Jen Canfield, back in the day. Don’t let the smile fool you. She’d break folks in half. (Photo courtesy Canfield)
Cody Peters (left) is joined by Gabe McMurray (top) and the man who hit The Shot — Ian Smith (and wife Allyson). (Left, top photos by John Fisken, bottom photo courtesy Vicki Wells.)
Canfield, droppin’ buckets on the big stage. (Photo courtesy Canfield)
It’s all about hoops today.
The athletes who make up the 30th class inducted into the Coupeville Sports Hall ‘o Fame played multiple sports during their time as Wolves, but it will be basketball for which they are longest remembered.
With that said, let’s welcome Jen Canfield, Cody Peters, Gabe McMurray and, as we approach the five-year anniversary, “The Shot That Made South Whidbey Cry” by Ian Smith, into these hallowed digital walls.
After this, you’ll find the trio and The Shot up at the top of this blog, where they will reside under the Legends tab.
P.S. — Smith will certainly be back to be inducted as an athlete himself, but I have something special in mind for that moment, so simmer down. It’ll happen. Soon.
Up first, we induct two of the more dominant hard court stars to ever pull on the red and white, McMurray and Peters.
They played in different decades, with McMurray running the floor in the early to mid-’90s, while Peters strode on to the court in the mid-to-late-’00s, but both were the focal point when then they held court.
Both capped their senior seasons by being named First-Team All-Cascade Conference players, more than holding their own with the big school boys.
Peters took it a step further — a big step at that — by being tabbed as a First-Team All-State player in 2009, before going on to throw down quite successfully at the college level with several teams.
Part of the appeal of the annual Tom Roehl Roundball Classic is to see how former Wolf hoopsters are holding up down the road, and both McMurray and Peters acquitted themselves quite well in late Dec.
McMurray can still bang down low, and the six-foot-six Peters still has an uncanny touch from range to go with the power he brings when playing in the paint.
Nice to see they still have it, but never forget the heights they reached as young warriors.
Joining them is one of the most complete athletes to ever lace up the shoes at CHS.
Canfield, who joins brother Pete Petrov in the hall, was a three-sport whirlwind, starring in volleyball, basketball and softball during her days as a Wolf.
Today, we have a guest speaker to formally induct her.
Welcome her hoops coach, the silver-tongued Willie Smith, who had the following to say about Canfield:
She was one of the toughest, smoothest players I had.
Amazing mental toughness, especially her senior year in the playoffs when we finished 4th at Districts, losing by 10 to King’s, who went on to win the state title.
Standing at only 5’8″, she was as comfortable inside as she was outside.
With the prettiest shot outside of Ann Pettit, she was a considerable nightmare for other teams to try and match up with.
She was a two-time Cascade Conference All-Leaguer and was a great leader for the ’96-’97 team.
The best thing about Jen was her smile and willingness to mix it up.
To look at her you wouldn’t think she had a killer instinct in her; she always seemed to be smiling on the court, in practice, walking down the halls.
But there were not many others that I wanted with the ball in their hands when the game was on the line other than Jen.
She was a complete joy to coach and completely personified what it means to be an athlete: competitive, hard working, coachable, leader, great all-around personality on and off the court.
Definitely a player that helped turn the program around and create the winning atmosphere and expectations for all the teams that followed in the late 90’s-2000’s.
And then we wrap today’s festivities with a look back at a moment which will live forever in Wolf hoops history — The Shot.
Everything was at stake for the CHS boys’ hoops squad on Jan. 25, 2011.
They were in Langley to face their arch-rivals, a South Whidbey team that had won ten straight and sat atop the Cascade Conference standings.
Having already nipped the Wolves earlier in the season, the Falcons controlled that night’s game, leading by 10 late in the third.
A huge 15-5 run, with Hunter Hammer throwing down eight, knotted things at 36 with just under three minutes to play, but South Whidbey calmly escaped, reopening a 42-36 lead.
With 59 ticks on the clock, it was time for a miracle, so enter Smith.
The standout senior, a flawless football and baseball star when he wasn’t on the court, knocked down The Shot Before The Shot, draining a three-ball with 38 seconds to play.
A turnover, a Falcon foul and two free throws from Smith sliced the lead to one, but South Whidbey had a chance to ice the game when T.J. Russell was sent to the line for a one-and-one with seven seconds left.
Rattled by a large Wolf cheering section which had traveled down-Island in “blackout” t-shirts, Russell skimmed his freebie off the rim and back into Coupeville’s hands.
State track and cross country champ Tyler King, using all of his speed, snatched the ball and bolted up court, only to be trapped as the clock slid towards zero.
Never blinking, the future U-Dub star somehow threaded a pass to Smith, who, in true cold-blooded assassin style, promptly banked home an off-balance three-pointer that hit the bottom of the net as the horn sounded.
In the blink of an eye, Coupeville pulled off a 44-42 stunner and the CHS section of the crowd went bananas as SWHS fans wept collectively like a little girl who had just discovered that, no, she wasn’t getting a pony for her birthday.
Beautiful.
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