EXHIBITION HOCKEY...
The North Vancouver Minor
Hockey Association’s bantam
AAA team, Storm, and the
Slovak Ice Hockey Federation
team, ;HC Slovan Harvard

Bratislava, will play at |
Lonsdale Recreation Centre
‘Arena Monday (Jan. 5).

“., The exhibition game starts
at 6:45 p.m. and will be fol-
lowed by MVP awards and a
farewell ceremony.

‘North Shore hockey fans
and younger hockey players
are invited to enjoy this free
exhibition game.

The game will mark the
official farewell benveen the
two teams. During the holi-
day “Season, ‘Storm families
hosted the Slovak players and
coaches, introducing them to
Canadian hockey and North
Shore attractions.

“This is a very special trip
for the. Slovak boys,” says
"Dusan: Benicky, a Storm _par-
“ent and coordinator of the
‘Slovaks’ itinerary. “Their par-
“ents have saved for about
cight,or. nine years to fund
this trip.” '
= During their Vancouver
stay,- . Slovan Harvard
Bratislava also took part in
tthe’ B.C. Junior Hockey
League. Bantam tournament,
-Dec, 27 to 31, at Eight Rinks
in Burnaby.
‘. For the 14- and 15-year-
old boys on the NVMHA
Storm, playing the Slovaks is
“an opportunity to expericnce
‘European-style hockey —
“~~another learning experience
in their maturing process.

Besides the normal adolescent

_ Stresses at their age, players

are“ adjusting to full body

checking. and to the aware-

Ness that junior teams are

scouting them for the bantam

draft. . -

the Burnaby Minor Hockey
‘Association Bantam
Tournament, concluding
today at Bill Copeland arena.

Got a complaint
“abou? the press?

aos bel fhe Press Council knew

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newspaper publishers in British
Columbia, we are a non-judicial

teview board which hears
unresolved complaints about the
press.

The Press Council seeks to ensure
fairness and accuracy and
promotes quality journalism while
protecting the free flow of
information.
BC. Press Council
Box 5414

Victoria, B.C. V8R 654
Tel: (604) 595-2571
Fax: (604) 595-2573

o 2°. The Storm competed in -

IF it did nothing more
than establish’
Vancouver as the city of
sports losers, 1997 did
have some significance
— of the nose-holding
variety.

Consider the evidence:

The Canucks, with the
fourth highest payroll in the
league, managed to miss the
NHL playoffs for the first
time since 1990. The blame
should be fairly apportioned.
It was a total team effort.
Only five times in the last 27
seasons have they finished
over .500. Mediocrity, thy
name is Canucks.

The basketball Grizzlies,
the consummate expansion
team, rewrote the losers’ sec-
tion of the NBA record book.
But it was only their second
year. Their trespasses may be
forgiven. Not so with the
Canucks.

And how about those
football Lions? Bloomed with
hope in the summer, died of
frostbite in the autumn. After
backing into the playofts,

*

North Star Montessori
Elementary School

Wishes the North Shore

Season's Greetings!

ate
i And

Happy New Year!

We thank all who supported us in 1997, and look
forward to a year of growth in 1998!

Please. watch for our Open Houses this year - the next
one is on Saturday, January 24", from 11 am to 2 pm.

North Star Montessori Elementary School
209 West 13th Street
North Vancouver, B.C,

V7M 3KB Phone 980-1205

Our vision is to provide a Montessori environment that
fosters the child's natural love of learning, independence, and
sense of personal responsibility, as he or she approaches all

of life's challenges and opportunities.

north shore news

_ @ SPORTS

only because Hamilton and
Winnipeg were even more
pathetic, they lay down and
died in that corner of a for-
eign field known as McGill
Stadium. No loser was ever
more deserving.

Their one accomplish-
ment, before the year ended,
was to acquire the area’s one
winning team —— the soccer
86ers. They started slowly,
but had a wonderful playoff
run. Also they went broke,
victims of box office anorexia.

Go figure. More young
Lower Mainland people play
soccer than any other team
sport. Ticket prices are a frac-
tion of those charged by the
Canucks and Grizzlies.
Games feature continuous
action on warm summer
evenings, yet the customers
avoid Swangard Stadium as if
it were a malarial swamp.

The problem, as your
agent secs it, is that soccer
lacks snob appeal. As is their
right, although it doesn’t say
much for their state of
enlightenment, the customers
preter to pay exorbitant prices
at GM Place because the
entertainment is, allegedly,
major league. On most nights
that’s an afl-Canadian hoot,
proving only that Barnum
was right when he said
there’s one born every
minute.

But some good things
happened. The university
teams were competitive and,
in winning the national colle-

giate football championship,
UBC Thunderbirds set some
sort of record. Coached by
Casey Smith, whose dad,
Frank, led the *Birds to wo
earlier national titles, chey are
the first Canadian team, any
sport, to have this father-son
championship patina at the
coaching level.

Elsewhere, this was the
year Florida Marlins won the
World Series, then immedi-
ately disbanded the high-
priced team. Montreal Expos,
who didn’t win anything,
kept pace by unloading their
10 highest paid players. What

does this say about the fiscal
madness in pro sport as the
millenium approaches?

And what does the choice
of Jacques Villeneuve over
Larry Waiker as Canada’s ath-
lete of the year have to say
about the selection process?
Sure, he won the world dri-
ving championship. He’s a
skilled technician who hap-
pened to have the fastest and
most reliable car on the
grand prix circuit.

But should that make him
athlete of the year? Not in
your agent’s book. No more,
if you'll pardon the analogy,

ee

a ess
-
fe

i : neat Bicone
~KubbdeL M
We're going to be a bigger-& better specialty consignment store! .

-.. 4367 Gallant Avenue

DEEP COVE; NORTH VANCOUVER’

Wednesday, December 31. 1997 ~ fic rth Spore News - 9

NEWS photo Paul McGrath

Mighty Midgets

NORTH Vancouver forward Sean Hodgins (right) heads up ice during opening
round action of the 35th annual Fred Page Midget triple-A tournament at the
North Shore Winter Club. The tourney ends today with games at 7, 9 and 11 a.m.

than the jockey winning such
an honor when he rides the
the best horse in the world to
the Triple Crown. Instead,
his mount is named horse of
the year. And that’s way it
should be.

Formula One car of the
year? Okay. But by any mea-
sure of athleticism, Walker,
the best all-round player in
the majors this year as his
MVP status testifics, should
have been given the call.

Now, having offended all
motor sport fans, may I wish
them —- and all the rest of
you — all the best in "98.

;
DeL Kips

929-2524