Friday, November 29, 2019

Ready to defend a title, Rainmaker's road to Langley starts tonight with a stop in Terrace

For Prince Rupert's hoops fans, the end of November marks the start of another season of high tempo basketball out of the Charles Hays Secondary Gym, with all of the school's basketball teams ready to take on the challenges and challengers ahead.

For the Senior Boy's this years season means defence of their AA Title from March of this year and when you're the top dog, everyone is gunning for you!

As they make their way to Terrace for this years Icebreaker event with the Kermodes, we asked co-coach Ryan Bishop for a few thoughts on what's ahead for the Senior Boys.

With a line up that features a mix of 7 returning players and a solid group of Grade elevens moving up from Kevin Sawka's junior squad, the coach is confident that the team will continue to find success on the court.

And with the release of a pre-season ranking last week of second spot overall in British Columbia, the keen eyed basketball observers in the Lower mainland must be sharing his optimism.



On the theme of the Vancouver trips that the Senior Boys make each year, coach Bishop noted how they offer the team an opportunity to play against some of the top talent in the province not only at the AA level, but with match ups with AAA and AAAA teams as well.

He notes that the first tournament set for next week, will see the Rainmakers taking on the number 3 and 4 ranked teams in AA ball, as well as the larger AAAA teams, observing as to how they serve to prepare the Rainmakers for the road towards Provincials.

"Without these games we wouldn’t see the caliber of competition that has allowed us to be successful at the provincial tournaments every year."

He also notes that despite the departure of some of the talent from last year such as Liam McChesney, Eric Lees and Daniel Cachero, the Rainmakers coaches will still have assembled one of the deepest teams in along time as they hit the court.

"This year we will have a very balanced scoring attack from our returning seniors and the juniors who all have the ability to put the ball in the hoop. This season is going to be an exciting season of up and down basketball as we have a team that will have the ability to put a lot of points on the board"

Ryan and head coach and father Mel Bishop, lead the Rainmakers to the season ahead tonight at 7 PM at the Caledonia Gymnasium.



Following their trip to Terrace, the Senior Boys will remain on the road, heading to North Vancouver in the first week of December.

The chance for the hometown crowd to get their first look at this years team will come when they host their own tournament in mid December at the Charles Hays Gymnasium.

You can get a look at the season ahead from our preview notes of last week.

For notes on the season ahead as it moves forward, check back frequently to our Rainmakers Archive page here, where we track some of the developments from the high school sports scene.



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