ESDAY, Januz y 22, 1992 in great shape by beating Salmo 7-3 on January 12. Vahid P. Coach’s professional approach rubs off on players JIM ZEEBEN editor The feeling seemed to be unanimous among Castle- gar Rebels players. Just about everyone on the team credited g coach Gord Walker i and | |Luigi Pollio cach scored | three goals and Rob Matjasic added a single. Kootenay West Men’s etball League | & 73-66 triumph over Win- law Pistons. "| Realty led throughout the | game but Winlaw did pull ‘}points and Brian Turlock with 15. : For Winlaw, Tony es Kabotoff scored 14 points night Selkirk College went {into the third quarter "| by seven points to Cowan Office Supplies. Selkirk broke the game open in the final half to come back and win the game 64- (| 43. with guiding the team to a pair of wins on the weekend. After eleven straight losses, Castlegar won their first game since December 7, as they beat the Spokane Braves 6-2 on Fri- day. On Saturday, the newly inspired Rebels line-up took on Beaver Valley Nite Hawks and came away with a 7-5 victory. Walker is Castlegar's third coach, taking over from Kevin Koorbatoff who in turn filled in for Kevin Cheveldave who quit after Christmas. The difference in style is noticeable immediately. Where Cheveldave stood controlled and stern-faced on the bench behind his players, Walker shouts, pats backs, and stands at ice-level beside his players. “We did need a spark to get the team jumping,” Nino Da Costa said. “He yells, and he’s really, really positive.” DaCosta, the 17-year old who played on Castlegar's outstanding Midget team last year, is one of Walker's fans. “It’s all Gordie,” he said of the team's turnaround. “Personally I play one thousand per cent better Gord vicar bauriee bot eaercactunie ea coat for him because he knows what he's talking about.” Many of the players spoke of the respect that Walker carries from 's in professional hocke' ¢ played in the big New York, Colorado, and Los Angeles as well as stints in the minors and with the Cana- dian National team. Rebels netminder Vaughan Welychko had one of his better games of the year. He too attributes the new zeal to the new coach. “Every body knows he's been to the show,” Welychko said. Another ex-Midget from last year's silver medal team, Wely- chko, 17, has been inconsistent at times but was brilliant against Beaver Valley. With only two minutes gone in the first and the score 2-1 for stood his ground and made the save on a shot from the right cir- cle. A bad rebound sent the puck to another Nite Hawk waiting on the left side of an open net. Wely- chko slid across the crease and was able to kick out what looked like a sure thing. “I kind of thought I gave out a big rebound,” recalled the goalie. “I just kicked out the pads. I’m just lucky he didn’t go to the top of the net.” Castlegar was able to regain control and went up 3-1 to start the second. The Rebels stayed in front and were able to hold a 6-3 advantage late in the third. The Nite Hawks came back to make it 6-5 but DaCosta won a couple of crucial draws in the Rebels zone. Newly accquired Rebel Kevin Dewar was able to gain control 6f the puck and showboated down the ice for an empty netter. The wins, coupled with Walk- er’s enthusiasium have Castlegar players sounding confident about their play-off hopes. “I think we have a great chance,” Lalonde said. “We play Grand Forks on February 14 i what. is the biggest’ of: roe eas: The Rebels are yet to beat Grand Forks this season. As far as his coaching debut went, Walker.said he fouid it very positive. “It was good for me. The guys on the team all worked for me,” Walker said. “I bores t think the team is a bad team at all.” Walker also beleives the Rebels have what it takes for them to surprise people in the play-offs. “I think the talent is good but the attitude is even better,” Walk- er said. “There's a really good attitude on the team. Everybody is willing to work hard. Rebel Kevin Leiman always seems to play with heart but even Leiman picked things up a notch under new head coach Gord Walker. “All I ask is tligy all work hard and work in the same direction.” He said he told the players -». there. ign’t much time’ and that he was-just going to tell them all he wanted them to do and hope they could absorb it. “I'm trying to coach them the things that I did as a profession- al,” Walker said. “Everything I do Walker said he had to simplify his coaching to focus on way of doing things. For example he went over one method of fore- checking, one method of penalty- killing etc. “I can’t ask the players to pick up in one month, things I learned over Walker think the team has a lot of heart. Rockers lose battle but keep eyes on war JM ZEEBEN Sun staff The Stanley Humphries Senior Boys basketball team continues to surprise with their success but they can’t seem to shake one team. The Rockers faced their main competition for the West Koote- may crown, Grand Forks, yet again. two weeks ago it was in the finals of a Princeton tourna- ment won, 68-64, by Grand Forks. This time the teams met in Kelowna in the second game of the George Elliot tournament. “We've got them pretty well scouted,” joked SHSS coach John Ritchie of the team which has edged his for honorable mention honors in the provi Gaurd Ryan Vatkin earned all- star honours for what Ritchie In Castlegar’ 's first match of the tourney, they dominated Immaculatta, a private school from Kelowna, in a | game Ritchie said “wasn't Marcel Dusseault led Rocker scorers with 22 points. And this week’s first place team is... Another team has taken up rent at the top of the Castlegar Recreational Hockey League Castlegar Sports Centre finds themselves in first place this week after beating Woodland Park Shell 6-3 last Tuesday. Duane Wier and Lorne Ander- son each scored twice for Sports Centre. Dan Wallace picked up the win in net while on the losing side Tim Horcoff was between the : i [ RPSRrssraeysge BSssesh estar Pipes for Shell. Dave Rugg had a pair of goals in the loss. Last week's first place team, Banjo’s Pub, dropped into a tie for second this rtiadee Shell regained some ground by beating Banjo’s 10-7 on Monday. Horcoff picked up the win while Rick Rogerson was the los- Shell's Benton Hadley also moved up as he had six points to move him into fourth in the scor- ing race. Hadley scored four goals and added two assists. Kelly Keraiff, Shell’s only other Player in the top ten, scored a hat trick and had two assists. Banjo’s top scorer, Larry Price was held to only one goal and two assists in the The other team tied for second in the standings is Castlegar Pres- sure Wash, one point ahead of Kootenay Computers, who cur- rently share third with She. Pressure Wash and Computers played last Thursday without deciding much of anything. The teams tied 6-6. In the game Doug Knowler, and Don Soroke scored twice for Pressure Wash and Gord Walker had four goals. For Computers, Gary Sauer had two goals while Bob Larsh Vatkin’s best game of the year. Then the Rockers took on Grand Forks in a game that came down to the wire. The probable preview of the West Kootenay final was decided by a defensive error. Castlegar led by a basket with time i out. But then a Rocker fouled a Grand Forks player attempting a field-goal giving that player three shots from the free-throw line. A foul committed on a player shooting outside the three-point circle costs three foul shots. And down by two, the Grand Forks player was perfect as he sank all three to win the game 80- 79. “If I lose every game except the last one to Grand Forks I won't be unhappy,” Ritchie said. Dusseault managed 19 points in the loss while Vatkin sank 17. Stanley Humphries’s final game of the tourney was another nailbiter. A 76-74 loss to Okana- gan Mission of Kelowna, knocked Castlegar out of the ran- ning. Vatkin scored 20 points while Dan Kooznetsoff added 17 and Dusseault had 16. The boys next game is tomor- row night as the Rockers host Luceme. On the kend SHSS “After all those losses I praise the players for sticking around,” Walker said. “If we can win at least five games before the. play- offs the fans should come out.” The Rebels have eight games remaining in their schedule including four more at home. Walker said one of the reasons he took the coaching position was to try and rescue the season for the kids on the team. He believes the kids should be getting more at this point in their careers. “That's why I took over,” he said. “If they're not winning they mustn't be learning very much. Whether we win or lose I can motivate them to play better and help out these kids.” Castlegar had a re-match with Beaver Valley last night in Fruit- vale but results were unavailable by press time. travels to Trail for J.L. Crowe’s tourney. SUN STAFF PHOTO / Jim Zeeben The Rebels play again on Fri- day in Nelson and then most players get the weekend off for » the league's all-star game Two players who don't are for- wards Chris Sanutti and DaCosta Skate boots Jason Switzer said he felt a lit- tle down about being sent down from Vernon. Switzer came down last week to help the Rebels out their de fen- sive crisis—the Rebels had three defenseman out of the line-up. He went back to the Lakers on Sunday describing his return to Vetnon as “uplifting.” The Rebels will have to go without two of their most talented forwards for three games. Sunutti and Kevin Nisse were suspended for three games each after seperate spearing calls on Saturday. Someone is just along for the ride, but the other person was enjoying beautiful conditions Sunday, on the Paulson Trails. Wednesday, January 22, 1992 The Castlegar Sun ast Wednesday night, the first in a season- long series of ski races took place under the false moons of the T-bar. It was an evening shrouded in mystery and suspense. A damp fog hung close (o the ground ng the vision of a seri 1 group of skiers. At both ends of the course, hag: gard workers fussed and fidgeted with a temperme- ntal timing system gone haywire in the freezing drizzle. And in the wings over 60 participants their skis, iting their tum to race. It was a spectacle to behold. Some thirty pairs of racers. Indi . first-ti and wiley veterans alike, all feeling the pressure of the moment. There's something everyone should know about ski racing. First of all, it's good for your skiing, teaches you to ski aggressively, teaches you disci- pline, extends the limits of speed and control. And it's supposed to be fun. Everyone should run some gates at some point in their career. But ski racing does something else. It brings out the animal in normally passive skiers, awakens some competitive hunger that will not answer to reason, makes them gamble foolishly against over- whelming odds. It makes them teeter in the start gate and just for a moment, believe that they will have an out of body experience and ski beyond their means—maybe even beat the joker them. This of course is the essence of ski racing. Somehow, despite all the good intentions of just having fun, the champion in us all rises to the occassion and pushes us beyond our everyday lim- its. Which again is why everyone should run some Ski racing is easy. All you have to know—as if Ski 7 EDS vy terry mn ee ry ler it really mat- fered—is to turn early and look ahead towarts the next ‘gate. Turn early, Look ahead. The rest is all just good |. clean fun. Bat of course, good clean fan is the last thing that goes down. When the moment comes, your hands get sweaty, your throat gets tight, and your cavalier laugh cracks when it shouldn't. Experience and advice dissolves into the evening mist as your race begins. You become a warrior, and fun is the last thing you feed at this point. This is the yoice of experience speaking. My first run of the year was the fulfilment of an annual ritual as I came completely unglued on the Everything was a blur and when it was over all I could think-about;was that I wanted that race back to do over again. I was crushed by my self. oacnige Birthdays + Parties & more 54-4487, Castlegar Slo-Pitch General Meeting palaens be ‘and ‘for a sweet and thouglit unkind thoughts towards my smiling posal nent as hé shook riy-hand. In-retrospect of ¢ourse it all comes back to good clean fun.’ I can laugh now at my seriousness and promise to myself that I will relax and enjoy myself. Try to not try so hard. This invariably pro- duces better results. 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