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CIS hoops in Chilliwack

University of the Fraser Valley, Sardis secondary school, CIS basketball

Sardis secondary school plays host to CIS basketball Thursday night as the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades host Alberta’s NAIT. Tip-off is at 8 p.m. and Sardis head coach (and UFV assistant) Kyle Graves is hoping for a humongous crowd.

 

Dan Kinvig,

Black Press

The 2010-11 basketball season is one that Jasper Moedt would probably like to forget, but he can recount his rehabilitation timeline from a torn knee ligament in astonishing detail.

On March 13, 2010, during an open scrimmage at the University of the Fraser Valley, Moedt tore the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his right knee in a seemingly innocent collision with Cascades teammate Zeon Gray.

On June 3, UFV’s six-foot-seven starting center underwent surgery to repair the damage. On Dec. 3, he was cleared to return to full-contact practice – though as a medical redshirt, he was ineligible to play in games for the rest of the season.

“You have to get through it somehow,” he said. “It’s like, ‘How many days until I can run?’ And then when that’s crossed off, it’s ‘How many days until I can jump?’ Or, ‘How many days until someone can hit me?’”

If Moedt sounds a little bit like a prisoner who’s been marking the days on the jailhouse wall, it’s because he is emerging from a tedious process – hours of calf raises and the frustration of having to watch games from the sideline.

“The real reward is playing in the games with the guys and that camaraderie that goes with it,” said Moedt. “You can cheer on the bench as hard as you want, but you can’t affect the outcome of the game.”

Kyle Grewal can relate to what Moedt went through in a very direct way. UFV’s starting power forward suffered a torn ACL of his own last August and like Moedt he redshirted the 2010-11 campaign.

Because his injury occurred five months after Moedt’s, Grewal isn’t as far along in his comeback.

Pondering his return, Grewal channels Joni Mitchell.

“It’s like the saying – you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone,” he said. “It means a lot (to return), because sitting out, you realize how much you miss it.”

Without their starting frontcourt, the undersized Cascades scrapped and clawed their way into the playoffs with a 10-14 record, then pushed eventual national silver medallist Trinity Western to the limit in their best-of-three first round playoff series.

The return of Moedt and Grewal, plus the addition of newcomers Josh Monagle (6’6”), Mike James (6’6”) and Luke Braund (6’5”), gives the Cascades great depth in the post this season, and reason for optimism.

In the end, Moedt believes the redshirt season will serve him well. Hundreds of extra hours in the weight room could boost his career outlook from good to great, and the buzz coming out of UFV’s open gym runs is that Moedt has been dominant at times.