NV player sees ereat success in rookie year with Bellingham team NORTH VANCOUVER’S Jeff Herman, who started play- ing hockey at the North Shore Winter Club (NSWC) when he was six years old, is getting a lot of attention in his first season of Junior A hockey. Herman and the rest of the Bellingham Ice Hawks battled all the way to the B.C. Junior Hockey League (BCJHL) Cham- pionship final, but were eliminated Sunday nicht by the Vernon Lakers. The Ice Hawks, the only non- British Columbian team in the league, lost the first four games against the Lakers in their best- of-seven series for the Centennial Cup. . “It's a bit different playing down here,’’ the 19-year-old Sutherland Secondary Schoo] grad said. ‘‘The American fans treat me really nicely, and they (the Ice Hawks) are a good organization to play for. “I miss the North Shore because my friends and my girlfriend are up there. (But) as the season progressed, my life has developed down here.”’ Herman finished his rookie season with 51 goals and 71 assists By Kevin Gillies Contributing Writer He was also the runner-up for the league’s award for most sports- manlike play. Herman set a team record by scoring six points in one game, which he accomplished twice this season. Bellingham coach Mike Collins said Herman’s recognition was a “real enjoyable thing to see.”’ Collins, who was named Coast- al Division coach of the year, is partly responsible for Herman’s recent success; he discovered Herman at a NSWC_ summer training camp last year. Herman said the coach has meant a lot to his hockey career. “He gave me the opportunity to play, and he gave me a iot of ice time.” If it were not for Collins, Her- man would iikely have played Photo submitted JEFF HERMAN, B.C. Junior Hockey League Rookie of the Year, finished the regular season with 51 goals and 71 assists for 122 points in 60 games. for 122 points in 60 regular season games. . He had the highest points total on his team and finished fifth overall in the league. On March If, he was named the Jeague’s rookie of the year. “This season has been better than I expected,’’ he said. ‘I didn’t even expect to make the team.”’ Herman was also named to the first all-star team for the ~ oastal Division and to the leag: ’s all- rookie all-star team. another year of Junior ‘B’ hockey. “I think a lot of other coaches and scouts overlooked him because of his size,’ Collins said. “He's proven to many people otherwise.”’ Herman is 57’8’’ and 167 pounds, but a prolific scorer. His NHL hero is high-scoring Dino Ciccarelli. “He’s a small guy like me, but he’s tough in the corners,’’ Her- man said. See Plans page 17 NEWS photo Cindy Goodman THE HARDWARE gets proudly displayed by youngsters who skated for the North Shore Winter Club in the 12-years-and-under category at the 13th Annual North Shore International Figure Skating Competition held earlier this month. From left are Kimberly Chan, Michael Steinbach, Kyle Thomson, Christopher Steinbach, Eric Lyons and Melissa Srdonavic. More than 900 skat- ers took part in the competition. Blues dominate Challenge Cup THE NORTH Van Blues, winners of the Greater Vancouver Conference playoffs, won the Greyhound Challenge Cup and provincial playoffs March 23 in Midget ‘B’ hockey action at the Lons- dale RecCentre. The playoff win entitled the North Van team to solely repre- sent the Greater Vancouver Con- ference in this year’s Challenge Cup. Other teams competing were Okanagan Mainline Hockey Association’s Kamloops team, South Vancouver Island’s Sooke Thunderbirds and the Coquitlam Chiefs from the Fraser Valley Conference. North Van beat Kamloops 10-3 in the first game. In the second game Sooke took on Coquitlam and the game was played to a 7-7 draw. North Van and Coquitlam squared off March 22 in a meeting that would yot only count in the round-robin series but would also decide the overall winner for the Midget ‘B’ Inter-Divisional title for the Pacific Coast. North Van beat Coquitlam 5-3. Scott Souter scored four goals and Todd Stojcie had three assists for North Van Blues. Sooke overpowered Kamloops in the second game by a score of 12-5. The playoff MVP Mark Grant, from Sooke, led his team with three goals and two assists. In a lacklustre game between Sooke and North Van which followed, the Blues dominated Sooke 15-4, Jeff Hawrychuk was brought up from the Bantam ‘B’ team as a last-minute replacement goalkeeper for overworked Tyler Owen. Kamloops fell to Coquitlam in the final game of the day, 10-3. North Van got top spot with a record of 3-0-0 and after consid- erable deliberation, Sooke was given the remaining final berth with a record of {-1-1. The powerful North Van team proved to be too much for Sooke who lost 5-2 in the last game. In the first period Sooke jumped to an early lead, but Tyler Marsh countered with two goals to put North Van ahead. In a beautiful three-way passing play from Bryce Tang to Aadrew Durnin, Brock Barabash scored what proved to be the game’s winning goal, Tyler Marsh added two more goals. Goalkeeper Owen notched his third win of the playoffs. J eyaseelan takes U-18 nat] title IN THE Canadian under-18 tennis chatnpi- onships held over the weekend in Coquitlam, North Vancouver’s Sonya Jeyaseelan won the women’s singles title. Jeyaseelan defeated Calgary’s Kristine Smith, 6-2. 6-2. In men’s singles, the top North Shore placing went to West Vancouver’s Scott Moore, who lost a third-place tie breaker to Coquitlam’s Jerry Turek. In men’s doubles, West Vancouver’s Russell Stuart and Turek were defeated by first place winners Steve Deakin from Port Moody and Kamloops’ Paul Reber. The five-day competition, called the 1992 U18 Philips Junior Nationals Indoor Tennis Championships, was held at Blue Mountain Racquet Club and involved 72 top under-18 tennis players from throughout Canada. The North Shore participants included West Vancouver’s Alex Klimek, Chris Saatoso, Ramin Pejan, and from North Vancouver, Matthew Walsh and Jonathan Miller. . Carson grad wrestles to gold medal THE 1992 Canadian Espoir Championships were held recently in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, with Team B.C. member and North Shore resident Ryan White placing first in 82-kg weight category. Team B.C., athletes, came away champions, three seconds, one third place winner. In the process B.C. won both the provincial standings over On- tario and the club standings (Bur- made up of 12 with four and naby Mountain Wrestling Club). Other first place winners in- cluded 52-kg Travis Bellerose; 57-kg Dave Scholte and 100-kg Evan Lavoie. . White is a graduate of Carson Graham and won his first national title at this competition after two years of near successes. Last year White lost in overtime to the eventual champion. This past year White trained in the former Soviet Union in preparation for this event. The preparation paid off as White dominated his opponents in the preliminary rounds before defeating Anthony Nacinovic, also from B.C., in the finals by a score of 3-1. White’s next competition will be the 1992 Canadian Senior Cham- pionship at SFU May 9 and 10. in July, White will compete for Canada at a pre-Olympic com- petition, the Challenge Cup, in Manchester, England.