| . -SKEENA: ANGLER- ROB BROWN The elders ebruary’s end and the begin- ning of March, the waters are always low and clear, the fishing is as slow as fishing gets. Now, in the autumn of my life, this doesn’t seem like such a big deal; there are other things to look forward to: the leaves have fallen and melted into the ground leaving the bush transparent like river bottoms under the thin clear winter water. This a the time to find a new trail io an old pool, or to mark a cluster of tocks that will shelter holdover salmon when it is invisible in high water. It’s also a good time to visit the elders. The swim club my daughter belongs to bas some kind of reciprocal deal with Sears that has me delivering catalogs to the bedroom communilies under the shadow of Copper Mountain. There are home businesses, -wreckers, houses big and small, bloated and shrunken, shacks and combinations of all the aforementioned, streets that go both Ways — or at least that’s what the house numbers indicate — and dogs everywhere. I’m happy to go there and make those deliveries since I can dip a line in the Cop- He logged, he prospected, he trapped, he cruised timber, at times he got up to no good, most of the time he did geod, and he still ls, one way or the other. per River when my the deliveries are done, and because Dobbie Road is on my route, and that is where Jim Snodgrass’s property is, and Gene Lleuwellyn’s trailer rests there, perched like a cat on the southeast | comer of it. Gene Lleuwellyn is an elder. He grew up in a crowd of kids in a small cabin within earshot of the middle reaches of the Kalum River. He logged, he prospected, he trapped, he cruised timber, at times he got up to no good, most of the time he did good, and he still is, one way or the other. On the last catalog delivery 1 was pleased to see a red and grey Bronco in his driveway. I entered. Stepping into Gene’s trailer is a little like steeping into a sauna. The heat is good for bronchial conditions and arthritis; it’s a smail hardship. “How are ya?”’ Lask. “‘Good...Good,’’ says Gene, punctuating the reply with an offer of tea. He does look good, weathered, neat, with that genera- tional sharpness my octogenarian dad and his contemporaries have too. Because I’ve had it for two years, I sheepishly give Gene back Ronald Liver- sedge’s rare bock about the march to Ot- tawa during the depression years. This act leads to talk about the Spanish Civil War where Liversedge and Llewellyn were among the 1,400 brave Canadians, half of whom never returned, who signed on to fight fascism at Jarama, Brunete, Quimo, Fuentes de Ebro and the other battlefields of the Spanish Civil War. The members of the Mackenzie-Papineau Bat- talion enlisted to fight Franco and his supporters Hitler and Mussolini because they saw a distant’ threat to their country; they signed on to fight for freedom and justice. History proved it was’ right thing to do. Gene tells how an appeal by Norman Bethune from the stage of the Orpheum Theatre in Van- ° couver convinced him to go, and how, now, there arc only he and a handful of ‘‘Mac-Paps’’ left: half of the original battalion was lost in ac- tion, the other half taken by time. A few days later I’m listening to another Elder over coffee. ‘‘Saw Gene the other day,’? I tell Finlay. '‘He’s been catching some fish on the ‘Kalum.”’ Because his wife Pat has been ailing, Finlay hasn’t been able to get out on the rivers for some time. He listens to my reports wilh keen interest. After that we talk about hidden cut- throat lakes, and then the eulachon run. I tell Fintay the tittle fish are in and suggest we drive to Kwinltsa and have a Jook. He readily agrees. Soon we're cruising west on Highway 16. - TERRACE. STANDARD. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 18, 1998 - BS 638-7283 Atoms host 12 team tourney Locals take on northwest & 12-TEAM Atom hockey tournament had the arena rocking over the weekend. Teams from all over the northwest arrived in Terrace Friday for the event, and plenty of fans were on hand to cheer for their favourite teams. A game Saturday morning pitted Terrace’s Bargain Shop against visiting Prince Rupert, and it was a classic defensive struggle. The tight-checking first period saw few good scor- ing chances on either side. But a penalty by Rupert late in the period gave Terrace. a two-minute man advantage going into the second. Terrace had a couple of good chances, but an energetic, Rupert squad was able to get to the puck first and clear the zone. Rupert got a chance of their own on a powerplay midway through the second but also failed to capitalize and the score stayed tied at 0-0. In spite of the fast, end-to- end action, neither team let rece HE’S GOT WHEELS: A Bargain Shop player takes off with the puck -during one of the early games in the 12- team Atom Tournament held here over the weekend. Prince Rupert won this defensive battle 1-0. up much in the third period. But Rupert’s legs seemed to have a bil more drive and that gave them an edge in play. That edge was obvious when a Rupert player broke away from the pack and out- distanced Tertace’s defen- cemen on a breakaway mid- way through the third. Bargain Shop goalie Jor- dan Cowman had to come up wilh a huge stop, and he did, stretching out his block- er to knock away a great top-shelf shot, Thirty seconds later Cow- man was at it again, with another huge blocker save to keep it ticd at 0. Rupert had a third chance on a two-on-one, minutes later. Despite a perfect pass- ing play and a nice one- timer, Cowman read the pass and stacked the pads, sliding across the goal- ‘mouth to make another great save, ' ‘ But Prince Rupert con- tinned to apply pressure, and with just 3:40 left in the game, they scored after a wild scramble in front of the net. Desperate, Terrace pulled their goalie wiih two minutes left. But a sub- sequent penalty by Rupert gave Terrace a man ad- vantage and Cowman was put back between the pipes. But even that advantage wasn’t enough to beat Rupert's defence, and the visitors won 1-0. After the match, Tanner +Nobel was awarded with the Adam Enginecring Mr. Of- fence award for Terrace. Sandeep Kondola picked up the Acadia Mechanical Mr. Defence award. New hockey league has big potential ORGANIZERS OF men’s recreational hockey in Terrace are looking to put together a full con- tact commercial league for next season, The idea has been kicked around for a long time, but it really took off after the. success of full contact tournaments in the northwest this winter. The event in Terrace was held on short notice, but still drew a large crowd that really seemed to enjoy the high-calibre action. “The response from the public was just phenomenal,’? says organizer Roger Harris. “‘Terrace wants high-level hockey.”’ Now Harris and others want to expand the concept into a full blown commercial league with teams from Terrace, Prince Rupert and Just this past weekend, Terrace players were | visiting Prince Rupert for a trial game to measure the interest there, Harris says if everything works out, there “There's a lot of enthusiasm for this. The desire's there and the talent’s there. The difficulty is working out Ice times.”’ —Roger Harris : . ‘ 1 could be a schedule organized by next season. Each community’s team would play two sets of games a month, once at home and once on the road, weekend each month of high-calibre full- contact mens’ hockey. , The teams will consist of the best recreational league players and other players who used to play semi-professional or university hockey. “‘There’s a lot of enthusiasm for this,’’ Harris says, “The desire’s there‘and the talent’s there. The difficulty is working out ice times,’’ Harris points out that without a second sheet there is no free ice time in Terrace. That means the commercial league would have to buy or trade ice time with other groups. i That could prove difficult, but Harris says at the very least there should be a couple more tournaments next year. i “‘We're still in the preliminary stages,’’ he Kitimat. That would give Terrace hockey fans one Bae SCHOOL'S OUT: Youth curlers fram Terrace’s after school league practice a shot last week, That's Laura’ Gunniaugson and Nina Batjer doing a little sweeping. The school league was a big success this year. Youth curling numbers up | Organizers ponder big expansion next season THE SUCCESS of a school curling program this year may lead to an expanded schedule next season. The school program wound down last week at the Terrace Curling Club, but youths were in high spirits and obviously cn- joyed the game. In fact, the program has expanded from 48 children participating Jast year to more than 200 this year, coming from six different elementary schools, That meant school chil- dren were on the ice after school four days a week for the past month, And the program's stc- cess has club manager Keith Melanson considering ¢x- panding the program next year to run both in the fall and again in the spring. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm for it,”’ he says. ‘Qf the demand’s | there, we'll certainly open the fa- cility for them.’? Melanson says the pro- gram is a great way to get youths interested in the sport — an interest that can continue through school and into adult life. Terrace’s boys’. high school team was recently at the Provincial Playdowns in Victoria, where they had a strong finish to the season. That team consisted of Skip Shane Burke, third Rob Dennis, second James Adams and lIead “Brad Gunnlaughson. School curling isn’t the only league winding down, ee Playoffs are already finished in some leagues, and finish- ing up in others. The Tues- day Men’s League went to the Kevin McDougall rink, while the Thursday Men’s League was won by the Dave Dennis foursome. There are also fun spiels happening all month, and coming up are the popular Totem Mixed Bonspiel Mar. 27-29 and the Mens’ Log- . gers Bonspiel, Apr. 9-12. Neither event will feature all-night curling this year, _says. “But I think it could work.’” Locals place:at national level TWO LOCAL gymnasts just missed qualifying for a team that would have represented Canada at an international meet In Los Angeles. Annadelle Kurtz and Annie Wittkowski recent- ly attended the Golden Spike tournament in Port Coquitlam. It was their. first Level Four competi- tion, so they werent’! likely to make the cut. But the girls’ outstand- ing performances im- pressed judges as well as other athletes, who came from as far away as Ontarlo and Quebec for the event. “They did so well,” says Lori Schulmeister of the Terrace Peaks Gym- nastics Club. ‘'Their per- formances really say something about the talent we have here,’* A tolal of 15 gymnasts competed at the event. Witikowski picked up a bronze medal on the beam, while Kurtz was fourth on the floor. Schulmeister says there’s no doubt in her mind (hat the girls will qualify at next year’s event. ‘‘l’d bet money on it,’’ she says. The Peaks gymnasts training for their next meet, which they will host, April 24-25.