The Dover Bay Dolphins are heavy favourites going into this weekend's Island championships, which the team will host in their gym in north Nanaimo. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

island championships

‘Pretty proud of what we’ve done:’ Dover basketball team channeling home court advantage

Feb 17, 2025 | 11:05 AM

NANAIMO — With seven graduating players, the Dover Secondary senior boys basketball team are hoping to wrap their school careers on a winning note.

The team is putting final preparations on their game ahead of hosting the 4A Island Senior Boys Basketball Championship beginning Thursday, Feb. 20.

Head coach Darren Seaman said off the court, event preps are in full swing thanks to a large response from the school community.

“I’ve been really lucky with a parent group…the athletic directors at the school have taken on the director of the tournament responsibilities. On my end, it’s been a lot less than I thought it would be, [a lot of people] have really stepped up and are taking it taking a ton of responsibility off my shoulders so I can just coach.”

On the court, the Dover Bay Dolphins are in fine form, having lost just three games all season, a year which Seaman said was “by far our best out of this most recent run.”

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The team was 6-0 against north and central Island teams in their division, but dropped games to south Island rivals who they’ll see this coming weekend.

As of the latest rankings, released Wednesday, Feb. 12, Dover are second behind only Victoria’s Spectrum Thunder, and ahead of both Kelowna and Oak Bay.

Seaman said some schools tend to transfer players in and out to find the best possible 12-man roster, a tactic not employed at Dover.

“We’re pretty proud of what we’ve done, we only had 12 kids try out and we have 12 kids on our roster, so it’s not like we had a bunch of kids cut or anything like that. I took everybody who tried out, so we’re pretty proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish.”

Dover’s Hudson Trood sets up a play against Vanier, in an Island zone tournament game on Friday, Feb. 14 at NDSS. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

Leading the way are Frank Linder and Hudson Trood.

Linder will move onto UBC next season to play at the collegiate level, while Trood is still deciding on his next step with “several opportunities on the table”, according to Seaman.

They’ll join over a half dozen players to go from Dover to college/university basketball in recent years.

“Frank and Hudson have been with me since grade 10, so they’ve experienced all of the last two and a half years, on our first run when we were in our first year in AAA, when we went all the way to the provincials, they were part of all that.”

The top two teams this weekend will advance to provincials, to be held in Langley in early March.

It can be an intimidating atmosphere for those who have never experienced it before, which shouldn’t be too much of a factor for a veteran-laden Dover lineup.

“I tell them to embrace it,” Seaman said. “They’re pretty cool headed, we don’t talk too much about that stuff. We talk about the little things, the details…I try not to build up the moment more than it needs to be. They’ve played a lot, and they’re pretty calm and cool, so they keep their head on in all these situations.”

Dover will have Nanaimo-based company at the Island championship level, with Wellington Secondary a perfect 9-0 through their North Island play this season.

The Wildcats are ranked second in B.C., and are the only Island team to be in the top 10.

Their Island championships take place in Victoria beginning Feb. 20.

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