50 ~ Wednesday, April 21, 1999 - North Shore News Pegasus and Trollers meet in cup PEGASUS S.C. will have its shot heading into Sunday’s Province Cup clash with West Van Trollers, The last time the squads hooked up, West Van staged a highly improbable comeback froma 3-0 deficit in the last 10 minutes and won the game in a shootout. That was just over a month ago and in che Imperial Cup quarter-final. Now the teams have more on the line as the Province Cup quarter final goes Sunday at 2 p.m. at Kinsman Park. Pegasus is the clear favourite going in after a 5-1 first round win over Sapperton last Saturday in New Westminster. After a scoreless first half, “Peg” exploded for five goals in the second. Rob Reed opened the account by notching his trademark header finishing a Tibor Budai crass. Budai then came in on his off- wing and bent the ball around the Sapperton "keeper with his left foot. Mike Dodd finished a superb solo run minutes later to give “Peg” a comfortable 3- O lead. Troy Wood bagged the fourth and fifth Peg markers. West Van comes into the match on a high of its own after pounding Fraser Valley league champs Slovan F.C. 4-0 Sunday at Ambicside. Norvan S.C. was knocked out by Province Cup-holder Firefighters 1-0 Sunday at Kinsman. Phoenix looking te “threepeat’ THE North Shore Girls U- 147 Phoenix soccer team is rising to the occasion for a third straight year. The two-time defending provincial champion is aiming to “three-peat” after eliminat- ing Pitt Meadows 4-2 April il. Becky Muselios scored twice to lead North Vancouver to victory. Chelsea McCullough ard = Sarah Robertson added singles. The team will defend its title in early July at the provin- cial championships in Maplic See Team page 51 Bob Mackin News Reporter FROM his souvenir booth in the con- course under Nat Bailey Stadium’s grandstand, Torchy Pechet is going to sell a lot of baseball caps this year. Jackets, and pins, too. But he's not going to see the Vancouver Canadians play an entire baseball game. For 18 years, Pechet (rhymes with Becket) has been the purveyor of novel- ties and sportswear bearing, the Canadians’ red, white and blue beer-label logo. He's taken the odd break from the booth to catch some action, bur he’s never seen the C’s play a full nine innings at the Nat. He has seen the team play at least 30 games in other Pacific Coast League cities over the years. But there is no place like home, where Pechet’s customers keep him informed. “They'll come down to the booth and tell me what happened, or explain how stupid our third base coach was on a play or how a play- er rounded second base,” Pechet says. “They come down and tell me these things so I can picture wkat’s going on up there.” Pecher was smiling from car-to-ear last Friday night as fans strean, 4 into the ball- park for the C’s 22nd home opener. Deep inside, Pechet felr a twinge of sorrow because there may not be another season of baseball at “The Nat.” Canadians’ owner Japan Sports Systems caught the Asian flu last summer and sold the team to Sacramento, Calif. businessman = Art Savage for $8.5-million U.S. The deal with Savage's River City Baseball Associates closed just before Easter weekend. Civic and county politicians are expect- ed to approve a $40-million U.S. bond issue next month to finance a new 10,000-seat stadium. Ie have all the revenuc- generating features that 6,500-seat Nat Bailey does- n’t, like corporate suites. If construction gocs as planned, the C’s will fly pennants, Be A Devote~TEA Of Chari~ north shore news © SPORTS g the NEWS photo Mike Wakefield NORTH Vancouver's Torchy Pechet takes a break from his souvenir booth at Nat Bailey Stadium. He has soid Vancouver Canadians souvenirs at the 48-year-old ball¢ark for 18 seasons. The Pacific Coast League franchise was bought by a California businessman who wants to move it to Sacramento next season. south next winter and never come back. Pechet, who turns 70 this year, had been pondering retirement. During his time with the C’s he worked his way into an off-season job selling tick- ets and advertising. His only extended absence was due to a battle with cancer five years ago. Pechet’s parents named him Harold, but his brothers called him Torchy after William J. “Torchy” Peden, the Victoria cycling star. Apparently, three-year-old Harold was a menace on his tricycle. Hockey, not cycling, became his passion as he got older. He played defence for Moose Jaw and Winnipeg in the Western Canada Junior Hockey League, but a back injury curtailed his NHL dreams. Still, his nickname stuck. It became his legal first name when he mounted an unsuc- cessful run for a seat on Winnipeg school board in the mid-’60s. When he moved to the west coast 30 years ago with wife Orla, Pechet sharpened skates for a living at North Shore hockey rinks. He eventually opened a North Vancouver sporting goods store called the Pro Shop. In the early ‘80s he had a popular Edgemont restaurant called Torchy’s. “T always enjoy all of the people © that come to the park, especially to the booth where I spend all my time.” One day in June 1980, C’s general manager Jack Quinn strolled through the Pro Shop's doar and fell in love with ornate souvenir psaqucs commemorating Emil Sick and Capilano Stadium. Sick was the Seattle brewer who owned Vancouver's Capilano Brewery and the team that played its games at the fucure Nar Bailey Stadium. “We got to talking and I said, Mr. Quinn, if you like them that much, they're yours. He damn near fell over.” . Later that day, Quinn offered Pechet the princely sum of $5 an hour pilus 5% commission to man the sou- venir booth. “I was laughing inside. Five dollars an hour? I'd never worked for $5 an hour in my life!” Pechet said he'd do it for a straight 15% com- mission on all sales. He was hired. “One of the very first sights I worked there, I did S12 in sales. There have been a few, not many, but 3 few where we've done over $4,000.” Pechet fondly recalls the mid-’80s when general man- ager Stu Kehoe and ex-field manager Dick Phillips ran the front office. Through their eiforts, the C’s became Vancouver's hottest. summertime ticket until the Molson Indy came along. TEA You Could Win Dinner For Two on the Pacific Starlight Dinner Train and Overnight at the Lonsdale Quay Hotel it’s a communiTEA party! Get your whole neighbourhood, organization, office or special interest group interested in having a communiTEA! Then, make it an event. Collect $10.00 from each participant who attends. The money goes to four worthwhile community foundations to help fund North Shore Presented by: programs in education, health, culture, literacy and more. The teams weren’t bad, either. Pechet came to know field managers like Tony Muser, Tom Trebelhorn and Terry Bevington who guided the C’s to post-season play. Trebelhorn was at the helm when the team won its first PCL championship in 1985. Pechet says it came as no’ surprise that all three men eventually found jobs man- aging in the majors. Like their first season in 1978, the C’s are the top farm club of the Oakland Athletics. Pechet says tickets: are. selling at a brisk pace tor what could be the fast base- bali game at Nat Bailey Stadium: Sept. 2 against the Memphis Redbirds. He has plans for special souvenirs, like T-shirts that say “last bat at the Nat.” “The baseball season is always exciting for me, because I like the people. f always enjoy all of the people: that come to the park, espe- cially to the booth where | spend all my time. “If this is our farewell sea- san, it would be nice for the people to see a good club.”