SARAH A, ZIMMERMAN. TERRACE STANDARD. _ 638-7283 "ROB BROWN Tracks & Trails he plow had reached a point just past Webber's fence line then tumed back. I could have skied to Baxter’s Riffle, but 1 wanted to go farther - to the tailout above Twin Towers and from there down (to Blackie’s. The trail runs through woods now carpeted in deep snaw, so I took the snowshoes instead. The tracks of two snow machines began where the tracks of the plow stopped. They were packed hard enough to support me even without snowshoes. But when I reached the head of the trail, [ was forced to strap them on ] entered the woods leaving wide impressions din.the snow behind me, The going was goad ‘until I reached a recent deadfall which forced me to take off the snowshoes and slide over an- other bank to a high water channel. On my way to the edge of the river, I came across two pairs of tracks made by one man. ~ One doubled strand pointed upstream. A pair roughly parallel with the first, but with the toes pointed in the other direction, led the other way. “Since they were an icy blue with their edges rounded by rain, [ put the passage of my prede~ cessor at two, possibly three, days earlier. At ‘one spot orange peels surrounded the second -pair. ] assumed that part of the track was set down at lunch. ~: The mystery angler wore size 11 boots, and must have been about six feet tall, for my tracks fitted neatly into his and our strides matched too, [traced his path half the distance up Black- . ale? *s .Run.then. foliowed.it out .onto-the ice ‘until my left. foot- momentarily. sunk..a little deeper than the ‘right, ‘interrupting the trance-like thythm into which I'd slipped. I stopped and followed the tracks to the edge -of the shelf with my eyes. They ended where the rotting ice was floating on more than a metre of water. The ice was obviously much less firm than it had been when my precursor walked over it. Though our shoe sizes and strides matched there was no guarantee his girth did., This particular snare may be peculiar to wia- ter steelheading. I knew it from first hand exper- ience. Years ago f made my way to the edge of - a much deeper and larger ice shelf on the Skee- na in order to peer over its edge and see if the water was shallow enough to wade. It was spring just before the return of songbirds. The sky was clear and brilliantly blue. At night the valley was a freezer, but from mid-morning: to late afternoon it was warm cnough to melt ice and snow. It was noon. ‘> I was almost at'my destination when 1 heard a crack that sounded like .a rotten hemlock snapping in a gale. The plank of ice slumped, angled toward the Skeena, and sent me sliding for the icy water like a penguin slipping down _an Antarctic ice fice. _-. If the water had been just a little deeper, I ‘would have drowned. It was deep enough to give “me a cold soaking. [ clawed and clambered up the slippery slope. After pouring the water out of _my. waders, 1 raced back to the car. My teeth were chattering so vigorously when I got there, I worried my partial plate might snap. Unwilling to make the same mistake again, I gingerly backtracked to share and plodded to the head of the run where Blackie McConnell _ landed the targest fish ever to come from the Copper River: a 26 pound male caught late in the year many years ago. ‘Blackie loved to fish. Jim Culp told me re- “cently that-he’d spoken to Blackie a few years -ago, just a short time before she passed on, "She showed me a picture of that fish," said Jim, “went back to her room to get it. When I left she ‘said, ‘Next time you see that Gene Llewellyn, you tell him to come up and see me sometime.’ I asked Gene about that," said Jim, "It turned out that Gene had visited a number of times. “Blackie just forgot, But, she didn’t forget about that big steelhead." - [oo Ltook a tin of sockeye and some crackers out “of my pack, watched the cold water spilling into - the head. of Blackie's Run as I ate, then chased “the meal with a jar of orange juice and a sip of po " “Lunch done, I tied on one of Webb’s Hal- “Yowe’en flies and sent it out into the froth wash- “Ing up against the jagged road rock on the far ‘side, Mindful of the fast sinking tip on the.end “of my line, and’ large racks in the relatively shallow water in front of me, I stripped in. On _ the second pull the line stopped. A rock, I «thought. It wasn’t; it was a male steelhead half “ the: size of Blackie’s trophy, but strong and “handsome with a hint of red on its pearlescent flanks. A fine steelhead, the first fish of the mil- “lennium caught on the first cast of the year. A “guy can’t top that. ; » Vteleaséd the fish. Then I reeled in-and made my: way homie. atop the tracks, of my phantom lee = Hoop bruisers poised to be powerhouse at All Native Spirit Riders get a rep for tough play 2001 IS shaping up to be an exciting year for Ter- race’s all native basketball teams. Both the Terrace Spirit Riders women's team and the intermediate boys’ team, the Predators, have advanced. to the annual tournament to be held next month. The Spirit Riders in particular are developing a reputation as a tough team to beat and also for being just plain ofd tough. “Basketball is a contact sport,” said Spirit Rider Carol Stevens. “If.] get hit, I just run it off.” Getting fiit seems to happen ‘an awful lot for this team who play very ageressively particularly under the net. “We're a very physical team,” said team captain Pamela Campbell. “Some teams get mad about how we play. I get slapped up in the face quite a bit.” And the evidence of the hard playing is obvious. Last week Carel Ste- vens was sporting a deep . dark | bruise on her upper - arm San sinjdny thar result = * t ted from -a.. recent; game . against Canyon City, -. - But aggressiveness isn’t the only thing separating this team from other teams. The Spirit Riders game plan keeps their opponents guessing. Each player plays more CAROL ANN Stevens shows olf a bruise she acquired in a rough game against Canyon City last week, the one position, which makes it difficult to tell what these women might do next. For example, 29-year- old Amanda Campbell plays both point guard, for- ward and centre. . “We're always rotating positions,” said Stevens, Switching positions -sometimes:-.confuses . the. other teams but Jt also keeps ‘the Spirit: Riders on their taes. Challenging the oppo- nents is important but. challenging themselves is equally important, said Campbell. “We all work together. We are finally getting to know each other,” she Amanda Campbell Pamela Campbell -said. “We are clicking.” The team went unde- feated at the All Native qualifying tournament ‘and ‘they have been winning really the majority of their games so far this season. Not bad for a team that has been playing together for just under a year. However, the team was a little disappointed with their recent performance at the Christmas Classic late last month in Prince Ru- pert, The team placed fourth - ‘overall, but it gave them a lot to think.about. The losses at the tour- nament have given the team the chance to evalu- ale what went wrong and to. work on the problems, said Stevens. “We fost, but we warked on it and made it better,” she said. R-40 ends losing streak at tourney ONE OF Terrace’s novice hockey teams is having a tough season so far this year — they haven’t won a single game, However, the tide changed for R-40 Construction at a recent house tourna- ment hosted by Terrace Minor Hockey Jan. 5-7. The eight and nine year olds showed . incredible improvement and really came topether to win three of four games in their pool and advance to the finals. In their final game, against Long’s Logging, the team was able to win one more and clinch third spot overall. Sahir Gill played exceptionally well for R-d0 sacking up a whopping 19 points over the course of the tournament. Five teams from Terrace, two from Ki- timat, and one each from Smithers, Ha- zelton and Prince Rupert took part in the tournament,. Five of the top six teams came fram home turf. The only guest team that was able to penetrate any of the top spots was the Smithers Elks, who placed second in tournatient play. _ The Terrace Elks won this very close, well-played game by a score of 2-1 with both ‘Terrace goals coming from Lee Muir, Terrace Elks’ goalie Garrett Muir also played exceptionally well, letting only one gaal slide by him. The tournament was marked by an in-. credible showing of team spirit, persever- ence, finesse and dedication on the part of all the players, Novice House Tournament . dan. 5-7 Final Standings ist Terrace Elks 2nd Smithers Elks 3rd R-40 Construction - Terrace. 4th Long's Logging - Terrace -. 5th Ikon Office Solutions - Terraca’. - 6th DR. Holtom Ltd. - Terrace 7th Kitimat Sikhs 8ih_ Kitimat Alcan Sth Prince Rupert PPWC 10th Hazelton Bulldogs w Wildcats are on the prowl A SKEENA Wildcat takes a shot gaod for two points as the boys basketball team takes on Mount Elizabeth (left), The match was the first of several games played in a two-day playday hosted by the Wildcats Jan. 42-13. Fans spilled off the bleachers on to thd floor as they cheered on their team (above).