BASKETBALL... Capilano College women’s team) won both their weekend games = as they dropped Trinity Western University (TWU) 84-60 on Friday night, and Douglas College 67- 60 on Saturday. The Blues are current- ly in third place in British Columbia College standings with a 9-5 record. The men’s team did- n’t fare as well as they lost 96-76 to TWU on Friday and 72-69 to Douglas the follow- ing day. The two loss- es dropped the men’s team to sixth in the standings with a 5-9 record, Both teams host back- to-back games this weekend at the col- lege’s Sportsplex. The women take to the court at'6 p.m. on Friday against University College of the Cariboo, fol- lowed by a men’s game at 8 p.m. On Saturday, the women ; host New Caledonia College at 6 p.m., again followed by the men’s game at 8 p.m. SOFTBALL... The | North Vancouver : Girls’ Softball Association is hold- ing three registration days at Lynn Valley : Centre for girls aged : six i0 22 tor the 1997 season, : The association will be set up for reg- istration at/the shop- “ping centre.on_ Friday, ‘ Feb. 14 from 6 p.m. : to 9 pm.; Sacurday, ? Feb. 15 from 1) a.m. | to 6 p.m; and Sunday, Feb. 16 from noon to * 5 p.m. For more info call 987-7799. HALFPIPE...? Maélle Ricker contin- ues to rack up top-10 finishes on the FIS Snowboarding World Cup tour in Europe. The 18-year-old .West Vancouver rider finished third on Sunday in the halfpipe event at a FIS World Cup in Quebec. Thi season — her, first in World Cup dompeti- tion — Ricker has fin- ished in the top 10 in seven of 10 competi- tions she has entered, including a second and two thirds. Next up for the former Sentinel Secondary student is a halfpipe event — ar Oregon's Mt. Bachelor on Feb. 9, then she's off to Japan for a Feb. 14-16 com- petition. Maiélle’s brother Jorli, 19, will also compete — in Oregon. s xnerience sharne NEWS photo Cindy Goodman NORTH Vancouver's Keyla Ohs is facing up her skates for the 1997 Bank of . Montreal Canadian Championships at GM Place. The 18-year-old skater takes to the ice tomorrow at 4 p.m. in the Senior Ladies’ short program. One world champion’s perspective KAREN Magnussen and Linda Brauckmann, two North Shore we. nen of note, are to be induct- ed Friday into the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame. Therc is a temptation to ask: “What took them so long?” Those who weren't around at the time may tind it useful to know, on the eve of the Canadian Figure Skating Championships at GM Place, their induction comes 25 year to the very week Karen won silver at the 1972 Olympics in Sapporo, Japan. And 24 years after she won gold in the World Championships at Bratislava, Slovakia. Linda was her coach. Thus the question — answered in part by the fact Canadian figure skating did- n’t get around to having a Hall of Fame until 1992, and now, five years later, has just got around to honoring the skaters of the 1970s. Also, said Hall doesn’t yet have actual premises. One must wonder where the people who rur “gure skating in Canada have been all the while. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Canada’s first-ever world championship gold, Barbara Ann Scott's victory in 1947. Only two other Canadian woaten since then have won world citles -— Petra Burka in 1965 and Karen in 1973. Given thar Canada has the largest figure skating popula- tion in the world (ves, larger than the U.8.), it dogs scem strange thar with the sole exception of Elizabeth Mantey’s silver at the 1988 Calgary Olympics, Canadian women skaters haven't exact- ly set the world on fire ia the last quarter century. Perhaps the 1973 champi- on, now Karen Magnussen- Cella, rising 45, morher of three and seven-day-a-week skating teacher, had some ideas on the drought. Over coftee the other day, ves she did. “We have a problem at the grass roots level. We seem to be tied up in regulations. The important thing ts to be cre- ative, to make it fin for the kids. Ifyou don’t make it fun, youll eventually lose them. “The hardest job is keep- ing things in perspecti the top level, figure si Z has become a gohd mine. Too many parents have stars it their eves, Same as in hockey. But only a few cee ever going to get there. So, while they’re young, make it fun.” Between the Ree Centre, the North Shore Winter Club, the arena thar bears her name and the Eight Rinks in Burnaby, she works at the grass roots with about 400 youngsters. Skating is what she teaches and half her ns Keyla Ohs Former national junior champ set for Canadian Championship By Andrew McCredie Sports Editor EVERY young ice dancer dreams of being crowned a national champion. < om, Keyla Ohs had the same dream, but for the North Vancouver skater that dream turned into, if not a nightmare, at least a frightful learning experience once it came truc. Keyla (pronounced “KEY-La”) stunned the skating world tour yea: ago when at !4 she won the National Juniors in Hamiltes,. “We didn’t really think about winning juniors that year; it was very unexpected,” says Ohs’ coach Linda Brauckmann. “On the last day of competition I was praying that she’d finish second.” ; Unlikely words as those may scem, the legendary North Vancouver coach knew that if Ohs did pull off the unexpected and win the championship, her young, career would take an unplanned turn. Ir did. In the course of one year, Ohs went from novice to junior to senior level compeunon. as the Canadian Junior champ she was automatically moved up to the senior rank. And this just days after her 14th birthday. Not surprisingly, Ohs struggled in her first full year of senior ievel competition as she failed to qualify for the Canadian Championships. But all that is now behind the Sentinel secondary graduate as she prepares for what could be another career altering Canadian Championship beginning tomorrow at GM Place. “"" Now 18 and the No. 1-ranked senior skater in B.C., Ohs is a study of calm: “I’m excited, I’m not nervous and I feel ready.” “I have confidence in what I’m doing right now,” she says. “As for the pressure, I chink I’ve dealt a Jor better this year with it than I have in the past few years.” Born in Port Alberni, Ohs moved with her family to North Vancouver when she was 10. But even then she had six years of competitive skating under her sequined belt. (1 think my mom just wanted her little girl in some cute litte sport.”) Brauckmann and Bob Rubins have coached Ohs since she came tv the North Shore — for six years at the North Shore Winter Club and for the Jast nwo ar Burnaby's Eight Rinks. Ohs* future off-ice plans include attending either UBC or SFU, As for on-ice plans? “Make the Olympic team and Fd like to compete professionally,” she says. “] want ro sce how far I can go. I'm nor over the hill yet, although I did just turn 18 and it made me feel old. But I’m not, so I’m just going to keep. work- ing hard.” . Keyla Obs will pur that hard work to the test somorrow in the short program competirian at the Bauk of Montreal Canadian Championships at 4 pom. at GM Place in Vancouvcr, For ticket info call Ticketmaster at 280-4444. pupils are tads who play hockey. Rare is the fig- ure skat- ing teacher who extends : - her 1973 figure teaching —- Skating world tohock- champ Karen ev. She Magnussen. branched out when she returned to North Van nine years ago trom Boston, where she and hubby Anthony spent the first 1) years of their mar- riage. Oldest son Eric was seven and quite humiliated when his school class had a skating party and he was the only one who couldn’t get around on skates. He'd never put them on in Boston, He quickly learned and moved into hockey. And the firse thing bis mother noticed was that the kids could all do with skating lessons. “Skating is fundamental to both sports — balance and control. If you don’t have these in hock- ey, you can’t handle a puck properly, you can’t do quick turns or 360s.” For the last four years she has worked with bantams and midgets in Langley, What pleases her most is the accep- tance. The kids took forward to their sessions with her. Not the pros, however. She once approached the Canucks, convinced she could improve the skating of many of their players. She says she pot no response. “Hockey is a macho game. Figure skating has quite the opposite image. 1 think a lot of people in hack- ey are scared to be connect- ed. “Who led Colorado to the Stantey Cup last spring? Joe Sakic, righ? A fine skater. He can take longer shifts than most guys because his skating is so efficient. PH bet not masy in the NAL know that bene Joe decided to con- cent-ate on hockey, he and his sister Rosemary were a *? promising team in skating.” Touche! The lady makes her point.