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BE ease eR ES

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- The comings and goings of
unseen and unnoticed creatures, .-
the silent and deadly stalks-and

kills that go unmarked in the

Other three seasons, were vividly
étched «in the; ‘first ‘SNOWS of
winter. : gous

. From’ the spot where we. 6. put: x
our: ‘skis before setting . out for”

the: river there was the ‘un-
mistakable track of a moose... _
We. followed its meanderings’°:
for ‘a long way before it disap-"

peared into the brush.
At the crest of the first hill, at

a spot’ overlooking -the “frozen”

creek, we. saw. the. trail ‘of a
snowshoe hare, a: disturbance,
the clear imprints of wingbeats,
then no more rabbit tracks,

. Our breathing and the sound
of our skis against.the snow -
were the only sounds until we
were close enough to hear the
rush of the river.

‘

It was the year I'd determined woe os

-to'fish the river at least once a
“week for’ fifty-two weeks in.
‘order to experience some of its
rhythms : ‘and learn something
‘from: them.* I ‘had. the rod

“tehtered over my shoulder like'a

tifle-and had'to duck: when it
threatened to hang up on some
ofthe low, show-laden bran-
ches, . cheat
© ‘The snow ‘was hard and icy on
the last leg of the trail. We took
off the skis and put them on
again, When’: we: reached . the
rocky promontory next ‘to the
river. As one might'expect, the
river was low and clean. Anchor,
ice clung.to the rocks recently
exposed . ‘to, winter aby the
receding ‘water.

A. dipper. -bobbed nervously
then ducked, into the water

- under the’ shelf’ i ice. It began

snowing again. I took off my

Scam 2 #

The Skeena
Angler.
by Rob Brown

mitts. My Fingers began te to sting
in the short-time it took to put
up the rod ‘unhook the yarn
fly from the‘middle guide.

-A dozen drifts were enough
to convince me there were no
takers, I broke the rod down
“once again’: ‘and We made ‘our
way upstream’ under the grey
sky, thankful for :the snow-
covered ice shelf bordering the
Tiver..

PORTS N

At Herman Creek L assemble
ed the: rod once ‘again.
Trumpeter swans glided across
the. slower: water-.near ‘the
outflow ‘of the lake.

Because of the . low’. water

there was no need to wade. 1

covered the run ‘quickly and was
preparing to‘leave when a man

and a boy walked out onto the .
frozen’ beach: “By, this’ time I

noticed thé: ‘man was carrying a

‘rifle, ‘They’ looked at us then
“upriver ‘at the 3 swans...
' “What. aré you hunting?” I
asked ‘suspiciously...
“Nothing, I’m, just, showin’:

‘the boy how to shoot,’? sald the

man. They turned abruptly and .
headed: back up the trail.
' A few minutes later ‘we left »

too. We'd only gone a few hun-

/ | dred yards. when we heard a
”. 'shot. ‘The sound reverberated
through: ‘the. wet woods.
‘Another. shot and -a_ bullet
whistled through the: alders a
foot-or 30 from my head. In- ©
stinctively, I dove into the snow ..
‘and ‘hollered’ back at Karen to
‘do.the'same. .

“Hey!” I yelled ‘frantically.
“Hey there! There are People,
down, here.”

- When the echoes had died.
down; ’ -E. yelled‘ again. No.

‘than, ‘skis.
“gunners a. short distance: from
: the toads

“hfs’son ‘padding : off: on thee
* snowshoes; I got-afigry:

- Snowshoes :are; ‘much ‘slower
‘caughiti- up tothe

sat hog

“What the hell is wrong with
yout” I. -yelled:’at~ the » man.
“Didn't you: hear:me yelling?
Why didn’t you come-back?""

He. stared . at: mex stupidly.
‘What if. one: “Of! Us had. ‘been
hit?” I added,:; oa

“We were just practisin’, 7 ‘he
said at last.‘'Weé got‘allicence.’*

» Each fall when, steclheading i is

- atvits best, a. distant shot. will re-
-mind.me that men are out after

moose and of that snowy winter

~ day-on. the eakelse River, arid I

‘will proceed carefully. with the

. ‘knowledge thatthe inept: fisher-
‘man seldom does any'harm, but
. the inept hunter: vis. a- ~ Teall
answer, I imagined the man and

menace, 9 i at

JEFF NAGEL 638-7283

_ TERRACE STANDARD

Spikers
split with
Kitimat

TERRACE — Caledonia’s

‘senior girls team. were beating

the odds to take the zone
volleyball title last Thursday,
while the favoured Cal boys
were ‘losing their zone final
match. to Kitimat.

The’ zone champ Cal girls
took three wins in four games to
beat Kitimat 15-10, 15-4, 12-15,
15-12, .

“They all played really well,’’
coach: Susan: Springer said.
“They really hung i in there.”

ba ass i ce lf i moh LOW Rast
lov. provieicials ints
Vanco’ arar Mattie y and’ Erie

Hamer. schools,

Meanwhile, 7 however,
Kitimat’s senior bays were spik-
ing their .way past the favoured
Caledonia boys: and into the
provincials with a 3-1 victory.
Kitimat ‘won the -individual
games 16-14, 15-12, 7-15, 15-9.

“Our: team’s strength was
depleted because. four . players
were. suspended due to
disciplinary action,’? team
coach ‘Sean Kreinke said.
Kitimat’s team goes to Kelawna
for the: ‘provincials Nov. 21.

The Cal senior boys had won
several: astraight tournaments .
this season.

: The.other senior boys sport |
before ‘the start of basketball
season — soccer — should have
been over for Caledonia with
their loss to Kitimat last month.
But. unforeseen circumstances -
forcing’ Kitimat to’ bow. out
meant. the, Cal’ boys went after
all. ;
’ But tough competition in
their pool against several of the
province’s top teams quickly
relegated the Terrace boys to
the consolation division.

«They fell 7-1 to third-ranked
Centennial, of Coquitlam,and
were edged out 2-1 by Van-
couver’s
Sutherland.

» Caledonia picked up a default
wit over Spectrum, but by that
time they were bound for’ the
B-side.

Dart open |

TERRACE — Terrace players
at: the Prince Rupert open darts .
tournament two ‘weekends ago |
dragged back- their fair share of
the winnings. . :
* Terrace’s Bill Robinson’ won
the men’s singles event for the
second consecutive year. Robin-
son: valso joined Terrace team-
mates Bob Bennett, Pat Camp-
bell and Ron Thyr. in taking se-..
cond in the team event, and
Bennett and Robinson were also
becond i in-men’s doubles.
On the women’s, side, An-
nette Hiren, of Terrace, joined
Kitimat: partner Marg: Saulnier
to: take first: ‘in’.women’s
doubles, Hiren —:a quarter-_
finalist in. the. ‘singles: event —~
Also, claimed’ second:

fifth-rankéd .

~ With a: point-a-game average,
“ hapless maintaining hia

Bantam duel _

HARD: WORKING SKATERS for Terrace’s Inland Kenworth bantam hockey team diopped a close”
_ one Friday night to their bantam league rivals from Prince Rupert. After a scoreless first. period, a
the Rupert squad jumped out to'a 2-0 lead they held into the third. And that's where Terrace “
came to life, an goals by Sheldon Mcinnes and David Broek, in the ‘dying minutes, the team suc- os
cessfully killed off a two-man penalty and seemed certain to at least tie, But Prince: Rupert pto- :
duced anather goal to take back a 3-2 win. The margin could have been much worse 3e without
talented goal- -tending by Terrace’s Curtis Bretherick. ; :

\

Sharples gunningas free agency nears

TERRACE — Jeff Sharples is
off to an exceptional hockey
season in the minors in a bid to
impress coaches before becom-
ing a free agent at the end of the
season, .

-“It’s going really well — I’ve
gotten off to a really good
start,’ Sharples said Friday.
“Hopefully Ht have a big
season and stay injury-free. ”

It certainly looks like the big
season for Sharples judging
from his first 15 games with the
Utica Devils — the New Jersey
‘Devils’ farm..team in the
American Hockey League.

j

ee ee

ti nas top-scoring defenceman |:
‘in.the AHL, with five -Boals and

‘10 assists,

fone, point before ending up:
New

ght ate

“A‘consistent season with the.
ninor. league team would make
shim’ a -valuable commodity ‘at.
he enid of the season as he Plays

more settled season would.

* ‘ptobably be easier on the young -

"Terrace player as well, who was \.
““ttaded around last year like a:
"dog-eared hockey card’ between:
‘three different NHL clubs, He:
‘brief, tantalizing look’ at:
ithe Edmonton Oilers’ bench’at.

while”
defenceman ¢ ‘doesn’t totally dis.

jersey, ‘and - being’; sent:
o, the minors. “He alsd’ get
ate “Of: the, 1989-00; eitet

‘season ~ recovering: from. a

“shoulder ‘separation. ‘
‘Sharples said most seasons he

“‘takés’ a few months to. settle in;

“but this: ‘year. che’ $ been hot since

‘T-had a really good

. day ‘one.

training‘ camp,” he added, “1
~ was really: happy.with it and J

"felt I:did everything | I could.”
But -he’ said: the. New ‘Jersey
management told him it-was-a

“numbers game"? "in'deciding he

would | stay in ‘the minors. ‘And
“the: 23: “year-old

count’ the. remote: prospect of

bein galled. up. sometime this

“would pro-

Ore. CE
ote ‘prove: | himself

time, and a,

change

Ski club to :

name.

and mountain

TERRACE -— The Kit-
sumkalum Ski Club — in hiber-
nation since the local ski hill
closed nearly three years ago —
is preparing its return this ski
season under a new name: the
Shames Mountain Ski Club,
The proposed name change is

. to be voted on at the. club’s

Nov. 21 general meeting at 7:30
p.m. in room 208 at Northwest
Community College,
5: Club spokesman BrigniL-opty
said>las thes: changa
“would Feflect ‘the s planiied open-
ing of Shames mountain ski hill
next month, which the club is
expected to adopt as its new
home.

.He said some original
members may disagree with the
name change, and said he urges
them:to attend the meeting and

. voice their opinions.

Loptson said the ski club has
been in a ‘‘holding pattern’’
since local skiing ended here,
The club at one point had at
feast 60 members and about 15

_ carded racers before. Kit-
- sumkalum closed.
' Since then, he said, it has

become actively involved in the

‘drive to get skiing at Shames,
" noting the club invested $10,000

in Shames Mountain Ski Cor-
‘poration when Kitsumkalum

” closed out of the money left i in

‘its coffers.

‘He said the success of Shames
is is-cleatly important to the suc-
cess of the club. ‘‘We want to be
in good with the ski hill,’ Lopt-
son said. “And it just makes
more sense now. to be called
Shames Mountain Ski Club.”

> “It’s important for the club
to have a good relationship with
the ski hill, because when you
tace and train, you're taking up
part of the mountain they're
selling to the public.’”

With’ anticipation building
‘for the opening of: the hill,
Loptson said, the club has been
the object of increasing interest,
and organized last -weekend’s

in the minors anyway. |

“I'm getting loads of i ice time
and things are going really
well,” he’ explained. ‘I’m on
power play,. penalty-killing, as
well as regular shift. This way
rm ‘getting’ afl opportunity to
play.”

So far he’s ‘managed to stay
relatively healthy, with his only
injury a cracked cheekbone that

prompted him to wear a shield |

for a few games to protect it. .
Sharples said -he might even

-consider going to Europe ifthe is’.

passed: ‘up.as..a free agent at.

“season’s end. But until then the |

‘game plan is to keep the
wumbers up to stay on
‘managers’ ‘watch Mats. eee

ski swap. ‘‘We now have.a lot
of interest being expressed.’’

Although the club operated a
program for carded racers: at
Kitsumkalum, he said it will get
started at Shames this year on a
smaller scale, with a Nancy
Greene Ski League program in
the first ski season there.

The object is to develop a

base of competitive skiers in
that program before expanding
insfuture years to a carded rac-
ing progtam. The Nancy Greené
program® is to give: seven: ‘to’
12-year-6ld§ an fun introduc-
tion to team racing on weekend
sessions depending on the
availability of volunteer
coaches.
" «It wouldn't be unreasonable
to expect 40 or 50 racers out
there this year in the Nancy
Greene program,” Loptson
predicted,

-Also to speak at the Nov. 21
meeting, is Scott Siemens, the
new manager of Shames ski hill,
who is to talk about-the pro-
gress of the hill and plans for
the year’s racing program.

More than seven feet of
snow now blankets Shames at.
the top of the chairlif(‘and= =:
there’s at least two feet at the
hase of the mountain, Shames ‘-
managers say. .

Those figures were according,
to show measurements taken
last Thursday and
organizers say a lot-more.“

- should haye fallen by now.

They sald all the chairs on
the main lift have been hung, -
and the lift passed its main.
load test last week. At least :
four feet of snow is required at.
the base before the runs can be
packed.

Jeff Sharples
- “Pm not intending to make a
‘career out of playing .in. ‘the:

‘tninors,”* he added, “I alm. td ang
. Play well t here and get out.” oe