8 - The Prince George Citizen - Friday, December 24,1999
JIM SWANSON Sports Editor 562-2441 Ext. 400
Sports
CITIZEN SPORTS Fax line: 562-7453 E-mail: pgcnews@prg.southam.ca Ted Clarke, 562-2441 ext. 401 Brian Drewry, 562-2441 ext. 402 DIRECT SPORTS LINE: 562-3101
Short-staffed Cats enlist bantam recants
by JIM SWANSON Citizen Sports Editor
The Prince George Cougars have been forced to dip into the reserves.
With up to nine players out of the lineup because of injuries or international tournaments, the Cougars will put 15-year-old defenceman Gary Gladue into action when the Spokane Chiefs enter the Multiplex for a key West Division showdown Dec. 27-28.
Gladue, a five-foot-11, 153-pounder who plays for the Prince George Farr Fabricating major bantam Cougars, was drafted in the third round (46th overall) by the team in April’s WHL draft. Gladue is a Chetwynd product who lives with relatives in Prince George.
“jWe’re not missing any defencemen, but we have to bring someone in,” said Cougars general manager Daryl Lubiniecki from his home in Saskatoon, where he continues to recover from November open-heart surgery.
“One of the problems is that everyone is playing over Christmas, and that’s our biggest trouble.”
In case you’ve forgotten, here’s who the Cougars are missing — and all are forwards. Tyler Bouck
(Canada) and Joe Mrena (Slovakia) are in Sweden at the World Junior Hockey Championship; Roman Takac (Slovakia) is at the Viking Cup in Camrose, Alta.; Chris Falloon (Team Western) is in Timmons, Ont. for the under-17 tournament; Travis Eagles has a separated shoulder; Blair Betts has torn ligaments in his left knee; Justin Hansen, who could be healthy in time for the Spokane games, had his tonsils removed; Jon Barkman has
gotten treatment for a wonky back from ex-Blades trainer Blaine Whyte, considered one of the best in the business, and is possible for Tliesday; and a broken leg has likely ended Willy Glover’s season.
All the injuries forced head coach Ed Dempsey to use Shon Jones-Parry and Devin Wilson as forwards in a win over Kamloops.
Farr Fabricating has been declared the team’s affiliate team, and the club’s additional five-player
Gladue happy to answer call
COUGARS
Gary Gladue lost the bet with his dad — but he’s glad.
The 15-year-old Farr Fabricating bantam Cougars defenceman, a draft pick of the WHL Prince George Cougars, didn’t expect to see his first junior action this soon.
“My dad predicted this. He said with injuries, they might call me up this year,” said Gladue, who will practice with the big Cats on Boxing Day to get ready for Monday and Tliesday games with Spokane. “I told him he didn’t know what he was talking about. And then I got the phone call. I had to tell him he was right.”
Gladue, a Chetwynd product who lives in Prince George, said Christmas came this past Sunday when Cougars president Rick Brodsky called his uncle Dean Gladue, a local RCMP officer, to share the news.
The young blueliner has impressive statistics through 40 games — 26 goals and 54 assists for 80 points, with 68 penalty minutes. Chances are, however many shifts he gets will be up front.
“I’m pumped, so I don’t care where I play,” said Gladue, who doesn’t turn 16 until April. “It will be different because I’m not very good as a forward. I’ve played ‘D’ all my life.”
affiliated list has also been determined:
■ Defenceman Kevin Seibel, the first-rounder in 1998, a midget in Swift Current;	•
■ Winger Johnathon Filewich, the top draft pick in April, who is preparing to play in the Mac’s« Midget Tournament in Calgary with the Sher- ' wood Park midgets;
■ Defenceman Scott Lynch, the second-rounder in April, who plays in Coquitlam;
■ Goalie Billy Thompson of the Lebret Eagles (SJHL);
■ Centre Josh Weeks, a list player with the -Medicine Hat Tigers midgets and one of the top '. forwards with Team Pacific.
As for Lubiniecki, his recovery is coming along * well. He takes long walks every day and is keep- +•• ing in close contact with the team in anticipation ”■ of the Jan. 10 trading deadline.
“I’m feeling good, but I have to throw the an- '• chor down every once in awhile so I don’t do too much too soon,” he said.
“I think we’re as good as any team in the divi- • sion, and we’re doing well considering all the injuries. Spokane hasn’t had an injury all year >-But if we get a chance to improve ourselves wt : < will.”	i*
No easy road to medal round hr Team Canada
by DONNA SPENCER Canadian Press
Canada’s ride at the world junior hockey championship will be rough from the get-go.
Canada is in, by far, the toughest pool with Finland, Canada’s first opponents-on Saturday (10:30 a.m. PST, TSN), the Czech Republic, Slovakia and the U.S. Russia and host Sweden are in the oth-er pool along with Kazakhstan, Switzerland and Ukraine, which was promoted from the world B pool.
“It was the same situation last year,” said Barry Trapp, Canadian Hockey’s director of scouting. “We played a very good Russian team (in the final) that was sitting there waiting for us. We have a tough schedule and we know it’s going to be tough but we’re used to that.”
Canada, with three NHLers and 14 drafted players, is a contender for the gold medal with an offensively explosive team. The Canadians, however, have a defence that is inexperienced on the international leVel and no clear-cut starting goaltender.
Head coach Claude Julien wants the puck in the forwards’ hands as much as possible and as quickly as possible.
“If we play a good transition game that means we’ve got the puck most of the time and having the puck most of the time is considered fairly safe,” he said. “It’s a matter of the defence making sure the first pass is a good one”
The forward lines are set up with a playmaker, goal-scorer and a physical two-way player. Watch for Eric Chouinard, Mike Ribeiro, Manny Mal-hotra and Brad Richards to provide the bulk of the offence.
Canada also has offensive defencemen who can jump into the play in Steven McCarthy and Matt Kinch. Mathieu Biron and Joe Rullier are stay-at-home types. Kyle Rossiter and Barret Jackman give Canada toughness on the blue-line and 16-year-old Jay Bouwmeester will likely see spot duty to start the tournament. The decision on the starting goaltender, Maxime Ouellet or Brian Finley, will likely be made today.
Canada, Slovakia, Russia and Sweden are all favoured for the gold but the U.S., Finland and Czech Republic are capable of upsets. Canada shouldn’t have a problem advancing to the playoffs because the top four teams in each pool move on to the quarter-finals.
CP photo
Team Canada's Chris Nielsen tries in vain to put the puck past Russian goaltender Evgeny Kononov during Thursday’s world junior exhibition action in Lycksele, Sweden. The game ended In a 1-1- tie.
Russians rally to tie
LYCKSELE, Sweden (CP) — Valei Khlebnikov’s goal 1:49 into the thin . period earned Russia a 1-1 exhibitioi tie with Canada’s national junior hock ey team Thursday.
Matt Pettinger of the University o , Denver opened the scoring for Canadc at the 3:58 mark of the first.
The contest was a marked improvement for the Canadians, who lost 7-1 to Sweden on Tliesday. Russia outshot Canada 31-21.
Maxime Ouellet of the QMJHL’s Quebec Remparts got the start in goal for Canada before giving way to Brian Finley of the OHL’s Barrie Colts at 10:23 of. the second. The game was Canada’s fi-; nal tune-up for the world junior hockey! championship.
The Canadian team opens against Finland on Christmas Day (10 a.m. PST, TSN).
Midget Cougars have eyes on tournament final Bearded boxer
eligible to fight
This one goes in the ‘one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other’ file.
Dallas, Portland, Colorado, Alaska, Calgary, Regina, Vancouver, Prince George — a partial list of the 20 teams entered in the Richmond midget hockey tournament which starts Dec. 27 at
various Lower Mainland arenas.
“This will be a tough tournament, as tough as that Prince Albert tournament we were in earlier this year,” said Jason Tansem, coach of the Prince George Freightliner midget Cougars. “We have to play well because all the
other teams will be tough.”
The first game for Prince George is Monday against Portland, Ore., followed the next day by a date with Alaska. The other teams in their pool are Langley and South Delta, with two teams from each pool moving on to the playoff round.
Key to the success of the Cougars, said Tansem, will be getting over a hurdle that’s tripped them up in their three previous tournaments — the semifinal game. The baby Cats have set a goal of reaching the final, something they have yet to do this year.
NHL scouts flocking to Viking Cup tourney
by NORM COWLEY Southam Newspapers
EDMONTON — The first big names from afar were Dominik Hasek, Petr Klima and Petr Svoboda in 1984, while Bobby Holik emerged from the tournament in 1988.
The floodgates opened with the 1990 Viking Cup that featured Ziggy Palffy, Josef Stumpel, Sergei Zubov and former Edmonton Oiler Andre Kovalenko.
In 1992, the rosters at Camrose included Pavol Demitra, Sergei Gonchar, Darius Kasparaitis, Igor Korolev, Boris Mironov and Martin Straka.
Milan Hejduk and Vaclav Varada were participants in 1994 while Maxim Afinogenov and Oleg Kvasha played in the 1996 tournament, which was the first time all of the visiting countries sent national teams.
“Just about every time you look at NHL highlights, you can pick out a few Viking Cup names,” said Verlyn Olson, the marketing chairperson for the biennial international hockey tournament that’s about to celebrate its 20th anniversary.
There are probably a few more players who will soon be added to that list. In fact, 28 players from the last Viking Cup —14
from the United States alone — were selected in the 1999 NHL entry draft. And who knows how many players will come out of the Viking Cup 2000, which begins Sunday at Max McLean Arena. More than 100 scouts from NHL teams, Western Hockey League junior teams and Canadian and U.S. universities will pour into Camrose over an 11-day period trying to find the next up-and-comers from abroad.
“We asked Central Scouting who the top prospects are,” said Olson. “They’ve kind of said, ' That’s why we’re coming to the tournament — to find out who the prospects are!’
Besides the host Augustana University College Vikings, there are all-star teams from the junior A leagues in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. (The SJHL all-stars defeated the AJHL all-stars in the 1998 final).
Forwards Mike Lalonde and Derek Dinelle will represent the Prince George Spruce Kings on Team B.C. Kings’ defenceman David Keough was picked for the team but an ankle injury will keep him from playing. Goaltender Jamie McCaig, a Prince George minor hockey product, will represent the Merritt Centennials on the B.C. team.
TORONTO (CP) — Sikh boxer Pardeep Nagra, who was prevented from competing at the Canadian ama-. teur boxing championships earlier this ’ month because he wears a beard, will. be allowed to fight in Olympic box-offs _ next month.
Nagra wears the beard for religious reasons. A fax from the international, boxing federation to Hank Summers, president of the Canadian Amateur' Boxing Association, has cleared his way to compete in the Olympic team box-offs Jan. 19-23 in St. Catharines, Ont., the Toronto Sun reports.
Nagra, 29, who has a 2-3 won-lost; record, will be asked to wear a net over + his beard.
The winners from the box-offs will I fight the current Canadian champions * on Feb. 18-10 at the Olympic trials in I Halifax.
VEGAS VACATION? NO, IT’S CALGARY — Matt Seifert takes a swing on a temporary tee box at Fox Hollows golf course in Calgary. Thanks to the above average weather this v/eek the course opened and plans stay open as long as Mother Nature co-operates.
Big County sinks big basket
VANCOUVER (CP) — Bryant Reeves is finding out that it’s not how many points you score, it’s when you score them.
Reeves tipped in Shareef-Abdur Rahim’s rebound with 5.5 seconds left in regulation to give the Vancouver Grizzlies a 93-91 victory Thursday night over the much-improved Denver Nuggets.
Reeves finished the game with only five points in 21 minutes but under new coach Lionel Hollins, he has been told to focus on defence and rebounding rather than scoring. Reeves was lukewarm to the idea in interviews before the Denver game, then found himself in the spotlight at the end of it.
“I don’t like to be put in that position too many times, but the guys played really well and gave us a chance to win,” said Reeves who had stitches to close a cut under his right eye in the second half.
“The play was all set for (Abdur-Rahim) to take the ball to the basket.... I was hoping if he missed, I’d get the opportunity to get it and that was it.
“Now we’ve been able to put two back-to-back, really close games, and that helps our confidence.”
It was the second win in three games for Hollins and improved Vancouver to 6-19.
Denver, which was riding a three-game winning streak after beating Western Conference powers Sacramento, San Antonio and Portland, fell to 13-12.
Abdur-Rahim, going most of the night against rookie James Posey, scored 29 points and hauled down a game-high 13 rebounds. Michael Dickerson had his 10th successive game in double figures with 22 points.
“It was big,” Abdur-Rahim, who was 12-for-31 from the field, said of Reeves’s put-back. “We needed it to win the game. It’ll do a lot for his confidence, getting back in the swing of things.”
Raef LaFrentz had a career-high 29 points for Denver but
missed a free throw that left Denver leading 92-91, then ’ turned the ball over on a lane violation.
He said the loss was hard after beating three of the top ^ teams in the conference.	*
“It sucks,” said LaFrentz, who also had 10 rebounds. “We -thought we were playing well coming in after three big ; home wins and we got beaten like this.”
Ron Mercer added 18 points for the Nuggets and Nick Van Exel added 14 points and 10 assists.
Vancouver point guard Mike Bibby, who had a career-high 16 assists when Vancouver beat Denver for its first win of the season, had 14 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds Thursday.
“I’m not satisfied with just one game,” Bibby said. “Hopefully next time, we’ll get a win again and I’ll come out and play better.”
West has broken wrist
VANCOUVER (CP) — Oft-injured guard Doug West is out of the Vancouver Grizzlies’ lineup again after a bone scan revealed a stress fracture in his left wrist before Thursday night’s NBA game against Denver.
West, who has missed all but five games this season over- ! coming toe surgery, is expected to miss at least two weeks. He was injured Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Since joining the Grizzlies in a February 1998 deal with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the shooting guard has played in just 19 games. Following the trade, he missed the rest of the 1997-98 season to undergo substance-abuse treatment.
“I think the buzzards have been flying around over my head and chasing me around up there,” said West, who had just returned to the lineup, appearing in two games, aftei missing 17 when he re-aggravated his toe injury.
The Grizzlies, who have one spot available on their injurec list, did not immediately place West on the list.