Pitan ee pret eee yer a Gage Ee Pe, Ae DAVE TAYLOR _SKEENA ANGLER ROB BROWN Just rewards a] Woods was a gentle man and a gentleman; an angler and a conser- vationist, a catalyst and a florist in whose shop the Steelhead Socicty of B.C, was born. Contrary to a wide spread no- tion among far too many sportsman, the Steel- head Society is not an elitist organization of flyfishermen. Cal Woods exemplified this, fish- ing for most of his life with a casting rod and a float, the tiaditional gear of this province's steelhead fishermen, as did' the majority of members of the Suciety. Though the debale over gear restrictions is a persistent theme at Steelhead Society functions, its members have always put the health of stcel- head stocks and steelhead habitats ahead of all other concerns, It is this focus that prompted the Society to go toe to toe with mining companies, forest corporations, Aluminum giants, commer- cial fishers, misguided governments, developers other salmonids. Because it waged these battles with guis and integrity, the Steelhead Society has camed a Jot respect internationally, and this respect is growing. The Habitat Restoration Corporation, a pioneer in forest restoration, and now the largest player in this province’s forest renewal pro- gram, is under the Aegis of the Steelhead Society. Despite tong standing fears among much of its membership that land claim settle- ments may compromise much of iis sport, the Steelhead Society embarked on ground breaking iniliatives involving in-river selective fisheries piloted by First Nations, Socicty, with it’s unwavering concern for the fisheries, and ultimately the overall health of the enviroument in this province, has named its an- nual conservation award after the late Cal Woods whose quiet, unassuming, hard-working, and selfless determination embodied what (he ’ Society stands for. The bar is set high for the eventual winner of the Cal Woods Award, A few years ago it was: won -— and richly deserved — by a civil ser- vant; Skeena’s Regional Biologist, Robert Hooton, To those who know him and of his work, this was no surprise. Hooton is an in- defatigable battler for steelhead with a clear un- derstanding of his mandate. The Ministry of the Environment has never been adequately funded or highly regarded in this province. Bob Hooton began working the Ministry of the Environment before it acquired Lands and Parks and long before a significant chunk of its jurisdiction was swallowed by the Ministry of Agriculture. Those were Socred years, and the business minded hardware store mentality of the Bennett regime had little use for a part of their govern- meni that could be a hindrance to development. Year after year the Ministry of Environment remained understaffed. When the New Demo- crats came to power things looked bright for a short time until cutbacks in federal transfer pay- ments meant more culs to govertinent service in particular to the Ministry of Environment. Working with a small and dwindling budget at a time when he could probably make more taoncy and avaid tonnes of hassle by Jeaving for the private sector, Hooton has continued to work hard for the resource. His honest and open criticism of the commercial fishery and his at- -lempts to come up wilh a fair and equitable ‘regulatory regime for the guiding indystry in ‘this region have provoked much unwarranted, and some cases downright nasty, criticism from. both these quarters. Fortunately some people can still recognize integrity and excellence, The Totem Flyfishers of B.C., the province’s oldest and most. prestigious club, have awarded Bob Hooton the Roderick Haig-Brown Award, which they have , “awarded annually since 1978 when the club de- cided to move away from fishing prizes to. conservation-based prizes. At the award ceremony former outdoors editor of the Vancouver Sun, Lee Straight, praised Hooton for his tenacity aud courage in the un- relenting battle to save Skeena River Steelhead. “Hooton,” Straight said, ‘is one who refuses to make his own life easier by remaining silent while an enormously important resource is ac- _ cidentally or deliberately ignored.”' Totem President Brian Bird praised Hooton for setting and example for other resource man- agers. ‘‘Every British Columbian should ap- plaud this man, and be outraged when such cf- forts as his are undervalued — and worse, sabotaged by government agencies,’’ said Bird. . "Hooton is an Olympic gold medalist among fisheries biologists."” 4 aud anyone else posing a threat to steelhead and | It’s fitting that a group such as the Steelhead ° TERRACE STANDARD SPORTS. Tournament dedicated to one of the league’s originals AN ENTIRE = generation separates some of them but that doesn’t matter when they’re on the ice. They're the Oldtimers and while they may not have quite as much spring in their skale as some of the younger players, they still put on a good show and have a great time. The Terrace Timbermen Oldtimers’ tournament drew nine visiting teams and plenty of spectators to town two weckends ago for the tournament's 18th anniver- sary. Dick Shinde And the Timbermen’s first place finish in the Coho division was a fitting send- off to one of Terrace’s original Oldtimers, Dick Shinde, Shinde was one of the founders of the Timbermen, Terrace’s first Oldtimers team, 19 years ago. He tumed 60 last month and this year’s tournament marked his last as an official .Timberman. He's moving ta the lower mainland this summer. Shinde is also the local league’s oldest player. He figures it’s about time to tetire from work, but he doubis if he'll ever relire from hockey, ‘Two years ago ] was in Santa Rosa for the Charles Shultz tournament and they had a 70 (years-old) plus division,” he says. ‘When I saw that I knew J had at least another 10 years in me,”’ Shinde says he, John Taylor and Harold Cox real- ized the need for a separate league for older players back in 1979. At the time, Oldtimers leagues were popping up all over the country. Players 35 and up wanted a more level playing field where they could keep up in their favourite sport. So, following the lead of the Prince Rupert Wrinkles, the Timbermen were born. Although the emphasis in the Oldtimers was on fun and recreation, competition still proved to be fierce at times. “Anytime you belong to a team there’s that urge to win,’’ Shinde says, And it’s that team spirit that Shinde says make the Oldtimers special. “T’ve played with some of these guys for more than 25 years,” he says. ‘‘We'’ve watched our familics grow The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 25, 1998 - BS 638-7283 ON A RUSH: The Terrace Timbermen finished on top of their division at the Old- timer’s Tournament held here Feb. 11-15. The Timbermen went undefeated. up together and we’re still friends, I'll miss that.” Just like every other hock- ey club in town, the Old- timers are feeling the pinch from a lack of ice-time. Games have to be played late at night, and the wait- list to get om a team secms to grow longer every year. So Shinde says he’s look- ing forward to his move down south, where he’ll probably play in a relire- ment league that has their games in the morning. But just because he’s retir- ing doesn’t mean he'll slow down. Shinde plans to play plenty of hockey, continue to workout at the gym and do volunteer work, And he’ll still play in some tournaments with the Timbermen, In fact, the team has already registered © for :-lhe World Oldtimers Toumament in Vancouver Cal to take on MESS at Zone NEVER underestimate your opponent. Caledonia’s boys’ senior basketball squad has to keep that in mind if they want to get past Mount Elizabeth at this weekend’s Zone Championships. Cal is definitely the favourite going into the three-game tourmament, but anything can happen. “Kitimat is a scary bunch,” says Cal coach Cam Mackay, '‘They have some kids that are hungry and it’s in their gym. You just never know.” Cal has improved through- out the year, and that really Showed bvo weekends ago against visiting Charles Hays of Prince Rupert. The hometown boys beat Hays convincingly..in--both games, first 79-58 and then 75-64. Top scorers included Fraser deWalle, Brooks Robinson and Chesley Neufeld and Tyson Hull, Mackay credits a recent trip to an Edmonton tourna- ment for helping the team come together, Although they lost two of three in the high-calibre event, Mackay says il was a great learning experience. One loss was a close one that Mackay says Cal really “-should have won. The other loss was to one of Manitoba's top teams. Fraser deWaile was also awarded as one of five tournament all-stars. And Mackay says he was pretty happy with Cal’s per- formance overall, “It was a good jelling type thing,’’ Mackay says. “All the kids got to play a lot —— it was a good team ef- fort.” But just to make sure the “ Kermodes didn’t get too cocky, they played the Ter- race senior men’s team at home last week and were humbled 100-50, “All. the guys I picked from the men’s team to play were university players and some were Canada West all- Stars,’’ says Mackay. ‘They were fun to watch,"” So wilh that schooling be: hind them, Cal can focus on ihe Zones this ,weekend, Mackay says he’s confident in the team, and especially impressed with recent play by .Mike Hovanes and Tyson Hull. He says that as a unit, the team is looking good. They just have to get focussed. “We're the favourite, but if you lose respect it'll burn you.” in the year 2000. “Vl be there,’? Shinde says, ‘‘As loug as my health holds oul I'l] Keep playing.” The Timbermen finished in first place in their divi- sion in at the tournament, Terrace’s other Oldtimer’s teams, SRD Blues and the Thornhill Oakics were sec- ond and fourth respectively in the Steelhead division. For complete toutnament results, . < see:-. Scoreboard, page B14. Finals Cam Mackay Swimmers strike gold at Trials Bluebacks prepare for Age-group Provincials OLYMPIC FEVER had some people glued to their televisions last week, but for Tertace’s Blueback swim- ners the excitement trans- lated into the pool. And that meant some kicking times at two dif- ferent swim meets. In Richmond at ithe Provincial Trials, Terrace’s female swimmers actually swept the goid medals in women’s breast stroke events. **T haven't been to a meet in 15 years when that's hap- The club also had 77 per cent best times, an im- pressive performance, espe- cially simce one girl had a sprained ankic and one a sore back. For Jennifer Kester and Petra Robertson, it was their first provincial meet bul they sill managed to get 100 per cent best times, Robertson also picked up two golds, Shauna Palahicky also had 100 per cent best times and scored a number of medals, as did Kaya Downs, “We got going on a high and kept right on going’’ —coach Mike Carlyle pened,’’ says coach Mike Carlyle. “We got going ona high and kept right on going.’? Carlyle says te had hoped to bring his swimmers back with a couple of medals from the event, but it turned out that afl of the girls came’ - home with a medal. | Meanwhile at the Alcan invitational in Kitimat, an- other group of Bluebacks ~ were scoring medals of their own. In fact, Terrace took four of the top five spots in the girls’? 11-12 group and all seven of the top spots in the boys’ 11-12 group. For some swimmers, like RETURNING CHAMPS: That's Kaya Downs, Jennifer Kester, Shauna Palahicky, Petra Robertson, Judy Stevenson and Gavin Wallace who all‘rocked in Rich- mond, Missing is Blueback Tamara Checkley who picked up a medal in relays. Hayley Gipps and Caidin Scales, it was their first mect, Caitlin had close ta 100 per cent best times and Hayley scored 100 per cent best times, as did Sylvie -Gour, Allison Knoedler and Evan Palahicky, So did Fernando Polanco, even thoiigh he had just roved up in an age group, Ronnie Schlegel also moved up an age group and managed to score 14 points for the club, “That’s aesome,’’ notes Carlyle, The next big meet for the Bluebacks is the Age-Group Provincials coming up Feb. 27 to March 1.