Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
T-Birds' Dyck nominated for top honour
UBC Thunderbirds' Chris Dyck (20), dribbling around Laval University Rouge et Or's Marc-Andre Lefebvre at national championship last year, is Canada West nominee for Ken Shields Award. (SEAN KILPATRICK / THE CANADIAN PRESS ARCHIVES)
CHRIS DYCK has blazed his own trail on the court, but off the court, the 6-foot-3 guard from the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds is proud to follow in the footsteps of another elite basketball player from Winnipeg.
Dyck, 23, was announced on Thursday as the Canada West nominee for the prestigious Ken Shields Award, a national award recognizing excellence in athletics, academics and community service, and a second-team Canadian Interuniversity Sport all-Canadian.
The Shields Award was won last year by Matt Opalko, now a graduate of the University of Winnipeg Wesmen. In 2003, Dyck and Opalko were the top two players coming out of high school in Manitoba.
"The Shields award nomination is one you can be pretty proud of because it's about more than just basketball and it's kind of cool because the national winner of that last year was Matt Opalko and he's one of my best friends," Dyck said in a telephone interview from Vancouver. Dyck is a fifth-year player this year, as he had to sit out a year when he transferred from the University of Manitoba to UBC in 2006.
"Both of us have tried our best to use whatever gifts we've been given to play basketball to try to better the community and impact the people around us," Dyck said, referring to Opalko, who graduated last year. "I know that was a goal of his, and that's a goal of mine also coming to UBC."
Dyck was the leading scorer this season on a deep T-Birds team, with an average of 14 points per game, and one of three captains for the squad, which posted a 21-2 record.
A River East Collegiate graduate, Dyck is eighth all-time in UBC history, with an average of 15.8 points per game, and ranks in the top 15 with 1,594 points after just three years at UBC. It was his third straight year of being named a CIS second-team all-star.
With a 79 per cent average in UBC's Saunder School of Business, Dyck volunteers with Athletes in Action as a coach at camps, with Hoops for Hope (an AIDS awareness program), he organizes Bible study meetings with students, and he represents the basketball team on the Thunderbird Athletic Council.
"Chris has been an exemplary ambassador for UBC and our men's basketball team," UBC head coach Kevin Hanson said. "Obviously, his athletic accomplishments speak for themselves, but what he has done in the community as well as in the classroom makes him so special. He is the definition of a true student athlete."
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 27, 2009 C6
-
WFP Hockey
Download our new hockey app for the iPhone for Winnipeg Jets updates
-
Editor's Bulletin
Sign up for daily bulletins from editor Margo Goodhand
-
Winnipeg Jets
All things NHL on our Jets landing page
-
Twitter
Follow our reporters and our news feeds on Twitter
-
News Cafe
Check out the menu, read our blog posts or get info on coming events
-
Facebook Fanpage
Follow our Facebook Fanpage for story links, contests and special events
Ads by Google
- Back to Top
- Return to Basketball
Poll
Most Popular
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- RCMP receptionist told Stobbe wife was dead
- Search is on for man seen leaving the scene where two Alberta Mounties were shot
- City family donates $1 million for endowed research chair in cardiology
- Province rules out reports of cougar in Transcona
- Census 2011 : Immigrant influx boosts Manitoban population
- Should the federal government be spending $7.5 million on the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee?
- Slain woman appears before jury on video
- CNN's Roland Martin suspended for comments that sparked protest by gays
- Driver of van in Ontario crash that killed 11 ran stop sign, police say
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- Clothing chain pulls Caterpillar boots to protest closure of London, Ont., plant
- Three winning tickets sold for Friday's $50 million Lotto Max jackpot
- Woman sexually assaulted during noon-hour in Exchange District
- Woman's car stolen at gunpoint at St. Vital mall, police say
- Eleven people killed after truck hits van in southwestern Ontario
- 'This is so silly': Mom and Dad tell story of baby Zade, born on side of Highway 59
- Stobbe said slaying during shopping trip 'strange': sister-in-law
- Tactical squad storms St. Vital house
- Restaurant Dubrovnik may be closed for good
- Do you smoke marijuana?
- Driver dead after SUV goes over Disraeli Bridge
- George Clooney's prank could end Pitt's career
- Piers Morgan blasts 'gruesome' Madonna
- Tina Maze strips down to her sports bra to send out underwear message: 'Not your business'
- Clothing chain pulls Caterpillar boots to protest closure of London, Ont., plant
- Minor earthquake strikes near Manitoba
- Car's plunge off Disraeli fatal
- Two children, two women die in fire
- Kate Beckinsale's weight fears over Underworld catsuit
- Harper driven by libertarian ideology, not reality
- Province rules out reports of cougar in Transcona
- OMG! Candy kings back at it
- Task force to review 2011 flood
- Winnipeg software company ranked top employer
- Tassimo brewers and espresso packages recalled amid rupture, burn concerns
- Lesson about war, power told with Shaw's comic touch
- Stobbe said slaying during shopping trip 'strange': sister-in-law
- Easy, economical, healthy soup
- Original Joe's, Elephant & Castle expanding
- Swedish bunny's sheep herding skills becomes click-monster on YouTube
- League encourages hazing secrecy
- Northern fishing lodge destroyed by fire
- Police target drivers talking on cellphones, texting
- Harper driven by libertarian ideology, not reality
- Obama torn by conflicting allies
- 'This is so silly': Mom and Dad tell story of baby Zade, born on side of Highway 59
- Time, it appears, is on Assad's side
- Minor earthquake strikes near Manitoba
- Woman's car stolen at gunpoint at St. Vital mall, police say
- Minor earthquake strikes near Manitoba
- Paddler Starkell was modern-day voyageur
- Driver dead after SUV goes over Disraeli Bridge
- Car's plunge off Disraeli fatal
- Canadian woman 'badly injured' in Mexico, local media report apparent beating
- Winnipeg mother watches as car stolen with child inside
- Swedish bunny's sheep herding skills becomes click-monster on YouTube
- League encourages hazing secrecy
- Local shooting spoofed on SNL
- The cost of calories: It's expensive to eat healthily
You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.
The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010; View the changes. New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.