N. Van player skates onto Austrian team NORTH VANCOUVER’S David Randall has skated his way through Canada’s Olympic team into the competitive heart of professional European hockey. The 23-year-old 5’ 10°’ 185-Ib. defenceman signed with Switzerland’s H.C.. Davos during Team Canada’s Aug. 24 to Sept. 12 European tour and played with the team through the international Spengler Cup competition. NORTH VANCOUVER’S David Randall...offensive-minded defenceman. Currently signed as a property of the NHL’s Chicago Black Hawks, Randall said he decided to ‘join the Swiss team because he By TIMOTHY RENSHAW News Reporter would have been relegated to the Black Hawk’s Nova Scotia farm team, ‘‘so the offer from Davos ‘came at the right time, because ! was considering a contract in Europe anyway.’’ Though he played well during the tournament, Randall was not retained by Davos. But rather than return to Canada and labor in the large NHL shadow, he chose to stay in Europe to savor the continental life and learn the European game. Randall’s, intuition was reward- ed. He was contacted by Austria’s division one Villach team and of- fered a contract for 1986-87. Described as a late-bloomer by his coaches in .juvenile hockey, Randall. is an offensive-minded defenceman whose play has im- pressed perceptive hockey minds at all levels including those of na- tional Olympic team coach Dave King and the team’s assistant coach Guy Charron. “Davie has excellent speed and he always played with a lot of in- NEWS photo Nell Lucente A SKOWDOWN in local American-style kick-boxing was held Satur- day at the North Shore Neighborhood House. The competition was between fighters 14 and under from the Deep Cove and neighborhood house programs. A total of 12 bouts in yellow, orange, green and brown belts were fought. The competition was supervised by fourth- degree biack belt Roy Daten. Here, Brandon Barr (right) spars with RSI EARL PITS EAH TR RTS I LTS CoMMiueEea nero en ona 15 - Wednesday, March 25, 1987 - North Shore News Photo submitted NORTH VANCOUVER hockey player David Randall recently joined a Swiss team. This shot shows Randall (number 5) in action during Team Canada game at the Pravda Tournament in 1985. tensity,’? Charron said in a recent interview. ‘‘And he has the ability to be.an explosive player, capable of the big end-to-end rush.”’ : Randall was born and raised in North Vancouver. He began play- ing hockey at the North Shore Winter Club when he was seven years old, and went on to lead the club’s Juvenile A team to a second place overall finish in Canada in 1981. The following year, the team, with Randall as captain, was the first NSWC team to win a Cana- dian championship. “The winter club program is very good,’’ Randall said. ‘‘It produces a lot of good players, but most drop out after midget. I guess the love for the game kept me playing. I always wanted to make it.’ : In 1983, Randall accepted a heckey scholarship from the Uni- versity of Northern Michigan, where he played 142 games in four seasons, scored 27 goals and added 72 assists for 99 points. He was selected the university’s best defenceman in 1986. Randal! was then spotted by scouts for the 1988 Canadian Olympic team, and subsequently accepted an invitation to join the team for the March 1985 Pravda Cup Tournament in Russia. For Randall the national team experience, with its travel beyond North American boundaries, helped him develop both his hockey and life skills. . “Dave King was a great coach for me,’’ Randall said. ‘‘And the experience with Team Canada was great. I just couldn’t help but im- prove.” His decision to stick it out in Europe out of the NHL limelight is perhaps a diversion round the all-Canadian hockey dream, but Randall’s former coaches applaud the move. “Of course, we were unhappy to see him go,’’ Charron said, ‘‘but we felt he should consider the op- portunity to play in Europe for a while. It’s his style of hockey, with the big ice surface. And we felt. it was important to his future to con- tinue playing at an international level,”” . Charron said the experience can only help Randall if and when he decides to make another run at the NHL. _ “Sure, I think he has the ability {to play in the NHL). You just never know what might happen.”’ inter Club wins) AAA hockey title THE NORTH SHORE Winter Club AAA bantam hockey team won the provincial hockey crown last week after rolling through the six-game, seven-team tournament without a loss. The local squz.d opened the March 15 to 19 com- petition held in Castlegar with an 8-7 win over Kamloops and clinched the title Wednesday after whipping Surrey 7-3. Coach Grant Kerr said the provincial title was especially satisfying for the majority of the players on - the team who have been together since pee wee ; hockey. ! “They've been to provincial finals at various levels B.C.-WIDE RINGETTE ; Tweens take 3rd in tourney host PoCo team, but gave up a last-minute goal in a 5-5 tie. The NSWC will host the B.C. THE NORTH :Shore Winter Club Tween Bs took third place in the March 12 to 15 provincial “B” ringette tournament held in Port Coquitlam after losing 8-1 to Nor- thwest Van in their opening game. The Bs battled back to post an and Delta. 11-8 win over Kelowna, then lost 5-3 to PoCo and finished with a 4-2 win over Delta. The NSWC Belle ‘‘B’’ ringette team meanwhile played well in the tournament but dropped 7-4 and 6-4 decisions to Northwest Van The team nearly knocked off the four times but never quite made it,’’ Kerr said. ‘‘So it was a happy moment for them.” Kerr singled out the team’s forward line of Jason Jennings, Mark Kaufmann and Robert Tadey as being very dominant throughout the tournament. Jennings scored 14 goals and added eight assists in the tournament, while Kaufmann had 12 goals and 12 assists. The AAA bantam title is the first for the NSWC since the late ’70s and the fourth time the club has won the provincial tournament. | : The team wili now go on to play in the Western _ Canadian champion Purolator Cup scheduled for Calgary April 9 to 12, Provincial ‘‘A’’ tournament scheduled for March 26 to 29. Represented will be teams from Prince George, Howe Sound, ' Aldergrove, Langley, PoCo, Nor- thwest Van, NSWC and Delta.