1 Burnaby's burgeoning super-star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins skated away with our hearts after becoming the first-ever junior hockey player from B.C. to be taken No. 1 in the NHL entry draft.
The 18-year-old slick-skating centre for the Red Deer Rebels was taken first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in June.
"It's been a whirlwind," said Nugent-Hopkins following the draft. "I'm trying to enjoy it all. You only go through it once."
Well maybe not. The following month, the former Burnaby Winter Club product inked his first pro contract with the Oilers reportedly worth a cap hit of $3.775 million.
Nugent-Hopkins proved his worth to the Oilers' brass, remaining with the team past the 10-game trial period after garnering 11 points in his first nine games as a pro.
He currently leads the Oilers with 32 total points and is tied for sixth in NHL scoring with 13 goals and 19 assists.
Nugent-Hopkins began the year as the player of the game for his team at the Canadian Hockey League's Top Prospect game in Toronto in January.
2 Burnaby's centre of excellence was as good as its name implied in national and international figure skating in 2011.
Burnaby's Nicole Orford and partner Thomas Williams skated their way to a Canadian junior ice dance title in Victoria in January.
Orford and Williams led an impressive showing by centre of excellence coaches and former Olympic dance team couple Aaron Lowe and Megan Wing.
In just eight months together, Orford and
Williams have won two national titles and three top-five finishes on the Grand Prix circuit, including a recent gold medal in Australia in September.
Another Lowe and Wing team of Madeline Edwards and Burnaby's Zhao Kai Pang won the Canadian novice ice dance title.
In men's singles, Burnaby's Nam Nguyen, a Grade 7 Brentwood Park Elementary student, won the national title in Victoria in the junior men's division, his fourth such title in the past five years.
3 The Burnaby-based Northwest Giants did what few provincial hockey teams have ever achieved.
The Giants became the first B.C. midget hockey team to earn its way to the Telus Cup national championships in decades.
The three-time defending B.C. major midget playoff champions knocked off the Red Deer Optimist Rebels with two straight wins in the best-of-three regional championship in April.
The Giants placed fourth at the Telus Cup after advancing into the medal rounds as the No. 1 seed.
Alex Kerfoot was named most valuable player of the tournament, while Sam Reinhart was the top forward, collecting seven goals asnd 20 points in the competition.
4 The Burnaby South Rebels survived a roller-coaster season in high school boys' basketball to finish in seventh place at the B.C. championships in March.
The Rebels carried the load of a No. 1 provincial AAA ranking for all but a few weeks during the 2010/11 season, losing it one week and then earning it back the next at elite high school tournaments.
The team also weathered an untimely code of conduct complaint charge against the coaching staff for illegal recruitment that occurred just prior to the provincial playdowns. The charge was later ruled without grounds by B.C. High School Sports.
It was the Rebels' second consecutive top-eight finish at the B.C. championships.
5 After a season in the post-season wilderness, Burnaby high schools closed out 2011 in the finals of the B.C. boys' soccer championships in December.
The Cariboo Hill Chargers finished with the silver medal at the B.C. AA championships in its firstever provincial final after advancing into the tournament as the No. 2 Burnaby/ New Westminster/North Shore zone seed.
The Chargers dropped a 2-0 final to Glenlyon Norfolk, which made the successful jump from single A this season.
Burnaby South also made it to the final four of the B.C. AAA championships despite losing out in the zone final.
South, making its first appearance at the provincials in 11 seasons, lost 4-2 to eventual champion Enver Creek in the semifinals.
