The longest-running high school basketball tournament in the province is back.
After two years of COVID-19 restrictions, the Alberni District Secondary School (ADSS) athletic department is hoping to fill seats at the gymnasium for the 67th annual Totem tournament.
The tournament will be reduced from 16 teams teams to 12 this year, with six teams each on the boys’ side and the girls’ side. This way, said ADSS athletic director Mike Roberts, the tournament will be able to take place entirely at the ADSS gym. In previous years, organizers have also held extra games at the Alberni Athletic Hall.
“There are so many benefits of having us all under one roof,” said Roberts. “Each of the teams has a better chance of being part of our feature games. We don’t get the same crowds at the Athletic Hall.”
Because the Totem tournament has been around for 67 years, this isn’t the first time the format has changed. It began in 1955 as a four-team boys’ tournament, then expanded to eight teams in 1982, then expanded again in 2011 to include female teams.
The tournament was cancelled for the first time ever in 2021, after the coronavirus pandemic was declared. Totem 66 was postponed to January 2022, then postponed again to March after new health restrictions came down from the province. Although the school was able to host a tournament in the end, capacity was limited to 50 percent.
“Turning people away was a really hard thing to do,” Roberts recalled.
Totem, as the slogan goes, is kind of a big deal. Over the years, it has grown and expanded to become more than a basketball tournament, but a showcase of the talent at Port Alberni’s high school. The ADSS cheer and dance teams perform elaborate routines at timeouts and halftimes, while the pep band drives the energy in the building throughout the weekend.
The tournament is capped off with a Spirit competition, which this year features seven different candidates: Sophia Bill, Jayden Blake, Pallas Cote-Wallin, Vanderlyn Dennis, Jordan Maczulat, Alex McDowall and Macee Norlock.
Totem 67 will also feature the return of the Wall of Fame ceremony, where three athletes and one coach will be inducted into the Wall of Fame. The ceremony will take place on Saturday, Jan. 7, before the final game. This year’s inductees will be the Fitzgerald triplets (Gerry, Leo and Myles) and former ADSS coach Bob Matlock.
The tournament will kick off on Thursday, Jan. 5 at 5 p.m. as the ADSS boys square off against Ballenas. The ADSS girls will take the floor at 7 p.m. to face Kwalikum. Admission costs are $10 per day for ages 18 and up, $5 per day for ages five to 17 and free for anyone under the age of five.
COMING UP…Next week, we’ll take a look at the ADSS senior girls basketball team, which was the winning team of last year’s Totem tournament.