a4 Wednesday, January 13, 1993 & @ Defending champs as good as CRHL second half under way NEWS STAFF The Kootenay Computers look to be getting things on- Ime in Castlegar Recreation- al Hockey League action. The defending champs started the season off nicely in October, cruising along with just one loss in their first seven games. But a nasty losing streak hit them in November, one that lasted six games and streched for over a month, ending with a 9-2 win over Banjo’s Pub Dec. 12. Since then, the Computers have won three of their last four and are making a move up in the CRHL standings. They started the new year off with a 4-2 Jan. 4 win over Banjo’s as .Perry Hyson scored once and assisted on another while Rick Shukin added two helpers. The win streak stopped at three in their next game, a 6- 3 loss to league-leading Woodland Park Shell. Doug Knowler had the hat trick for the winners while Computers cruise Clay Martini had three as- sists. Adrian Markin had a goal and an assist for the Com- puters. Getting another big night from Hyson, the Computers made it to .500 on Saturday as they. whipped Castlegar Sports Centre 9-3. Hyson scored four times and added an assist while Darwin Anderson pitched in with three assists. Steve Simonen was Sports Centre’s big gun with a goal and two assists. In other action, Shell lost two in a row for the first time this season, 8-4 to Banjo’s Friday and 8-5 to Castlegar Pressure Wash Saturday. Shelson Sookachoff led Banjo’s to their fifth win of the year with two goals and three assists while Kelly Keraiff had a goal and two assists for Shell. The next night, Chief Mer- cer was Shell’s biggest worry, leading Pressure Wash with two goals and three assists while Jeff Townsend had a goal and four assists. Dennis Costa, Lorne An- derson and Keraiff each had three points for Shell. CASTLEGAR RECREATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE (As of Jan. G Shell Sports Centre Pressure Wash Koot. Computers Banjo's Keraiff, Shell Martini, Shell Knowler, Shell Hyson, Shell Flegel, Sports Cent. Sauer, Sports Cent. Terhune, P.W. MacKinnon, Sport C. Mercer, P. W. Nevakshonoff, P.W. Hill, Koot. Comp. Anderson, Sheil Tassone, Shell 10) w "1 9 7 8 CASTLEGAR SPORTS CENTRE CASTLEGAR PRESSURE WASH GP 15 22 Nevakshonoft Junker Taylor Evdikemoff Hyson Knowler Anderson +=-R2WONWONWE=OCWNO KOOTENAY COMPUTERS 14 6 9 14 9 8 22 2 7 10 NOOCOCOWONO WOODLAND PARK SHELL Stars split NEWS STAFF When someone knocks you down you get right back up, something the Castlegar Pee Wee No. 1 Stars did over the weekend. Travelling to Rossland Fri- day, the Stars led the hosts 2- 1 after one period but trailed 5-4 after two. Running into some third- period penalty trouble, Castlegar was unable to hold Rossland off as the Golden City squad scored three times for an 8-5 win. Dennis Podovenikoff paced the Stars with two goals while Nathan Dalla Lana, Chris Shumey and Kevin Pacheco each added singles. Saturday, the Stars were back in action, this time against Grand Forks at the Pioneer Arena. Getting two goals from Erik Casler and singles from three others, the hosts re- bounded from Friday’s loss with a 5-1 win. Castlegar led 2-1 after one on goals by David Bell and Dalla Lana. They increased that lead to 3-1 on Pacheco’s second-peri- od goal before Casler’s pair in the third put the game out of reach. -~O-@n00 Byonowoad ae = @QOO-O-=]“NONQ0ON B= BloCBoOND ” c oon ee a oo-- OMaNOCaEUMWNDRON= ~ OOBWWAD “~=-ANOAWTOCO=-O0ON0 3 Back injuries becoming a pain in the hockey world Mike McQuillan CASTLEGAR NEWS SERVICE Canadian hockey players are three times more likely to suffer a spinal cord injury than American football players, according to SportsSmart Canada, a non-profit group aimed at preventing severe head and spinal injuries in sports. Just as alarming, the numbers continue to climb. Aldergrove minor hockey player Mel Unruh is one of those statistics. Now 20 years-old, Unruth is confined to a wheelchair. In 1990, while playing a team from the Arbutus Club, he was checked from behind, sailed headfirst into the boards and suffered accpeting of what’s happened to them. For Mel, he’s accepted it. But without that settlement, he won't be able to have an independent life.” She and Mel have accepted his fate as best they can but have a hard time accepting that severe in- juries can occur in minor hockey. “It’s something that has to be dealt with,” said Gale, who has two other sons still playing the game and is still a executive member of the Aldergrove Mi- nor Hockey Assocition. “Minor sports are for our kids’ enjoyment and not to put them in wheelchairs. “Maybe they have to take hitting right out of the game. We have two kids still playing and kids are still being carried off the ice.” severe neurolgical damage. Unruh filed a suit Robert Gibbens, a lawyer who helped prosecute the case for the Unruhs, said checking from behind is the weapon that makes victims out of young healthy hockey players. “(Checking from behind) is probably the most dangerous maneuver in minor hockey,” said Gibbens. “The danger zone is three to six feet out. The player gets hit there and sails headfirst into the boards like a missile.” The award for the Unruh suit has attracted na- tional attention in the media and legal profession. But Gibbens would probably rather not have to hear from his peers. against the checking player, his coach, gen- eral manager, the Ar- butus Club, the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association, B.C. Ama- teur Hockey Associa- tion and the Canadian Amateur Hockey Asso- ciation. In a landmark decision, the B.C. Supreme Court in No- vember awarded him $4 million in damages and costs. __ is mandatory for all pl “Our case is ground-breaking in Canada,” said - Gibbens. “We're get- ting calls from across the country. Ron Boileau, pres- ident of the B.C. Ju- nior Hockey League said future lawsuits will change the face of amateur hockey. “It’s become an in- surance problem,” said Boileau. “A cou- ple of those (law- suits) would do us in. What we're looking at is players getting bigger and stronger. There’s more high speed collisions and the accidents can get more severe.” Boileau suggests that checking from behind should be pe- nalized with multi- game suspensions rather than a one- game suspension. @ Wednesday, January 13, 1993 15a Saints coach looking for tournament success Jonathan Green SPORTS REPORTER More is not always better, something Selkirk Saints volleyball coach Mike Perra knows a lot about. Heading into the second half of the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association schedule, the Saints will be looking up at the rest of the league as they sit in last. But they'll looking up with fewer players on the roster, something Perra is happy with. He said the some 13 players on the team in the first half have dwindled to eight, which should make things a lot easier for him. “When you have fewer guys, you have more of an identity, more of a purpose,” he said. And those fewer guys will find out if that’s true when they resume play at home next week. _ Entertaining teams from Douglas, Columbia Bible and Cariboo Colleges, Perra said he’s looking for his squad to do well. But with the playoffs a longshot at best, the coach is being realistic. “As far as making the playoffs, everybody knows it’s almost impossible,” he said. “The first loss this semester will probably dictate that mathematical- ly.” Because of that, Perra’s looking at using these games and the rest of the season as a tune-up toa provincial tournament in March. He said the Saints lack of first semester success has him looking at it as a way of turning a bad sea- son into good. “The goal for me is to make this a memorbale sea- son for these guys,” he said. } And Perra thinks that will happen, as the team focuses its attention less on winning and more on improving. “That’s almost the point of sport,” he said. “We put so much empahasis on winning. “We're not going to make the playoffs so let’s start developing some of these guys.” Slated for Vancouver March 26 and 27, the tour- nament is primarily a provincial club tournament, - with the winner advancing to another three weeks later. Perra said finishing strong and playing well in Vancouver would make a less-than-stellar regular season a little easier to swallow. “I think it would be neat to go and do well,” he said.“I think it would say a lot for these guys confi- dence.” And with that in mind, the coach is expecting big things from his troops. “T think they'll answer the call.” NEWS STAFF take the title. a fight. of a 56-45 decision. Rhonda Dawes chipped in with 10. relieu as Closkey and Dawes had 18 points each. It took a dozen games, but the Stanley Humphries senior girls. g basketball team finally found out what it feels like to lose. Competing at the KLO Tournament in Kelowna over the week- end, the Rockettes were expected to do well but not well enough to “I’d be very surprised if we won this tournament,” coach Jack Closkey said last Tuesday. “We should probably lose a game.” And lose a game they did, but not without putting up a heck of Facing the No.3 team in B.C. from Kamloops, the Rockettes gave their Westsyde opponent a battle but ended up on the wrong end Wendy Closkey was Castlegar’s top scorer with 11 points while Despite the loss, coach Closkey couldn’t say enough good things about it. “Excellent game. Superb game,” he said. “We played very well.” The Rockettes opened the tournament with a 56-44 win over Quesnel’s Cor- Coach Closkey said the No. 10-ranked Rockettes knew going in that a win Closkey pleased with Kelowna weekend despite losses didn’t intend on missing. ter teams.” a 47-40 loss. Jack Closkey get going.” improvement. “We wanted to make sure we played Westsyde,” he said. “Now the kids have a really good idea of what it takes to play with the bet- Trailing by two at the half, Closkey said the Rockettes gave West- syde everything they could handle but couldn’t pull it out. “Westsyde is an outstanding team,” he said. “They’ve got two of the best players in B.C., maybe Western Canada.” Facing the hosts in their last game, the Rockettes were flat in a Wendy Closkey led the way again with 18 points, including four three-pointers. ; “We came in kind of soft,” coach Closkey said. “We just didn’t Gearing up for a tournament in Kamloops this weekend, Closkey said the two losses in Kelowna are anything but a setback. He said being on the losing end gave the Rockettes a chance to see what they’re doing wrong and correct it. “It was a real good trip,” he said. “We learned a lot and we showed some over Correlieu meant a date with Westsyde in their next game — a date they “Everything’s pretty positive.” Stanley Humphries squads looking good @ Junior hoop teams enjoying early season success ARROW LAKE ELEVATION But as nicely as things have gone, Hickey said his squad still 1395.3 ft. on Jan. 9 has some work to do. Jonathan Green SPORTS REPORTER Taking the lead and holding it is something the Stanley Humphries junior boys basketball team does quite well. He said that a 68-38 loss to Northport, Wash.’s varsity squad over the weekend showed the mental part of their game isn’t up to snuff. “I think we need to improve our intensity,” he said. “You’ve got to be intense and concentrate for the whole game.” Forecast of Elevation If you don’t believe that, just ask their counterparts from Mt. Sentinel and Rossland. Facing Sentinel Jan. 5, the Rockers rallied from a 35-30 halftime deficit to beat the Wildcats 69-58. oo Up against Rossland two days later, the locals let the visitors have an early 5-4 lead before turning on the jets. | Getting 16 points from Grant Mosby and 10 each from David Pereverzoff 1 and Jason Archambault, the Rockers outscored their oppoinents 63-37 the rest of the way to win 67-42. Coach Doug Hickey said experi- menting in practice paid off come game time “We had a very, very good practice on Wednesday and we introduced a couple Doug Hickey new things as far as offence and de- fence are concerned,” he said. One of those was the zone press, something that pretty well took Rossland out of the game in the third quarter when they scored only six points to the Rockers’ 14. Hickey said the signs of the team’s work over the year are a little more obvious every time they hit the court but added it’s no big secret why. . . 7 se “Overall, the kids are just improving, basically, he said. “All the time and effort they're putting out is showing.” Pereverzoff was the leading scorer against Northport with 13 points. On the junior girls side, the Rockettes are enjoying similar success. Through nine league and tourna- ment games, the Rockettes have gone 6-3 with two losses coming at the hands of Rossland. Coach Colette Pilloud said her sqaud looks better every time they hit the court. “We're improving game by game,” she said. “Their play has become more intense and the girls are understand- ing what’s expected of them.” When the season started, Pilloud said she wasn’t sure how the loss of some key juniors to the senior team and the influx of some impressive junior high grads would work out. But with trips to two tournament finals and only one loss in three league games, things seem to have worked out well. Pilloud said as nice as the tournament wins would have been, being the bridesmaids has some benefits. 1392.9 ft. on Jan. 16 OUR ACTION AD PHONE NUMBER IS 365-7266 Bluetop Colette Pilloud CHEESE DELUXE BURGER & FRIES All beet patty with HOURS - 10 A.M.-6-P.M. “I think the losses are beneficial for them for the sake that Ave. it will show the girls they have to work hard all the time.”