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Trail Times-Friday, January 17, 1986-1.1

TIMES

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EPP- ALK.:

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That was a very interesting tournament we went to in the Trail Curing
Club last week. The second annual
Seniors tourney gave some of us ideas
about the possibility of the Ross1and
Retirees trying the same thing in the
future. It was certainly enjoyable as
everything went along just like
clockwork. The changes from one set of
games to another was performed with
dispatch and very little waiting, a
really big thing when running a tournament along those lines. We got cut off
on one of our games after eight ends but
this wasn't the fault of anyone but the
participants.
I always feel that playing in a 'spiel
like this one keeps your eyes on the
main theme, to curl first, secondly to
have fun, and third, win if you can but
take a loss with a little bit of pride and
poise and don't blame the ice. The other
guy played it right, so what's wrong
with it? It's also an added bonus to go
along with good guys, that makes the
whole thing a whole lot more fun. You
know when you go into it that your
chances of coming home at the top of
the heap are somewhat minimalJust for the record the winning rinks
were from four different clubs with
Trail taking five of the prizes through
the efforts of Chuck Wyatt, first in "A"
and Bert Stanley also from Trail, the
runner-up. Pat Martin won "C" and
had John Jarralt in hot pursuit to get
second, the other host rink was skipped
by Ron Hinton and they were runners.
up to Oscar Tedesco of Grand Forks in
the "B" section. Castlegars Mike
Verzuh won the "D" beating out the
George Barefoot rink from Nelson.
Our only win in six starts came in our
final game against Fred Buccini of
Trail as our skip Jack Hook came
through with an awesome effort to take
Fred's shot rock out and lay four.
Last Sunday I watched the final
games of the Ross1and Pee Wee tourney, I saw all of the five teams entered
play. I caught the last part of a game
between Cranbrook and Castlegar then
IIW the host team OVerwheim the team

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from Walla Walla, then the final game <
of it all between Trail and ~brook. I •~
was quite impressed by the Cranbrook ·)
team, their boys, on the average, were ;~
a shade bigger than most of the o&tien ,;
and their stick work and abootlnc ..._ ~
of a bit of a superior effort. They dicln't ~
have any trouble walking off with top ~
money. Ross1and, Trail and Cutlegar, ~•.
well there was not a lot to choose among :
them, than the kids from Walla Walla, .
they were outclassed but they played
very minute of every game I saw and
from what I heard, their wee goalie,
Pat Burnett, was awarded the MVP
medal, a fitting reward for a gutsy little
guy who faced something like 250,,300
shots and only allowed 82 to get by him.
That, for my money is what these
little-guy tournaments are all about.
Walla Walla's tykes play in the Pacific
N.W. Hockey ~ t i o n based in ·
Washington, according to Bruce
Johnson, who is Ross1and's Pee Wee
house manager and was the director al
this very well-handled tourney. Time
kids have to travel over 35 miles to play
their
closest
opponents.
CongratulatiOIII Bruce and RMHA for
an entertaininl weekend. Don't go
away folks there's more Minor Hockey .·
in the form of an Atom Tourney on the .
weekend of Feb. 21, March 1-2. Incidentally, · the final standings were ,·
Cranbrook, Cutlegar, Trail, Ross1and
and Walla Walla.
The Warriors have nine games left on
their regular scbedule, five at heme
starting on the 17th vs. Beaver Valley.
One of the club's bright spots this
season bu been the point-production of
young Damon Raek!ot, who garnered
bis 100th point in the game against
Spokane last Friday. Another hopeful
phase is entering as some other players ,
start to get their share, that's what is
needed plus the ability to play 80mbiute hockey. Ahead in many tussles
they have frittered away two and tbre&
goal leads in the final period al a lot of
games. Right now they badly need ,
those two games over Grand Forks plus
a good share of the others. So, what do ·
you say, guys?