Golden Bears, Pronghorns, Bisons and Dinosaurs are back on the menu for the University of Victoria Vikes in Canada West regular-season basketball.
After limiting the regular season to within regions last season due to the pandemic, there will be Canada West-wide play in the 2022-23 regular season, which begins Nov. 4 and runs to Feb. 11.
The schedules were released Monday.
The Vikes men’s and women’s squads will start on the road at the University of Lethbridge on Nov. 4-5. The home openers are Nov. 11-12 against the University of Winnipeg Wesmen, the first of five visiting opponents the Vikes will play at CARSA Gym during the 2022-23 regular season.
An early-season men’s highlight includes the Vikes travelling to Edmonton on Nov. 18-19 to meet the University of Alberta Golden Bears in a reprise of the 2021-22 Canada West playoff championship game, won by the Vikes.
Twelve of the 17 schools will make the playoffs in both the men’s and women’s leagues with the top-four men’s and women’s squads advancing directly to the quarter-finals. The fifth-to 12th place teams will compete in play-in games or order to reach the quarter-finals. The semifinals for both men and women will take place Feb. 25 with the finals March 4.
The U Sports national championships are March 9-12 in Nova Scotia with the men’s at St. Francis Xavier University and women’s at Cape Breton University.
The Canada West soccer schedule has also been released with the UVic women opening at Trinity Western University and the University of the Fraser Valley and the Vikes men at UBC-Okanagan and Thompson Rivers, both on Aug. 26-27.
The Vikes open at home at Centennial Stadium Sept. 9-10 with the UVic women hosting MacEwan University and the University of Alberta and the UVic men playing Fraser Valley and Trinity Western.
The UVic men’s and women’s squads will play seven conference home games in the 2022 regular season.
The Canada West women’s regular season concludes Oct. 15 and the men’s Oct. 22. The playoff quarter-finals for both men and women are Oct. 28-30, with hosts determined by the regular-season standings. The winners will advance to the Canada West semifinals, hosted by the highest remaining Prairie seed in women’s and highest remaining Pacific seed in men’s.
Thompson Riverswill host the U Sports men’s national championship in Kamloops and the Université de Laval the women’s teams, both Nov. 10-13.
