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B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, March 30, 2005”

Sats ANGLER .

_.ROB BROWN _

"Fisher of fish. and men.

had my ‘hand i in 1 the river.
_ My feet back up on the banks:
Looked up to the. lord above and said “hey
man thanks.”
- The Tragically Hip

The great fish cruised its cool curving world

. with an . ‘efficient stealth: an unconscious direct
drive the envy of the wiliest cat in the Bengal. Its:

eyes, finely. tuned do so over a span stretching from

when the time the sun first’lit the skies until now,
gathered the slender shards of light and used them

to. interpret the fluctuant, mutable world and light

. the hunt. ° ;
~~ Off Purden Point, the mighty fish bent downward
and followed a sandy, Shoal past’ wavering masses,
through a.curtain of undulant.olive light into lus-

“ trous purples then drowned blues to the inky depths

‘where decomposition’ draws the line between life .

and death.
At the spot where the river ran 1 before it. was
eternally damned by man, the eyes of the great fish

» glowed gold like a cat’s as the creature instinctively.
~’ drew on its visual reserves for a primordial squint
> that transformed the inky depths into the brilliant

blue of dead starless skies and swept away the cur-

‘tain of cover from'any quarry — a perch, a drum,

a minnow, or one of its own kind — that might be

|. cowering behind the structures left by the river to
if. commemorate its demise. There were none. ;

The mighty fish quivered. Then it sent a surge of

power coursing down its olive back that shook its

spiky dorsal and rippled along its dark saddles then
propelled onward to continue its endless hunt.

From the lower floors of heaven, Tobin Lake,
with wisps of river sticking out of the dam out of
its bulbous head at its north end, and its slender tail
trailing off to Nipawan in the south, looks like any
one of the millions of mosquito larvae that hang,
suspended in millions of stagnant Saskatchewan
ponds each summer.

From the ground floor it’s a formidable piece
- of water 45-miles long and full of fine fishing year

round.
Father Mariusz Zajac rolled out onto Tobin Lake

_and drove past the rows of ice shacks toward his -
‘own.

He had reason to feel truly blessed: blessed to be

~ nowhere within reach of those great waves whose

carnage shaken journalists were describing over the
truck radio in gruesome detail, blessed to be shield-

ed from the prairie winter heater i in the cab of his -

4x4, and blessed by the fact he was caught up with

his duties at the Canadian Martyrs Roman Catholic

Church in Carrot River and could look forward to
a full day of fishing through the ice for Tobin Lake
walleye. —
The’ Reverend Father was a fisher of fish long
before he took up angling for the souls of men.
- “My family says I was born witha fishing rod in
my hand,” he’s told people on occasion. .
When his calling took him from his native Po-
land to a hamlet of a thousand souls located in the
epicentre of prairie Jake fishing in Northern Sas-
katchewan, Father Zajac felt the hand of divine
providence at work. Lake Tobin was man’s creation
not God’s, but the fishing was so good at times, the

Creator had to have a hand i in it, the Priestly Fishing

Pole was sure.
‘Ice fishing devotees, ‘like curlers, have been
known to indulge in a little drinking, smoking and

Tibaldry in the execution of their sport. Some ice
shacks have become places of debauchery.
The Zajac shack is more of a monastic cell where

the humble, often penitent, priest meditates upon
the great mysteries between fish. .
_ And this is what Mariusz proceeded to do.
At the end of many fishless hours, he impaled a

. Minnow on his Five of Diamonds spoon bent over
his hole for one last jig, reciting the Canticle of

Mary as he often did.
“My soul doth magnify the Lord ...
- The great spiny fish caught the smell of minnow

"and flash of silver simultaneously. It shot towards

its prey and seized it in its large serrated maw.
After a struggle of Biblical proportions, Father
Zajac grabbed his pole and dispatched the biggest

” walleye lie (or anyone) had ever seen, and praised

the Lord for being online in his moment of need.
Since then the word of the world-record fish has

spread faster than The Revealed Word. The fishing

priest has appeared on radio and TV, fielded thou-

-sands of congratulatory emails and online requests

from disease victims to intercede on their behalf
with his powerful prayers.

Father Zajac decided to use his newfound noto:
riety to establish and promote a tsunami relief fund
at his credit union to help Indian Ocean fishermen.

_ Once the great fish is mounted, the modest priest -

will hang it on the wall of his cabin on the shores of

Lake Tobin next to a picture of the blessed virgin.

, By MARGARET SPEIRS
BANTAM REPS battled".

the province’s’ best, and

the Yukon’s, and came out _

bruised and battered but not
shut out.

o After. being: blown away

12-5 against Vancouver Is-

“fand’s Peninsula squad, our
_bantams received a clobber-.
-ing of 9-2 from Whitehorse. *

The third time wasn’t the
charm either as they dropped
another game to Port Moody
7-2.

‘The fourth game saw

‘them: go against Trail, the ~
team coach John Amos said -
could be ranked number

\

one.

Trail cleaned the ice with

Terrace 14-2.

Amos’ plan for his team’

to play defensively to slow

the game down fell apart

right away.

Trail flew onto the ice and :
showed off their superior.

size and speed, scoring their
first goal after.an onslaught

by several players that ended °

- in a pile in ‘front of Terrace

stopping multiple
only to have the next one ~

goalie Garrett Muir only five
mins into the period.’

‘Muir spent the evening
shots,

slip past him.

He executed a sprawling .

* save just over seven minutes
_ into the first as, the Terrace

m TERRACE STANDARD

THESE TERRACE fans show their pride at the Inland Kenworth bantam rep team’ 'S game against Trail on Mar.
22 at the Terrace Arena. The local squad were trashed by their larger opponents 14-2. MARGARET SPEIRS PHOTO

638-7283

‘stopped another Trail at-.

tempt only to have the re-

‘bound slide in to his right.

With less than half the
first gone, Trail went up 3-
0.:

‘About a dozen Trail fans

raised the rafters with cow-

portunities, ‘put had trouble
throughout the night.

' An early attempt on the
Trail goal missed, .with’ the
rebound’ smacking into the

. goalie’s pads.

The first period ended 7- 0
and. Terrace trekked back to

“We can’t keep up with’
” them. Alex [Redpath] got hit |

and he didn’t even have the
puck. They just hammered

him.”
'. While Muir took a break

outside the dressing room,
Amos told him “Don’t be
afraid to yell at your d-men”,

“thing.”

have to try to smother every-

The second period sped -
by.

Another missed shot for °
Terrace and Trail replied by
notching another, ending the
period 12-0 before a silent
crowd.

defence struggled to protect _ bells and yells. . .the dressing room.
him. . Terrace tried to make “They’re swarming us,”
Seconds later, Muir — their best of their scoring op- Amos said.

A YOUNG snowboarder comes in for a landing at the second annual All Seasons -

Slope Style Event at Shames Mt. earlier this month. Over 40 skiers and snowboard-

ers completed some eye-popping stunts ‘during the two-day event.
SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

Snow sporties show

off their ‘slope style’.

~ is a 720 spin done sideways.

and-a-half turns on a backwards takeoff and
a forward landing, but was foiled by mother
nature when it mattered. :

; By : . i
MARGARET SPEIRS
SPECTATORS SAW some big air time at
Shames Mt. in the second All Seasons Slope
Style Event over the Mar. 12 weekend. —

Beautiful weather brought out the most
skiers ever, 22, for the skiing events on Sat-
urday.

Eight women came out to the snowboard-
ing.event on Sunday, five more than last
year.

A total of 46 riders tackled the events.

Organizer Kristian Grey said he received
many compliments and spectators saw some
great moves.

' “Tt went pretty smooth. Some pretty cool
tricks were thrown in,” he said. 4

was frozen so he was pulling some pretty
cool tricks.

“In his counted run, he couldn’t get
enough speed because of the sticky snow,”

snow, which meant the snow conditions de-
teriorated. —
Skiers suffered a few problems with in-

the runs were roped off for the snowboarders
.the next day.

The winners:

Tim Smith of Smithers landed the skiers’ Skiing , :
best trick: a 540 over the spine, Grey said. ace and under, Cameron Hennons, Ter-
b tinued th tb
Gn oarders continued! the pace set by Men 15 to 18 years old, Curt Onstein,
Smithers .

“The level of snowboarding this year
I couldn’t believe it from last year,” Grey -
said - .
“If you couldn’t do 540s, you weren’t
making the top three in the categories.”

Jason Adam won the best trick award for
a corked front side 720 over the spine, which

Women’s open, Andrea Bull, Kitimat,

Men’s open, Chance Healy, Terrace

Best trick Tim Smith, Smithers, 540 over
the spine,

Snowboarding

14 and under, Josh Wafzig, Terrace

Men 15 to 18, Kyle Wilcox, Terrace
Women’s open, Silvie Giannelia, Terrace

Mike Campbell of Kitimat executed a
Men’s open, Mike Campbell, Kitimat

switch 900 during practice, which is two-
t

f 4

~ “In the morning during practice, the snow _

Grey said, adding the sun’ had warmed the |

terference from other traffic on the hill, but

referring to the defence.

“You're just going to Cont'd Page B10

Sports Scope.

_Basketbali boys compete

GRADE 6 AND 7 boys took to the court at Caledonia to
compete in a local tournament on'March 12.

Veritas’ Grade 6 team topped the competition, fol-
lowed by Uplands i in second, Clarence Michiel in third
and Cassie Hall in fourth.

- In the Grade 7 boys’ games, Clarence Michiel won,
Uplands came second, Veritas scored third and Cassie
Hall rounded out the top four.

Corporate Chall. champs

ABOUT 90. skiers ° and snowboarders came out to
the sixth annual Mr. Mike’s Corporate Challenge on
Shames Mt. March 6.

con, Andrew Rushton and Mona Horvatic from Cana-
dian Tire. ;

Shames Mt. Special Forces teammates Mike Talstra,
_ Silvie Giannelia and Jason Kowalsky won first in the

mixed snowboarding race,

First in the mixed snowboarding and ‘skiing | race
went to Stacey Black, Mark Vansickle and Joe Pedro
of A&W.

the title of fastest male skier and Mona Horvatic was
named fastest female on skis.

St. Paddy’s squash victors

ABOUT 30 people swatted the squash ball around the

Kiva at Northwest Community College Mar. 17 to 20.
Taking the Men's A division was Gino Iamele. The
Men’s B event went to Eric Turner.

category. The Men’s D group winner was Les Ratkai.
Jill Girodat: ‘won the women’s open.

Ruins boarder. heroes

THE RUINS Boarder Cross challenged 30 skiers and
snowboarders to show off their stuff on Mar. 20.

Snowboarding champs included an_all-Terrace
sweep of first. place: Colin Davies in the men’s. open,
Silvie Giannelia in the women’s open, Jeff Chapman
in the men’s 14 to 17 .category and Lee Miller in the 13
and under group.

Terrace men took the skiing events but a local wom-
an didn’t win. Rob Schibli scored the men’s open, Tra-

won the 13 and under group and Prince Rupert’s Nicole
Slater reigned in the women’s open.

Fore!

GOLFERS who’ ve patiently waited through the winter
weather for the greens to thaw can now rejoice.

The driving range in New Remo is now open every
day from noon until dusk. It’s located about-10 minutes
west of town on Hwy 16.

Rail Rodeo winners

THE SHAMES Mountain Rail Rodeo crowned its
champions on Mar. 19.

Lee Miller and Josh Wafzig took home first i in the
boys 13 and under division and Per Wall won the boys
14-17 category. Silvie Giannelia topped the female
open group and Byron Sterner took top spot in the male
open.

The mixed skiing race went to the team of Nick Gas-

Andrew Rushton blazed down the mountain to win .

- courts in the St. Patrick’s Day squash tournament at the.

‘In a surprise turn, Colleen Annibal won the Men’s C

vis Yagelniski took the men’s 14 to 17, Graeme Schibli