UNBC team slam dunks Movember
Matt Jickling thought about reaching for some dark hair dye to make his stiff upper lip more of a Movember standout for the team photo but decided otherwise. He didn’t want to offend his mother, who is proud of the attributes of her blonde-haired son.
His choice to keep that ‘stache natural had no negative effects on the fundraising abilities of his UNBC Timberwolves men’s basketball team.
They had more than enough cash collected to win the three-team challenge that collectively raised $23,384 to fund men’s health initiatives.
The T-wolves hoopsters took up the challenge laid down by the UNBC men’s soccer team and won the contest over this year’s male soccer squad and the Prince George Spruce Kings junior hockey team. The 15-member basketball team, which included T-wolves alumni Collin Plumb, brought in a haul of $11,259 – the third-highest total U Sports team total.
Assistant coach Nav Parmar raised $2,000 himself and won a bet with graduated T-wolf Marcus McKay, who now has to get a tattoo.
All three teams did their part during the month-long campaign.
The men’s soccer team booted the team total to $6,950, while the Spruce Kings filled the net with $5,625.
The 18-year-old Jickling, who joined the T-wolves this fall as a shooting guard recruit from Regina, couldn’t hold a candle to some of the more accomplished facial hair cultivators of the team, such as Rotash Mattu, Tyrell Laing and Vova Pluzhnikov, but was no less enthusiastic in tapping into his list of contacts to send their donations.
“Men’s mental health and men’s health in general doesn’t have a lot of light shone on it and it’s an important issue,” Jickling said. It’s good to see the amount we all raised together.”
The Spruce Kings saluted the winners this week by wearing their basketball jerseys on the ice at practice at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.