They don’t build university residences to house just three people.
But for the first few days after he first moved up to Prince George from Golden to begin his studies on the Cranbrook Hill campus in the fall of 2015, Saje Gosal and two UNBC Timberwolves basketball teammates, Anthony Kokanson and Neal Randawa, pretty much had the place to themselves.
They had no idea how to cook, knew nothing about keeping a clean house and slept without sheets on uncovered mattresses. But they did earn PhDs in playing video games, drinking beer and socializing, and a whole new world was about to open for them.
They met their classmates, got to know their fellow Timberwolves on a trip to Sun Peaks and before they knew it Gosal and his gang were making regular appearances at community functions, swapping stories with Cougars hockey players, politicians, university officials, business leaders and everyday Joes and Jillls.
“We were in it, we belonged here, within a month, we felt like we were home,” said Gosal, the guest alumni speaker at last week’s UNBC Timberwolves Legacy Night at the Civic Centre. “Within the first couple of weeks I knew I belonged at the University of Northern British Columbia and I knew I belonged to the people of Prince George, because of the way people made me feel.
For Gosal, being a student-athlete at UNBC was the ultimate privilege, not only for what he got out it in the classroom as a five-time Canada West Academic All-Canadian and while on the court playing guard for the first UNBC men’s basketball team to ever to win a playoff game. What made that so special was how he and his teammates were treated by the locals they met in town.
“People were so nice to us,” Gosal said “There was always someone to stay with. Always someone to drive you to the airport. There was always someone to take care of you and cook you a home-cooked meal when you needed one.
“Being an athlete at UNBC, you’re blessed with an opportunity that is hard to grasp in the moment. You have the support of a community and a support system the depths of which are hard to understand when you’re there. People will drop everything to help you here in Prince George. They will uproot and check on you unprompted and will push you to be the best version of yourself, and that same thing is true when you graduate.”
Gosal found out just how much Prince George people care about him in October 2020, six months after he graduated, when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer. At the time, he was just beginning law school at UBC in Vancouver. The cancer soon spread to his stomach and lungs. He underwent three rounds of chemotherapy and two surgeries. His body reacted with a rare side effect to the chemo drugs and formed a blood clot in his brain that led to multiple seizures and a stroke.
“I went for treatment in Vancouver, but I was so close to Prince George I felt the people in the Prince George community are what really helped me through that,” he said.
“They sent care packages, hand-written notes, they grew moustaches, they shaved their heads. Markus (his former Timberwolf teammate MacKay) got a tattoo of me that’s still there. They raised money and I got to be the beneficiary of these programs that I helped start.”
Leadership is in his blood and Gosal set the bar high. He was a team captain and was is co-founder of the UNBC Student Athlete Society which helped him pay his way through law school when he was sick with cancer. When he graduated with his law degree in 2023 he was the class valedictorian.
TWolves teammate Vova Pluzhinikov now works as a banker in the RBC branch downtown and he arranged a line of credit for Gosal to help tide him through his cancer battle. Even during his bleakest times, he never felt he was on his own.
“I was able to continue on, financially, emotionally, spiritually, with the support of my community around me,” Gosal said.
“People from Prince George raised awareness for the types of sickness I was battling and they stood up and spoke out and destigmatized it in every way that they could. I’ve never felt more in touch with a community than I felt coming through that.”
Now 27, Gosal works in Vancouver as a corporate lawyer for DLA Piper.
His Saje words of advice to the Timberwolves athletes from the four varsity teams that were part of the Legacy Night crowd of about 500 on Nov. 21 started with a reminder to the basketball players of what a privilege it is to play a home game against a division rival in front of fans at Brownridge Court.
“A lot of people think they’re going to come in and get all kinds of playing time and dominate – it doesn’t just happen like that,” he said.
“The people who have the most fun with the UNBC athletic program in Prince George are the ones who stay the course. They show up for practice every day. They’re committed to themselves, to their teammates and this community, and they did everything they could to get better each day.
“Control what you can control, which is precious little, except for your energy in the day and the energy you’re bringing to the people around you, particularly your teammates. “
