t
?

FOOTBALL... Two
Windsor Secondary
graduates made their
presence felt this sea-
sen on the SFU foot-
ball team.

Receiver Steve
Hamer-Jackson and
running-back Shawn
Lee were both named
to the 1996 College
Football Association
second all-conference
team.

Hamer-Jackson was

the Clan’s top receiver,
as he hauled in 66
passes for 909 yards (a
monstrous 13.8 yards
a reception) and three
touchdowns.

His 6.6 receptions-
a-game average was
good for second in the

conference and 10th in ;

the entire NAIA. In

addition, his 66 catches §

placed him second in
the Clan record books
for receptions in a sea-
son (John MacDonald
holds the record with
78 in 1988).
Lee also posted
§ impressive numbers as
he carried the ball 130
mM times for 771 yards (a
wt. 5.7 yards per carry
average) and five
touchdowns.
% - Lecand high
- school standout David
Mattiazzo combined
@ for the best 1-2 run-
ning, duo in the histo-
‘ry of SEU, as they
tumbled for. 2,035
yards — casily eclips-
= ing the old mark of
1,887 yards set in
1978. :
4 © SFU finished the
f® season with the to
@. running game in the
4 ' conference, averaging
F 203.5 yards per game
and 4.9 yards per

In addition, Lee

4 fielded the majority of
‘the Clan’s kickotF

returns, averaging,

17.8 yards per return.

GSL FOOTBALL...
The North Vancouver
Cowboys — a Gordon
Struuidge League
(GSL) rep team —
won the inaugural
Nine-Man B.C.
Football Champion-

€ ships last weekend at
4 Thunderbird Stadium
§ ac UBC.

Playing in the
junior bantam division
— and playing 3-
down, 9-man
Canadian rules for the
first time — the
Cowboys blanked
Comox Valley
TirnberWest?”

; Timberwolves 19-0
and the Campbell
River Faicons 26-6 to
earn a berth in the

& provincial final against
‘3 the Wellington
Raiders.

In the final, the
Boys from North Van
jumped out toa 14-0
lead in the first quar-
ter and never looked
back as they won the
game 34-6. Junior
bantams are 13- to
14-year-olds.

By Andrew McCredie
Sports Editor

FUNNY how the announce-
ment of newly added Olympic
sports are greeted by people.

Whea snowboarding was granted a
berth for the 1998 Winter Olympics in
Nagano, Japan, no doubt many rolled
their eyes and said “What's next,
roller-blading?”

But for West Vancouver brother
and sister Jorli and Maclle Ricker, the
announcement that the sport they live,
eat and breathe will be on the Olympic
stage was tantamount to the bese early
Christmas present possible.

This weekend the Rickers will be
among !50 or so halfpipe riders com-
peting in the Grundig Snowboard FIS
World Cup event in Whistlez. Both the
halfpipe and giant slalom are Olympic
medal sports in Nagano, and this sea-
son’s FIS World Cup tour will be a
major factor in determining the spots
on the Canadian Olympic team.

The three-day stop on the World
Cup tour in Whistler features super G
(Dec. 12), giant slalom (Dec. 13) and
the halfpipe (Dec. 14). Other
Canadian stops on the World Cup tour
include Sun Peaks (Dec. 17-18) and
Mont Ste, Anne (Jan 31-Feb. 2), and
both Rickers hope to take part in the
events.

Jorli, 19, and
Maelle, 18, have
been hitting the
slopes in
Whistler since
their parents
bought a place
there in 1981.

Like many
young skiers
who spent most
winter weekends
in the world-
class resort, both
strapped on hel-
mets and took
part in GS and
slalom ski-racing
with the
Blackcomb Ski
Club. But the
discipline and
“un-fun” atmos-
phere of the
dogmatic disci-
plines didn’t
appeal to either Ricker.

“Ic got boring, it just wasn't that
much fun,” Jorli admits of his ski rac-
ing days over an ice-tea in the Mad
Cafe in Whistler Village last Friday.

For example, if chere was too much
snow on the course, instead of skiing
through it and having a blast, the
young racers had to work on the
course to make it suitable for racing.

For Jorli — who admits “fun” is
what it’s all about — such logic was

frustrating enough to
hang up the skis and
strap on a snow-
board.

‘Maelle went through
the same frustrations
during her ski-racing
days, but instead of
switching straight to
boarding she took a
breather from moun-
tain life for a few
years"

“T got out of skiing
for a few years and
got into other sports
back in the city,”
Maelle, a standout
athlete at Sentinel
Secondary, says. “Bur

then about three years ago Jorli gor
me into snowboarding.”

And while Jorli is further along in
the sport of halfpipe — he competed
in Europe and Japan last season before
straining his back —- Macile hopes to
learn from her older brother. and
progress along in the Canadian rank-
ings. .
The halfpipe is the winter cousin to
skateboarding’s ramp event, and like
its concrete cousin, the name of the

Whistler we

DON’T bet the ski-in, wr

Olympics

Whistler World Cup first step
towards Nagano, Japan

WEST Vancouver's Jorli (left) and Maelle
Ricker (inset) are competing at this weekend’s
Snowboard FIS World Cup halfpipe event in.
aoe Whistler. The Rickers are hoping to compete -
Photo Bonnie Mekerewicz int 8 number of World Cup events this winter. .

game in halfpipe riding is tricks.

For World Cup events, the halfpipe
is a snow trough with a gradient of 14
to 22 degrees, with walls benveen two
and four metres high ending in a verti-
cal section. The length of the pipe is
between 80 and 150 metres and is 10
to 18 metres wide.

Judges score the riders on difficil-
ty, jump height and distance, variation,
style and execution. Qualification is
done in vo sessions, with the first see-
ing the top five men and women qual-
ify for the finals, while in the second
session those who posted 6th through
20th places in the first session dual it
out for the final five spots. The 10 men
and 10 women then have two sessions
with the rankings decided by combin-
ing both scores from each session.

This weekend’s World Cup halfpip::
event takes place on Saturday on
Whistler Mountain, with the qualify-
ing session set for 10 a.m. and the final
session scheduled for I p.m.

For Jorti, the Olympic standing of
snowboarding has a down side: “It
(snowboarding) seems to get more
structured every day, and the sport is
just booming. That's good I suppose
because it allows people to go out and
experience it, but it’s bad because

Most Wanted Sunday night

there are so many more people on the
mountain.”

Indeed, secret “hits” (natural fea-
tures on the mountain that allow riders
to launch themselves into. the frosty
air) are becoming more well-known by
locals and tourists in Whistler.

As for supporting themselves while
they chase their Olympic dreams, both
Rickers have equipment sponsorship
deals with Burton Snowboards and
Oakley (goggles and sunglasses).

Maelle is currently living full-time
in Whistler, working as a waitress by
night and boarding all day. Jorli, a
Handsworth graduate, is based out of
his parent’s West Van home and is tak-
ing part-time courses at BCIT.

For both, snowboarding is why
they get up in the morning.

Over $65,000 is up for grabs at the
Whistler World Cup this weekend, and
in the years Jorli has been competing
in snowboard competitions he has
seen the prize-moncy steadily grow.

And with snowboarding in the
Olympics, a number of young
Canadian riders will soon be making
good }:ings doing what they love to
do.

Jorli and Macile Ricker hope to be

“among that group.

course-side without never hav-

ski-out chalet that the
movers and shakers in
Whistler are losing sleep
over last weekend’s
snowed-out World Cup
Downhill and Super G.

One would figure the
group that secured the men’s
season-opening hell bent for
kevlar weekend would be dis-
traught at the cancellation of
18-months of preparation,
but the reality is the raison
détre of the much-hyped
event was fulfilled in spades.
Make that shovels.

If it snows they will come.
And snow it did. And come
they will.

Thanks to unseasonably
snowy conditions in the nwo-
mountain resort 180 kilome-

B cheap seats

tres north of the North Shore
range, the fibre-optic image
transmitted to the chateaus
and flats of Europe Sunday
night is that Whistler gets
TOO MUCH SNOW in
December. A global myty has
been created right under our
soggy noses. Lots of snow in
December means lots and lots
of snow in February.

An Oslonian (Ostlonite?)
family was no doubt sitting
around watching Norway's

when a newsbreak informed
them their heroic country-
man Ade Skaardal could not
win the season-opening
World Cup downhill because
there is “TOO MUCH
SNOW IN WHISTLER,
CANADA.”

After careful contempla-
tion and much whisker
scratching the father will
offer: “Ya, ’ve alvays vanted
to go to Canada.” Pause.
“Now, ver did T put dat travel
agene’s numbah?”

The reason & group of
tireless business and political
leaders lent their shoulders to
the uphill cask of securing a
much-coveted early season
World Cup race in Whistler
was as much for the market-
ing opportunity as for the
support of a long-standing,

The WS group —~- the lob-
bying and organizing group
responsible for getting the
10-year deal — consists of
Whistler Mountain Ski Corp.,
the Whistler Resort
Association, the Whistler
Chamber of Commerce, the
Resort Municipality of
Whistler and the Vancouver
Ski Foundation. ‘Those
involved in getting the ink on
the contract with the emnipo-
tent Internationa! Ski
Federation (FIS) was then
Whisder mayor, now
Capilano-Howe Sound MLA
‘Fed Nebelling.

Revenue generated from
on-site spectators at a World
Cup event is nil. Indeed, the
varied Whistler World Cup ski-
ing events are perhaps the last
showcase of elite athleticism

ing to buy a ticket. Who said
skiing was the sport of the elite?

However, carly season
exposure. translates into New
Year-and-beyond bookings,
meaning that for the next 10
years the world will be watch-
ing December :kiing in
Whisder. In fect, sext year the
men’s Downhill and Super G
are scheduled to go Nov. 28-
29.

The only real losers last
weekend were the mountain-
men who strap on the boards
and point them downhill in
search of glory and gold.

The inaugural season-
opesing World Cup at
Whistler will be remembered
for one thing, and one thing,
only — TOO “UCH
SNOW,