23

THIS being the week
for members of
Skeptics and Cynics
Anonymous to sound
like submarine com-
manders as they shout,
“Dive! Dive!,” it’s nice
“to report that none of
the NHL also-rans will
heed their advice.

Such cries come along
every spring, just as surely as
the datfodils, rhe tulips and
birdsong.

The rationale, of course, is
that as soon as the last math-
ematical chance to make the
playotts has disappeared, the
smart course for an eliminat-
ed team is to dive to the bor-
tom, It’s a vantage point, so
to speak, from which to get
the best possible prospect in
the entry draft.

To the dest of contempo-
rary knowledge, no team has
ever made such an advanta-
geous manoeuvre in all the
34 years of the amateur draft,
which has to sav something

bout integrity.

Mind you — and quite

‘BOWLING... Don Zerkee
bowled 2 290 game — includ-
ing 11 strikes in a row — in

AID Star League action in
“Burnaby earlier this month.

The North Vancouver man
has bowled in iovat leagues for
34 years, and has once bowled

a perfect’ game (300).

Zerkee’s current high average

BB TRYIES

—- Wednesday, April 15, 1998 - North Shore News

spectator

apart from the three-metre
beard and SCUBA activities
— diving is not exactly
unknown in sport. Indeed,
professional fist-fighting has
produced more diving in its
time than any of the competi-
tions in the Olympic pool,
US. College basketball has
had a few dives and, of
course, baseball has had che
best known one of all, the
1919 Chicago Black Sox
scandal.

All of this is preamble to
the most glorious opporcuni-
ty the Canucks ever had in
their 28 NHL seasons to land
a franchise player who just
might have changed the
course of hockey history in
Vancouver. Some might say
they blew it, Others would

MAELLE RICKER... Wins
Kokanee Boardercross.

ix 183.

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north shore news

@ SPORTS

Don't expect Canucks to take a dive |

point to wear happened i in
the final week of the 1970-71
season as a testimonial to the
basic competitive honesty of
the game.

There’s a North Shore
connection here inasmuch as
Bud Poile was the Cunticks
generad manager that vear,
their first in the NHL. and
Hal Laveoe was the coach.

Poile ts a longtime North
Van resident and so was
Laveoe, who spent a couple
of dezades in the real cstate
business here before renning
to Langley in 1992.

The spri jug of 7] was the
draft year for avo of the
finest talents ever wo grace the
NHI: Guy Lafleur and
Mareel Dionne. Three bor-
tom-feeders were in the race
— Vancouver, Detroit and
the Oakland-based California
Seals. But the Seals weren't
really in the race because
Montreal owned their first
round pick.

A couple of years earlier
Sam Pollock, the Canadiens’
general manager and for-
ward-thinking Svengali, sent
promising voung defenceman

morning.

The 90-minute practice is
intended to introduce girls to
the game of ice hockey.

Interest in the sport is
growing on the North Shore,
and with three new rinks set
to open Jater this year in the
Seymour area, new all-girl
teams are forming for next
season.

Cost of the 10:30 a.m. ses-
sion is $5. For more informa-
tion call Cameron at 990-
4637.

SNOWBOARDING...
Home slope advantege proved
the charm for Maélle Ricker
as the West Van rider won the
Kokanee North American
Boardercross Championship,
The 19-year-old capped a
year in which she represented

le

Toll free 1 888 TRYKES 3

ee

. Vancouver

929-1918... 873-1449.
ons

Carol Vadnais to the Seals in
exchange for their firse draft
choice in Lafleur’s graduating
year from the junior Quebec
Remparts.

He correctly guessed that
the Seals would continue te
be the league's raunchiest
excuse tor 2 major league
team. Thee didn't let hin
down, although i in mid-
January of 197], Las Angeles
Kings were threatening to
Anish lower. He remedied
that oversight by trading a
good leader, veteran cen re
mun Ralph Backstrom, tot
. or a couple of minor

So, with a achanee at
Lalleur g going into the tinal
week, what did the Canucks
do in their five remaining
games? They won three, lost
one and tied one. Two of the
Wine were against the Seals,
7-2 in Oakland and 11-5
bere in Vancouver.

Had they blown both
those games, they’d have had
their choice of Lafleur or
Dionne. Had they lost just
one, Dionne, the third high-
est points scorer in NHL

Canada oars the = Winter
Olympics in Nagano, Japan
with 2 dominating pertor-
mance in foggy, snowy cond!-
tiens on Saturday. Her prize
money was $3,000.
Two-time defending
Kokance Boardercross chant

pion Darren Chalmers, of

tsorth Vancouver, fell in both

TENNIS...

tory (headed only by Wayne
Gretzky and Gordie Howe},
would have been their man.

Your agent decided to test
the memories of Potie, Lavcoe
and the Canucks’ first NHL
captain, Orland Kurtenbach,
At any me in those closing
davs of 1970-71, did they
ever contemplate a dive for
the bottom? The collective
answer was adi isdaintul “you

can’t be serious.”

Kurtenkach probably said
it best: “Anytime vou step on
the ice a frone of 15,000
fares, it’s automatic, You trv
your best. You try to win.
There may be nights when
vou play Badly and it doesn't
look as if you're trying. Bur
you are. U played pro tor 17
years and [never saw it oth-
erwise. And Pm sure it’s just
the same today.~

Poile: * Edom discount
the possibility that it may
have happened sometime,
somewhere. But itit ever did,
Pye never heard af it. It cer-
tainly didn’t happen with our
team thar year. The only way
you could do it, really, is bv”
not dressing vour best play-

his qualifving runs and failed
to advance to the finals.

Two | North
Store plavers are currently
taking part in the Junior
National Under-16 champi-
onships at White Oaks Inn

ers, We had all our regulars in
uniform.”

yeod: “In all my time in

- as a player and coach,
[ had only one thought when
the team went our an the ice.
And thar was to win. F tried
to wit every game. J have

tremendous memories of that *§

first vear. They ali plaved over:
their heads and they never
stopped trving.” 7
All three say they have no
memory of ever discussing,”
the draft sicuation with each
other or with any other mem-~
bers of the organization dur-
ing those last few crucial
days. As it happened, when
the ream drafted third in
June it took a big and talent-
ed detenceinan, Jocelyn
Guevremone. A physically
dominating player in junior, ‘
he never showed the same
dominance as a pro, was trad
ed away after three scasons
here and was out of the game
betore his 30th birthday. :
Given what was at stake
then and the Canucks’ overall
record since, it does make ar
ald skeptic wonder if honesty
really is the best policy. No?

and Racquet.Club in Niagara
on-the- Lake, Ontario.

Janis Hui, of West Van}:
and Sanjin. Sadovich, _ of.
North Van, are among- th
elite junior players in Canada’
taking part in the six-day tou
nament. The finals are set foi
Sunday.

— Andriw McCré te

Seasonal tips to keep you motoring.

Wednesday April 22

north shore