An Oak Bay memory is among the five hot moments in sports history celebrated by the BC Sports Hall of Fame this year.
On March 30, 1925 the Victoria Cougars defeated the Montreal Canadiens at Patrick Arena to win the Stanley Cup. The arena – that once stood on Cadboro Bay Road across from Oak Bay High – was destroyed by fire in 1929.
The Cougars, a Western Canada Hockey League team defeated the Canadiens of the NHL in four games in B.C.’s second and last Stanley Cup win to date.
That win is among five defining moments that the BC Sports Hall of Fame celebrates during its annual summit Sept. 14 to 16 in Victoria.
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“We’re proud to have the chance to celebrate these accomplishments. It’s another way for us to honour the past and inspire the future,” hall of fame chair Tom Mayenknecht said in a news release.
“As storytellers committed to celebrating the athletes, coaches, builders, teams and pioneers who have become parts of the fabric of our culture and heritage, we’re thrilled to have the chance to recall these defining moments and the memories they created for us.”
Four of the five moments have Greater Victoria connections – famed athletes Silken Laumann, Simon Whitfield and Steve Nash.
On Aug. 2, 1992, famed local rower Laumann overcame a devastating leg injury – and five subsequent operations – suffered only 10 weeks prior to the Barcelona Olympics to win a bronze medal in single sculls rowing.
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On Sept. 17, 2000, Victoria’s Whitfield rebounded from a massive crash on the bike portion of the inaugural Olympic triathlon to pass all competitors and win the sport’s inaugural Olympic gold medal in Sydney, Australia.
On May 8, 2005, Nash, of Saanich, became the first Canadian to win the NBA MVP award. The following season Nash repeated as NBA MVP becoming one of only 10 players in history to win back-to-back MVP awards.
The most modern moment comes from Parksville wheelchair athlete Michelle Stilwell for her Sept. 10, 2016 gold medal at the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro. Stilwell earned two golds those Games in the T52 class 400m and T52 100m, marking three consecutive Paralympic Games where she Stilwell won at least one gold.
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Laumann (class of 2004), Whitfield (2002), Nash (2016) and Stilwell (2017) are honoured in the BC Sports Hall of Fame, while the Victoria Cougars were inducted in the team category in 1977.
The five milestones will be the subject of the Defining Moments Luncheon powered by Canadian Sport Institute Pacific on Sept. 15th, at the Coast Victoria Hotel in Victoria. Visit bcsportshall.com/summit for tickets.