B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September 21, 2005 Kings home game against 100 Mile House last year, wants to see the sportsplex built for the . city’s athletes.. He says he plans to become more involved i in making it a reality. Sportsplex 7 supported | by local athletes: . > MARGARET SPEIRS hen: THE ‘debate continues over the financing me ‘the ‘sportsplex; ‘coaches and players have come Sut solidly in favour of the building plan. From his point of view, bantam coach John Amos says he believes the City needs the extra space. “Tt would be great. I wouldn’t hopefully have to do the 5 a.m. practices anymore with the kids,” he says. “Kids do a lot better when they’re rested and awake.” He says he quit playing rec hockey because game times of 10 p.m. to ] a.m. made it too difficult _to wake up for work the next morning. | Amos says he never thought of supporting. mu- nicipal candidates who favour _building the ‘plex - but it’s a goodidea. =. “That’s how, they did the multiplex in Prince . George,” he says. ” “They just organized a bunch of candidates who all got in and the next thing you know there’s a multiplex.” sportsplex’ built after the referendum committee *munity, he says. They just organized. a bunch of candidates who all got in and -. the next thing you know there’s a ‘multiplex. Salmon Arm recently built anew sportsplex and is reaping the rewards. He says the city hosted the Best Ever tourneys _for bantams and -midgets last year, will host the Western Canadian Hockey Championships next now that it has the proper facilities to host those _ events. hind the sportsplex. ' “I would like to get involved a bit more to help,” he says, adding the longer the wait, the higher the sportsplex price tag. . Carlsen says a'friend of his built several three- on-three ice rinks in Surrey and Kirkland, which could be an option for more ice at a lower cost. ’ The rinks are two-thirds the size of a regular- sized arena, but still have all the boards with small- er centre lines and blue lines. Three forwards and the goalie play on each team, a great alternative for minor hockey, he says.. He coached goalie clinics at one of these rinks and says it helped his game. . Carlsen believes the cost would be half of the: sportsplex. . Back in 1999 or 2000, a rink with two sheets of rooms cost between $2.5 to $3 million to build. He believes Terrace could have two sheets of this ice built now for $5 million. “We can’t throw that away. We’ ve got to look at different options,” he says. Carlsen says he hopes to get his friend up here to check out the area for the possibility of building one of these arenas. BURNY CARLSEN, seen here during a River _closed out the season in a blaze. ’ their vehicles with a bang. to o victory in the demolition derby. Prince George: held three referenda to get their . went door to door to explain its benefits to the com- year and are applying to host the Royal Bank Cup River Kings owner Burny Carlsen i is firmly be- ice, a restaurant, bar, skate sales shop and dressing . TERRACE STANDARD 638-7283 ES SO SN DARRYL BJORGAARD, #1 3, crunches into ‘Loren Fell Ss back end in the Demolition Derby, the final event of the last day of racing at the Ter- race Speedway Sept. 11. Fell won the derby when his vehicle proved to have the most stamina by becoming the last car still moving. FROM THE smoking engines in the “Debris fell Demolition Derby to the Wall of Fire, the Terrace Stock Car Association Fell, About 1,000 people packed the stands: to watch drivers finish off A new winner drove, or rocked, | his back tires drive off the the asphalt. ‘Loren. Fell, Jonathan Orango, Darryl Bjorgaard and Al and Grant Stewart lined up to see who could be the last one driving. | After the first. crunch, Fell’s ve- hicle'stopped. but finally started. Orango’s frame dragged on the pavement. Bjorgaard stopped but started again thanks to. his’ car’ s front wheel. drive. : Fell smashed Stewart.” moving. Al Grant Stewart After the ing Bjorgaard’s grill. Orango plowed Stewart. . Bjorgaard and Orango locked together and burned rubber as they tried to free themselves. Fell freed himself but'soon found as he. tried to rock back and forth to , Despite remaining stuck, Fell won as he was the only vehicle still - Stewart came second and he believed his front-wheel drive would’ve been an advantage “if the body wasn’t So rusted and the framie® e » wasn "t so. rusted.”.:-:! y Smoking fun at the Speedway onto the track, includ- shaft, he said. spinning in the grass infield and back onto one by one. took third. race, Bjorgaard said three barrel. A front wheel drive eliminates the problems that rear wheel drives. ‘have, including losing the drive- He said a smack to his front bum- per broke his grill, radiator, alterna- tor and power steering. “It’s fun though,” he said. Drivers faced an obstacle course in the barrel race as-a few rollover cars remained on the front stretch. Four vehicles blasted .off from the start but quickly were eliminated Tyrel Orango bashed into his roll- . over car on corner one, leaving him helpless for the rest of the race. Kenny Nigh smoked the corner = Grant: Stewart nailed a rollover: ' car on corner number four, before 4 MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO claiming victory. Adam Waters prepared for his Wall of Fire stunt carefully. Brian Olsen wrapped taped around Waters’ pant legs, collar and along the top and bottom of his hel- met for safety. Waters’ strapped himself to the . hood of the car with his feet near the windshield, resting his head just above the grill _ His car, driven by Orango, ‘crashed through the fiery fence with- ; "out injury. 7 The :Terrace Stock Car Asso- ciation is planning for a mid-winter ‘demo derby and Hit-to-pass race near the end of January or beginning of February, when the weather is still cold" but ‘thé, track. will be partlyy “thawed.2 “8 "0 wa Sense TO THE DELIGHT of hockey fans, the NHL returns this season to a television nearby, which raises the question of whether it will affect attendance at local games. As the Central Interior League gets ready to kick off another season, River Kings owner Burny Carlsen’ believes fans will continue to show their support at home games. “River King fever has started,” he says. Fans have approached players to ask when . thé season starts and say how excited they are. He believes VCRs and DVD players will ‘ be set to record NHL games on Saturdays and . Sundays while fans fill the stands at the Terrace Arena. “T don’t think we 1 lose anyone,” he says. ‘The league’s new president agrees. - “There’s a lot of fans in the northwest-here that enjoy the local hockey,” Bill Blacklock says. “They'll keep coming out.” Fans aré excited about the return of the na- tional hockey but still say they'll follow local NHL not expected to hurt CIHL attendance hockey, he says. And he believes this season is stacking up to be even more competitive. With the unfortunate folding of the Burns Lake Braves, Williams Lake and Houston plan to pick up some of their players. “They’ ve got about five players coming from Burns Lake, including one of their top players,” he says, about Houston’s new additions. Williams Lake advertised more and hope- ‘fully will have more players try out, he says. Prince Rupert and Vanderhoof have ex- pressed interest in joining the league next sea- - on, which would boost the league back up to. eight teams, The chance to join won’t be realized until next June’s annual meeting, where each pro- - spective team will send a representative to ap- ‘ply to the league, he says. New teams could mean the splitting of the league into east and west divisions, placing Vanderhoof in the east as the dividing line be- tween them. Blacklock believes Kitimat can be knocked out of top spot this season. “I think the Luckies have a pretty good chance this year,” he says. Returning players plus both Dinelle brothers will add strength to last season’s second place , team. Derek Dinelle, fresh from playing for UBC for four years, should be ready to join his brother Blair and the rest of the team, Blacklock says. _ The new 20-game schedule will give fans another’ couple ‘of chances to chéer on their - teams at home. Blacklock believes enough referees will be- available this season to prevent any shortages and the need for teams to borrow from each other. , Blacklock, who became league president at — the general meeting earlier this year, resigned from the Houston Luckies to avoid any conflict of interest. Sports Menu | Marathon of h hope SEVERAL CASSIE HALL students carried banners as they walked from their school down the Millennium Trail and back Sept. 15. again during the Terry Fox Run SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO @ September 22 Badminton practise smashes onto the court at Thornhill Jr. Secondary. Adults 18-years-old and up practise from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. a September 24 _ A free Sprockids biking clinic rides at Ferry Island from 10. a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids aged six to 12 are welcome. For more info, call Lucy. at 638-7603. t ; @ September 24 : Come out to cheer for the River Kings in their home open- er exhibition game against Smithers at 7:30 p.m. This is the River Kings second game in the Challenge Cup. For more info or tickets, call the Northern Motor Inn at 635-6375. @ September 25 ’ The Totem Saddle Club hosts its final Gymkhana, Clear Rounds Day and Percentage Day of the year at the Thornhill | Community Grounds. The Gymkhana rides at 10:30 a.m. and Clear Rounds and Percentage Days ride at 11 a.m. Con- | tact Laurie Muller at 635-9401 for Gymkhana info, Lynne Eastman at 635-3474 for Clear Rounds Day info and Nata- sha Candelora at 635-6967 for Percentage Days info. | September 28 . Terrace Women’s Soccer Association holds its Annual General Meeting at 7 p.m. at the Terrace Public Library. Hl October 3 . Registration for the indoor season of women’s soccer ‘goes from 7 p.m: to 9 p.m. at the Health Unit Auditorium at 3412 Kalum St. inside the side entrance. All skill levels are welcome. For more info, call Nina Peden at 635-5480 or Kasey Lewis 635-6074. Set ET RES bolas peas 2 hg NY