~ wae The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, Oclober 30, 2002 -B5 — —— ——— TERRACE STANDARD 7 SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN Ss P ORTS | Soccer zone playdowns near Kermodes prepare for battle SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN AS THE short high school soccer season comes to a close, Terrace’s senior boys’ coach says the team has to prepare for zone playdowns as if it’s a whole new season. “Playoffs are different,” says coach Nick Kollias. “It’s not like a regular game -~ everybody wants to win.” With Smithers, Kitimat, Terrace and Prince Rupert all vying for a spot at the pro- vincials, next week’s zone finals are sure ta see some great action and solid perfor- mances. The teams play in a round robin format with the tap team from each pool playing off in a final. Kollias says the Terrace squad is blessed with technical know-how and a genuine love for the game, but it’s a young team and one that needs to work on its endurance, “They’ve got skills but fitness is our pro- blem right now,” Kollias says. Playing in a Williams Lake single A tour- nament Oct. 19-20, the Terrace squad faced a tough and talented team from Penticton in the gold medal game. Terrace kept up with the southerners for most of the game but ran out of steam in the dying minutes — and it cost them. “The score was very close until the end,” Kollias says. “In the [last] five minutes they scored two goals.” Penticton came oul on top earning the gold medal and the Terrace squad came home with a silver. 638-7283 SKEENA ANGLER. ROB BROWN Resource Robbers A month ago | was on the Zymoetz with Jim and Don, a pair of retired U.S.. Army officers who love to fool fish with flies. . The river could have been more coopera- tive, but it was grudgingly giving up a few fish. Don wanted to see steelhead rise to his waking: tube flies and was willing to pass on the rest.- -His good buddy Jim, an avid and skilled irout- fisher from Idaho, had tried for steelhead on the Clearwater River there, but had yet to hook one thanks to hordes of anglers and a scarcity of- fish. THE CALEDONIA Kermodes boys soccer team hosted its final tournament of the season Oct. 26-27 before heading to the zone playdowns in Prince Rupert Nov.2. Kollias concedes the Penticton crew was a better team. “They are moving the ball around better than us,” he says. “When you play against a good team you have to play smart.” That means working on offence to com- pliment an already solid defence, But this year’s season could also be seen as a building towards an even better team in the years to come. The Kermodes have one Grade 8 player a couple in Grade 9 and the rest of the crew is made up of players in grades 11 and 12, “If they work together for a couple years they will be an excellent team,” says Kol- lias. Another plus on the side of the Ker- modes is their dedication to the game. “They are all committed to soccer —they love ta play soccer,” says Kollias. Zone playdowns are set go Nov.2. “If | get one steelhead this trip will be ‘ worth it,” he told me on the morning of the day. he hooked five. On our way over the hastily constructed, rugged road over the slide at Glenn Falls, [ told the two Viet Nam vets how another pair of USAmericans had managed to cross the slide on All Terrain Vehicles, before road construction had been completed then they camped on the flats above Matsen Creek Canyon for weeks. “No guide?” asked Jim. “No guide, just 10 dollars and 70 cents per day for the Classified Waters license.” “You shouldn’t allow Americans to fish up here without guides,” said Don. it rained hard overnight. The river rose more than six feet and turned brown, Don and Jim went inland looking for clean water. 1 grabbed my trout rod and went out {0 reconnoiter, There were two cars parked in the Her- ' man Creek lot: a car full of camping parapher- nalia, and a truck with the name of a guiding‘ outfit and an out-of-province phone number boldly emblazoned on its side. I emerged from the brush just above the: Herman’s Creek confluence. Standing in the stream in front of me was a man yanking on a male pink he’d jigged in. Sports Scope Tough losses THE TERRACE Midget rep team faced a disappointing two-loss trip to Smithers Oct. 19-20. The team lost 3-6 in its first game and despite 2 hat trick courtesy of Steve Cullis the Terrace squad lost its second game 7-9, Last chance THIS IS THE last cail for athletes looking to take part in the upcoming Northern B.C. Winter Games Feb. 1-9, ° 2003. Events include archery, junior boys basketball, mas- the hump. . ter’s men’s basketball, biathlon, bowling, Special Olym- . ; oe oe " 7 Above this sportsman was another, also pic bowling, darts, figure skating, Peewee hockey, JOHNNY “Five” Leblanc shows off his hall handling skills in between games at using pink jigging pear. women’s hockey, karate, netball, alpine skiing, snow- Galedonia Senior Secondary School Oct. 21, SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO “Which one of you is the guide?” I boarding, boys indoor soccer, girls indoor soccer, speed skating, gitls under-16 volleyball, adult mixed volleyball - and wrestling. Anyone interested in participating must notify Caro- lyn Wall at 615-3025 by Oct. 30. Terrace teams rack up asked. Mini hoopsters draw sell-out crowd here “That’s me,” said the upstream jipper. ] turned to his sport. “How much are you paying him for this?” “Too much for what I’m getting today,” fhe man replied automatically. “Tt’s illegal to puide on this river,” ] shot wee back. “Uh...] was only joking,” the man who'd snagged the humpy said hurriedly. “He was only kidding, you know,” echoed the guide. I couldn’t help wondering if these fisher men really were pulling my leg. If this was a case of illegal puiding there is no way to prove it providing the illegally guided client says he has not paid for any ser- vices. Two days later, Jim Cuip and I took a busman’s holiday and made our way up the Copper valley in search of steelhead. On the section of river above the Clore we spotted some Europeans. These fellows discovered Skeena and contacted a local guide who guided them in good faith. Soon it became apparent that the forei- gners had intended to use the guide’s expertise then go it on their own. When I asked some of them where they were going after leaving the Copper they said they would make their way to the Kispiox River. “Who's puiding you?” I asked. “We will meet our friend, admitted one. ' I learned that their friend would come equipped with raft so that he could guide his countrymen. - Would any money change hands, or was, this just a case of one non-resident alien show- ing what he knew about the Kispiox to his friends? ] suspect that the modus operandi of these characters is simplicity itself. They book : trips in Europe. Then they make their way to Skeena and. fish our rivers for our steelhead. As the law stands there is little to stop them — and others like them — from operating outside the law with. impunity. The simple way to solve this problem is to abolish unclassified rivers, determine the number of guides each river will hold without compromising angling quality, give those guides a daily quota of rod days, then pass legislation’ requiring guides for non residents on all rivers, We Canucks have to stop giving away our resources. wins at ringette tourney THE HOME ice advantage must have been a factor for Terrace ringette teams as they took on teams from Ques- nel, Houston and Prince George at the Oct. 18-20 tour- nament here. The Terrace teams managed to win each one of their games, coming out of the tournament with a perfect re- cord. Some of the out of town teams had to be rounded out by Terrace players — but association spokesperson Laura Jobb said it just contributed to the sense of sportsman- ship and camaraderie amongst the players. Referees from Nanaimo, Port Coquitlam and Quesnel | were on hand for the tournament, “They were quite impressed with the calibre of play IT’S A message children have heard before — don’t tease, but when it comes from a group of talented, funny, engaging basketball players not even five feet tall, the message comes across a little differently. “From personal exper- ience, all of us gol teased and bullied when we were younger,” says Johnny 5 Leblanc, a member of the Canadian Half-Pints, a Leblanc, also known as J-Five, has been with the team for five years. His job is to teach kids how to deal with bullies and encourage them to ac- cept and embrace other people’s differences through in-school presenta- tions. Part of J-Five’s advice is to confront a bully and ask him or her why they are being so hurtful. “They usually don’t have an answer — they just The Half-Pints have been touring the country for 20. years spreading their message and entertaining fans using basketball. They took on the Big Brothers and Sisters of Terrace celebrity team Oct. 19. The games had the combined crowds of 1,450 people, in stitches laughing at the team’s crazy antics. More than $2,000 from the ticket sales were dona- ted to Big Brothers and up in the north,” Jobb said. basketball team whose average height is four feet two inches. do it for fun,” he says. Sisters of Terrace. Ice Demons mean business By MALCOLM BAXTER THE KITIMAT Ice Demons may be one of the new kids on the block, but after a pair of sea- son opening games they sent a message - they intend to own the Central Interior Men’s AA League sireet. Though the Demons’ team is made up pri- marily of Kitimat stock, three Terrace men — Wade Balbirnie, Troy Butler and Doug Wilson — also play for the team. They, and the rest of the squad, drove their winning intentions home by hammering the Houston Luckies Oct. 20, in a game that proved to be a virtual mismatch. Coming off a 5-3 win the night before - their season opener — the Demons drew first blood just over five minutes in. Luckies goalie Dan Kenzle having made the bizarre decision to make a flying leap to try and grab the puck behind the cage, Andre Baldo, Darryl Craft and Terrace’s Wade Bal- bernie put together a tic-tac-goal into the empty net. _ Less than two minutes later Houston took advantage of a 5-on-3 to even it up when James Makowichuk buried a rebound, but that was the last time they would be level. Just 39 seconds later Trent Bossence, on a short-handed breakaway, stuffed in his own re- bound to put the Demons ahead to stay. And the first period scoring was closed out when another pretty passing play ended with Jeremy Brady burying it in the top corner on the glove side — 3-1 Demons. Houston narrowed the gap at 4:13 of the second when Vyse’s shot eluded Demon goalie Brent Vilness, but it was Vilness who ensured Houston went luckless on a couple of power play chances soon after. It was on the last of these that the Demons produced another short-handed marker when Craig Hewitson sped in alone and fired what was {0 prove the game winner over Kenzle’s glove. After Andre Baldo had made it 4-2 with the beginning of his hattrick, Houston finally took advantage of a power play through Makowi- chuk with just over two minutes remaining in the stanza. But the Demons took the wind out Houston’s sails in the dying seconds when Ian Coleman made a perfect cross to a wide-open Baldo who blasted it past Kenzle. And the third belonged to the Demons, Paul DeJong, Bossence, Baldo and Blaine Mark- wart running the tally into double figures and. Vilness pulling off three super saves during an- other two man disadvantage. ’ The game ended on the up side for the De- mons as they whalloped the Luckies 10-3. In Saturday’s opener the teams had the crowd of 1,000 on their feet most of the night. “We were impressed with the opening night crowd,” said Troy Butler, adding several Ter- race fans made their way to the aluminum city to take in the action. The Demons took some time to find their skating legs, but outlasted the Luckies 5-3 in a penalty-filled affair. Ryan Haynes gave Kilimat the lead seven minutes in, but Alonzo Slaney tied it at 15:20. After Bill Spetch had put Houston ahead and Adam Taylor tied it up, a lunging dive by - Hewitson with just three seconds left made it 3-1 after one. . Terrace’s Troy Butler put away the game winner just 56 seconds into the second and Markwart added the insurance marker less than four minutes later. . Rich Darling got one back, but the period and the game — ended 5-3.