News Archive

The first two months of the school year have been action-packed for Shawnigan’s sports teams. Teams have competed across Vancouver Island and travelled to other parts of BC and Canada, and south to Idaho, Washington and California.

 

The rowing team attended the Head of the Nicomekl Regatta in Surrey on September 21, returning home with a pair of medals: a silver won by Sophia W. in the women’s single, and a bronze from JD P. and Dylan A. in the men’s double. The School also had two mixed quads, one women’s quad, and one men’s quad in action. The Shawnigan crews had a great time racing along a winding 6km course. The rowers will be competing at the Head of the Gorge in Victoria this weekend and the Head of the Lake in Seattle next weekend.

 

Rowing coach Mrs. Julie Platt competed at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Massachusetts last weekend, where her senior-master women’s eight crew finished first out of 32 boats, and set a course record. Mrs. Platt’s crew featured several accomplished international rowers from Canada and the UK, including five-time Olympic medallist Dame Katherine Grainger.

 

It was the dawn of a new era on the ice at Shawnigan as the School hosted and won the inaugural Kingstone Invitational Girls’ Hockey Tournament last weekend.

 

Named in honour of Jo-Anne Kingstone, who worked at Shawnigan from 2004 to 2013 and served as the first female Deputy Head in the history of the School, the tournament is a significant step in the development of girls’ hockey at Shawnigan, and complements the Robertson Invitational which was introduced for the boys’ Prep program in January 2018.

 

“I am thrilled that the School has introduced this tournament to celebrate the accomplishments of our female Prep team and our commitment to maintaining and developing an even playing field in our sports programming,” Head of School Mr. Richard (Larry) Lamont said.

 

Young rugby players from across western Canada gathered on campus in August for a powerful camp that marked the 10th anniversary of the partnership between Shawnigan Lake School and Thunder Indigenous Rugby.

 

The camp was led by Mr. Clay Panga, a rugby coach at Shawnigan and the School’s Indigenous Engagement Coordinator, who has been part of Thunder Rugby since its inception in 2013 and a coach with the program for the last five years.

 

“I feel incredibly honoured and privileged to have witnessed the transformative growth of both the program and its participants,” Mr. Panga said.

 

With four programs at the provincial championships and one at nationals over the last two weeks, it has been a busy period for our gifted athletes, but also a fantastic opportunity for Shawnigan to showcase our tremendous athletic programs.

 

The First XV and the Iron Women earned silver medals in the boys’ AAA Tier 1 and girls’ AA tournaments, respectively in Abbotsford, while the Colts placed seventh at the junior boys’ championship.

 

“All three teams and their coaches can be extremely proud of the improvement and determination shown representing their school,” interim Head of Rugby Mr. John Tait said. “All of our players contributed to successful seasons and wonderful memories and lessons from competing together. The future is bright and no doubt the lessons learned from this year will pay off in the years to come.”

 

It has been a busy few weeks for our many spring sports programs, so it’s time for a quick update on how our teams have been doing in the lead-up to provincial championships.

 

 

The School hosted the Mike Johnson Classic Squash Tournament on May 10 and 11, drawing players from San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Calgary, Vancouver, and Vancouver Island. We were honoured to welcome back several alumni, three of whom have competed at the national championships and are still playing at an elite level: Bransten Ming ’15 (Lonsdale’s), Ryan Picken ’17 (Lonsdale’s), and Michael Mehl ’18 (Ripley’s).

 

Shawnigan is excited to announce the inaugural Kingstone Invitational girls’ ice hockey tournament, coming to the School this fall.

 

The tournament is named in honour of Jo-Anne Kingstone, who worked at Shawnigan from 2004 to 2013 and was the first female Deputy Head in the history of the School. She is remembered with great admiration and respect for her promotion and support of female voice in the student and staff communities, her dedication to delivering a genuine co-educational model at Shawnigan, and for her inspiring leadership.

 

Jo-Anne’s husband, Jim, also taught at the School from 2004 to 2014, serving as Head of English and Head of University Counselling. Her two children graduated from the Shawnigan, Sarah in 2007 and Ben in 2008.

 

With our spring sports all in full swing, this is a busy time of year on the fields, waters and courts on campus and surrounding the School. Our student athletes have been making impressive progress this season in training and competitions and on tour.

 

With numbers on the rise in girls’ rugby at Shawnigan and across Vancouver Island – Shawnigan alone has more than 40 girls in rugby – schools have begun to establish a junior girls’ league to complement the senior ranks. On May 10 and 11, Shawnigan will host the first-ever Junior North Island Championship with the aim of formalizing the junior league and provide talented young athletes with a top-tier competition.

 

Shawnigan Director of Athletics Mr. Tim Murdy received one of the top national honours in his field when he was presented with the Canadian Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association’s Dave Rozdeba Award for Athletic Director of the Year.

 

Mr. Murdy received the award in a well-attended ceremony on Thursday, April 11 as part of the CIAAA national conference in Regina.

 

The presentation praised Mr. Murdy’s “honesty, integrity and ethical leadership,” as well as his humility and advocacy for student athletes. It included a testimonial from Harry Jones, a rugby player who was coached by Mr. Murdy in high school in West Vancouver, and who went on to represent Canada at the 2015 Rugby World Cup and 2020 Summer Olympics.

 

Students fanned out across the globe over Spring Break – many to their homes both near and far, but some on a variety of School-sponsored trips and tours related to their academic, athletic, and artistic pursuits at Shawnigan.

 

 

Seven students and two staff members flew to Jamaica as part of the EDGE (Engagement, Development, Gratitude and Experience) program, where they took part in projects to improve the lives of children there. They first visited the SOS Children’s Village, a sanctuary for children ages six to 17 who have been separated from their parents. The village houses 40 kids in all, six or seven to a house with an “auntie” who oversees them. The Shawnigan students painted one of the houses, including sanding and preparing the building, and spent three days engaging with the kids.

 

Shawnigan’s U18 Prep girls’ ice hockey team made it back to their national championship final last month, and while they ultimately fell just short of the title, head coach Ms. Carly Haggard was thrilled with the result, and even more importantly, her team’s performance.

 

“The girls came together and peaked at the right time,” Ms. Haggard said.

 

After opening the tournament in Penticton, BC with a 6-2 victory over Delta Hockey Academy Black, Shawnigan earned a 5-2 upset win over Delta Green, the second-ranked team going into the championships, behind two goals from Meera S. and 20 saves from goalie Alex N. Shawnigan closed out the round robin with a 6-3 victory over Okanagan Hockey Academy, then prevailed over Edge School 4-0 in the semifinal thanks to a 15-save shutout by Alex.

 

Between a visit to campus by the Stanley Cup and a spectacular opportunity for two of our U18 Prep girls’ ice hockey players, Shawnigan was fortunate to take part in the festivities last week when Hockey Day in Canada came to nearby Victoria.

 

Once a year, the weekly Hockey Night in Canada broadcast turns into Hockey Day in Canada, with a full day of NHL games interspersed with stories from a selected community in Canada. For the 2024 edition (which took place on Saturday, January 21), Victoria was the lucky community, and some of the stories they chose to tell involved the School.

 

Mr. Andrew Ference, who won the Cup in 2011 with the Boston Bruins and is now a parent and hockey coach at Shawnigan, helped arrange for the Cup to be brought to the School’s Charlie Purdey Arena on Wednesday, January 17. He surprised the players with the Cup, with a crew from Sportsnet on hand to film the event.

Grade 12 student Morgan J. returned to the School this week after helping Team Canada bring home a bronze medal from the 2024 International Ice Hockey Federation World Women’s U18 Championship in Switzerland.

 

The tournament wrapped up last Sunday, with Canada taking third place thanks to an 8-1 win over Finland in the bronze-medal match. Canada was unbeaten in the preliminary round, outscoring their opponents 29-1 over three games, then defeated Switzerland 6-0 in the quarter-finals before being upset by Czechia 4-2 in the semifinals.

 

“It was disappointing that we didn’t take home the gold medal, but I am still very proud of our group,” Morgan said. “The overall experience was amazing because of the teammates and Team Canada staff I was surrounded by. I have made many friends and created many memories with them that will last a lifetime. I grew as a player, but most importantly as a person on and off the ice from this experience. Playing with and against the best U18 players in the world was an honour. It has been an unforgettable experience, and I was sad to see it end and say goodbye to all my friends.”

 

Shawnigan’s U18 Prep boys’ ice hockey team proved once again that they can skate with the best with another strong showing at the Circle K Classic, the top tournament in North America for their age group, which ran in Calgary from December 26 to January 1.

 

After reaching the final four in the 2022-23 edition of the tournament, this year Shawnigan won four games and lost two, and made it to the C Division final to finish near the top of the 32-team, invite-only tournament.

 

Shawnigan went 2-1 in pool play, recovering from a 6-3 loss to the Bishop Kearney Selects (Irondequoit, New York) to beat the Warman Wildcats (Warman, Saskatchewan) 7-4, and the Airdrie CFR Bisons (Airdrie, Alberta) 3-2.