Over the next few months, your natural gas bill is: going to increase an average of about $40 a year per household in the Interior. At BC Gas, we want every customer to fully understand why. A long overdue supplier increase. On November 1, the first increase goes into effect, when your gas bill rises by ten percent. Not one cent of this will go to BC Gas. It will go directly to pay our suppliers. The gas- producing companies that provide their product to BC Gas for delivery to you. Those suppliers have not taken an increase for many years. So they are raising prices now to keep pace with today’s real market value. As a private-sector company, regulated by the government, we have used our clout to bargain on your behalf for the lowest possible increase. A fairer rate structure. On January 1, another rate change will occur for some Customers when we re-structure rates to make them fairer. Now your bill will more closely reflect your actual natural gas delivery cost, not somebody else’s. That will mean a three percent delivery cost reduction for residents in the Interior. In addition, seasonal delivery rates will begin to apply. Customers will pay lower rates in the summer and higher rates in the winter, when consumption and delivery costs go up. Y We have been asked to re-structure in this manner by the B.C. Utilities Commission. And we thought you should know that we do not rece greater revenues as a result ive The Castlegar Sun Wednesday, November 3, 19 All and all, re-structuring and our supplier increase will raise your gas bill by about six percent over the course of the year. An increase to cover our costs. Finally, BC Gas intends to ask the Commission for an increase on the cost of our delivery service, effective January 1. If.approved, it will be the first such increase in six years. We need it to pay for our rising operating costs, to make a fair return to the people who invest in our shares, and to continue to deliver the natural gas and the quality of service you have a right to expect. We have tried to keep this increase to a minimum. And we have been successful in doing so because BC Gas is a lean organization with one of the lowest operating costs per customer of any utility in North America. In the end, natural gas is still forty percent cheaper than electricity* and oil. The least we can do is improve your comfort zone. At BC Gas, we want to make these increases as painless as possible. So we’re going to provide you with simple, practical money-saving ideas that can help you use natural gas more efficiently and reduce the heat on your gas bill. You can get them in our free book, Hot Tips. To get your copy, or find out more about the rate increases, simply call our new customer information line anytime between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m., Monday to Friday, and 9 a.m. ’til 2 p.m. Saturday. BCGas (4Y) 1-800-561-4GAS 93 SP RTS Sports Dept. John Van Putten 365-5579 The Castlegar Sun WEDNESDA , November 3, 1993 9A Bantam tourney turns up the heat SUN SPORTS PHOTO /John Van Putten Castlegar Goalie David Evdokimoff sprawls and successfully keeps this Nelson play- er from scoring. The exciting B Final was forced into overtime and Nelson came out as the victors. JOHN VAN PUTTEN Sun Sports Hot, blistering, sweltering Three words not usually used to describe hockey, but for this tour nament they suit it to aT There was so much hockey action in Castlegar over the weekend during the Bantam Dou ble A tournament the ice was showing signs of giving in to the pressure ‘I'm happy with the games we played this weekend—four good games. That's really all you want at this time in the year,” Castlegar Coach, Mark Huggett said, sum- ming up the performance of his team over the three days of fierce competition. In reality, the play of all eight teams in the tourney was enough to satisfy the hockey palate of any seasoned spectator The overall final for the championship was between Sur- rey and Kimberly. The score was leanifig in favor of Surrey, 4-2, but as far as shots on net go, the Surrey Goalie, Matthew New- some, faced an incredible 53 shots only letting in two, while the Kimberly netminder only faced 14 shots in his direction To earn their spot in the final each team had to win their indi vidual pool. As they finished in the round-robin portion of the tourney the teams also determined where they landed in the champi. onship section. Each team played the corresponding placed team from the other division One section of the tourney, Pool A, consisted of Castlegar, Kimber ly, Revelstoke and Trail/Rossland Pool B was made up of Beaver Valley, Grand Forks, Nelson and Surrey Providing the most local flavor for the. spectators was the B Final between Castlegar and Nelson Three periods just weren't enough for the two teams to decide who would reign supreme. Most of the five minute overtime was needed before Nelson could be tri umphant “The boys came through with lots of heart, that’s the only thing that won—heart and guts,” said Nelson Bantam Coach, Gordie Jeffs Ending in favor of Nelson, with 50 second, remaining on the clock in the overtime period, Dan John- son put one past Castlegar netmin- det David Evdokimoff to earn the 7-6 victory “It was a good, rough, hockey game, the refs let them go,” Jeffs said. tlegar coach, Huggett agreed, “This was one of the hard est hitting games we have played.” “The luck of the puck,” was onefactor in Nelson's win. “The puck didn't go in when it was supposed to.” Castlegar'’s goals were scored by six different players: Jay Antig, nani; Dave Pucci; Jerett Hoffart, Ryan Kinakin; Nick Antignani and Kent Fauth For Nelson, Stacey Jeffs; Aaron Zukowski, and Ben Morris each netted two to force the game into overtime and finally gain the win. In other post round-robin games, Trail beat Grand Forks 7-2 and Beaver Valley edged Revel- stoke 4-3 The next major tournament for the Castlegar Bantam squad will be, in Cranbrook, December 4 and 5. Until then, the teams will be playing regular league games and working on the skills that need ironing as all teams improve dur- ing the ly stages of this, the 1993/94 hockey season. Ny py As teammates on the field score a third goal allowing a 3-1 win over Rossland Sec ondary School, players from Trafalgar Junior Secondary School show what it’s like to finally down a major force in field hockey..With the win, Trafalgar earned the title in the Grade 7 and 8 section of the West Kootenay Championships, held at Kinnaird field on Saturday SUN SPORTS PHOTOS /John Van Putten JOHN VAN PUTTEN Sun A little gremlin has plagued the Castlegar Rebels since the beginning of the season. That ‘litthe something’ returned for another visit as the players points. For the overall race for first, a three-way tie brings one of the new KIJHL teams, the North Okanagan Kings into the picture Coach Salekin said the team should not have needed the overtime period to secure the Rebels plagued by gremlins Watching their goalie per- form seemed to motivate Castlegar players to return to playing and leave the disorga nized mess behind them “There was some sloppy play and [Welychko] picked up the slack very well.” As in other were in Ross land on Friday to battle the Warriors in KUHL action Sitting on the shoulders of the players was the curse ‘There was some sloppy play and [Vaughan Welychko] picked up the slack very well’ — WAYNE SALEKIN Rebels Assistant coach commenting on the performence of their goalie in Fridays game in Rossland games this sea- son ~ Salekin said the Rebels have had trou- ble — staying motivated throughout the entire game “Motivating that has been stopping them from putting together a consistent perfor- mance throughout each game “The team is having trouble playing a full sixty minutes of hockey,” said Rebels Assistant Coach, Wayne Salekin In Rossland, 60 minutes of hockey was not enough for the Rebels as they needed an over time period to clinch a 6-5 win Todd Doyle netted the winner in the teams only game of the weekend With this win Castlegar remains in a two-way tie for first place in the West Division with Nelson, each with 20 win. Sloppy play on the part of the team kept Rossland in the game “The players had lots of mental lapses throughout the game. They (Rossland) had some two-on-one and even some two-on-nobody chan to score With scoring chances like that, Salekin said the strength of the performance of Vaughan Welychko in net basically saved the game “Vaughan played a great game, he came up big in the first period we could have been down by two or three goals” Players is a problem at the start of the game.” Looking ahead to next week the Rebels have two games on their list. Saturday they host Grand Forks and Sunday they travel south to visit Spokane It's a big weekend comin up.” Salekin said In an ettortt treet the | problem, the coaches have been | tround hoping to find that missing spark On Saturday, Gary (Sauer) will be sitting in the stands and witching the line-up taking @ good look at the perfor mance of each of the players SHSS breaks Rossland’s grip on junior hockey title JOHN VAN PUTTEN Sun Sports You could barely see your hand in front of your face at the Kinnaird Park on Saturday morn ing. but that didn’t stop the deter mined groups of field hockey players from taking to the field The Junior West Kootenay Field Hockey Championships needed. more that just a little bit of fog to postpone the event For the Stanley Humphries Junior squad. made up of players in grades nine and ten, they accom plished something rarely seen in the recent history of field hockey at the junior level—beating Ross- land's for the West Kootenay title. SHSS took advantage of the clearing fog, to focus on the mat- ter at hand—defeating a strong opponent. They accomplished this when Shelly Stansbury fin- ished off a perfect passing play resulting in a goal According to SHSS volunteer coach, Anne Clo’ cross-over and a team effoft.” SHSS'’s 1-0 lead stayed firm until the final whistle sounded, ending the game and with it, Rossland’s grasp on the West Kootenay Junior trophy Going into the game, Clow said her players, “knew what they had to do.” In their previous meetings the two teams had tied one game, Castlegar lost one and earned a victory in another. Before Castlegar finally suc- ceeded in breaking the scoreless tie they had other good chances but could not capitalize on their opportunities “There were lots of chances to score, but if you don’t get it in the net you don’t score,” Clow said. Although the pressure on play- Clow was proud of her group for keeping their wits about them. “They did not break under pressure: or lose their com: posure. It was an exciting game The voun: side of the tour ney took to the field earher on Saturday. The Grade seven and eight final between Rossland and Trafalgar Junior Secondary School from Nelson saw the Queen City team down the Ross- land team 3-1 to earn their respective West Kootenay title. Like other areas, Rossland and Nelson are starting their players at a younger age. Clow says goal of local field hockey supporters is to get a Grade seven and eight team started in Castlegar, but a lack of coaches makes the goal difficult to achieve. Starting play ers at an earlier age in the long run would make the junior and senior SHSS teams stronger RSS keeps SUN SPORTS In Senior Girls Field Hockey action last week the Stanley Humphries Senior Girls were up against Rossland Secondary School in a battle for the West Kootenay Championship. The outcome of the game was a direct carbon copy of what has happened every year since 1977, Rossland continued their stronghold on the champi- onship, downing the SHSS squad 2-0 to take the senior girls title. “Field hockey is our (Rossland Secondary School) number one girls’ sport, we get all the best ath- letes for field hockey,” said Senior Girls coach, Donna Hebert. Stanley Humphries Coach Verna Cheroff agrees that the Rossland team is a strong group. of players. “They have a good strong, solid, team right through to the backfield, there's a lot of depth on that team.” Both SHSS and Rossland are Sr. trophey off to the Provincial Playoffs in Oliver which start this Thursday and wind up on Saturday. Hebert is confident her squad will better their third place showing in last year’s Provin- cial Playoffs. Castlegar’s coach also says her group of players is ready for the cards that will be dealt in Oliver. “We are pretty well pre- pared,” Chernoff said following the West Kootenay Champi- onship game last week. Each team will play two games on Thursday, the open- ing day of the tourney and three the following day. If either squad makes the final they will play another match on Saturday. Out of each pool in the round-robin portion of the tour- ney the top two teams will advance into the playoff round. Chernoff is hoping to cash in a couple of wild cards during this important event as she is, “hop- ing to pall off an upset.” Stanley Humphries Goal keeper Meena Gill kicks out a shot during the warm up