What a year in sports it was in 2011, and here's a look back
By The Nelson Daily Sports
It was quite a season of sports in the Kootenay/Boundary region.
From the three West Kootenay Cities — Trail, Nelson and Castlegar — rolling out the red carpet to host thousands of athletes over the age of 55 years at the 2011 B.C. Senior’s Games to roller derby women bouncing each other all over the flat track to Grand Forks hosting a Sled Dog race and to the Sunflower City Rebels coming within a whisker of capturing the KIJHL title, there was plenty of excitement reported in the Lone Sheep group of online news sites — The Nelson Daily, The Boundary Sentinel, The Castlegar Source, Trail Champion and The Rossland Telegraph.
The Nelson Daily Sports Editor Bruce Fuhr counts down the top sports stories of 2011.
As 2011 counts down in favour of 2012, here we go:
Host West Kootenay/Boundary loves that home cooking, soar to second in team standings at 2011 West Kootenay B.C. Senior Games
Not only did the West Kootenay cities — Nelson, Trail and Castlegar — put on one spectacular event, but the local athletes also proved that they can compete with the big dogs of the province.
Zone 6 West Kootenay/Boundary took full advantage of the home cooking to score its best result ever, finishing second overall at the 2011 West Kootenay B.C. Senior Games Saturday.
Zone 6 West Kootenay/Boundary won whopping 240 medals, including 106 of the golden variety during the five-day event.
The games are made up of 20 plus events from slopitch to golf and dragon boat racing to cribbage.
Desert Dogs rout Rebels to capture 2011 KIJHL title
In Castlegar, The Osoyoos Coyotes exploded for four first period goals en route to thumping the Castlegar Rebels 7-1 to clinch the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League Championship at the Community Complex in the Sunflower City.
The Desert Dogs, going from expansion team to championship team, win the best-of-seven series 4-2 and now represent the KIJHL at the Cyclone Taylor Cup in Fernie.
Osoyoos, granted an expansion franchise last year, won the regular season crown with an amazing 42-2-2-4 record for 90 points, claimed the Okanagan Division title and dethroned the defending KIJHL champs from Revelstoke in six games to capture the Okanagan Conference playoff crown.
The Coyotes, formerly the Osoyoos Storm before the team moved to Kamloops, last won the title in 2005.
Oh what a feeling — Kinrade sips from Calder Cup
From Nelson, we look a little farther outside the region to pick up this top story as way down in Texas Nelson Minor Hockey grad Geoff Kinrade won the next best prize other than the Stanley Cup as he and his Binghamton Senators won the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup with a 3-2 win over the Houston Aeros.
The B-Sens won the best-of-seven series 4-3.
“It was a relief we finally did it,” the Binghamton Senators rearguard told The Nelson Daily during a brief stop back in his hometown a few weeks after skating around the Toyota Centre in Houston with the Calder Cup hoisted above his shoulders.
Kinrade played a big part in the series, playing every game and even blocking a shot in the final minute of the game to preserve the victory.
Kinrade currently plays in the Czech Republic for HC Plzen 1929.
Angels ascend to Derby heaven…by a whisker
From the Golden City, it was a sport attracting crowds of rock star proportions in arenas in Rossland, Nelson and Castlegar. Grown women on roller skates, with painted faces pounding each other to see who could score the most points.
In the end it was the hometown Gnarlie’s Angels of Rossland defeating the Salmo’s Babes of Brutality for the championship in the West Kootenay Women’s Flat Track Roller Derby League.
“The place was nuts,” said Coach Vegas of the Angels. “I’ve never seen that much excitement in one place in Rossland. We were pretty lucky it all went our way right at the end. We were pretty lit up.”
Five teams make up the league, including two from Nelson and one from Castlegar.
One Nelson man dead after plane crashes into Arrow Lake near Nakusp
From Nelson, the Nelson hockey community and the entire KIJHL lost a huge supporter when longtime Leafs’ scorekeeper Jim Keinholz was killed when a small float plane he was a passenger in crashed near Nakusp in late August and sending the pilot to hospital.
The plane crashed into upper Arrow Lake about 500 metres off the shore around 8:30 a.m.
The plane was en route to take the pair of men on a fishing trip to Fortress Lake on the Alberta/B.C. border near Jasper.
The 64-year-old passenger in the plane, who lost his life, didn’t have a fishing license so the pilot decided to land near Nakusp to purchase one.
The lake near the site of the crash was like glass which makes it difficult for float planes to land. The plane hit the water before the pilot expected to touch down and flipped.
The pilot got out without a scratch but the passenger was unable to get out of the plane despite several attempts by the pilot. The passenger succumbed to injuries sustained in the crash
Inaugural Boundary region dog sled race challenged mushers
In Grand Forks, five mushers took part in the inaugural Rail Trail 200 International Dog Sled race in the Boundary Region.
Starting and finishing in Grand Forks the 200 mile race took the mushers through Greenwood, Pheonix, Beaverdell, Eholt through to Big White and many places in between.
Brandi Mullen, took part in the shorter 100-mile race that began in Grand Forks and ended in Beaverdell, B.C.
Of those five mushers who started the race, Steve Mullen and one other, Stefaan De Marie of Christopher Lake, Saskatchewan, were the only two racers who completed the whole course.
Mullen, of Clearwater, took home $3500 for first place, De Marie $2000 for second place, Karen Ramstead $1500 for third, and Richard Todd $1000 for fourth.
Grand Forks dumps coach, wins first of the KIJHL season in dramatic style Friday against Columbia Valley
It took the Grand Forks Border Bruins almost an eternity to win its first game, and it accomplished the feat without its head coach.
Prior to defeating the Columbia Valley Rockies 5-4 in a dramatic comeback, the Bruins released coach Brent Batten after 23 consecutive losses.
Behind the bench for the Bruins was Batten’s assistant Matt Zamec. Five different players scored to rally the Bruins from a 3-1 deficit.
Silver medal bittersweet for Kootenay Wildcats
For the third consecutive year the Kootenay Wildcats watched as another team celebrated a provincial title.
Thompson/Okanagan Rockets scored the only goal of the third period to squeak out a 3-2 victory in game three of the 2010-2011 Female Midget AAA Championship in Rutland.
The Rockets win the best-of-three series 2-1 and repeat at Female Midget AAA Champions.
“Try as we might we (just) could not get a break,” said Kootenay coach Mario DiBella.
The Wildcats, including players from Trail, Nelson and Castlegar, lost in 2009 to the Vancouver Fusion and in 2010 to the Rockets.
Truckers take 2011 Grand Forks International Baseball title
The Lewiston Paffile Truckers took home $18,000 in winnings as the champions for the 2011 Grand Forks International tournament after defeating Australian Geelong Baycats 9-1 under the heat of a late Boundary summer sun Monday.
The six-day tournament hosted twelve teams in 18 games before the money round. Of the eight teams in the money round four moved on to the semi-finals: Team Canada, Lewiston Truckers, Australia’s Baycats and the Seattle Studs.
The Truckers beat Team Canada 2-1 early on Monday, and the Baycats won against the Studs 7-5 in the afternoon game.
Happy New Year from the Lone Sheep group and all the best in 2012.
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