INSIDE SPORTS MENU C2 SKEENA/ANGLER _ ROB BROWN ad water chased us out of town. Clay from Mink Creek was blecd- ing into the Lakelse, truncating the river, covering our favourite spring steelhead water in the process. The Zymoetz should be clear as air in April, low and cold and full of spooky fish, some old, a few new, But it wasn’t It hadn’t been clean since the year before last, Another clay slide was the culprit, one opened up by high water caused by rain on snow and removal of the . forest cover. ‘Higher highs and lower lows,’’ Bob Clay, the Kispiox guide, likes to say. “That’s what happens when you mow too much the forest in a watershed. You’ve got the same amount of water, but the highs are higher the lows are lower.” These high waters aren’t very kind to log jams either, pushing them up to and over the banks, far out of the reach of the Gish who use in much the same way people use apartment blocks and grocery stores. It’s sad, but Spring is no time to be sad; it’s a time for optimism; days aye geiting longer and warmer. It’s a time to think of trips. My idea this spring was to explore a creek that feeds the Skeena inland. Kenny Downs told me about two years ago. Lots of steelhead, he said. T swapped him some flics for a sweat shirt with Saturday Night Blues and CBC emblazoned across the front. Kenny tried them on the ceck without success, but then he’s inexperienced with the fly. It’s worth a look see, I told Webb. He agreed to go, but reluctantly. I don’t blame hira, after all we’ve chased wild geese on spring weckends in the past. The chosen day was vivid. Seven sisters stood out in bold relief against a blue cloudless sky. “Looks like therc’s more than seven,’’ ob- served Webb. ‘More like nine or ten: I counted. It seemed there were more than seven spires ta me too. ‘“Maybe the guy that named (hem was mare concemed with alliteration than accuracy,”’ I said, ‘‘a fan of sibilance.”” The road ended at a store marked Store, noth- . ‘ing more. Bibelots sat shoulder to shoulder on. . the sills, a rusted old mailbox, newly sawed wood waiting for splitting, canned goods on counters, graying walls, a cedar roof; nobody home. I knocked to confirm it. We began pack- ing gear into back packs for the walk along the tracks when one of those trucks that run on rails pulled up on the siding. Out jumped a man with " long hair on the sides and no hair on top. His coveralls were greasy, his shoes were greasy. His truck was too. Webb asked him what he did. He took his thick glasses off, wiped some " grease from his eyebrows, then told us he was greasing the rails. I thought they were plenty slippery already, but didn’t want to spend pre- cious exploratory time asking then listening to the explanation. ’ Webb fished fora rids. The greaser was oblig- ing, but headed the wrong way: home, Prince George where, he sald, he'd set out on the grease trail weeks ago. Before he left he warned us of two imminent trains, ‘‘We’ll hear them,” I sald. “You might not hear these ones in time,’’ he sai, ominously. Water rushed out of the hills, The sweet smell of the woods mixed with the odour of railway tes baking, The trains, as we had been warned, approached quictly. They hummed, sang against the tracks, some cars whirred, sounded like the papery wings of glant dragon flics. Three miles felt like six. ’ Some crecks are rivers, this one was a creck, We awkwardly crawled around the canyon at its mouth. At ore paint all the water pushed power- fully through spot no more than four feet wide, When we were past the rock gates we found a flood plain as wide as the canyon was narrow -- wide and shallow with no water that promised fish. , Compressed packs of snow lined the banks, Another mile, another canyon. This one wider enclosing a pool. A well manicured trail ran — ’ along one side. At twa points along it someone had constructed benches, well built and well used, Above the canyon the river contours mir- yored the reaches we’d just passed. ‘I'll bet my waders this is where Kenny found those fish,” [ said to Webb. “‘There’s no where clse for them to hide,’’ he answered. We fished, There wasn’t much to fish, and we ~-eovered it well. Zero. Too early, we realized, . but there would be fish there soon. I looked at . the fire pit in front of the benches. Here was a “place a dad could bring his son, help the boy “eatch a fish, then show him how to kill it. That done, the boy could pack the fish home. He could show it his mom. He’d be swelled with pride, She’d cook it well and the family could ‘dine on it, commenting on the sweetness of the flesh, and on how well the boy had done to catch sich a handsome creature, I’m sure dads ~- have used this place for this purpose, It was the ideal spot for it. It was nice to know such places: _ still exist. TERRACE STANDARD I O RI S __NALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283 The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, April 24, 1995 - c1 SECTION C Home ice no advantage | OUT-OF-TOWN rinks swept all five events in this year’s Loggers Bonspiel, the second - straight year the raiders have dominated the event, Andy Weissner’s _ rink, skipped by Ross Smith, came closest to giving homers a vic- tory to cheer. Facing Glen Baker of Smithers in the ‘E’ final, they took a single in the first, then stole two more after Smith twice drew the house and Baker missed both take out at- tempts, A sharp double by Smith snuffed out a Baker counter at- tack in the third, leaving the Smithereen to settle for the single. Another missed takeout by Baker in the next allowed Smith to restore a three point lead but that was where the BRUSHING UP on their bonspieling, momentum shifted. After drawing for a deuce in the fifth, Baker took advantage of front end misses to steal in Smith drew the eight foot on his first, and Baker made no mistake with hit this time, but -lay in the open, Smith elected Hobenshield rink brought the ‘D’ event showdown to a Speedy conclusion, 9-2 for the - Visitors. the sixth, then stole again fora freeze with his last but ‘ The Kitwanga quartet were 5-4 lead after seven, A nice hit and roll to the four foot with his hammer got Smith back even in the next, and he regained a one point lead when Baker was inside and wrecked on a hit and stick for two chance. -A couple of Baker front end misses having allowed him to get one in behind cover, Smith looked in good shape early in the final end. However, a couple of slight- | ly overthrown rocks combined with hits by Smithers’ third Reni Bergeron changed the picture, Baker lying one, a top 12 biter behind cover. Dino Diana (left) and Richard Green go to overthrew the attempt to bump . the yellow stone out, leaving a -hit-and-stick for the win. Once again, Baker shrugged off his early takeout problems . for the two he needed, It was the second straight year Baker, Bergeron, Paul ‘Hamilton and Don MeMillan ‘have claimed the ‘E’ title, _ known as the E-ndurance ‘event because of the number of games teams have to get through, including playing the semis and final back-to-back. The experience of the other Terrace finalists, the Ron Sparks quartet, was less thrill- ing. Three in the third and Steal of four in the next by the work on a draw shot during the Loggers, Unfortunately, like most local rinks, Diana’s quartet had to watch out-of-towners take the trophies for all events and top prize picks at the conclusion of the five day ‘spiel. The event drew 51 rinks. skipped by Dennis Morgan, Brian Hobenshield throwing third with Jesse Morgan and Barry Meek at the front end. Regular misses by both skips were a feature of the ‘A’ event final, a match up between Prince Rupert’s Jackson rink and Rob Brise from Telkwa. However, it was made shots that settled it, Steve Jackson . pulling off a raised takeout on his first in the 10th to clean house and Lionel Kurkowsky, _throwing skip stones for the coast city, freezing to a Brise back four foot counter. When Brise missed on his at- tempt to follow in, the Ruperters — Kurkowsky, Steve Jackson, Allan Jackson’ and Joe Salvati — were top of the Loggers heap by a 9-7 score. , Prince Rupert picked up an- other title in the “B’, steals of two in the sixth and another in the ninth heiping the Rob Brown rink skipped by Brian Holkestad to a 9-6 victory . over Don Palmer of Smithers, Dave Tough and Don Holkestad rounded out the winning quartet. And in ‘C’ event Pat Mourad’s steal of two in the sixth also turned out to be cru- cial as he and Vanderhoof teammates Jody Mourad, Vic- tor Santos and Art .Flaterud defeated the Baase rink of Granisle 7-5, In the newly introduced Hot Shots competition, sponsored by the Terrace Standard, it went to a single shot playoff, the Kennedy rink of Terrace beating out Hobenshield on a measurement for the $300 first prize. The runners up took home $150. , A total of 51 rinks took part in the 40th annual Loggers which offered $13,500 in prizes. , oo Toriglia bids farewell WHEN TONY Toriglia ac- cepted the job at the Aquatic Centre, “‘I said I could see myself staying two years.’” That was 10 years ago, But next week Toriglia is packing his bags and heading home to Vancouver Island. “We had to think about it hard,”’ Toriglia admits. He and wife Tammy had both en- joyed their jobs and friends here and had been quite in- volved in ‘the community. “It’s hard to leave.”’ Toriglia is taking up the position of aquatic manager at the Raven’s Song centre due to open this fall. Located in Qualicum, the centre is opera- ted by the Parksville- Qualicum regional district. ' A similar sized operation to Terrace’s, he says the Qualicum centre will have a 25m, six lane pool, leisure pool and whirlpool. The main difference will be the centre will be equipped with all the latest technology including heavy computeriza- tion and the latest in water fil- tration systems. “The architecture is reaily nice, too,’’ Toriglia adds, noting the east and west walls will be all glass as will be the domed roof. , While all that is attractive, the main draw is ‘“‘the op- portunity to go back where our families are,’’ he explains, ad- ding their kids are the right age to make the transition with a minimum of disturbance. Well known in this com- munity for his work with the Royal Life Saving Society, Red Cross and Water Rescue team, Toriglia says there will be no break in his involvement.” with the first two groups be- cause they’re closely linked to ~ his job. As for the Water Rescue aspect, he will continue to'’ liase with the Terrace group ~— which he helped found, And once he’s settled into his new job, Toriglia says -he - might well try to develop a similar {eam in Parksville- Qualicum, One thing is for sure, how- ever. ‘‘I guess I'll get rid of my snow shovel.”’ OPOV IV off to bruising start | TWO FINES and suspensions — and that’s from just the ex- hibition games. The OPFOV floor hockey tournament has always dlis- played ‘‘competitive’’ aiti- tudes but this, the fourth edi- tion, could be the roughest yet, Unless the early disciplinary action taken by organizer Devon Kuiper persuades players to keep their cool. Andy Seger of the Back Eddy Blazers was the first to feel the. officials’.. wrath, a “stick. incident’” drawing a one game suspension and $40. fine, Graham Bayles of the Westpoint Warriors got the same after he speared the Traf- fic Jams goalie. Which drew a protest from the Traffic Jams who wanted Bayles kicked out of the tournament, period. Kuiper declined, pointing out: the Jammers goalie’s stick use had instigated the incident, causing. defending champions Traffic Jams to pull out of OPOV IV in protest. So only seven teams will battle it out for the ’95 title: Back Eddy Blazers, Predators, . A & W Awesome Warriors, Terrace Shell-Redmen, A &-D Trucking, the Great Whites and Westpoint Warriors, In exhibition results, the Blazers dropped the Predators 8-5, Awesome Warriors got by the Redmen 6-5, Great Whites fell 12-8 to A & D Trucking and the. Westpoint Warriors were beaten 8-5 by the now departed Traffic Jams. Round robin action is. now. ‘under way and ends Wednes- - day, May 10, with the top four advancing to the playoffs. — All tournament games. are played) at *’ Parkside *, Elementary. US tpenel: format, sees. The _ playoff fourth taking on first and sec- ond against third, each in a best-of-three series. © The decider, if needed, will. be played Monday, May 29, (Watch Sports Menu for any time changes), The winners of those series hit the floor Wednesday, May 24 for the first tvo games in another best-of-three to decide the OPOV °95 champion. | Once again this year Kuiper _ has installed an OPOV Hotlirie which provides up to date until Monday, May 1.00" results, The number 1s°638:° - 0199 but won't be operational .