B4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 7, 2001 SKEENA-ANGLER. ROB BROWN Imagery here’s a man standing in a river so dark and green it seems to be fading l to black. There is a pool of light where his reflection should be. Light from the same source defines the . Shape of the rod in his right hand, then traces a length of fly line that disappears out of the frame into infinity. The man’s hand rests atop a brown angling bag held in place by a thick ad- justable band of heavy brown fabric draped over _ his left shoulder. A thick cord crosses that strap and the gray, while, and black Cowichan swea- ter from the right then disappears under the man’s left arm. Barely visible under both cords, a crossed length of yellow plastic rope with leather sus- pender loops taped to its ends holds up a pair of brown waders. The waders are cinched to the man’s waist by variegated green cord. Under the light, the man’s hat is a faded green. On its own the image is masterpiece; I know the subtext; to me it speaks volumes. The iver is the Bulkley, somewhere near the Rainbow Ranch. [ know this because Myron Kozak took the picture, and that is where he would have run into. Finlay, whose image, un- mistakable even from the back, he captured. And since this was the Bulkley, Fin’s good friend John Baigent must have been nearby, be- cause I wasn’t there, and the few times Finlay fished the Ranch it was with either John or me. In fact, this might have been the cold day in November when Finlay, who pioneered the use first, a large buck, on a waking fly. After the way that fish attacked it - a story he related often in exactly the same way with exactly the same amount of enthusiasm - Fin- lay was convinced the scruffy, loosely tied deer _ hair bee, or a fly like it, was the right medicine for Bulkley st¢elhead. As a result [ found myself tying dozens for him. The fly line snaking through the guides and drooping from the tip guide is a Scientific An- glers’ double-tapered floater for a six, because it was the only line Fin needed to catch lots of fish. At the end of the line, invisible in the shot, is ten feet of Maxima ten paund test, because, Fin said, it sinks better when you want it to. The rod is the one John Baigent had built up for Finlay: a Winston carbon fibre pole dyed green and wrapped simply and well by a friend of John’s. It’s the same rod that Finlay used to catch so many spotted cutthroat trout and char on the Kitimat, Lakelse, Skeena and Copper; the same tool he used to pry steelhead and sal- mon from the same rivers, and the same rod that lies in splinters in my fly tying room after it ex- ploded in my hand on the afternoon of the fog- filled fall day of Finlay’s funeral. The brown bag is the one I bought for Finlay at Ruddick’s shop to replace the beaten up old Hardy model that no longer kept out the water. inside it is a can of Coke, a candy bar, twa Al- toids Peppermint tins (one filled with Skinny Skunks, the other with a variety of tiny soft hackles), a spool of ten pound leader, and an apple core, since the picture was clearly taken in the afternoon. - The cord is connected to a wading staff, the one put together from the two thick poles Finlay found inside the remains of a tent somebody had discarded on the rip rap overlooking the Copper River above Channel Three. Despite my doubts about entrusting one’s security to a staff fash- ioned from salvaged aluminum, Finlay taped the two poles together, jammed a yellow bi- cycle grip he found in his shed to one end and used it until he could no longer fish. The waders were made by Orvis. Their thick canvas didn’t seem to slow Finlay down all that much, even though he wore them from his late seventies unlil his early eighties. The suspen- ders wore out necessitating the fabrication of new ones fram yellow plastic rope, electrician’s tape and the leather eyelets from the pair that came with the waders. Like the suspenders, the wading belt was a teplacement that worked better than the original and was fashioned from a bungee cord. Finlay was a Scot who survived the depression and the war. He was frugal, yet generous to a fault, and, having spent a big chunk of his life doing with- out, hated to throw anything away. And then there’s the Tilley hat, brown and bent out of shape, and worn with a rakish tilt. A Tilley can be worn in atl kinds of weather and worm everywhere and Finlay did. His daughter Mary wears it on walks now, she said at the de- dication of her father’s calm recently. The cairn sits beside the Lakelse River. Bruce, Fintay’s son, gave me the picture there. A picture of a man skilled at capturing steelhead by one skilled at capturing light. Both gone now. The image is luminous. The circle is complete. S SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN. | of the floating line for steelhead, caught his | thing they're not short on. With seven players back an the roster this year, coach John Amos is confident that the team is in for a solid season of hockey. “Our biggest asset is our two returning goalies,” Amos said. Brad Norwood and Tysen Tugwell are both only 15 years old but they each stand six feet tall. That means there’s a lot of goalie to cover the area between the pipes. “They're both talented and they’re both big,” said Amos. In minor hockey it’s common to have one first year goaltender and one second year goa- lie, but with two experienced players keeping the pucks at bay, the bantams are in gaod shape. P By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN WHEN IT comes to rep hockey there’s no doubt that having experienced players return for a second season is a distinct advantage. And for the Inland Kenworth Bantam rep team in Terrace, returning players is some- TERRACE STANDARD “They're both talented and they're both big” Tyson Tugwell grew up in Terrace and worked his way through the ranks of minor hockey since he was five years old. His calling as a goalie came early in life. Tugwell’s older brother played hockey and with no goalie around to shoot pucks at, he’d bundle his little brother Tyson up in pillows and practise taking shots at him. “I kind of got the hang of it early,” he said laughing. Brad Norwood has also played goalie since he was a youngster. Both teens were picked for the under [6 zone rep team last year and they and got a . taste of what il takes to play high level hock- ey. “In an average game I'd have 60 or 70 shots,” Tugwell said. That compares to 20-30 _ 638-7283 GOALIES Brad Norwood and Tys - on Tugwell stop the pucks for Terrace Bantam rep team. Look for-them between the pipes this Friday and Saturday night at the Terrace arena as they take on the Prince Rupert rep team. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO. pucks to stop per game in inter-city rep play. And with five more returning players on the team, there’s a lot of experience to go around. “We're expecting them to pass on their ex- perience to the guys who are first year and some kids who are first year rep,” coach Amos said. Six of those seven players played on the under 16 zone team last year. on KEITH MELANSON and Joan Kucharyshen sweep during the first game of the. Interzone mixed curling playdowns here Oct. 27. Their team, the McDougall rink, advances to the provincial championship. Local rink takes on the province IT ONLY took two games for Terrace’s McDougall tink to win the interzone mixed curling playdowns. The playdowns were held here Oct. 27 as the home tink took on the Rick Fewster foursome from Prince George. The local team is headed up by skip Kevin McDougall, third Kim MacDougall, second Duane Melanson and lead Joan Kucharyshen. The first game of the best of three showdown showed fairly even play between the two teams up until the eighth end, But in the ninth end the McDougall crew scored four points and opened up a five point lead with only the tenth end left to play. The Fewster team con- ceded leaving the score 9- 4 for the McDougall rink. The second game saw Terrace down 3-2 after six ends. But they come back | with a vengeance in the seventh end when the got a four ender and stole one more in the eighth to put them up 7-3, McDougall stole two more in the ninth and the Fewster team conceded. The final scote was 9-3, The McDougall rink ad- vances to the provincial mixed championships in Smithers Nov. 9-11, They played with the most talented players from the northwest region and got a shot at provincial level play. Amos hopes they'll build on that experience this season. Amos was an assistant coach for the zone team last year which means he knows the strengths of certain players on the other ban- tam teams in the region. Sports Scope Qualifying tourney set BASKETBALL teams around B.C. and Alaska are gearing up for the the 11th annual All Native Quali- fying Tournament. The Novy. 22-25 tournament pits teams against each another for a chance to play in February’s All Native Basketball Tournament. Last year Terrace had two teams representing the city — The Terrace Spirit Riders women’s team and an intermediate men’s team, The Predators. This year’s qualifying tournament hosts four divi- sions once again: Senior, Intermediate, Masters and Women. The top two teams from each division at the qualif- ier advances to the main tournament. For more information about the qualifying tourna- ment call Conrad Lewis at 250 627-8997. zone trials here BADMINTON enthusiast here looking to participate in the 2002 B.C. Winter Games will have to take part in the Zone 7 trials first. The trials are open to players who reside in the zone, are at least 12 years ald as of Feb, 21, 2002 and under 15 years old as of the sare date. Games are set to go Nov. 25 at Thornhill Junior School at 10 a.m. Quatifiers from the trials proceed to the B.C. Win- ter Games in Williams Lake Feb. 21-24, 2002, For more information call Ken at 635-6814. Kermodes to play in high school soccer champs CALEDONIA Senior Secondary’s boys soccer team proved they’ve got what it takes to get to provincials Oct. 27, That’s when they met Smithers in the northwest zone soccer final. Playing away from their home turf, the Kermodes outplayed the Smithers team and came out on top 2- Terrace’s Kelly Doll racked up two goals in the first half winning the game and caming him the title of the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, Under the guidance of coach Nick Kollias the boys will be in good hands as they mect the best teams the province hastooffer. = ; The team heads off to Burnaby Nov, 22-24 to play in the B.C, high school boys championships. This weekend Terrace is on home ice tak- ing on Prince Rupert. “They have three kids that were on the same northwest team so it should be interest- ing,’ Amos said about the Prince Rupert team. “We're optimistic and we're looking for- ward to seeing them,” he added. The bantams take to the ice Friday at 10 p.m. and Saturday at noon at the arena. Kermodes come close at tourney THE CALEDONIA boys volleyball team is playing solid volleyball these days, but that wasn’t quite good enough to clinch the top spot at a tournament they hosted Oct. 27. Teams from Prince Ru- pert, Kitimat, Terrace, Smithers and Houston tock part in the tournament here. The Kermades won the A Pool beating Houston Christian School, Bulkley Valley Christian Schoal from Smithers and Prince Rupert Senior Secondary. - The Mount Elizabeth . Senior Secondary Lagles from Kitimat won the B Poo! ousting Centennial Christian School from Ter- race and Prince Rupert's Charles Hays Secondary, The finals saw the - MLE.S.S, Eagles take on ’ the Kermodes for the third week of tournament play “in a row. Despite displaying ex- cellent communication skills and strong playing - ability, the team just couldn't heat out Kitimat’s Mount Elizabeth Senior Secondary Eagles in the final. They didn’t go down . without a fight though. The final saw the two rivals go to a third set tie- breaker, but it was the Eagles who came out on | top beating the Kermodes 15-13. So far this season the | Mount Elizabeth Senior . Secondary Eagles are the strongest team in the zone,” .