DAVE TAYLOR SK.EENA ANGLER - ROB BROWN Atlin here’s more North to this province than most people think there is. I'd been as far as the Dease River i where Webb and I spent a pleasurable afternoon floating tiny fraudulent gnats over grayling. I remember feeling then that we'd almost reached the northern extrem- ities of B.C,, but naw, as mile after mile of highway takes us through mile after mile after mile of stunted forest, past ponds, tarms and lakes, over streams and rivers, I start to ap- preciate the great sweeping distances this land confains, It’s ten-thirty and darkening as we drop down to the town of Good Hope Lake. There is no movement, and no lights. The Islands in the lake are outlined in alkaline white. The build- ings sag. The aspect of the place is more of hopelessness than hope; we’re glad to climb the hill out of it and glad, a short time later to finda camping spot in Boya Lake Park. We're up carly. There is urgency to the trip. Webb, who has taken time off school to become a scientist, Michelle Lynch, who finds herself in a similar sitvation, and ] have to meet Glenn Grieve, the CEO of Biolith consultants, and his second-in-command, Melinda Bahr, who are Oying North by helicopter. Their ETA is 2 p.m. After convening, the plan is to find a campsite within striking distance of the watersheds of the Pike, Gladys,-and O’Donnell-rivers- where -the -- Biolithians:are to do some biological inventory as per the terms of 2 contract awarded them by the Ministry of the Environment. The land flaticns; the trees get progressively smaller. Webb spots a bull moose browsing water plants in a roadside tarn. I can’t see it over the gear crammed to overflowing in the box of the pickup. Michelle divides her time between studying Streamside guides and taking cat naps. By eleven I'm at the wheel playing around with the erise control, and marveling at the passing power of the big V-8. “Man, my foot’s nowhere near the floor and I’m up to 120!’ I shout over the roar of the engine as we pass a RV al warp speed. Webb looks up from his manual and squints. “Don’t do anything risky,’’ he says. The land slays the same. The signage changes. We are in the Yukon. While my fellow travelers are having coffee in the Canadian/Chinese restaurant at Teslin Lake, T interrogate the young man at the pumps. “You live here all yer life?”’ ““Uh-bub.” “You like it?” “Yeah..sure.”” ‘What about the winters?” He flinches. He hesitates. “Well... They get pretty cold. But it’s a dry cold.”” He scrambles to add the last phrase, like all people who live in frigid climes do, as if to apologize for weather and somehow justify the fact they choose to endure it “Do you ever yeam for the excitement of the big city?” “Naw,’? he shakes his head. ‘I get to go to Smithers every winter.’ One inan’s village is another man’s city. Creek names are endlessly fascinating. I’m al- ways taken with them. We've crossed Logjam, . Partridge, and Spencer, all easily explained | away; but it’s a lot harder to account for, . Seagull, Screw, Smart, and the Rancheria River, while Tarfu and Snafu Creeks prod the imagina- tion. Ata commer named for Jake we make a steep turn and head south on a gravel road, past a sign proclaiming Allin Lake is B.C.’s biggest natural water-body. For most of the tip we've Uraveled under a canopy of high, lead colourcd clouds. As we cruise alongside the large body that is Little At- lin Lake through the Valley of the Lubbock River — named by a Texan, no doubt — the clouds break up and shafts of sunlight light up and highlight parts of the landscape, There has been a marked change in forest which is now dominated by lodge pole pine. The forest floor is open and carpeted in gray, blue, green, red and brown mosses interspersed with brittle, gray rock. Atlin Lake is an inland sea spreading out before us, disappearing into the distance. We will arrive in Allin soon. I expect a typical small northem town, like Dease Lake, with building and machines scattered helter skelicr, with joey-shacked trailers, oil drums, and no evidence of planning. ...continued next week. TERRACE STANDARD Locals could reunite in Hockey stars head south for season TWO TERRACE athletes who played hockey together here’ as youths may be on the same team once again — this time in Salt Lake _ City. Jeff Sharples and Wade Flaherty, who have been back-in their home town for the past few weeks to teach hockey school, both say they’re looking forward to the potential reunion. “That would be a jot of Wade Flaherty fun,” says Flaherty. ‘‘Two local boys together again.”” The potential match-up came about when Flaherty signed a two-year contract with the New York Is- landers this Spring. “> was really happy,” says Flaherty, who’s been 1 taney neces amen gg meneme paren ae playing for the San Jose Sharks since his pro career started. ‘‘It’s pretly. exciting. I’m looking forward to a different atmosphere. ”’ But with several goalies in the Islanders’ _ lineup, Flaherty might find himself moving down to the their farm team for a while — which happens to be the Utah Grizziies. And that’s where Jeff Sharples has been playing for the past few years. “Hopefully 1 won't see him,’’ Sharples says of his friend. ‘‘But if it works out ‘Y would love to get back to the NHL, even if it’s just for a cup of coffee.”’ — Jeff Sharples— that way it would be fun.”’ This is the last year of Sharples’ contract with the Grizzlies and he doesn’t pull any punches about the driv- ing goal of his career. “T would love to get back to the NHL, even if its just for a cup of coffee,” he says. ‘“That’s what every- one’s playing for. The day the dream ends is the day you stop playing.’” However things turn out, Sharples says he’s been very happy playing with the fora year. money,”’ out of reach. ing. says. Skateboard park plans on hold THE DREAM of building a skateboard park in Terrace has suffered a major setback. A grant of $25,000 expected to come from Canada- BC Infrastructure Works has been withheld —~ al }:ast City councilor Rich McDaniel, who has spearheaded the project since its inception more than a year ago, says he got the bad news last weck. ‘Apparently there’s no more money in the pot for this year,” he says. “‘And we were counting on that McDaniel says it’s a tremendous blow to have worked so hard for the project, only to have it put just ‘Tt's a sad, sad situation,’ he says. “These kids smile at me every time [ see them, and 1 smile back thinking ‘The cheque’s coming,’ bul now il’s not.” Much of the estimated $140,000 in work and materials needed for the park have been donated by area businesses — everything from pavement to fenc- * And while McDaniel says the project is still eligible for a grant next year, he’s worried that some of those many donations-in-kind won't be available then. “Given the economic situation who knows?’’ he Skecna MLA Helmut Giesbrecht is more optimistic. He points out that the grant actually hasn’t been turned down, and may still come through this year. Meanwhile, McDaniel says he plans on meeting with the businesses involved this week to find out what im- pact the setback will have on them. The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, September J, Iyy/ - mo WADE FLAHERTY’S goalie school finished up last week. Flaherty now plays for the Islanders, but there’s a chance he might wind up in Utah with Jeff Sharples. Grizzlies. Now he just hopes to stay healthy for the coming season so he can play his best. And he says his turning 30 this year isn’t as big of a deal as it used to be for a hockey player. **Messier’s 36 and he just got a three-year contract,” Sharples notes. ‘The NHL is getting older. You just “The day the dream ends is the day you stop playing.”’ —Jeff Sharples— have to work extra hard to keep up with the young guys.” Sharples says the hockey school went well this year, and he once-again saw plenty of potential in young players. They just need more exposure, “T's a tough pill to swal- low, but the lack of ice time is ithe biggest problem here,” he says. ‘‘Hopefully we'll see something happen within the next five years,”’ Fitness champ heads to Canadian Finals OUR OWN BC Fitness Champion is off to Montreal this week to vie for the Ca- nadian title, Bemadine Drake — all 5’8”’ and 137 Ibs of lithe, muscular grace — is Set to compete against the nation’s best Sept. 6. Three other competitors from B.C., all from the lower mainland, will also compete al the championships in this increasingly-popular sport. “I’m really excited about The gymnastics is a little painful. Starting that at age 25 is pretty . difficult.’’ — Bernadine Drake going,’ Drake says. “‘And it's nice to represent the north.”’ This year will be especial- ly big because the event is being held alongside the huge Canadian Bodybuild- ing Championships. But coach Laurie Monture says Drake's ready. “She’s put on a few pounds of quaiity muscle and she’s really lean,’’ she says. ‘She looks great.”’ Drake will be using all of the allowed two-minutes for her set, which requires her to do gymnastics and high- energy moves to show off her strength and form. “The gymnastics is a litde painful,’ Drake — says. “Starting that at age 25 is preity difficult.”’ But Drake says her routine is unique and hopefully that will make her stand out. And Drake is certainly being noticed. There’s a mini-profile of ber in this month’s MuscleMag Inter- national, one of North Amcrica’s premier body- building magazines. *“It was nice to have that little extra boost of con- Bernadine Drake fidence going into the Na- tionals,’’ she says. MuscleMag says Drake really stood out from the pack at ihe BC Fimess Championships, _ pointing out that, “...her superior overall conditioning could not be ignored.” Let's hope the judges in Montreal feel the same way. Women’s soccer scores big 1997 proves to be a banner year for the fledgling league ‘‘Phenomenal,’’ That's how Terrace Women’s spokesperson Jennifer Burns describes the never closed registration.”’ Soccer Burns says that kind of flexibility probably appealed to many women. They even went as Sponsors. between clubs, Those sponsors provided team uniforms, help- ing to boost both team spiril and competition league's success this ycar, And she’s not exaggerating. In previous years, the league had trouble ficld- ing a full team of 11 players. So this year, Burns and other organizers strove to achieve the modest goal of getting enough women involved for two teams of seven-aside soccer. They ended up with more than 80 players. ‘lt was really incredible,’’ Burns says. ‘We . couldn’t believe how successful it was.”’ The league ended up with five [ull teams of 17 players cach, which played the whole scason — culminating in the championships two weeks ago, . . Burns says news of the league spread largely by word-of-mouth, as more and more women signed up. . ‘We put out the word that it was open to , everyone, from beginner to advanced and every: thing in between,” she says, ‘‘And we con- tinued to welcome newcomers all season. We . far as to allow friends to play on the same team. The league also didn’! have age-limits, so while the youngest player was 19, there were several in their mid-forties. . ‘A lot of them seemed to be mothers of chil- “Tt was some excellent soccer, We were like, ‘Wow, this.is coming from a rec league!?’? So —Jen Burns— dren who played soccer,’’ Burns says. ‘‘Some had never played before, but ‘they had watched plenty of It so they figured: they’d give it a shot,”’ me _ Teams were divided up into approximate equal strengths at the beginning of the season. After that, they. were on their own to’ find And the competition continued to heat up all year, especially in the playoffs. “Tt was some cxeccllent soccer,’’ says Bums, ‘We were like, ‘Wow, this is coming from a rec feaguel’?? The league-leading Back Eddy squad was the favourite going into the finals, with The Renais-: sance and A&W’s Kermode Kickers vying for second. Mother Goose aid All Season’s Begin- ner’s Luck also weren’t out of the picture, ‘And in a. rousing final, The Renaissance blasted to the front of the pack to take the championships, with Mother Goose slipping into sccond place. The Back Eddy had to settle for third, ; Now organizers are hoping to keep some of the momentum going inlo the fall with an in- door league, ; “We want to keep the enthusiasin up,” says Burns. “It’s been such a great season," The indoor league will start in October. enne :