Trail Times-Friday, January 10, 1986-11 T1NEs··-~ ~ The past weekend and the early days of this one are just one big curling bash in Trail and Rossland. On the weekend it was the West Kootenay Zone Men's Curling playoffs and the one section of those playdowns was played on Rossland ice. The other wu held in Nelson, the winners from those two tourneys move on to Kaslo next weekend to see which rink of the eight who qualified will go on to Kelowna later on. I watched some of the games in that tourney at the Rossland JU'eD8 and believe me there were some really excellent curling put on for the "behind-the: glal8 skips" who always have a hay-day at these occasions. I didn't.get to see the Jim Hill rink in action, but the others who qualified all showed a lot of class. I think I was rooting for the Gil Lemoel rink to come through but Art Winstanley pulled off a spectacillar shot to save his qualification in the final end on Sunday afternoon. The reason I was pulling for GD was, bis rink were all retirees, Al McAulay at third, Bill Leaman second and Tim Timbrell in the lead spot. They all curled really well, too. Tbe other curling I mentioned is taking place in Trail on three consecutive days Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. it is called the second annual Seniors Bonspiel. Our Rossland Retirees sent four rinks down and there are rinks from Nelson, Grand Forb, Castlegar -.nd a number from the host club. Each rink plays two games each day and you advance as you win and don't do much if you lose. A banquet on Tuesday night at the Eagles Hall In Trail will be the special event of the affair. For a total of $80 this is probably as well-run as anything I've ever been to. Still on curling, I got a call from Doug Mcisaac Jut evening, Legion 1.one Sports chairman, and he Informed me that the Legion Zone Curling format bu been changed for this year's event in Nelson. It will now be a one-day affair instead of the usual three days, with a reduction in entry fee to $100 per. rink. It will be a double-knockout format which should take care of all concerned in the single day. He also tells me that this was arrived at after the entries had dropped considerably from previous years. They now can afford six more rinks on a first. come basis. The date, Sunday, Jan.19, 1986. I think a lot of the opposition was that the rinks a lot of them retirees, objected to having to pay fo; hotel accommodation for two nights as they would be unable to drive home at night, plus a feeling that the entry.fee was getting a little out of hand for this event which features a Senior and a Junior second for Legion members. Now to something different, this is a little in advance information put out by the Rossland \finor Hockey Association. They are ·holding an Atom Tourney to which they hope to attract a goodly number of teams from around B.C. and south of the border. It will be held around the end of February and I shall give you all the details in this column as soon as I get sometlµng important, through the good offices of Donny Brandt, a member of the organizing committee. Also, we wouldn't want to forget the other February date which I know all you hockey fans enjoy immensely, this one is the annual Play-ForFun affair also a thr~y effort. Talking to Sam Manson of the Play for Fun League, he infonns me that they have booked for 21-22-23 of February, so I got hold of Donny, who told me that they have come up with a date for the Atoms but which has not yet been confirmed by the powers-that-be. If everything goes well you lucky people will have two top-notch tourneys to see in two weekends in a row. Their dates, if as proposed, will be Feb. ?JI and March 1 and2. Can't leave this one without handling out bouquets to coach Bob and assistant Rich and their merry troops for the two nail-biting victories last weekend. They needed them, the way the Border Bruins are going. Tied in points, they now have two games in hand on the Warriors. Keep up the good work you guys! And with a special word for Garnett Compton for his five-point weekend I'll say- 'Til next time, then I •, • .-.,,