I

' The other day two pretty
bockey-wise friends of mine
commented they wished to
someone really level
Wayne Gretzky with a solid
tiodycheck. I said at the time
"you can't hit what you can't
catch up with."
When you watch the moves
that guy can make out there
you have to admit "Great
One" is going to stay pretty
well unmolested for some
time. His knack of finding a
spot in front of the goal and
getting those accurate shots
away from almost any angle
is uncanny. Sure, one of
these •ys he's going to
te1ax and someone will have
a shot at him, but I think
when the time comes he'll
bounce right back not much
the worse for wear.
Well, the Birchbank
course is sure doing a landoffice business these days,
since the curling season
ended I have been out with
various foursomes on seven
different occasions and have
played 18 holes of six of
those. Each time we have
been out there the course has

see

been, if not crowded, then
let's say filled to capacity.
It's a pretty healthy
situation. When the upper
course gets going, which
should be any day now, that
may relieve the presure at
Birchbank somewhat. That
course is in fine shape and I
like the handling of tee-off
from the office. It's a really
good move, notifying each
group of their position on the

tee.
I haven't been down to see
the upper course yet but I'm
told that the greens are in
good shape and work has
been already done on the
practice tee and the putting
green and both are in midseason condition, several
damp spots on the fairways
will undoubtedly have been
helped by the recent glorious
weather we've been having.
I see that the soccer
season has kicked off with a
couple of exhibition games.
If pre-season form is any
criterion we can expect to
see some excellent matches
during the coming months in
both Trail and Rossland. The

competition between these
two is always red hot and
now we have the Oldtimers
getting into the act with a
league of their own. Along
with the minor leaguers it
would appear as though we
should have a busy summer,
I haven't checked out the
minor registration as yet but
it will likely be as good as
previous years.
Saturday, April 30 will see
the Spurs and Labatts clash
in game one of the season in
Trail.
On the Sl~Pitch front, the
league held its g~ral
meeting Monday evening
and will go with the
executive of the previous
season: Jim Ling is
president and Howie Kam
the vice-president while
John Habicht takes on the
combined job of secretarytreasurer. I have learned
that if there are enough

people sign up for the season
ahead that there is a
possibility of a sixth team
being added, projected
starting date for the league
is around May 10 and the
annual tournament which
was abandoned last year will
be revived under the
chairmanship of Ken Dixon
and Cam Jensen for around
July 1.
Rossland Sl~Pitch league
is also endeavoring to start a
youth program. They are
looking for about four
parents per team. If anyone
would like to take part in the
program they are asked to
contact one of the following
phone nmnbers before May
1: Jim Ling, 362-5003; Howie
Kam, 362-6641; Don Brandt,
362-5730; or Geoff Davies,

362-6461.
This coming week I will do
some work on a couple of
projects I have for future

columns, one has to be
coming up pretty quick as it
concerns skiing while the
other will be more timely as
summer and track and field
sports take over.
And now to wind up this
from a national magazine.
An otherwise quiet comer of
town was bothered nightly
by the squalls of an overzealous male cat. Its owner's
neighbors caUed on him to do
somthing about it. A few
nights later quiet reigned.
On seeing the cat's owner,
one neighbor thanked him
and said, "I suppose it takes
some effort to confine him."
"No," the owner said, "I had
him altered at the vet's."
"Then," said the other, "I
suppose he stays home at
night."
"Not really," said the
owner, "he still goes out but
now he acts as a consultant."
That's it for now ...