I
wi111

!wry
P-,,er

Because of the length of my column last week, I
neglected to pass along congratulations to the
nwnber of people whose hard work made it such a
smooth working event. So here goes! To put on
something like this it takes a smooth working
machine in the background and we had it on the
weekend of Oct. 19-20. The committee who signed us
in were on the job early as were the group who put
up the coffee and snacks and kept them coming all
day. The people who were responsible for the
speaker system started work on Friday evening and
then drank my last four beer at home. Sunday
morning we had a slight faux-pas as the first phase
of the meetings were done without the help of
speakers, however, that was soon corrected and
everyone was heard quite clearly from then on.
The parade was definitely well hanled by the
Sgt.-at-Arms committee. The lunch put on downstairs by the L.A. was a real meal. Then last, but not
least, were the bar cQmmittee at the dance and on
Sunday after the meetings, and of course, we must
not forget the people who sat and listened as
delegates and acted on committees. Thank you one
and all!
On Sunday afternoon I watched the Rossland
Warriors lose a hockey game. It is their first home
loss in league play, and also points up a few things
that are a first this year. The Warriors are seriously
undermanned this year and with the new rules in
effect with the banning from the game of anyone
engaged in a fight, you can be drawn into something
like that and you're gone. The Warriors, by my
count, never had more than three men in the box
after the middle of the second period. They more
than held their own up to that time and were leading
at one time 5-2. Elk Valley had eight or ten reserves
at all times and it started to show in the third, which
was all Elk Valley. The Warriors were c~ging
with sometimes only a minute's rest and it began to
show in the late stages.
Wee Damon Racicot collected his 50th point in
just eleven games and was on the ice for at least ~
minutes of the game and even this little hwnan
buzz-saw can only take so much of this sort of thing.
One can understand that a coach finds it difficult to
keep a cool head in this sort of a situation when he
finds a team of greater nwnbers but inferior talents
knocking his overworked troops around.
Neil Murdoch was telling me that the sanie
situation was evident on Saturday evening in
Cranbrook when the Warriors broke fast and held a

I

big lead only to lose in the late stages, both games
by !Mi margins.
I sat with'Sam Manson at Sunday's game. ~ .
who plays some pretty robust games in the PlayFor-Fun league (sometimes called the beer
league), says he thinks U1e rules about a ban for
fighting should be scrapped. He says it is part of the
game. Give the aggressor a l~minute misconduct
and the other guy a 2-minute penalty. It• would
certainly stop the one team of superior manpower
from depleting the ranks of the other team by
·picking a fight just to win over a team of superior
talent.
Another fault I have to pick with the way hockey
is run today is why do the officials allow all these
diplomatic confrontations after almost every call on
the ice? I would like to suggest that they know the
rules and enforce them, not keep the fans sitting on ·
the edge of the seat while they explain the reasons
for a decision to a whole herd of players. The captain of each team should do the arguing if necessary
and everyone else stay away.
Anyway, one thing is evident, our hard-pressed
troops need some reinforcements. I hope we can
come up with some. H hockey is going to become a
battle of fisticuffs we are going to wind up on the '
short end of a lot of games by having our meagre
staff ~epleted to where games are going to be 45minute games like yesterday's was.
Now, to something else, the construction work
on the curling rink has got to the point where the ice
is now in and I was told it is being burned today. So
it should be ready for an early November start. Our
Retirees' meeting will be held Tuesday and we shall
start in earnest next week. Don't forget, bring along
a retired friend and get him acquainted with the
"roarin" game.
Well, the K.C. Royals came up with all the right
answers as their pitching shut down what there was
of Cardinal batting. I suppose this would lead us to
believe that this means that the Blue Jays are the
third best team in baseball. Right or wrong, I'll
probably hear from some people in this regard.
Maybe, second best?
Back to curling for a moment, President Viv
Thompson of the Ladies' Afternoon Curling has
asked that I should let you know that the ladies will
be holding Open House on Nov. 5. Any new curlers
will be welcome. Come and join the fun. Babysitters
available if need.
So til next time, then!