Vikes hoops teams head east for tuneups

A little bit of culture, a lot of basketball and some bitter cold await both University of Victoria Vikes basketball teams as they hit the road this week for a pair of holiday tournaments.

Craig Beaucamp’s men’s team is in Quebec City today where the Vikes will face the host Laval Rouge et Or at 1 p.m. PT before tipping off against the University of Montreal on Friday and Laval once again on Saturday, after Cape Breton University pulled out of the tournament.

The Weather Network is calling for lows of -25C over the next few days in Quebec City, so it will be a bit of a wakeup for the Vikes, who hope to take in some sights along with the basketball.

“We’ll see how it goes. It would be nice to see a little bit of Quebec City, for sure. It’s supposed to be a beautiful place and I’ve never been here before,” said Beaucamp. “It’ll be a good time and we’ll be able to experience a winter-time wonderland, so the guys are excited for it.”

It’s been a lengthy layoff since the Vikes actually competed in a game. They came up with an impressive 92-83 road win over the Alberta Golden Bears on Dec. 2. It was the first loss of the season for Alberta.

The exam schedule limited practice time throughout the month and the Vikes are coming off a full week without practice. They got back at it Tuesday night and left Wednesday morning.

“It’s been almost a month since we played any games, so it’ll be nice to get back on the court and get the guys into some games because it’s a quick turnaround,” Beaucamp said, referring to a return to Canada West play the following weekend at home to Thompson Rivers.

“It might be a bit messy or mucky just to get going here, but we need to get everybody into the games and get back into competition mode. We need to hit the ground running,” he said.

“Obviously, you’d like to be able to play great ball right away, but the biggest thing is just to get out on the court and compete again. With the exam break it’s a bit of a different season in U Sports,” Beaucamp added. “It’s a little bit of a different season in that you have a significant break in the middle of the season.

“It doesn’t happen in all sports, but it happens in basketball. It’s a bit of a challenge because it’s a re-start. You try as best as you can during exam period to train and practice, but it is a significant period of time that you’re off the court and away from games, so that is the biggest thing — trying to get back as quickly as we can and re-acclimate ourselves to games as quick as we can.”

Not to mention the cold that is sweeping through Quebec and Ontario.

The same holds true for coach Dani Sinclair’s women’s team, which arrived in Toronto on Wednesday where the Vikes will face the host U of Toronto today, then Wilfrid Laurier on Friday and Toronto again on Saturday.

Both Vikes teams are 6-4 in conference play so far this season.