‘Bray wins Skiing gold News Staff Cross-country skier Debra Bray has done it again. For the third time in four years the blind athlete from Trail has won the gold medal in the Ski for Light competi- tion. : > This time Bray, 34, teamed up with Castlegar guide Ol- wyn Ringheim to win gold Feb. 18-23 at Kananaskis, Alta. Competing in the B2 female category, for skiers with less than five per cent vision, Bray covered the five-kilometre course in 33 minutes, 16 sec- onds. “I was really surprised ac- tually, because I got the silver last year” said Bray. “But ac- tually I shouldn't be surprised because after doing 30 kilome- tres (in the Castlegar Nordic W@ Wood improves on last year’s finish in Championship Fivepin Bowling series News Staff Marv Wood did exactly what he said he wanted to do last weekend at the Fivepin Bowling Championships in Kelowna. What he wanted to do was finish higher than the 31st he got last year in the tourna- ment. And he did just that plac- ing 30th in a field that in- cluded 98 of the province’s best bowlers. “I didn’t make the top 18, but yeah, I was pretty steady all day and was very pleased with the way I played. Td have to say I accomplished what I set out to do,” Wood said. Wood’s 249 average over 10 games was the best of any West Kootenay bowler in the tournament. He said 30th place is a lot better than last year when you consider that the field was 11-bowlers larger this year. Bowler gets what he wants at tournament The eventual winner, who will now compete in CBC Television’s $50,000 Fivepin Bowling Championship, came in with a 279 average. Wood's put together his best games of the tourney with a pair of back to back 290s in his fourth and fifth games. But Wood said he had trouble adjusting to a new al- ley when the tournament changed venues after five games. He dropped out of con- tention for the top18 when he went on a slide in his ninth game. “I had four head pins in the ninth game and that was my downfall. You can’t sur- vive in a competition like this when you do that,” he said. Wood, 57, qualified for the tournament for the second straight year by beating out the rest of the Castlegar com- petition in a roll-off Jan. 15. The CBC series, in its 10th year, is staged over five weeks with each show matching four bowlers in a one-game, match-play for- mat to decide the finalists. Trail’s Debra Bray (left) with Ski For Light guide Olwyn Ringheim of C. Nednesday, March 4, 1992's f fi Photo by Alice Cristofoli astlegar teamed up for the gold medal in the annual Ski for Light competition Feb 23. in Kananaskis, Alta. Club’s Troll Loppet) I was more than ready for it.” Bray was the only Kootenay skier of the 44 entrants in the race, which has categories for men and women with varying degrees of sight and other handicaps. Bray, who took up skiing on the advice of a friend in 1986, said she wasn’t what anyone would have considered an ath- lete until she started skiing. “I wasn’t a sports person, but I’m finding out now what I was missing out on,” she said. Ringheim, who competes competitively in the Masters skiing series, trained with Bray all season. The guides accompany the skier and shout commands and instructions as they go through the course. “The problem is my are slow in focusing so my arms and legs can go faster than my eyes can focus,” Bray said. “That’s where the guide comes in, to tell me when to run and what’s coming up.” Ski for Light is an outreach program of Sons of Norway. The grand prize is $27,000. Computers News Staff It took until the third to last game of the sea- son, but the Castlegar Recreational Hockey League champion has finally stepped forward. Ina season that has seen four of the league’s five teams hold first place atone time or an- other, Kootenay Computers clinched it with a pair of wins last weekend. And judging by Computers’ play over the last month of the season, the regular season champs might just end up in the same position at the end of the playoffs, which get started to- morrow. Computers beat Pressure Wash 9-7 at the Community Complex Sunday, and got a thank- you-very-much two points from Banjo’s Pub Thursday when they failed to show up for the game. : Pressure Wash was involved in the other two games over the week, beating Banjo’s 9-6 Fri- day and losing to Woodland Park Shell 11-8 Thursday. Unlike the other the teams in the league — with the exception of Castlegar Sports Centre — Computers’ strength is balance. With scorers Dave Terhune, Gary Sauer, Bob Larsh and Dean and Dave MacKinnon, Computers can more than hold its own in a shootout. And with last year’s goalie of the year Tim Swanson leading the way the club is solid on defence. With a supporting cast that includes Darwin Anderson, Chief Mercer and Ralph Humphrey — players capable of having big nights offen- sively — Computers has to be considered the playoff favorite.Dean MacKinnon provided the big night against Pressure Wash with four win CRHL CASTLEGAR RECREATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE STATS TO MARCH 1 T Kootenay Computers 18 5 41 Cast. Sports Centre 18 - Cast. Pressure Wash 16 Banjo’s Pub 15 31 Woodland Park Shell 13 goals, including a first-period hat trick, in the win Sauer had two goals and one assist, while Mercer scored once and set up three others. Bill Nazaroff, Ralph Humphrey also scored for Computers while Terhune had three assists. Pressure Wash suffered a rare loss with league scoring champion Gord Walker in the lineup. Walker still scored three goals and as- sisted on two more in the loss, while Darrell Bo- jechko had two goals and one assist. Sheldon ‘Sookachoff and Steve Simonen also scored for Pressure Wash. In another rarity, Walker was not the story offensively for Pressure Wash in its win over Banjo’s. Doug Knowler led the way for Pressure Wash with a hat trick and an assist, while Roger Junker scored once and assisted on two others. Wayne Kinakin, Bruce Bermel, Sookachoff and Don Soroke also scored for Pressure Wash. Banjo’s got two goals and two assists from Ian Stewart and another two goals from Adri- an Markin. Larry Price with a goal and two as- sists, Kevin Nisse with a goal and Chuck Lind with three assists, also scored for Banjo’s. Walker had five goals and an assist in the loss to Shell, while Bojechko had a pair and George Roberts a single. @ Wednesday, March 4, 1992 Bantams. Provincials Ed Mills SPORTS EDITOR If anything, the Nelson Bantam Reps proved that their highly touted counter- parts in Castlegar are at least human. Which could be a good les- son for the Castlegar Reps as they head into the AA Provin- cial Championships in Salmon Arm March 9-14. The Reps gained that berth by beating Nelson 6-2 at the Community Complex last night in the third game of their West Kootenay Minor Hockey Association series. Craig Swanson scored twice and set up two more, and Bryan Yackel had a goal and three assists as Castlegar led 4-0 after one period and 6-1 af- ter two. Rick Fauth and Vince Antignani Jr. had a goal and an assist each for Castlegar, while Darren Pottle had the other goal and Derek Read had one assist. HH Local boys get top bound! A third game was forced when Nelson unexpectedly re- bounded from an 8-0 first- game defeat at the Complex Friday to tie Castlegar 3-3 in Nelson Sunday. Castlegar coach Vince Antignani said the tie was les- son to his team not to let a team up when its down. “We could have buried them in (Game 2). We hit goal posts and the goalie stopped'a cou- ple break aways. But the longer they stayed close to us the more confident they felt,” Antignani Sr. said Antignani Jr. led the way with a hat trick for Castlegar in game 1. Jeremy Ross had two goals and Swanson, Mike Myrha and Yackel had the oth- ers. Except for the final period in game 3 when, Ryan Stoochnoff played, John Ray was in net — and played his usual steady game — in all three games of the series for Castlegar. Itwas no contest at the- Community Compl 8-0 in the first game of their series to Championships . So it was a little surprising w! of the series in Nelson Sunday. News photo by Ed Mills lex Friday night as the Castlegar Bantam Reps beat Nelson decide the West Kootenays entry in the AA Provincial hen Nelson came back to tie Castlegar 3-3 in game 2 Rebels’ best get due at banque awards as Rebels honor their own at wind-up banquet News Staff Win or lose, all teams have their heroes — players that gave a little more every game, got better even if the team didn’t and kept spirits up de- spite the odds. The Castlegar Rebels hock- ey club paid tribute to its out- standing players Saturday at the Junior B team’s wind-up banquet at the Fireside Inn. And it was a pair of local products who walked away with top honors as Mike Hunter was named the team’s most valuable player.and Ni- no Da Costa the Rebels top rookie. Chris Sannutti and Aaron Hackman won the other major awards with Sannutti being named best forward and Hack- man best defenceman. Hackman was a two-time winner as he was also named the team’s playoff mvp. TEAM PLAYER Dave Dybal TOP ROOKIE Nino Da Costa B A Aaron Hackman BEST FORWARD Chris Sannutti Dustin Rilcof was the only other double winner getting the Sportsmanship and Abili- ty Award, as well as the Jim Corbett Award for having the best grades of any high school- aged player on the team. Da Costa, Hunter and Rilcof played for the Castlegar Midget Rep team last season” —as did the Rebels’ Vaughn , Derek Lalonde, Kazako! Veteran 20-year-old de- fenceman Dave Dybal was picked as the Most Valued Team Player, while Dave Dol- lack was judged Most Im- proved. Shane Cutler was named the Most Inspirational Player and Kevin Leiman was voted Most Popular. Off the ice, Pat Rilcof was given the Outstanding Service Award as the Rebels top boost- er. On the ice, the Rebels fin- ished last in the Kootenay In- ternational Hockey League’s West Division and were elimi- nated from the playoffs two weeks ago by the Nelson Maple Leafs in four straight games. “I thought Nino and Mike were excellent choices,” said Rebels president Russ Rilcof, who was master of ceremonies for the night but was not on the selection committee. Rilcof said both Hunter and Da Costa have great futures in hockey and will be stars in the KIJHL next season if they chose to play with the Rebels again. “More than anything they have the desire to go out and consistently do the best they possible can,” Rilcof said. Rebels’ coaches Gord Walk- er and Kevin Koorbatoff, and General Manager Don Joice, lected 2 the winners.