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SPORTS MENU C2

-SKEENA ANGLER
ROB BROWN

In the canoe

ESEARCH FOR an article. on the

events leading up to the preservation

of the Killope Valley took me to
Kitimaat Village and the home of Kenny. and
Shirley Hall this week. [t was San experience 1’ ll
not soon forget.

For me there is always a short period of
awkwardness when entering the home of
strangers. The moment I stepped into the hallway
of the Halls I felt welcome, at ease. Shirley, ilu-

‘minated by the light of a window overlooking the

village and the sea, smiled warmly as she stood

up then shook my hand gently but firmly. As I

turned to shake Kenny’s hand I noticed a large

wall covered with pictures of beaming children,

Kenny leaned across the couch to take my hand.
A painful hip kept him from standing. He'd ag-
gravated it on a trip to Kemano, where he'd been
overseeing construction of a dike Alcan is erect-

- ing to halt destruction of the Haisla graveyard

there,

of magic and power where tools, placed there by

‘one generation lo mark the skills of another,
protrude from the moss on the graves like
‘mushrooms; where lists of names on weathered

grave markers tell of the plagues that reduced the

‘Henaaksiala to three families in terribly short

Span. This seemed an appropriate entry to our
conversation, I asked Kenny whether he felt the
dike would slem the tide.

Kenny Hall is Chaqweckash, Henaaksiala sur-
vivor, hereditary chief,~chicf of _Kowesas,
respected - ‘Eagle Clan elder,’ repository ‘of. vital
knowledge passed on over thousands of years.

His speech is ‘strong, direct, full of symbols,
sometimes tinged with ‘sadness, but never bitter,
which says much about the character of a man
who has seen transmission towers replace totems,
lived.all his life bearing the oppressive weight of
covert and overt racism, seen alcohol and disease
favage the homes of his people, watched his
parents and his wife’s parents die of stomach can-
cer, lost two young sons to fire and suffered the
indignity of losing the remains of -two of his
grandparents to the wash of the Alcan ferry.

The mountain at Kemano, said Kenny, was
where his distant ancestors found refuge during
the Greal Flood. He was satisfied the dike would
spare the resting place of their descendants. ‘‘A
new pole, Nanakila, the watchman,’ watches
over the graveyard now, he told me. I remem-

. bered it, recalled its brilliant cyes.

“School children asked me why there is such a
large emply space from just below the tap to the
bottom of that pole, I told them that is what the
earth will be like if people continue to hann it,”
said Kenny.

Kenny Hall then spoke of the culachon his
people. harvest at Kemano.cvery year. ‘It is a
long way to go. It’s expensive. Not very many
Haisla go now.”

As he and Shirley told how, each spring, the
Haisla canoed across the estuary to the fishing
camp located where the sand hill in Kitimat now
slands — every family in their own canoe, every

‘Haisla with their own paddle, every family with

their own house al the site — I began to ap-

" preciate what a devastating thing the loss of that
fishery. was. The fish were. rendercd, Great

quantilics of the finest grease was collected, and
in the process ways and wisdom were handed
from old to young. Grease was food, medicine
and a medium of exchange. With six culachon
rivers, the Haisla were a rich nation.

Thanks to sewage and industrial effluent the
Kilimat estuary turned into a chemical soup. The
ewlachon began to stink and taste bad. The Haisla
stopped fishing the Kitimat run, further devastat-
ing an already reeling economy,

While Shirley made some lunch, I questioned
Kenny about Rediscovery, the initiative designed
to reconnect young Haisla to their land, and about
the younger generation of Haisla in general. As
Shirley placed the sandwiches before us Kenny
began speaking of the trip young Haisla made to
Bella Bella in a dugout built for the occasion, He
spoke of their training and the eventful journey,
As I listened I saw young Haisla slicing through
the sea, shepherded by Elders in powered craft; I
pictured the young crew struggling through rough
water just outside the Village. He and Shirlcy
glowed with pride. ‘It was the high point in my
life,’’ sald Kenny, Then, while I finished my cof-
feo and the last sandwich, he left the ‘room and
returncd with carved cedar paddlc, handsomely
decorated with an cagle, and handed it to me.
‘"We'd like you to have this,’? he said.

I didn’t know what to say. I struggicd: for ap-
propriate words of. thanks.-Chaqweckash stopped
me with a wave of his hand. ‘‘It's: yours,’” he

said. ‘You're it the « canoe ¢ now, You will need a

paddle.’’ -

I visited the graveyard Jast summer. It’s a place

THE RESULT was never in
doubt.

The final of the ‘94 Terrace
Cash Spiel lasted only six ends
but Kevin McDougall’s foursome
had essentially wrapped it up half
way there,

The writing was on the wall for
their Smithers opponents from the
first end when skip Don Palmer
missed- an open takeout and
McDougall made him pay with a
draw for three.

Palmer blanked the second but
squandered a chance for two in
the third when he overthrew his
draw, tapped his own counter out
of contention and had to settle for
a single,

Long raised takeouts delivered
the killer blow. Terrace second
Mitch Griffilh went two for two

to relieve early pressure in the
fourth and McDougall duplicated
on his fist to lic two.

Left with a straight takeout on
his last, McDougall made no mis-
take for three more and a 6-1
lead.

Palmer was forced 10 make a
touchy takcout in the next just to
salvage a single and then got into
trouble early in the sixth when his
second helpfully raised a Terrace
rock into the rings behind lots of
cover,

Facing two yellows on his first,
Palmer unsuccessfully tried to use
a non-counter for a hit and long,
crass-house roll,

McDougall] drew the back 12ft.
to lie three and when he wrecked
on his freeze hammer attempt,
Palmer shook hands.

McDougall, third Dan Fisher,
Griffith and lead Ross Smith took
the $1,800 top prize by a 9-2
margin.

There was no such easy stroll in
the other Cash Spiel playoffs.

In the game for third, Ron
Townley’s two in the sixth tied
that one up at ihree.

Having heaved one through to
blank the next, John Heighington
hit and stuck with the hammer to
go one up after cight.

Alter Townley had evened up
again with a game rescuing draw
in the ninth, Heighinglon put it
away with his final end hammer,
just squeezing the guard for the
nose hit and the $600 prize,

It was another nailbiter in the
consolation, and all-Terrace af-
fair, in the consolation final. -.

McDougall cashes in

Denise Sawtell gol the early
jump with a single in the first fol-
lowed by a steal of another. Twa
more in the fourth had her 4-1 up
but = that’s) Where Kim
McDougall’s rink staried to fight
back.

Having picked up a deuce in the
next, McDougall stole two more
when Sawtell's hit rolled too far,

Alter a blanked end, Sawtell
scored singletons in cach of the
next two to regain the fead,

In the tenth, however, the
momentum shifted yet again and
on her last Sawtell had to pull off
the freeze to stay alive. Cver-
thrown, the rock hung out stub-
bornly to wreck and the
McDougall clan had picked up
their second triumph of | the
weekend, 7-6.

PUTTING IT AWAY. Kevin McDougall keeps a close eye on his
last stone of the Terrace Cashsplel He successfully drew the Smithers wreck on his last gasp draw attempt.

LeBlanc nets
nationals fifth

THE ROOKIES did just fine and
Terrace had a share in the fifth
best in Canada performance,

The team was the Caribao Col-
lege (Kamloops) Sun Demons,
the local hook was goalie Aaron
LeBlanc and the event was the
soccer university college national
championship.

Wilh an average age of 18-19
years, the Sun Demons were the
kids on the block, says Aaron’s
father, Jacques LeBlanc.

Politely describing some of the
opposition as ‘‘very mature
teams,’’ he pointed out the Hum-
ber College Hawks of Ontario
counted a half dozen Canadian
Soccer League players among
their number. '

Not as strong as they would like
to be up front, ihe Sun Demons’
task was made all the tougher by
having their leading striker under
suspension for the first game of
the nationals and another forward
out with injury for the duration,

But despite those problems,
they gave a good account of
themselves,

While Cariboo tried to adjust to
the artificial turf at the Montreal
venue, the Mount Royal Cougars
grabbed two quick goals and held
that advantage to the end of the
tournament opener.

It was pretty much a repeat in
the Sun Demons’ second game,
said LeBlanc, another 2-0 loss
this time to Dawson College of
Quebec: ©

That sent Cariboo to the cons:
solation round: . where” they -
Whipped: Nove Scotia 6 0: to end, :

are

up in fifth place.

Aaron’s shut oul was reminis-
cent of the stellar performance he
had tumed in at the provincial
playoffs.

In the opener there, LeBlanc
held Langara off the board
through both regulation and over-
time, then did the same in the
shoot-out as Cariboo notched its
first victory.

The final saw another scorcless
game forcing a shoot-out and this
time he let in only one as the Sun

Demons netted three to take the

title.

No surprise, LeBlanc was
named most valuable player of
the provincial championship,

Given the youth of the Sun
Demons, Jacques predicts the
only direction js up.

“The Nationals were not bad
for the team, they got some good
experience,”’ be said. “It'll work
in their favour next year,

kk kkk
A LOT of Terrace youth soccer
players are missing the boat, says
Jacques LeBlanc,

“That’s because they just don’t
know the opportunities that are
out there.’ “A lot of kids from
here should be playing in col-
leges,”’ he maintains.

The problem is they don’t real-
ize there are scholarships avail-
able in thelr favourite sport.

And with the number. of ap-
plicants exceeding places avail-

“able at. most institutions, those

scholarships become an all the

more. important. ticket to > post: 7
secondary educatton. a

back 12 to lie three, then watched opposing skip Don Palmer of

Tea

IT’S NEVER too early to start when you'va got your ayes on.
an NHL career. Above, a couple of Terrace Minor Hockey's, ’
| ‘youngest engage in a one-on-one 2 duel Saturday morning.