As 2023 becomes a thing of the past, we look forward to 2024.
And what an exciting beginning to the year it has already been.
On the big stage, the University of Washington will play Michigan in the College Football Playoff championship Monday night.
Beforehand, on Sunday, the Seahawks will play Arizona to earn the right to make the NFL postseason in a monster game. Green Bay at the same time and the same day must lose for the Seahawks to make it. So, look for high drama all Sunday afternoon.
The year began on New Year’s Day with a huge win by the Seattle Kraken in T-Mobile Park as all of North America got to catch the fish-throwing scene in Seattle. The Kraken are heating up with five straight wins, putting themselves right in the middle of the playoff race again. So it should be an exciting winter in Seattle’s third year of NHL hockey. I’m looking forward to going to a Kraken-St. Louis Blues game at Climate Pledge Arena for my birthday.
And let’s keep fingers crossed that 2024 is finally the year that the NBA announces two new teams in Las Vegas and Seattle. I’m really not sure what the hold-up is. The arena is ready to go, the community wants it, Seattle and Las Vegas are two giant untapped markets and the league is thriving.
Locally, basketball really begins to heat up in the cold of January. The Port Angeles boys and girls teams have big games this week against perennial powerhouse North Kitsap. The Port Angeles boys game could really be interesting as North Kitsap is ranked No. 10 in the state Ratings Percentage Index and Port Angeles is ranked No. 11. The two schools have built quite the basketball rivalry in Kasey Ulin’s tenure as the Roughriders’ head coach. For some strange reason, the Vikings have only played four games so far, going 3-1. They have won a couple of Olympic League games by huge margins, but it’s hard to tell yet just how good North Kitsap is.
The huge Port Angeles wrestling tournament, the Battle of the Axe, also takes place Saturday at Port Angeles High School. January is definitely when winter sports kicks into high gear after the Christmas holidays are over.
Small schools
One thing I’ve really been struck by so far this season is the success in basketball at some of the smaller schools. The Crescent boys are 10-1, their best start in at least nine years. The Crescent girls started off 0-3 and now have won six straight under new coach Brian Shimko, one of the most hard-working coaches on the Olympic Peninsula (He also coaches football and youth baseball).
The defending state champion Neah Bay girls are 7-2, with their two losses to the No. 1- (Rainier) and No. 2-ranked (Adna) 2B teams in the state. Teams the Red Devils won’t have to face in the playoffs. The Forks girls have won six straight and are 9-3 overall and 3-0 in the Pacific League with some tough league games coming up this month. The East Jefferson girls are 3-1 in the tough Nisqually League that features a lot of private schools.
Even tiny Clallam Bay has a 6-0 boys basketball team. The small schools are really shining so far this winter.
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Sports Editor Pierre LaBossiere can be contacted at plabossiere@peninsuladailynews.com.
