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EPP- ALIC

For the first time in a
nwnber of years the Rossland
Men's Curling Club has put
everything
together
to
organize a major men's
bonspiel. At the last count
they had 32 rinks committed
for a weekend bonspiel
starting tonight at the
Rossland Curling club.
Rinks that have stated their
intention to be present for the
three-day affair are coming
from Elkford, Spokane,
Vernon, Nelson and Trail to
supplement rinks from the
host club. The ice this winter
has been good and a big
weekend of curling is looked
forward to.
The men's club has had a
lot of bad luck in organizing
this sort of 'spiel with conflicting dates and various
related foul-ups conniving to
put the club behind the eightball and it is the sincere hope
of this corner that this year
will be a big success.
While on the subject of
curling clubs the Retirees'
club has completed its initital
competition and a quick
glance at the standings shows
that Phil Bateman is going to
come out on top of this one.
But wait, I have news that
Phil lost on Tuesday to Norm
Harry so there is now a threeway tie at the top with Angus
Popplewell joining Phil and
Norm with just one loss each.
Ea..:h rink has today's game
to play at the time of writing
this so anything can happen.
Harry meets Russ Broughton,
Bateman meets Tommy
Harrison while Angus tangles
with George Kent and if all
win their games there will
have to be a playoff.
The Retirees' Club has
completed the restructuring
of the bar and kitchen
facilities in the Arena Lounge.
A nwnber of members, with
the help of Joe Thalman, got
busy the other day and the
relocation of the door to the
bar was completed; it will
afford entry to the bar
without going through the
kitchen, a move that has been
contemplated for some time.

than the three-to-four-hour
jobs we've been used to.
Well, the KIJHL season is
now old enough to look back
on what's happened and see
what some of the quirks of
fate have done to the fortunes
of the Warriors.
I walked to Jim Markle,
Rosslan d ' s
m anager,
yesterday and he pointed to a
nwnber of things that have
taken place this season which
have not exactly worked to
the Warriors' advantage.
While this is not to be confused with crying the blues,
the record supports all of
J im's argwnents; it is a tale
of things could have been but
didn't quite come off for one
reason or another.
First of all, there was the
coaching change and we all
know that this is not exactly a
run-of-the-mill
incident.
Players take time to adjust to
a new mentor and the new
coach has to look over his
field and come up with the
method that will fit the
situation.
For my money, Doug Buhr
has done a real good job
considering that he came in to
fill in after the original choice
for coach begged off after the
exhibition season. Doug has
now acquired two assistant
coaches in the per1$0DS of
Doug Hinton and Tim Steinke.
We hope this arrangement
will have positive results and
that it will lessen the load that
Buhr has been carrying of
late.
Doug has definitely had his
problems. Young Tim McNulty, one of the bright
prospects after , his rookie
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Pepper.

season in '78, chose to leave
town to seek his fortune
elsewhere; Tommy Haley, a
gutsy performer if there ever
was one, off to a flying start,
is out for the season,
probably, via a bad injury;
John caron was lost to the
team for over a month after a
league suspension; Richard
Melnyk came back after an
injury and was awarded a
gross misconduct penalty
which forced him to sit out
some games, and there were
in-club suspensions for
training infractions, levied by
the coach and the minor
sickness problems which have
seen the club play shorthanded for many of its
games this season.
Two players from the Coast
were recruited, came, took a
look and kept going. Victor
Zanet, a Rossland boy now
living at the Coast, came,
played one game against
Trail, scored a goal and had
four assists, but was called
home because of sickness in
the family. He hopes to
return.
Incampatthepresenttime
is a plus-200-poµnd defenceman from Toronto, Ian
Douglas by name, Jim says
he will help no end but the
team hasn't got his card yet.
He is working for a local store
and it is hoped his eligibility
will soon be forthcoming as he
has a year or two left in the
age bracket.
Add to this the fact that the
club had to use the curling
club for change rooms until
the dressing rooms were
complete and you have the
picture of a club that's been
hard done by.

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entry to the bar
without going through the ·
kitchen, a move that bas been
contemplated--19r .lODle time ..
afford

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I am unable to attend mapy
senior hockey games because
of other club commitments,
but I shall have to try and fit
one in. After following the
Smokies via the press and
radio and reports from p~ ·
senior fans, I have to believe
that the Smokies are
definitely the class of the
WIHL as the record speaks
pretty loud and clear.
One other thing pleases me
about the Smokies. I see that
Harold Jones didn't lose any
time voicing his displeasure
with the powers that be who
elected to bring in this player
change rule for the month of
December.
Personally, I'm in 4
agreement with Harold. I '
think the new rule is going to t
result in mass confusion and ,
will probably lead to many ~.
"too many men on the ice"
infractions that will hold up
the game rather than speed it
up.
I talked with Arnie Sherwood on this and he had one
word to describe it,
"devastating." There are· a
number of other things in the
handling of hockey games
that could be done if the idea
is to speed things up. Some of
them are the responsibility of
the officials, some are caused
by the actions of coaches,
captains and alternates and a
number of times you will see
a group of players hanging
over the shoulders of the
official who is handing out a
penalty.
The area of no encroachment in front of the
official scorers box should be
doubled in size and the rule
prohibiting players from
entering •it should be strictly
enforced.
I understand this is a
descretion call on the part of
the officials and some
coaches and captains are
taking advantage of it, with
the result that the officials
spend more time explaining
the rules to the players and
the games are held up interminably.
.
Arnie told me that he is
instructing his officials to do
everything in their power to
speed up the game and that
he can see that things are
beginning to get a little better
in the KIJHL games. He said
his goal is a two-to-two-and-a~ I
half-hour game and he cited a
couple of games in which be
officiated that fulfilled that
mission. I can only say,
"Keep up the good work," it
would sure make for a much

more

satisfying

spectacle