Saturday, February 15, 1992 a perfect 450 game in Castlegar. News photo by Ed Mills Local businessman Larry Chernenkoff displays the five, crisp $100 bills he will give to any league play- er who bowls a perfect game at the Castle Bowl. The owner of Big O Tires in Castlegar, who doesn't bow! himself, will likely keep his money considering only one person in the last 30 years has tossed Bantams eyeing perfect season News Staff The Castlegar Bantam Reps are two games away from a perfect season. The Reps’ record reached 17-0-1 last weekend with road wins over Beaver Valley and Trail in the West Kootenay Mi- nor Hockey Association. Castlegar can complete the perfect season by beating Trail Friday (results weren't avail- able at press time) and Nelson LY. Ina game that will likely be | a preview -of the > championship series, Castle- gar scored four straight pow- erplay goals, including two by Craig Swanson, to beat Beaver Valley 6-4 Sunday. Rick Fauth and Vince Antignani Jr. both scored once and set up two more for the Reps, while Teddy Hunter and Bryan Yackel also scored. Beaver Valley will playoff against Nelson forthe right to meet Castlegar in a series to decide which team will go to the AA provincial hockey championships. Dates for the final series haven’t been set yet. In the other game, Castle- gar had little trouble with Bryan Yackel Trail building a 5-0 lead after two periods and cruising to a 10-1 win. Yackel led the scoring pa- rade with a hat trick and three helpers, while Antignani had three goals and two assists and Swanson had two goals and two assists. Hunter and newcomer Derek Read both added a goal — and an assist in the win. With injuries and suspen- ‘sions taking their toll, Reps’ coach Vince Antignani Sr. added Read and Josh Sookero to the lineup. John Ray was in net against Beaver Valley and. Ryan Stoochnoff narrowly missed a shutout in Trail. @ Saturday, February 15, 1992 XVIWinterOLYNMIPIAD OLYMPICS Fu February 16 In a key hockey match-up, the Commonwealth of Inde- pendent States finds itself the underdog against Cana- da. The ‘‘defection’’ of top skaters to the NHL has sub- stantially weakened the for- mer Soviet team. The Cana- dians are led by explosive forwards Joe Juneau and Eric Lindros. In other hock- ey action, C7-choslovakia meets Swizerland and France battles Norway. i Latvian bobsled driver Ja- nis Kipurs tries to repeat his gold medal performance of 1988 in the two-man compe- tition. The former Soviet driver will have to beat strongest rivals Germany and Switzerland for Latvia’s first gold medal. Ski jumping moves to 120 meters for the first time in Olympic competition, as World Cup. leader Toni Nieminen of Finland tries to continue his country’s mas- tery of the ** big hill.”’ Other scheduled events in- clude the men’s 4x7.5-kilo- meter biathlon relay, men’s 1,500-meter speed skating, the ice dancing original set pattern, men’s Super G ski- ing event and the aerial fi- nals of freestyle skiing. Okay, the Olympics are about half over and I’m pretty well bored silly. _ The figure skating is great and I suppose I'll keep tabs on how Team Canada does in hockey, but the only way I'll watch another minute of biathlon or speed skating is if I need a little nap and can’t find my tape of the best of synchronized swimming. The Olympics, however, are the subject of a pair of timely shots in the ever-popular bouquets and brickbats that I hand out in this air space peri- odically. It’s not the Games that bother me, it’s what they drive the athletes and those who cover them to do in pursuit of glory. i BRICKBATS: To the Vancouver Province, which ran a story cutting down Felix Belezyk and the Canadi- an Alpine Ski Team for not winning every medal possible on the slopes in Albertville. Ihave to admit, I haven’t read the story in question, but I did talk to someone who — though she couldn’t be called an unbiased observer — thought the article was a cheap shot. “They called them the crashing Canucks and said that they didn’t do well. I wasn’t very happy,” said Felix’s mom Renate Belczyk. “J think when somebody is 18th in the world (as Belczyk was in Al- bertville) it’s not bad. And I think all those negative comments, they really don’t help anybody.” Right on Renate! The Province can’t be entirely blamed though. The reporter who wrote the story was merely mirroring the uniquely Canadian phenomenon of apologizing for our success stories and trumpeting our failures. BRICKBATS: To any Olympic athletes who believe winning is im- portant enough to have drug-tainted urine sucked out of their bodies with a needle and replaced with someone else’s untainted urine so they can pass the Olympic drug test. Really, they do this! The day sports makes me start looking with desire at someone’s pee, is the day I start writing a cooking col- umn. BOUQUETS: To Province sports columnist Jim Taylor. As the best in the business bar none, Taylor could fill a room with bouquets from me. His latest observation that the National Hockey League should go to Olympic size ice surfaces is right on the mon- ey. Thg reason players are being seri- ously i d with increasing frequen- cy, says Taylor, is directly related to the fact that the athletes are becom- ing bigger, stronger and faster while their field of play remains the same size. It shouldn’t be too long now — I'd say in the next decade — before the NHL owners, faced with paying stars huge contracts for sitting out with in- Olympic blues? Have a bouquet what he’s doing with the team. The Free Agent juries, push the league brass to make the move to the bigger ice surface. BRICKBATS: To the players in the Castlegar Gentlemen’s Hockey League, who apparently are not ex- hibiting the kind of behavior normally associated with gentlemen. ° There’s been an unprecedented rash of fights in the league of late and (to the credit of the league officials) at least three suspensions handed out as a result. Remember guys, no body checking, no slap shots and nobody’s keeping track of your stats. Calm down, everybody has to go to work in the morning. BOUQUETS: To Gord Walker and the players on the Castlegar Rebels, for proving to everyone they are a team with heart. You can’t help but like Walker and you have to believe players deserve credit for responding at a time when they could have easily rolled over and given up. At the very least, the Rebels deserve our support as they head into the playoffs, which begin Tuesday in Nelson. Good luck guys! BRICKBATS: To the sport of box- ing. All you have to do is watch the cir- cus called the Mike Tyson trial to know all you need to know about the gangsters involved in this sport. Nev- er mind that Tyson was found guilty of rape, all the promoters want to know is whether they can set up a fight in prison. And shame on the media for giving those dinks an opportunity to nt. : BOUQUETS: To all local business- es and individuals who give of their time and money to assist local sports. I was going to do a column about who donated how much, but I realized that the numbers aren't important. (I also realized that there are so many who give to local sports it would be impos- sible for me to be specific in a column.) What is important is that there are people who give. I will always spend my money in local, community-mind- ed businesses that support sports in this town. All you have to do is look at the names and logos on the jerseys worn by local sports teams, from slo- pitch to soccer, to know which busi- nesses do and which don’t. OLYMPICS — February 18 World champion speed skater Igor Zhelezovsky, representing the Common- wealth of Independent States, is the man to watch in the 1,000-meter race. Dan Jansen of the United States retums to Olympic competi- tion in this event. He was world champion going into the 1988 Calgary games, but great expectations were dashed when he fell making a turn four nights after tum- bling in the 500-meter race. Men’s giant slalom starts today, with Italy’s. flamboy- ant Alberto Tomba the start- ing eh a Competition comes from a strong field in- cluding 1991° World Cup champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg. Short track speed skating, also known as indoor speed skating, becomes a medal event for the first time this year. Unlike traditional speed skating, the winner is the first person across the line, rather than the one with the fastest time. The quarterfinals in hock- ey, exhibition curling, men’s 4x10-kilometer relay cross- country skiing, exhibition speed skiing, and team nordic combined 3x10-kilo- meter cross country are also scheduled. The Ska Browning 25, Caroline, Alta. As Canada’s first skater to hold the World tile for - three consecutive years, . all eyes will be on Kurt in ghey to see if he'll add an Olympic gold to win the grand slam. Slipchuk 25, Edmonton, Alta. Mike is a third-year edu- cation student at the University of Alberta. A member of the national team since 1985, he en- joys racquetball and downhill skiing. He also speaks Ukrainian. Bingert 21, Richmond, B.C. When not skating, Tanya can be found skiing, both on water and snow. She has been skating since 1978. J Oo Ss E E Chouinard 22, Laval, Que. Josee's vivacious style and winning smile have made her one of the most sought after skaters today. A national team member since 1966. Sargeant 21, Edmonton, Alta On the national team since 1988, Lisa first put on skates when she was five but also enjoys other sports like downhill ski- ing and racquetball. Preston 20. Mississauga, Ont. Karen, a national team _ member since 1987, has been skating since she was five years old. She also enjoys downhill ski- ing. Stojko E L V I Ss 19, Richmond Hill, Ont. Elvis earned himself a place.in history at the 1991 World Champion- ships when he became the first skater to com- __ plete a quadruple in combination with another jump in competition. OLYMPICS February 17 The ice dancing competi- tion features world champi- ons Isabelle and Paul Duch- esnay and European champi- ons Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko. The Duchesnays, a brother-sister pair from Quebec who repre- sent France, are known for thrilling audiences with their daring moves. In contrast, Klimova and Ponomarenko, a husband-wife team from the Commonwealth of Inde- pendent States, skate a clas- sic style that elicits high marks. The first round of the Olympic hockey tournament concludes with the United States battling Sweden. The U.S. is a young team led by Scott LaChance and Shawn McEachem, while the veter- an Swedish team features former NHL _ star Mats Naslund. Also in hockey, Finland faces Italy and Ger- many plays Poland. In the women’s Super G, World Cup champion Carole Merle of France races for the gold on her home course at Mcribcl. Other events include the women’s 4x5-kilometer cross-country. skiing relay, 90-meter team nordic com- bined ski jumping, women’s 5,000-meter speed skating and the first games of the curling exhibition. Brault 23, Calgary, Alta.. A former U.S. skating “team member, moved to Canada in 1988. He also enjoys surfing, biking and playing racquetball. Cossette 19, Montreal, Que. Off the ice, Jutta is a CF- SA judge for tests at the 5th figure junior silver free skating and pre- novice singles competi- tion levels. OLYMPICS February 19 Women alpine skiers will be gliding through the gates at Meribel as the giant slalom event gets underway. World Cup champion Vreni Schneider of Switzerland, world champion Pemilla Wiberg of Sweden, Carole Merle of France and Aus- tria’s Petra Kronberger all rank high in the standings going into the event. In Albertville, figure skat- ing’s grande dames make their debut performing their short programs. World champion i, Yamaguchi, Tonya Hi and Nancy Kerrigan of the United States will be challenged by Midori Ito of Japan. Exhibition curling contin- ues: This event has the old- est. competitor ever to per- form in the. Winter. games, 55-year-old Bud ‘Somerville of the United States. Exhibition speed skiing, where daredevils zoom straight down a steep slope at speeds exceeding 130 miles per hour continues. Other events include wom- en's 15-kilometer biathlon and the 3rd and 4th games in the hockey quarterfinals.