B8 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, October 1, 2003

SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN” -

”“ SKEENA ANGLER
ROB BROWN

Taimen 20

he revelry continued with rousing ver-
sions of Old MacDonald led by Joan,
which the children begged her to sing
- again and again, These alternated
with traditional Kazakh folk songs led by Kazi-
no in a sweet soprano accompanied by plaintive
voice of the morin khuur. Exuberant faces,
wrapped in warmth glowed in the candlelight.

As ballads became mare frequent the children

began ta nod off in chronological order, helped
off to bed by Arghul when they did. Then the
neighbours left bowing and smiling before Joan
on their exit, Canat led Joan to her bed then
ceremoniously snuffed the candles before find-
ing his own.

Joan lay in the darkness, contented and
happy for the first time in a long time, but soon
thoughts of Lewis returned like a nagging tooth-
ache. She tried retracing the trip to Olgiy, hop-
ing doing so would push the images of the hand--
some fishing guide from her mind; it didn’t. She’
tossed as if she was alone ina lifeboat on angry’
seas.

Sun streaming through the windows and the
children chattering like squirrels woke her the
next morning. After breakfast, Canal took her
out and introduced her to one of the camels.

“She’s got gorgeous eyelashes,” Joan re-
marked just as the creature spat on her, to the
immense delight of the children. Canat smiled.

“They do that often. You must not take it
personally, please,” he said as Joan wiped the
green froth from her down vest.

The temperature: had. plummeted overnight.
The Kazakhs had dressed for it with knee-
length, sheep skin-lined robes called dels, fur- ;
lined boots, and fur insulated hats with ample
flaps. They seemed perfectly comfortable in the
sub-zero temperature while she, in layers of .
synthetic fleece, was not. As he led the party to |
where the horses were tethered, carrying Aika,
hooded, on his arm, Canat noticing her discom-
fort and assured her that the air would warm to
zero during the day.

The horses were sturdy and shaggy, not much
bigger than ponies and a good deal smaller than
the thoroughbreds Joan had ridden in childhood
gymkhanas. The Kazakhs rode on boxy wooden
saddles with short stirrups — traditional models
hearkening back to Ghengis Khan that made
‘Joan glad to have a traditional Russian leather
saddle with its felt pad over a metal frame.

They cantered through cold, snow-dusted
fields that flowed before them like an apprehen-
igive sea, then brought the horses to a trot along
ia dry, yellowed reed bed lying next to a frozen

fake that shone silver in the slanted morning
sun.
. Reeds whipped their flanks. The Kazakhs
slapped their boots and saddles with their lead
reins, crying like coyotes to flush game. Ducks,
partridges, pigeons, hare, fox, and even wolf
were fair game for their eagles, according to
Canat, and indeed, Aika carried the scars from
ferocious kills.

The motion and sere landscape were exhi-
larating despite that fact that it seemed to hold
nothing but winter. Joan watched Canat, his
eagle perched on his right arm, riding with the
beautiful economy of someone who has mas-
tered a skill so thoroughly it flows from him tike
breath or sweal.

Moments after she looked his way, he
spurred his horse to a gallop. She followed suit.
The beater boys must have flushed a victim. He
released his eagle at the same time he acce-
lerated. Aika rose majestically, seemed to bur-
row into the sky and vanish then reappear,
banking on a smooth, swift arc. In seconds it
was stretching out, seven-foot wings outstret-
ched and razor sharp claws extended over a
‘black blur, mere inches above the ground.

“Fox!” yelled Canat.

The raptor raked the slinky crealure, but it
miraculously stipped away. With dispassionate
grace the eagle flew back to the perch on its
master’s arm, Canat comforted il in Kazakh, as
he and the rest of the party trusted the sure-foo-
ted horses to carry them higher up the foothills.
Joan stopped at the edge of cliff. A rolling sea
‘of mountains spread out forever. She felt as if
i ghe’d slept then woke up refreshed after an ex-
“tended bout of insomnia. Canat rode up along-
side. He leaned over and squeezed her shoulder
with his left hand then threw his head back in
the direction from which they'd come,

The tireless Kazakh horses still rode strongly
at day’s end. Joan looked back as she and Canat
led the way across the plains to vivid black fig-
ures of riders, one carrying an eagle with its
wings outspread, back lit by the sinking orange
sun.

To be continued...

ERRACE STANDARD

Vernon tourney
puts locals to the

ultimate

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN
DON’T BE SWAYED by the out-
rageous costumes or crazy team
names — ultimate frisbee is a fast-
paced, precision game that chal-
lenges its players both physically
and strategically.

Fifteen members of the Terrace
Ultimate Club made the long trek
to Vernon Sept. 21-23 to compete
in Canada’s biggest ultimate tour-
nament.

The Vernon tournament drew
51 teams — more than 600 players
- from as far away as Seattle,
Washington, Edmonton, Alberta
to Fort Smith, Northwest Territor-
ies and teams from throughout
B.C.

The Terrace crew hasn’t mis-
sed the tournament since it was
first held seven years years ago.

“It’s the largest tournament in
Canada and for us it comes at the
end of the year so it’s a nice way
to challenge ourselves to see how
we stack up against the rest of

- western Canada,” explains team

captain Richard Klein.

“And it’s a lot of fun — we get
to play against naked people,” he
laughs.

Ultimate, which combines the
running of soccer, the checking of

test

basketball and the end zones of
football is a demanding game.

Unlike most team sports, there
are no referees, fouls are called
by the players themselves and
there's a heavy emphasis on spirit
of the game - which is why it
isn’t unusual for teams to don out-
rageous costumes, and yes, in
some cases no clothes at all.

Twelve teams did battle in a
competitive A pool while 39
teams, including Terrace, played
in the B pool, which was subdivi-
ded into eight sub-pools,

After the first day the Terrace
contingent finished 10th overall,
placing number one in it’s sub-
pool. After a disappointing loss on

day two to the eventual second |

place winners, Terrace ended up
finishing ranked in the top 10.

“IT was most pleased with the
effort that the Terrace team put
in,” Klein says, especially given
there are no other teams in the
northwest fer Terrace to play
against leading up to the tourna-
ment.

“If you compare how we play
the game here to when there are a
lot of other teams with lots of
competition we did quite well,”
Klein says.

PETER BONSER, a Terrace Ultimate Club veteran, is checked
by a member of team We're Not Unusual at the Vernon ultimate
tournament. Ullimate is a co-ed game with a focus on spirit of :
the game. At many tournaments, costumes, and clothing for

ELE

Tules.

dramatic.
Three

back line

@ Pass it!

YOUNG basketball players kicked off the mini-ball season Sept. 26 at Ca-
ledonia Senior Secondary. The league, which has grown to more than
200 players from Grades 3 to 10, is off to a roaring succes. There are still
50 children on the waiting list to play. The league runs for 10 weeks end-
ing with playoffs in November, SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

deration
Canadian

the entire

Though some changes
are minor, others are quite

clude the release at the
hog line,

ice surface,
A bit of history:
The World Curling Fe-

‘tion (CCA) have begun
“the process which will
eventually result in a set
of blended rules governing

that matter, are optional. SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN PHOTO

Curlers adapt to
more new rules

By DAVID D, HULL
CURLERS hitting the ice
at the Terrace Curling
Club this season will be
playing under some new

Players will see the
word blended several, be-,
cause ‘that’s what ‘has -oc-
curred,

Some of the WCF rules
and some of the CCA rules
have been combined into a '
new set of rules. Now, all
the curlers in the entire
curling world will be sing-
ing from the same song-
book, almost.

For each new rule, old
Canadian (pre 2003-04)
rule will be shown, the
WCF rule then the Blen-
ded Rule/New Canadian
(BR/NC). There’s no test
at the end but players had
better know the rules if
they're going ta play in the
2003-04 season and ,

Continued page B14

of those rules in-

position of the
and width of the

(WCF) and the
Curling Associa-

world of curling.

Duking it out Quebecois style

By SARAH A. ZIMMERMAN
THE NAME on the back of his uniform isn’t
the only thing that’s changed for Terrace minor
hockey graduate Corey Paulson.

As a rookie right winger for the Quebec
Ramparts of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League, Paulson's playing in front of huge
crowds on a team owned by a Canadian hock-
ey legend and he’s having to learn French
while he’s at it.

He's also getting used to using a new name.

Having gone by his dad’s last name, Paul-
son, his entire life he’s now adapting to sport-
ing the surname Pastershank.

That’s his mom’s Jast name and the one
that appears on his birth certificate - the
QMIJHL requires that he play under his legal
name.

It's a lot of change for a kid from Terrace
who grew up playing in front of a smattering of
friends and family under the guidance of coa-
ches he's known of most of his life,

Now he’s playing home games in front of
crowds that can exceed 14,000 and regularly
skates with future NHL Hall of Famer Patrick
Roy — one of the team's owners,

Since retiring, Roy frequently hits the ice
practising with the team every day and taking
on something of a coaching role.

“At first meeting him, 1 was intimidated,”
Paulson says, clearly showing his respeet for
one of the NHL’s all time greatest goalies.

“But after a while you realize he’s only
human and you get to be more relaxed around
him.” ,

Paulson was invited to the Ramparts’ train-
ing camp after being spotted by the team’s
western scout while playing for the Columbia
Valley Rockies in the Kootenay International
Junior Hockey League last year.

The scout was on strict orders to keep his
eye out for a tough, physical player. -

At 204 pounds and standing six feet tall,

Paulson fit the bill. He’s always played an ag-
gressive style of hockey, going back to his
bantam rep days in Terrace.

After getting the call to try out for the Ram-
parts Paulson busted his bult to train. Under
the guidance of local coach Terry Monture he
did several weeks of intensive weight-training
and cardiovascular work,

He also took kick boxing lessons from local
instructor Tony Rutledge before going to Sum-
merland for three weeks of on-ice training.

“1 quit partying and I think that’s huge if
you want to be an athlete, if you want to do
something sport-wise you have to stay away
from that,” Paulson says.

“I know people doubted I could do it be-
cause I never trained much but this year | fo-
cused and trained hard, and had lots of encour-
agement from family, and friends from the

“His best quality is he’s a real-
ly good warrior on the ice — he’s
a good ‘pump it up’ for the guys.”

Thornhill Community Church.”

After playing several exhibition games with
the Ramparts, Paulson was signed at the be-
ginning of September.

His primary job is to get inlo scraps. It’s not
a typical line of work for an 18-year-old, but
the does it well.

“I am a physical player, | have to play phy-
sical every time I step on the ice and when we
are losing | have to spark the team, get them
going, by making a big hit or getting into a
fight,” Paulson says,

"This hockey is really fast, the players are
real skilled, and each team has their shafe of
tough guys — I’ve never played hockey: as in-
tense as this,” us

His start in ju-
nior hockey
came last year
when he was
playing for the
Rackies — he was
a scrapper there
(aa,

He played 38

games, earned
one goal, two
assists and a

whopping 262
penalty minutes.

So far this
season with the
Ramparts he’s
played three
games and has
spent 17 minutes in the penaity box — putting |
him in second place for most penalty minutes
on the team sitting just one minute shy of
Cody Doucette’s tally.

Paulson knows he’s playing in one of the
most competitive junior leagues in the country
and he recognizes that at this level one’s spot ,
on the team is never really secure. ;

Each game means going all-out, every:
game, every shift — as soon as your game slips .
your existence becomes tenuous,

“T never think I'm here to stay, I always
think in my mind that it is possible to be sent
home, so then [ work harder,” Paulson says,
“But it is true if you quit working hard, you
will be sent away.”

Ramparts head coach Eric Lavigne calls,
him a hard working, dedicated player, though
he'll have to work on his skating and speed,

. “He brings a lot of energy to the team and

this is exactly what we are looking for with

him,” Lavigne says; “His best quality is he’s a
really good warrior on ‘the ice ~ he’s a good’
‘pump it up’ for the guys.” oO

Corey Paulson