong, who also suggested: “I think a lot of teams played us tough knowing we were past champions. They (the competition) used us as a measuring tool to see how good they can be”. 

This was Tong's third season as coach of the team. After back to back titles, he's philosophical about this year's showing suggesting “you can't win em all”, but adding “I know the girls are disappointed in the results. They know they didn't play well. They just weren't consistent enough”.  The future looks bright for the Polars with 5 players eligible to return next year. They also have a number of players coming up through the system, from the John McInnis team that earned silver at the Junior Girls Provincials in Fort St John. 

The Polars gold medal performance last year and this year’s 9th place standing reaffirms the old adage: There's such a fine line when it comes to winning and losing. But there's no question that losing makes you appreciate the winning all the more. 

From the quote rack:

• Dan Daly of the Washington Times: “Does it drive anyone else crazy that Mariano Rivera finished second to Bartolo Colon in AL Cy Young voting but outpolled him 59-3 in MVP balloting?”

• Comedian Jerry Perisho: “A Welsh rugby fan, who had made a bet with a friend, cut off his own testicles with dull wire cutters after his favorite team beat England. It’s a good thing he wasn’t a soccer fan or he wouldn’t have been able to use his hands”.

• Late soccer great George Best, as quoted by BBC Sport: "In 1969 I gave up women and alcohol. It was the worst 20 minutes of my life."

• George Best, on his reputation for womanizing: "I used to go missing a lot: Miss Canada, Miss United Kingdom, Miss World"

• Comedy writer Alex Kaseberg: “On Fox NFL Sunday, they revealed that Louisiana named a highway after Terry Bradshaw. This highway is little different: you can only drive on it if your tires are bald".

And, how is your week?


--Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97FM. He also writes for the PG Free Press, and is author of You Don't Say (Andrews-McMeel, 2005). 



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