The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, February 22, 1995 - C1 TERRACE STANDARD INSIDE ey SECTION Cc SPORTS MENU 02 _ MALCOLM BAXTER 638-7283 “SKEENA ANGLER | ROB BROWN Where are bears? E POWERED into Whidbey Reach. The seascape changed dramatically, Immense edifices, wet and shining under the intense moments carlier, dripping, from the sca. Falls rushed down striated battlements then leaped into the salt water, Bruce pulled up to the base of a slide chute, fastened the painter to a ‘rock outcrop, then we scrambled up to fill empty coolers with blue ice chipped from the base of the avalanche, That done, we sel out again, passing the ancient village site at Mis- kusa, then past waving fields of estuary grass before picking our way through the shallow sandbars of the Kitlope, We transferred the gear to an aluminum jet sled a short ways upriver. The broad flood plain of the Kitlope opened before us, The chiseled features of Mount Blane, its upper crest edged with glacier and snow, stoad out boldly beside the rest of the ’ :Kitlope Range, and a domed sky. Here was a sister to the Kitimat River, these were the con- tours of Haisla’s home river before develop- ment. “‘This,’’ shouted Bruce, '‘is what B,C, was.’’ I nadded in agreement. The wreckage of a tin boat lay in shallow water alongside the gravel strand the Haisla know as the place that holds winter. A few ‘miles from the river’s mouth a small stream of clear water began to mix with the gray, glacial water.of the Kidope. Bruce angled to starboard oofie andapicked - up. the trail, The gray. water tumed _ green. Bruce eased back on the throttle, The ~. Jong dark shapes of chinook salmon, large and unmistakable, scattered before us. “‘Spawners,”’ “IT shouted, Bruce navigated the tum into a long lake framed by precipitous rock walls; a minia- ture of the ocean geography we'd left an hour before. ‘‘The sockeye are here,”’ he said, They had to be, the shiny, black heads of seals dotted the outflow of the lake. We slid the jet boat onto the first sandy beach I'd scen in the course of our joumey, at a spot called A-Koo-U-Wa, Bnuce called my attention to a ramshackle en- campment behind the camp set up for the Haisla Rediscovery Program., ‘‘That’s Harry McGowan's old Camp, He’s sold it to another ‘group now.’' According to Bruce this camp was . abone in the throat to the Haisla who see trophy hunting as lurid and vile pursuit — a violation ef sacred principles. Yet there was a spotting scope set up on the food preparation table amid some hunting magazines advertising trips to far- ’ flung places for exotic hunting. The spotter came out to greet us dressed in the muddy colours of the hunt. It turned out he and his pal “were stranded when they slammed their boat into a gravel bar.: Their boss knew of their predicament and was on his way with help. T listened as Bruce told the hunter and his buddy that their boss had bought himself a giant problem along with the hunting rights to giant bears. The Haisla had discovered evidence of ‘bear baiting. On one trip Henaaksiala Elders returned to their ancient home and discovered bear guts floating in the favoured swimming spot of their children. The Haisla — not big on sport at the best of times — were sickened at the sight of a hunter crouching behind a blind, wailing for a bear to amble down the Tezwa River beach to feed on spawning salmon. The next day was filled with thoughts of bears, I walked up the river the Haisla cal] Klas- su-dees, waded the deep riffles twice, and found _ myself at the edge of deep pool. The water was clear but it was impossible to see the bottom through the undulant mass of scarlet sackcye. I looked for bear tracks in the sand. There were - none. This scemed an excellent spot for bear to fish. ] looked more carefully on my way downsiream, up side channels, at the mouths of ~ small creeks, but it was on the lower floor of the stream — at the confluence of Klas-su-decs and the Tezwa — that I found spoor: black bear tracks, old oncs at that, Bear sign is plentiful on all: salmon streams I know, yet here, far away from roads, a hundred miles from the nearest ‘city there appeared to be very few. In two days I didn’t spot one bear — black or grizzled. On the trip out we saw no Grizzlies on an estuary that has all the features of the famed Khutzcymateen. They were there in numbers only a short time ago, as the Haisla can attest. Shortly after that tip, the provincial govern- " ment, at the urging of the Haisla, placed a one year moratorium on bear hunting in the Kidope. Presumably this will give the Ministry of the . Environment, Lands and Parks some time to an- alyze the situation, A year doesn’t seem long enough. The Kitlope should be off limits to bear - hunters until we can.determine whether the bears there should be hinted at all. Or, at least : from poachess, rays of the sun, looked as if they had thrust up | Enough i is s enough THERE’S A limit, even for the Terrace Timbermen. Noting it had been a number of years since the local Old- timers had won a divisional title at their own tournament, club president John Taylor ad- mitted, ‘'We’ve been generous hosts.”’ But at this year's 15th annual event the team obviously de- cided the time had come to put those impulses aside and revisit top spat. And they did it in style. After edging Terrace Con- voy 3-2 in their opener, the Timbermen clubbed Hazelton 8-3 to set up the finale against _the Smithers Old Stockers, also undefeated lo that point. And Smithers were on the way to maintaining thal record until late in the game. With the Old Stockers up 2- 1, the Timbermen began to ex- ert unrelenting pressure, con- trolling the play and Jaunching altack after attack. . The Smithers defence finally cracked — twice, Those two goals and a ODrilliant last Minule save put away the Coho division for the Tim- bermen. It was Smithers” turn in the ‘until we can provide them adequate protection. Steelhead division where the Drillers were smooth against the Prince. Rupert Wrinkles, chopped down the Okies then undercut the Kitimat Mer- chants io go 3-0, Kitimat got their turn in the Sockeye, the North Stars Mol- _ son Golden Oldies proving they were as long on talent as their name by defeating Prince Rupert, Smithers and Stewart squads to cruise to the title. In the past victory has meant some kind of keepsake for each player — medallion, T- shirt, etc. This year, however, Taylor said the club wanted to do something different. So it donated $500 to the Second Sheet of Ice Society in the name of the three winners. “It went over really well,’’ Taylor said of the players’ reaction to the idea, Corporate donations also al- lowed many players to go home with everything from new hockey sticks to helmets to tape. There were even four videos courtesy of Don Cherry, The Smithers Rubberpuckers earned the Most Sportsman- like Team award, WITH THE Smithers defenceman down and out, Terrace Timbermen’ 8 #29 pulls the trigger on the equalizing goal on the way to a 3-2 victory and division title. Kevin Andolfatto Promise kept it’s BCs now JP LEBREQUE kept his promise. Following a second place finish in the final meet before the zones, Lebreque promised he would return from the regional showdown with the gold, Which is just what he did, witining an exciting match in - overtime and booking a berth at the provincials, Also heading for the BC championship will be Greg Buck, Ranked #4 in the pro- vince, Buck had to take on Jay Clark in the zone final. Rated the province’s best in his class, Clark beat out Buck but only by a 4-2 margin. Other sirong zone per- formances on the boys side in- cluded Ajit Jaswal shaking off his second place finish last time out - his only loss of the season ~ to lake top spot. — James Bohn showed : great improvement, losing out in a tough gold medal match while Larry McCarthy picked up a third place finish, . The girls team were as ime pressive as ever at ihe ZONES, - all qualifying for the’ provin- ‘by a few medals. oe KEVIN ANDOLFATTO didn’t bring back any medals from the ‘Junior National Swim Championships, but he came home a winner in. the eyes of Blueback coach Mike Carlyle. Nationals intro-goes as planned With 100 per cent best times, fractionally. missing a consolation final qualifying time and the title of fastest 14-year-old at the meet, the _ assessment is not surprising. The age range for the Juniors is 19 years and under and most of Andolfatio’s rivals were 16- 17 years old, The body has matured by then, Carlyle noted, giving the older swimmers an edgein strength. . Andolfatto’s best performance at the Victoria championships came in the 100m Breast where he came into the meet ranked #34 with a best time of 1:12.44. By the time the race was over, he’d lowered that lime by more than two seconds and moved up to #19 in Canada. eH Be aa The faster time also allowed Andolfatio to Te- s _ 1 “qualify for the Youth Nationals in May..Car-.. lyle explained requalification was necessary because the required time had been lowered. since his previous qualifying swim, Not only’ had Andolfatto broken the new mark, he did it with more than a second to spare. He also took a chunk out of his personal bes ts in both his other events, three seconds over the 200m Breast and four seconds in the 200m IM. In doing so he also moved up significantly in the rankings to #39 and #76 respectively. Carlyle said the meet was a good opporiunily for Andolfatto to experience what competition at this level is like, As a result, he'll know what to expect at the Youths, he added. . The long range plan is for Andolfatto to make consolations in the 96 Youths and finals the following year, his last of eligibility (the Youths age range is 16 and under). cials. Michelle Genereaux . and Jamie Striker didn’! even have to step on to the mat to win gold, both taking their division uncontested. ; Tanya Daigncault put in an exceptionally strong per- formance, defealing her arch rival from Mitwanga only to lose the gold to a Smithers op- ponent she had never wrestled before. And il was the same story for Rosa Mikaloff who. over- ‘| powered her Prince Rupert rival only to be surprised in the final. In a tough weighl class Kathleen Marsh acquitied her- self well to take bronze while Karyn Audet and Babal Sang- hera cach finished fourth. Once again the girls couldn’t quite ‘tally enough points to deprive Hazelton of the team crown at the zones. However, they continued ti impress for a squad that only started wrestiing this scason. The proviricials contenders day return will be ‘brightened. ae @ Playmaker THE MOST points — 18 In five. games — and. least penalty minutes earned Clayton. Heenan, the. laymaker Award at a recent Atoms House tourna-: _]| ment-in Kitimat. The Terrace. Drifters were im-. left today and hope thelr Mon- Pressice in finishing sacond in'the 16-team toumey, Ousion taking the title inc . ea