GFSS Basketball team off to a good start for their season
By Michael Wirischagin
The Grand Forks Secondary School’s (GFSS) Sr. Boy’s Wolves Basketball Team may not have been off to the flashiest of starts but there are sure signs they are turning the corner. Looking to build on a respectable fourth place finish in an eight team tournament, as well as a fifth place finish in a tournament which featured teams from schools whose enrollments are exponentially higher than those of the ‘Forks’ the Wolves are doing well.
The Wolves began their season on Dec. 7, traveling to Trail to take on longtime rivals, the J.L. Crowe Secondary School Hawks. Coming in, the GFSS boys had only been able to practice twice and it showed, losing by 10 points, 67-57.Collectively the Wolves missed 19 free-throws which ultimately sunk the ship. Grade 12 student Mitchell Bekker led the way for Grand Forks, dropping 18 points. Following the loss to the Hawks, the Wolves travelled to Mt. Sentinel Secondary School to play in their first tournament of the year only three days after their first game, on Friday and Saturday, Dec. 10 and 11. The Sr. Boys defeated the Nakusp Sr. Boys team, 71-69 in overtime, to put the Wolves into the winners bracket, meaning they could finish no lower than fourth place, out of the eight teams involved in the tourney. GFSS grade 12 student Jordon Hoodikoff scored 19 points, including five 3-pointers, to take home player-of-the-game honors. The following day, Saturday, Dec. 11, the Wolves played the J.L. Crowe Hawks once again for a chance to move onto the finals. GFSS played hard, however the team fell apart in the fourth quarter, being outscored 20-9 by Trail, and ultimately lost the game by 15, 73-58. Grade 11 student Brodie Hall took home player-of-the-game honors for the team from the ‘Forks, scoring 17 points, in the loss. GFSS played their final game of the tourney later on, in the same day, against Selkirk Secondary School, out of Kimberley, B.C. Grand Forks pushed the game to overtime with a last second shot by Eric Johnston, to tie, however they were unable capitalize on the momentum and lost a nail-biter, 59-57 to Selkirk. Taylor Konken-Dehaan, a grade 12 GFSS student scored a game-high 17 points and was named player-of-the-game. The Wolves finished in fourth place, out of eight teams, in the tournament. One week later, Dec. 17 and 18, the Grand Forks Sr. Boy’s Basketball Team travelled to Cranbrook to play in the Mt. Baker Secondary School’s “Wild” basketball tournament. The tournament which featured teams from Cities such as Lethbridge and Brooks, Alberta, was a true test for the Wolves. Grand Forks lost their first game to the host Mt. Baker Wild, 65-35, with Hookikoff scoring roughly half of the GFSS points, dropping 17 points, in the loss. GFSS followed up their loss to the host Wild losing again, this time to the team from Brooks, Alberta, 70-47. Hoodikoff scored 19 points, but it was Konken-Dehaan who took home the player-of-the-game honors scoring 10 points while grabbing a majority of the team’s rebounds. In the final game of the “Wild” tournament, Grand Forks squared off against Selkirk again, this time for fifth and sixth place, and once again the game went to overtime. Hoodikoff scored 26 points, while Bekker dropped 10 points and added 17 rebounds, and the GFSS Wolves beat Selkirk in the rematch to finish in fifth place. Bekker was named player-of-the-game in the Wolves 64-55 win over the squad from Kimberley. The Sr. Boys record now stands at 2-wins, 5-losses, however the season is far from over. The Wolves return to the court Jan. 11 welcoming J.L. Crowe to GFSS, at 6 p.m., in the teams first home game of the season. The following night, L.V. Rogers, of Nelson will be in Grand Forks to play the Wolves on Jan. 12 at 5:30pm. The Wolves then travel to Kimberley to play in another tournament on Jan. 14-15, to round out the month on January. The Wolves will continue to look to players such as Hoodikoff, Konken-DeHaan, and Bekker as they try to improve their record and look to make a run at the West Kootenay title, and ultimately the Kootenay title. Hoodikoff leads the team in scoring, averaging 17.8 points-per-game. Michael Wirischagin is the Head Coach of the GFSS Sr. Boy’s Wolves Basketball Team
