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B4 - The Terrace Slandard, Wednesday, March 22, 2000

CHRISTIANA WIENS.

‘SKEENA ANGLER
ROB BROWN

Secret Lake, part V:

When we left them last week, the boys had dis-
cavered that not only were swimmers, boaters, and
bathers privy to the closely guarded secret of

Secret Lake, but so were the residents of the for-

bidding building crouching near its shoreline.
rinimals, Bruce said. He always mispronounced.
that word, They’re convicts all right, I whispered. |
Brice took one of the Lord's names in vain,

We sat immobile, transfixed for one of those short times
that feel like a long time. Like an automaton, Bruce picked
up his paddie and made a deliberate stroke. I did the same.
Drawn by the bizarre magnetism of things forbidden and
dangerous, we paddled closer, crouching a little lower with '
each stroke. The men milled around near the edge of the
water like aimless monks. Behind them, an a small rise, sat
a man wearing a hat: the guard, I guessed. They didn’t see
us, which suited us just fine, until a red winged black bird
trilled, arousing Tip, who had been napping on the bottom
of the boat. She sat up, spotted the convicts and let out one
of those short woofs that dogs make when they’re not sure
how to proceed.

The prisoners swiveled in unison and crouched as one
and caught our approach. It was then I noticed they were
outside of the fence.

Hey, come on over I got somethin’ fer ya, one scruffy
character gargled, A grin slid across his face.

Hey, ya catchin’ lotsa fish? asked another, punctuating
the question with an odd sound that was meant to be a
laugh.

Tip growled.

This was too creepy.”

The drill with Big Guys, was to hiirl a taunt, or an unflat-
tering remark, or both, then flee like fury. But these Big
Guys had such a menacing, malevolent aura we back-pad-
dled timidly keeping our eyes on them the whole time.

Hey, c’mon back ya little bugper, called the con man
who'd spoken first. The syrupy edge of his first utterance
had tumed sour.

Tip barked.

We swing around awkwardly and dug in deeply with the
paddles opening the distance between us and the cons
quickly, In minutes they were ants in the distance. We
stopped and speculated about the criminal records of the
men in the con pack between gasps, pants, then breaths.
Periodically we cast glances in the direction of the prison to
reassure ourselves of the distance between us and them. A
short time later they left taking the tension with them.

The novelty of the boat hacin't quite wom off but it was

wearing thin. After hours of inaction even contemplative -

old men tire of trolling; for ten year old boys, it’s agony. We
talked of packing up, but stopped with the approach of
another boat.

The rower was a teenager, another Big Guy but a friend-
ly one. He had his girl friend in the stern,

Fifty cents an hour, he replied when we asked abut the
boat rental. This seemed an awful lot to us, considering he
wasn't even fishing.

You get anything? he asked.

Nope, we said together.

Yeah, he said nodding knowingly, Used to be good here
until they put in ali them white ducks and geese and stuff in
the lake. There’s too much duck crap in the water now, It’s
wrecked the fishin’.

This revelation was the last straw for Bruce and me,

I'm starved, I whined. Me too, said Bruce.

A split second later things went from passive to hyperac-
tive. Bruce’s rod bounced across the bottom of the boat and
was almost over the side when I stomped on the handle.
Bruce dove, grabbed the pole and hauled back. All three of
us moved fo starboard at once goading the boat into pitch-
ing us out, samething she'd threatened to do all day, When
the wet frantic flailing had subsided we realized that even
though we were far from shore, we were standing on bat-
tom. Tip was well on her way to the beach. Bruce, stum-
bled and flopped through the muck and the reeds after her.
For a moment I looked around for my rod but the mud
sucking at my ankles convinced me it was time to move.
Besides, finding my rod in the ooze and slime undemeath
the dirty water in Secret Lake would be a task on par with
recovering it from the bottom of the Marianna Trench.

Tip was ashore long before we slopped up to the beach. ©

Bruce swore, repeating the same epithet over and over
wilh shifting emphasis.

At least you still got your rod, I said.

With the adrenaline tide at ebb, Bruce took stock. He
seemed shocked to discover he was still clinging to his pole.
The shock level rose when he began reeling in and met
resistance — lots of it. Even a tuna couldn't have broken that
Armny and Navy line. Bruce winched, cranked, heaved and
tugged frantically until a trout as black as tar paper and big-
-ger than any trout we'd ever seen lay flopping on shore.

We pounced, all three of us. Bruce screamed at Tip, I
barked orders at Bruce. Brice barked orders al me. Tip
jbarked because everyone else was, When the fumbling and
'faying was done, we stood back and gazed upon the tro-
phy at our feet. To be continued.

at

TERRACE. STANDARD.

SPORTS

638-7283:

Hebert recrowned
in Shames Hillclimb

MORE THAN 50 racers
tried to reverse gravity at
Shames Mountain for two
days March 11-12 blazing
a trail up one of the hill’s
toughest runs.

The run, AOT ~ short
for Ass Over Teakettle, is
known for its nasty moguls.

POL

2 But, despite ‘a soft and.
sti¢ky’ tretich betWeen" gate

six and seven, these’ pow:
er-hungry snowmobilers
had no problem blasting
moguls in more than 155
trips up the treacherous
slope.

The riders travelled
here from as far away as
Salmon Arm, Fort St. John
and Campbell River to
compete in Shames’ sec-
ond annual B.C. Snawmo-
bile Federation sanctioned
event .

“Tt went very,
well,”

very
said one of the

- event organizers Brent De

Jang whoa was already
planning for another BCSF
event next year.

“The weather tumed oul
decent and the racers were
happy with the course.”

Hometown racers such
as Mark Sarich, Brent De
Jong and Trevor Gibson
surprised the pros and won
top three placings in al-
most every event,

But the King classes
belonged to Norm Hebert
of Campbell River.

Hebert had the fastest
time overall in the compe-
tition powering straight
lines through all 10 gates
to the top of AOT in
40.995 seconds.

Hebert also won the

MIDGET AA HOCKEY

stock king and modified
king classes and took third
in the improved king race.

Trevor Gibson, of Ter-
race, won second in the
stock king while Kevin
McRay took third.

In the improved king

Ate iwo-Terracesriders: x: ;
Sarich* “and? Brent" Déllil enzie, rode his Polaris to
wered Hebert f first In:the improved: 600cc “

jong * = ‘outpaw
Hor first and second place.

Kevin McRay, of
Prince George, won the
improved stock 1000cc
stock race with Greg Mort-
on and John Myshrall, of
Terrace, winning second
and third.

Terrace’s lan Black
won the modified 700cc
Stock, beating Mike Irmen
of Salmon Arm and Brent
De Jong, who took third.

The Salmon Arm rider
went on to beat John Bod-
nar of Houston and Brian
Henderson of 100 Mile
House in the modified
600cc class.

Irmen was on a roll at
Shames, beating Pau! Na-
deau and John Myshrall in
the modified 800cc class,

Norm Chapdelaine, of
Campbell River, took the
modified open class outra-
cing Kevin McRay and
Mark Sarich,

Norm Chapdelaine, and
Mark Sarich took second
and third place in the
modified king class.

Carl Hanhberg, of Fort
St. John, beat out Trevor
Gibson and Rick Harris of
Salmon Arm in the 600cc
stack competition.

Mark Sarich, John Bod-
nar and Mike Ratusniak

took top honours in the
stock 700ce competition,

Out-of-town riders do-
Mminated the stock 800cc
class when Norm Hebert,
Carl Hanberg and Kevin
McRay placed first, sec-
ond and third.

‘Raul Nadeau, of Mack-

class, while Trevor Gibson
took his Yamaha to the top
for second, Kilwanga’s
Rob Jaarsma placed third.

In the improved 700cc
event, the champion,
Norm Hebert sped past’
Kevin Enrnark of Kitimat
and Brent De Jong for first
place.

Hebert alse won the im-
proved 800cc event, flip-
ping race results in the im-
proved king class and
downing Mark Sarich and
Brent De Jong, who were
relegated to second and
third place.

In the amateur and la-
dies classes, Laird Archie
won both the 600cc and
under and 600ce and over
events.

Kyle McCann, of. Ter-
race, took second in the
600cc and under amateur
event while local Kevin
Beedle took third in the
both the over 600ce and
under 600ce events.

Calvin Kerr placed sec-
ond in the 600ce and over
competition on an Arctic
Cat.

In the ladies event, Lori
Howard took a mean tum-
ble half way up AOT,
leaving Rose Archie in
first place.

Nestor, Hull hyped for hockey

DON’T MISS a game of
the Midget 2000 AA pro-
vincial hockey tournament
this week!

The games run every
day next week until March
24, Terrace competes in
Division B alongside Po-
well River, Castlegar,
Dawson Creek, West Van-
couver and Whitehorse.

And key to Terrace’s
play are Ryan Nestor and
Adam Hull, two of our big-
gest players.

Ryan Nestor a tough
17-year-old right winger,
weighs 210 pounds and
stand 6’1 inches tall. He
started’ playing hockey at
the age of four and injured
his knee this season.

Adam Hull, 16, is. even
bigger. The defensive
player weighs 180. pounds,

Ryan Nestor

stands 6'3 inches tall. He

sports jersey nuntber three

when he's on the ice and

goes by the nickname

Adam Hull

“Turbo.”

Hull has been playing
competitive hockey for
nine years.

REV' THAT ENGINE: More than 50 ‘snowmobilers took to the slopes at Shames Mountain March 11-12 in the Mogul Blaster Hillclimb.

BREAKIN’ FREE: That's Brian Henderson of 100
Mile House kicking loose at Shames Mountain
Sunday, March 12, Henderson placed third in the
modified 600cc evert.

Hockey hero drops
opening puck

IF YOU'RE wondering
who that puy dropping
the puck in last Sun-
day’s Midget AA Pro-
vincial opening cere-
monies was, you don’t
know Terrace Minor
Hockey.

Jake DeJong’s rela-
tionship with Terrace
Minor Hockey goes
back years to when Ter-
race Totem Ford first
started sponsoring hock-
ey here.

That was back when
the Totem Ford Midget
Rep team featuring Jeff
Sharples and Wade
Flaherty, were a provin-
cial powerhouse and one of the best teams in Ca-
nada.

That was the early ‘80s and Totem Ford has
continued to sponsor the Midgets to this day,

Jake became more involved when his son Shane
became of age to play hockey.

He spent three years on the executive as direc-
tor and was instrumental in purchasing the first
minor hockey tour bus, which has turned out to be
a great assest to players today,

Perhaps Jake's greatest hockey achievement
came in 1998 when he and Cliff Sharples found the
first ever locally operated hockey school in the
northwest.

The school featured Wade and Jeff, the most-re-
cagnized hockey names to come out of this area,

Jake ran the school for seven years and is very
proud he could help found an easy ‘and affordable
hockey school for moat t northwest children.

Jake DeJong