B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 15, 2006 MARGARET SPEIRS KEENA-ANGLER | ROB BROWN | Taylor 7 os _of Hope, past the Othello- Quintette Tunnels. I scanned the river below, ae aS Bob talked about his experiences’ -on it and its present problems, when I saw a.fish ‘roll in the quick riffle that still rushes down in ‘the pool under the Lear Bridge. It must’ve been a steelhead, I'said, as excited as if I’d just hooked it. He agreed that a fish big enough to make a com- ‘motion large enough to Spot at that. distance had to ’> be one of the few remaining ancestors of the sum- “mer steelhead that Bill Cunliffe and Tom Brayshaw provoked with trim versions of Atlantic salmon flies, they cast with silk lines and cane rods built by craftsmen’ for the House of Hardy. e were 10,- ‘maybe 20, minutes out _ We climbed up to the Great Bear Snowshed. The - Coquihaila was far below now, a shimmering rib- ~ bon of river lit by the mid- "morning sun. ' Then it was gone. - Bob spoke of Andrew’ McCullough, designer of the complex series of bridges and tunnels through 7 Coquihalla Canyon on the Kettle Valley Line. ‘McCullough, he said, asked for no special rec- a ognition save that the names of his favourite author: be fastened to spots along the line. Doing the. job well for its own sake was something Bob admired, : and strove for. We drove on to the Thompson Plateau: Followed the Kettle to the Nicola. ~ I was reminded of the time Bob, and Art, showed me around the Thompson; of how we huddled in - Art’s old camper at the Y-Pool, the furnace work- . ing hard all night to carve out a’small warm space in the bitter cold front that had settled down on the » valley; of how we drank in the, Log Cabin Inn, com- " pared notes with Rick Olmstead and Jerry Wintle "and other devoted steelheaders; and of Bob, crisply | clad in his Seal Dri waders and deerstalker cap fish-. ing the Graveyard Run in the morning mist under _ cold clear skies. Near Barriere the driver of the car in front of us pulled out, passed on a double line, then disappeared around a bend. Traffic ground to a halt. We waited _ an hour, piecing together the extent of the tragedy as paramedics and police salvaged the remains. _ We hurried to put distance between us and the : . wreck and to make up time. An electrical.storm. engulfed us at Bowron Lakes Park. We left it be- hind at Prince George and made the Stellako Camp- ground in good time. We talked. the whole way, slipping from one subject to another in that seamless circuitous way ; of Bob’s. It made the long trip short. . _ © The next morning we packed up and drove to — Houston before Bob remembered that we'd left a ce of rods worth thousands at the campsite. . I phoned. ~The lady at the campground says it’s still there, . I reported gleefully. We sped back, stopping fora bouquet of flowers at Bob’s insistence. When we arrived, Bob gave the lady the fiowers and one of his impish smiles. She blushed. She was charmed Bob had an undeniable -knack for it. Persuading Bob to make that ‘rip was one of - the best ideas I’ve had. We fished the Kispiox, the Bulkley, the Skeena, and caught all kinds of fish on the Lakelse. * Bob lived very much in the present, but I man- aged to get .him to reminisce about the many trips he took with his lifelong friend, Lee Straight, when Lee was the outdoor columnist for the Sun, and of the trips he and Gerry Wintle made to the steelhead- ing streams of western Washington. After that, we stayed.in touch by phone, talking ‘for hours at a go, and by e-mail..I looked forward to visiting him in Vancouver annually and to seeing — him here most - years with Art or Gil. When I saw him the year before last, his good friend, Jim Gibson has just been felled by cancer. A couple of years earlier, Lee had died. We wonder who will be next he said, speaking of his fellow senior Totem Flyfishers. He was. A heart attack. Bob Taylor: consummate angler, concerned and « working for the well-being of fish because he under- stood that our well-being is inseparable from theirs, - and because it was the right thing to do; self-effacing - and honest to a fault, he took pride in doing things - well, and I never once heard him brag or boast. When you talked to Bob, he listened. When you met or spoke to him, he peppered you with ques- tions about you and yours. When people abuséd the natural world; Bob was - angered, but he never lost control or acted in any- : thing other than a dignified manner. It wouldn’t have mattered much to him, but I hope he’s remembered for a long, long time as a consummate fly tier, an excellent angler, and an unflagging champion of the forgotten fish, the steelhead. TERRACE STANDARD &@ 638-7283 Kings lose third straight game ~ ARETURN to home ice didn’t prove to be the tonic the River Kings were looking for as they ‘dropped their third straight game Nov. 4 For the second time in as many meetings. . this season, the Smithers Steelheads doubled up the, Kings 6-3. The visitors prevailed with “superior © special teams, scoring four goals on power _ plays, while keeping the Kings, ‘scoretess | with the man advantage. Smithers got the only goal in’ ‘a poorly. played first period, in which neither team . looked particularly sharp. Instead of reversing the trend in the mid- . dle period, the River Kings did what has plagued them ‘in the season’s early going, ' with a bad stretch of play that resulted i in the home side being down 4-0. After the deflating 4-0 goal, Terrace - captain Ivan Laschenko came to .the aid of .. teammate Howie O’ Brien, who was mugged ~ - from behind by Steelhead captain Brendan Hutchinson. ~The two leaders had i it out and the fight ‘seemed to wake up.the River Kings and their ' fans, who were desperate for> ‘something to ~ cheer for. challenge him and the forward was able to | the third period to cut the lead to 4-2.. _ than three minutes later. _from Josh Richdale nine minutes into the pe- “Terrace netminder Craig Walsh would’ve.. . liked to have back, — = . the Luckies this season. Smithers keeper Jamie Deba ‘hesitating to _ get around him and score. 3 The momentum continued for’ the home ; team as defenceman Dustin. Quezada shov- jf elled in a rebound with four minutes gone in” Smithers again took advantage of a Ter- 4 race penalty to restore a three-goal lead léss Quezada again found the n net.on a pass riod and it seemed the Kings might just have it in them to muster a comeback. of But a defensive breakdown resulted in a sixth Steelhead goal in the last minute, one Terrace travelled to Mackenzie last week- " end to face the Moose in its first test against a.team from the east. The team went into the weekend sporting a 2-5-1 record. The Kings are again on the road this com- ing weekend for a couple of § games in Hous- ' Terrace has lost one and tied one versus Two. minutes ‘later, Mike Dibleescaught @ Netminder KRISTA MATERI goes up. to block for the Thornhill ‘Junior Timberwolves against Skeena at a play‘day Nov. 4. The home court advantage wentin the Tim- _berwolves’ favour: they triumphed over Hazelton 25-11, 20-25 and 15-15, beat Smithers in two sets 26-24 and 25-9, beat Skeena 26-24 and 25-13 and. topped the final 25-12, 18-25 and 15-6 over GM ‘Dawson of the Queen Charlotte Islands. . MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO By MARGARET SPEIRS | THE SHORTHANDED Bantam Reps tournament victory in Williams Lake “over the Nov. 4 weekend. oe worked hard and did some good things,” said coach John Amos. _ The Smurfs, or first-year players, really came around and dominated the games, controlled the puck and were free of any intimidation they felt earlier “this season, he said. « The Bantams started by shutting out 100 Mile House 11-0. “Joey [Corma- ' worked hard for their undefeated hockey. “Everyone contributed. Every player . ton. . RIVER: KING’ Howie o Brien, left, tries to hold off.a Steelhead while teammates Ivan Laschenko and Coby | Johnson watch Noy. 4, Bantam Reps © celebrate undefeated tournament victory - RIVER KINGS WEB SITE PHOTO . Cormano grabbed another hat trick, Hubbard scored two and Turner netted one. The championship final saw the Ban-. tams whip. Fort St. John 5-2, a much-de- served win after they lost to the squad - by the same score in the Quesnel tour- » nament earlier this season. Cormano and Reinbolt found the twine for two and Turner scored one. .“[Cormano] got like nine goals and ' six assists in four games — that’s a good weekend,” said Amos. Ames and Vandenbroek were named to the All-Star team. . Two players, Will Westby and Dawsen no] was tearing it up again,” said coach John Amos. “That victory, tying them, Leblond, didn’t travel to the event, leaving the team with only 13 skat- was a Cormano scored a pecause they’re «rs. hat trick and assisted on the AAA team “It can be tough in three more goals. , from th rth 3 tournament but they Cory Hubbard and me nortn, toughed it out,” said Rajan Sangha netted —JOhn Amos Amos, adding the team, two. Smurf Chris Bergey scored his first . goal. Other single goal scorers included Jere- my Vandenbroek, Reid Turner and Ben Reinbolt. Goalie Devynn Ames was a little bored in net, but made the saves he needed to, said Amos. _ In its second match, Terrace was down 6-5 going into the third period and good as winning. . “That.was a victory, tying them; be- cause they’re the AAA team from the north,” said Amos. : and Hubbard and Cormano netted one each.- through the round robin. Se crnein RE ar Wiehe managed to tie it "p at six, which was as Turner and Sangha scored two each _ Terrace beat: Williams Lake’s AAA - team 6-4 to complete its undefeated run _ was “dog tired” on the return trip. “They slept for about two hours on the bus. I put on the movie and turned around and only one kid was watching the movie. 1 knew they had * . worked hard. Off the ice the players showed their good behaviour, leading to compliments from a Williams Lake parent among others. . . “We actually got compliments from _ restaurants and hotels. I’m proud of them for winning but more proud of - when they act like gentlemen,” said Amos. The Bantams battle the Kitimat Li- ons in a doubleheader this weekend at Tamitik Arena. Next weekend they travel to Salmon Arm to meet another set of AA teams in tournament play. Configuration THE KERMODE Ice synchronized skating team practises in the arena earlier this month. The team will perform at the skating regionals in Kitimat at the end of January and again at the Kla-How-Ya interclub competition in Houston in March. MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO