The city is ready to be lit up with colour, vibrancy and tradition for Diwali season. This year, Diwali will be celebrated on October 24. Although it is religion-based, it’s also become a cultural event in North America that’s celebrated with sweets, special foods and tradition. Diwali is a “festival of lights” that celebrates the triumph of light over dark and good over evil, and the blessings of victory, freedom, and enlightenment. The name comes from the Sanksrit word dipavali, meaning “row of lights.” On the night of Diwali people light candles and clay lamps (called diyas), and place them throughout their homes and in the streets to light up the dark night.

In most of India, Diwali consists of a five-day celebration that peaks on the third day with the main celebration of Diwali. In other places where Diwali occurs, usually only the main dayis celebrated. Vancouver has officially celebrated 18 years of Diwali festivities here in Vancouver.

Locals across the city came together in downtown Vancouver to celebrate one of the largest Diwali-themed events in the Lower Mainland. https://t.co/j5D0h4IU5W

— CityNews Vancouver (@CityNewsVAN) October 24, 2022

When everything seems to have gone to flames and is nothing but ash and dust…sometimes… just sometimes a tiny spark is still left over. For the Canucks that spark might just be Elias Pettersson. For everything that went wrong during an embarrassing third period for the Canucks game on Saturday at Rogers Arena before their 5-1 loss, the only player who seemed to be engaged and trying his best to assemble his teammates was Elias Pettersson.

Elias Pettersson addresses the media following the game against the Sabres.@theprovince | #Canucks pic.twitter.com/Yp21nxt1ER

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 23, 2022

After a long summer of sports-less drought, Toronto Raptors Basketball is finally back. The Raptors triumphant NBA championship win in 2019 was a monumental moment for not only Toronto but the entire country, creating a new generation of die-hard fans here and even abroad. As the only Canadian team in the professional league winning the coveted title was our version of a Cinderella story. 

Since 2019, there has been much change within the team. They’ve traded star players like Kawhi Lenoard and Kyle Lowry that became such a foundation for what we grew to love in their championship run and have attempted to rebrand and restructure a new winning machine with younger players. Going into this new season, fans want to know…is this another development year for the Raptors? Or is this year about winning a playoff series? 

S11E01 : Mile Zero

Open Gym presented by @Bell

➡️ https://t.co/8tN7MTvPTT pic.twitter.com/FwixNYDJJF

— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) October 22, 2022

Of course, there is a fine line between prioritizing developing and prioritizing winning. But as much as that is true, it was clear that last season was very much on the development side of that line, with young players playing big minutes throughout the season to develop their skills instead of putting players that were a little more seasoned in a position to generate wins for the team. 

Newer players like Precious Achiuwa and Scottie Barnes were given a lot of court time last season – and it was apparent that the veteran leaders of the team like Fred Vanvleet were told to take more of an assisting role. The things is, while I know Raptor fans like myself do want to see this new transition take place, we also still want wins for the team. If this year is truly about winning and taking the next step forward, the team might have to lean toward focusing less on long-term development and more on using every competitive advantage they can so we can make it to the playoffs this year. 

Mel Pemble of Victoria, BC just won two gold medals and set a world record on the way to becoming a first-time omnium champion at her debut Para-cycling track world championships.

When Mel was 18 year old old she was one of Canada’s youngest females to represent in para-alpine skiing at the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang. At only 22 years old she just shattered the competition on Thursday’s 200 metre sprint, won the Women’s WC3 scratch race on Friday and had a fourth place finish in France this weekend. 

Mel finished the omnium championship with 150 points, two more than her top female competitors from the Netherlands and the United States. The omnium is a highly competitive four-event pure-endurance competition with all disciplines taking place in a single day. The four events are the scratch race, elimination race, points race and the tempo race. What an incredible feat for such a young athlete. 

In the overall Omnium event, a combined four races, Mel Pemble wins GOLD; her second at the 2022 Para Cycling Track World Championships.@CyclingCanada @CanadianTire Sports Analytics pic.twitter.com/H38ZuSIJ7X

— Canadian Paralympic Committee (@CDNParalympics) October 23, 2022

Pemble was born with cerebral palsy and immigrated to the Island from Lancashire, England, with her family in 2009.

Her family thought it might be helpful for her to get into a physical activity and chose skiing. Mel admitted in a recent interview to being terrified the first time she hit the slopes in Mount Washington. 

But she overcame her fear to win two gold medals in the B.C. ­Winter Games and then two medals as a 14-year-old at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George.

It’s been over a half-decade, but the BC Lions will start a Grey Cup hunt at home. 

The Lions locked up second place in the Western Division with a 31-14 win against the Edmonton Elks on Friday night, securing a home date against the Calgary Stampeders in the Western Semi-Final on Sunday, November 6th.

Head Coach Rick Campbell is proud of his team for achieving a feat that hasn’t been attained in over 6 years. On the team website he stated “the west division is tough sledding when you’re dealing with teams like Winnipeg and Calgary and to be able to get a home playoff game. I’m really proud of the guys for sticking to it and getting the job done.” The Lions have had a really good season and It’s been a long time since both the offensive and defensive sides have had the balance needed for a winning streak.

https://twitter.com/BCLions/status/1584212228806279169?s=20&t=LjPgT5ELtIO1X_CM1qDLVg

Now we can look forward to this highly anticipated semifinal game against the Calgary Stampeders. The Lions and Stampeders have met in the playoffs on ten previous occasions dating back to 1964. That year, the Lions defeated Calgary in a best-of-three Western Final series before winning the first Grey Cup in franchise history. Of those matchups, the only other years that the team meet in Vancouver were the 1999 and 2012 Western Finals, both won by the Stampeders. Let’s see if we can re-write history this year. 

Something’s not right with the Vancouver Canucks.

This is becoming increasingly clear watching them on the ice this season. They’ve lost all of their first four games to start the season for the first time in franchise history. They’ve blown multi-goal leads in all four of them — the first time in NHL history that this has happened.  Promises of reignited morale and fresh new rebrand hasn’t been enough. 

But on-ice troubles aren’t the only thing troubling our home team. Rumours surfacing that some of the older and younger members of the team aren’t seeing eye to eye have been increasing and even Coach Boudreaux has been echoing that sentiment in recent press releases. There have been reports and speculations that the way they are promoting certain players only on social media and in press releases is causing a rift between the star players and the rest of the team. This has apparently caused the team to have a rift and its causing jealousy and discontentment in the locker room and off the ice. 

Whatever is true to those speculations or not, one things is perfectly clear, there is a lack of unity and it’s reflecting on the ice. Whether it was on social media, in articles, or on the radio, the phrase “fans deserve better” has been said a lot since this season began. This franchise has been through so much disappointment since its 2011 Stanley Cup Final loss and fans deserve a fun team to cheer for. Hey – at least there’s a new retro Jersey out..

On Thursday, Vancouver Canucks fans were offered a distraction from the disaster that has been the team’s winless start to the season, with the reveal of the new Reverse Retro jersey.Allhttps://t.co/i4aE3jVc3o

— Shop VAN Hockey (@ShopVANHockey) October 20, 2022

Celebrate the Outlandish in the 6th Annual Vancouver Outsider Arts Festival!

If you’re a fan of eclectic local art and discovering and supporting new artists of all dimensions, look no further the 6th Annual Vancouver Outsider Art Festival is here! The VOAF is Canada’s first and only outsider art festival that highlights over 60 artists from across Metro Vancouver for an opportunity to appreciate some unique and unconventional local art this upcoming week. 

What makes this festival so great is the wide array of performance and artistic mediums that are featured. Seriously…what festival have you ever heard of that features the Vancouver Cantonese Opera, the poetry group “The Troupe De Poetry” and drag king “Heathen” all on the same ticket? Aside from a wide arrange of performers, which also include local singing and songwriting acts of all genres and kind, the inclusivity of this unique festival is unmatched. It’s wonderful to be from a city where the eclectic and the norm can come together to appreciate art in a setting that brings together a wide array of individuals. 

Aside from performances, the festival features workshops of all kinds and interactive opportunities to connect with the artists themselves. The free workshops include making art using Ceramic Tiles, Art Panel Discussions and a Japanese Flower arranging class that allows folks to exercise their creativity and take home what they create! The festival takes place at the Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Center all week and guess what…it’s FREE! As an artist myself, and someone who really values and supports local art, I know I won’t be missing this unique event. 

The Canucks have suffered another loss as the Washington Capitals claimed a 6-4 victory in tonight’s much anticipated third game of the new season. They now find themselves in a predicament as they have started off each game since the beginning of the season with a two point lead in the first period only to be overthrown by a victory from their opponent in the remaining periods. They are the only hockey team in the league that is in this situation. In fact, Sportsnet just confirmed that this is the first time in NHL history that a team has lost their three first games when they started out with a multi-goal lead.

Pettersson tallies 3 points but the #Canucks fall short against the Capitals in Washington.@BudweiserCanada HIGHLIGHTS | https://t.co/Gr5W526ZkZ pic.twitter.com/aWpJkE66xx

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) October 18, 2022

Things looked optimistic earlier on today before tonight’s game as players told press that they were ready to do what it took to win tonight. Those sentiments were a far cry from the words of coach Boudreau post-game calling the team “mentally weak” and saying that his team appears to be “too afraid of pushing themselves.” After tonight’s game, team captain Bo Horvat called for a players only meeting, looking somber yet determined. 

The Canucks came the closest to a win tonight as they held their lead at 4-2 heading into the third period. But Washington, with star player Alexander Ovechkin at the helm, managed to make a triumphant comeback scoring four times in the final twenty minutes of the game. The Canucks head to Columbus to play the Blue Jackets tomorrow, let’s hope a good sleep and some mental rest is all they need to bounce back this time.