82 Castlégar x News February 14, 1990 SPORTS EQUALIZATION DRAFT Lions feel cheated in CFL's latest move. en (CP) — The often players each — and have surrendered draft is on hold yd three years of providing player help to last-place teams. The future of the equalization for- mula instituted in, 1987 will be deter- ed by the CFL board of governors after the league’s annual college- university draft Feb. 24, new com- missioner Donald Crump said Tuesday. The player equalization plan was created to help teams that didn’t make the playoffs in the league's two divisions. The Ottawa Rough Riders, 4-14, missed the playoffs in the Eastern Division in 1989 and the B.C. Lions, 7-11, finished last in the West. “‘At this moment we're not sure there’s going to be an equalization draft,’’ Crump told a news conferen- ce. ‘*There’s some difficulty among the members of the league as to the value at this moment. “We'd like to see what the results of the college draft are first. We want to have a draft that works.”* : Crump admitted the. Toronto Argos and the Winnipeg Blue Bom- bers, who made the eastern playoffs with 7-11 records, are opposed to con- tinuing the equalization formula. The Lions have never drawn from the equalization pool — playoff teams are allowed to protect 26 tackle Mike Gray, guard Bob Skemp, defensive end Dwayne Derban and slotback Paul Nastasiuk in the draft. Gray, an all-Canadian selection as a rookie in 1985, was selected by Ot- tawa in the first equalization draft, then released by the Riders and later rOOT84,, signed as a free agent by Winnipeg, where his career has flourished in three years. is investigating the n plan to get a feeling for mn after just one month on “‘It will be up to the commissioner's office to satisfy all the teams that there will be a procedure in place that over the long run will be equitable,’’ he said. ‘‘It doesn’t seem suitable at the moment to change the rules every other year.’’ President Joe Kapp of the Lions is pressing for continuation of the draft. “What we need in the league is con- sistency,”’ said Kapp. “‘Let’s stick with it; that’s all we're asking. “In former years the Lions have contributed. Now we should get some players for (last place). I want the field to be as flat as possible . . . for the- B.C, Lions’ fans-so- it's fair-for everybody.” Crump confirmed a report the CFL has excused the Lions from an $800,000 debt. The Lions, privately owned by stock promoter Murray Pezim since September, are not responsible for the debt, Crump said. The $800,000 was loaned to the Lions in late 1987 when they were a f ie WHO'S THE KID WITH THE MUSTACHE? . . . He's the coach of the SHSS junior bo: team — Doug Hickey, who is reneing troops through the paces Tuesday nig! ¢ owned team. The money came from ticket sales to the Grey Cup cham- pionship game at B.C. Place Stadium. “Each team in the league, other than the Lions, held a debenture,” said Crump. ‘‘When the team here went into bankruptcy, those deben- tures went with the team, or that organization. “This team did not assume that debenture. As far as I know, there’s no way it will ever be paid off. If you put your hand over your pocketbook for that to be collected, you have an ever-lasting patch on your trousers.”” Crump was in Vancouver to meet with Pezim and Kapp prior to the league’s annual general meeting Feb. 22-24 in Hamilton. SHSS senior girls’ b-ballers send message to competition By CasNews Staff The Stanley Humphries secondary school senior girl’s basketball team left its potential provi Rockettes coach Jack Closkey said Tuesday the tourney win was just what his team needed heading into the West Koot ips which ship-competition- something to think about at a tournament in Vernon last weekend. The senior Rockettes beat the previously undefeated and seventh ranked team in the province — Ar- mstrong senior secondary — 61-51 on the way to the Fulton secondary tour- ney title. Sherrie Makortoff scored 20 points wilt be staged at SHSS Feb. 23 and 24. The Rockettes have already demon- strated that they are the class of the Kootenays and should have no trouble earning a berth to the provin- cials for the second straight year by winning the championship. Ranked 10th provincially when the season began, the Rockettes dropped out of the rankings with losses in against in the second and toughest contest of the tourney. —_—In_the-first_game,—Carilyn Briscoe scored 41 points to lead the Rockettes to a 91-57 win over a team from Whitehorse. The championship game pitted SHSS against the hometown squad from Fulton and this time it was five- foot-eight forward Denise Pottle leading the way with 18 points while Briscoe added. 17 and was named player of the game. n in January, but the win over Armstrong should restore the team to the top 10 in the province. (Rankings-for-double-A_-girls-basket- ball are being released this week.) Armstrong is a team the Rockettes could meet in the provincials which are being held in Surrey March 7-10. Closkey says anything can happen in the pi which went according to how the teams are ranked, the Rockettes would finish somewhere between sixth and ninth, which isn’t something he'd be upset with: “It’s not likely we'll be in the top five,” he said. ‘‘Not likely, but anything can happen."” se The junior girls team, which is also expected to cruise through the West Kootenay championship (which will go at SHSS the same weekend as the senior tourney), beat up on Grand Forks secondary again by a score of 48-15 in Grand Forks Tuesday night. Doug Hickey’s junior boys team was on the other end of a score, losing 50-42 to the Wolves-in-the late-game at Grand Forks. Dan Kooznetsoff led the Rockers in a losing calse with 10 points. The boys will return to Grand Forks for the West Kootenay cham- jincludes B.C.’s 16 best teams. 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