Harasyn scores overtime winner as Seafair nets Atom crown

The Seafair Giants went undefeated to top the Atom Division at the Richmond Minor Hockey Spring Tournament last week.

Brian Harasyn scored the winning goal in overtime as the Giants edged the Delta Outlaws 1-0 in their final game.

On their way to the final the Giants defeated Ridge Meadows 4-3, Bellingham 7-0, Richmond 5-0, and tied Burnaby Winter Club 1-1 and North Shore Winter Club 3-3.

o Richmond teams reached the final in the Bantam and Midget C Divisions at their annual spring break tournament last weekend, but Surrey took top honours in both.

Surrey netted the Bantam title with a 6-2 win over the Ruff Ryders, while the Surrey Sharks scored three minutes into overtime for a 2-1 win over the Blaze in the Midget final.

Following coaches Ken Whitehead and George Kilpatrick's defence-first philosophy, the Ruff Ryders finished first in round-robin play (which included wins over Cloverdale, Ridge Meadows and Cloverdale) and reached the final by winning two early games Sunday.

The Blaze entered the tournament having placed third in their league this season. Coach Kirk Pettipas was confident centres Josh Jones and Brad Taylor could spearhead the offence while Matthew Ramos, Luke Edmondson, Galen Mogan and Adam Mulford would anchor a solid blueline.

Richmond drew a formidable group of opponents in the round-robin, facing the Surrey Flyers in their opener. But the Blaze came up with a spirited team effort to surprise Surrey 4-1.

The line of Taylor, Sean Wilson and Jamie McIntyre-which enjoyed success all season-came up with another strong effort in a 3-1 win over Juan de Fuca, while Jones scored three goals and goaltender Adam Strelek was solid in a 4-3 win over Vancouver.

In quarter-final play, Richmond needed a late shootout goal by Mogan to shade the North Delta Senators, setting the stage for a rematch with Juan de Fuca in the semifinals. The fast-skating Islanders looked sharp early but the locals broke out offensively in the third period to win 5-1.

An early goal by Stephen Moreton coupled with strong goaltending by Strelek and tireless efforts by Kenny Nakadomari and Anish Mitra kept Richmond ahead for much of the game, but Surrey eventually began controlling play as the Blaze, with only 10 skaters, tired. Surrey tied the game in the third period before winning on a slapshot early in overtime.

o The Seafair Stingrays capped their season with a 2-1-1 showing at the Vancouver Minor Hockey Novice Tournament last weekend.

The Stingrays opened with an 8-1 victory against the Vancouver Ice Hawks and, after falling 8-2 to the Vancouver Spitfires, battled to a 3-3 tie with Coquitlam Storm and edged Richmond Firehawks 3-2.

Lisa Holmes, Cohen Nagel, Taylor Kislanko and Connor Moon all played well in the tournament as did Riley Henderson, Devon Lung, Sam Jaffe, Tyler Hass and Adam Nishi. The Stingrays were bolstered by three Tyke-aged players: Ryan Grewal, Casey Hiscoe and Jonathon Szeplabi.

Kevin Lawrence, Bryan Yu and Cam Stokes missed the tournament but were valued members of the team throughout the season.

o 100 Mile House, Oceanside and Westside took top honours in their respective divisions at the Richmond Pewee B tournament last week.

100 Mile House defeated Quesnel 7-2 in the Coho Division final, Westside (Kelowna) edged Penticton 3-1 in the Sockeye Division, and Oceanside (Parksville) shaded Coquitlam 3-2 to top the Sockeye Division. The latter game was decided after a five-minute overtime, two minutes of 4-on-4 and then 3-on-3 hockey, and a shootout which featured eighth shooters per team.

Richmond B1s were second in the Sockeye Division after round-robin play before losing to Penticton 6-1 in the semifinals. The B2s were first in the Coho Division but lost 5-0 to 100 Mile House in the playoffs.

Blues B.C. hockey champions

Richmond skates to Bantam B1 title at Cowichan Valley

Don Fennell, Sports Editor

Sticking to the game plan netted the Richmond Blues a provincial hockey championship this week in Duncan.

A few words of wisdom helped too, as the locals overcame some early tournament frustrations on their way to a 5-1 win over Kamloops in the Bantam B1 final Wednesday.

During the first intermission of the Blues' opening game against host Cowichan Valley Sunday, coach Jeff Hughes, sensing his team's anxiousness, urged the players to relax. They had just dominated the first period but found themselves only in 1-1 tie.

"I told them we were fine, we were the better team," Hughes said. "We were getting the scoring chances they just weren't going in. We didn't want them to panic and change things and they didn't. "

The Blues heeded the advice, settled down, and went on to a 3-1 victory.

As it turned out the win was pivotal in Richmond's title hopes, as they dropped their next game Monday 5-3 to Kamloops.

"We had to have that win (against Cowichan)," Hughes said. "Having not played in two weeks, we also knew we had to get the rust off and that game served that purpose. But the score could and probably should have been by a wider margin."

Goaltender Sean Norman, was outstanding, showing why he was the best in league play with a 1.74 goals against average. Bryan Abrey scored the winning goal in the second period.

Although the Blues lost their next game 5-3 to Kamloops Monday, the players were able to retain their focus for the balance of the tournament rolling to 7-1 and 9-1 wins over Cranbrook and Prince George, before defeating Kamloops in the rematch Wednesday.

"We hadn't seen any of the teams other than Surrey, but we expected (the likes of) Kelowna and Kamloops were going to be good," Hughes said. "A lot of the teams had good speed and others were tough on the forecheck, but we managed to adapt very well to each situation. And with the draw we got, we had some luck too."

Monday's loss to Kamloops was an "odd game," Hughes suggested.

"The dressing room felt kind of different; there wasn't as much energy before the game."

Richmond did open the scoring with an early first-period tally but Kamloops

dominated, especially along the boards and routinely bumped the Blues off the puck.

"We had a hard time realizing we needed to go into the corners, even if we got (hit)," said Hughes.

The Blues responded to some line shuffling to pull to within a goal in the third period, but still weren't playing well. If not for the play of Nick Steadman in net the score would have been far more lopsided, he said.

Although the loss was painful and left the Blues having to win all of their remaining games to retain their first-place dreams, he said it was probably the best thing that could have happened.

"We had won 10 straight coming in, so it's likely you're going to lose one somewhere along the line. If we were going to lose we didn't want it to be an elimination game and this really woke us up."

Hughes said the players more than anything were angry, not having lost a game all season that had any real significance. And their determination was apparent in the next two games against Cranbrook and Prince George.

Having to play just a couple of hours after the loss to Kamloops was probably advantageous too for the Blues, as they didn't have much time to think about the situation.

"We needed to show what we could do and there was never a question in that game," Hughes said proudly. "We were all-out in our forechecking and we out-hit them too."

Kamloops' 5-2 victory over Cowichan assured Richmond of a semifinal date with Prince George Tuesday, and the locals made the most of the opportunity with another lopsided result. They put the game away early with four goals in the first period, two of them by Rob Oughton.

An opportunity to watch tape of their loss to Kamloops helped Richmond get ready for the rematch between the two teams, Hughes said. And as they had all season, the Blues (all of whom dyed their hair blue for the tournament) stressed the importance of supporting and playing for each other.

"More than anything we knew we couldn't be intimidated. This was the last game, there was nothing to hold back for."

Kevin Dufva's point shot gave the Blues a 1-0 first period lead, but Kamloops took the game to Richmond in the second and tied it at 1-1. Although the team was confident goalie Norman would help hold them in, the Blues were still a little tense until the third period when they came out with great determination. Michael Chan scored the first of two goals six minutes in, deflecting a shot by Bram Newman on the powerplay. Dufva and Avery scored the final two goals late in the game.

Uchiage siblings keen on karate

Steveston athletes hoping to compete together at nationals

Don Fennell, Sports Editor

As the B.C. junior girls' and boys' karate athletes of the year, Hidemi and Toshi Uchiage have solidified their place among the sport's elite.

Now, their younger sister, Sumi, appears ready to join her Richmond siblings.

Sumi, 15, recently teamed with Hidemi, 18, and Toshi, 16, to win gold in the elite adult team kata event at the Steveston Karate Club's international tournament and is currently devoting much of her spare time to practising in a dedicated effort to win the 14- and 15-year-old kata and fighting titles at the upcoming provincial championships on April 13.

"She's looking strong in both events," Toshi said.

"She predicted she'd have a spurt this year and really get going and she was right," he said. "I was trash-talking, saying `not yet' but she's proven me wrong."

Hidemi said she is very proud of her younger sister and the progress she's made, especially in the last year.

"Me and my brother improved a lot in our first year also because we had a goal. That's the same with her," Hidemi explained.

Sumi first came up with the idea of the three siblings forming a team to compete in kata a couple years ago, but both Toshi and Hidemi didn't think she was ready then.

"We all do kata and our ages are pretty close so I always wanted us to try and see how we could do (as a team)," Sumi said. "Finally, they said `okay, we'll try.' I was happy we won."

Their father, Takeshi, who is head instructor at the Steveston dojo, said Sumi has made great progress in the last year and "really tries hard" at practice.

"She also takes extra practice," Toshi said. "If I'd be home watching TV she'd go out and practice. Our school (McMath secondary) is close to the dojo and she sometimes goes there during lunch."

Sumi agrees the extra practice has helped.

"I've been concentrating more and made more of a determined effort," she said. "I'm starting to think the basics are more important and try harder when we practice them. I don't slack off as much."

Toshi, who celebrates his 17th birthday two days after the provincial championships, is confident he's made progress too. And he still considers his dad to be his greatest influence and teacher.

"Compared to a year ago I have more power now," he said.

Toshi is planning to compete in the 16- and 17-year-old men's kata at the provincial championships (in which he's the defending national champion) and may also try out for the provincial adult kata team.

"That looks like it's going to be a dogfight though," he said. "Everyone is really close in the grand prix points going into that competition and the provincials are going to determine the champion."

Hidemi is going to compete in the 18- to 20-year-old women's kata as well as the adult kata divisions. She won the 16- and 17-year-old national kata title the last two years.

"She's a shoo-in (to go to nationals)," Toshi suggested. "She's really strong in fighting also."

Hidemi said all three siblings are determined to continue to improve, and would eventually like to compete internationally.

"When there isn't any competing I don't think we're as motivated," she said. "When you're competing you have a goal and you know how to measure if you're improving by the results."

The martial arts have also helped them better prioritize other things in their lives, Hidemi suggested.

"With martial arts you have to be disciplined and know where and when to be serious and things like that," she said. "It has helped us focus. If there's something we need to do we can concentrate solely on that instead of just a little bit."

If they continue to progress as they have already this season, there is a good chance all three Uchiages are going to be at the nationals in Toronto at the beginning of June.

"If we all did well at nationals that'd be really cool," Hidemi said.

¥ Karate B.C. also selected Nao Nakatsuka, who won the national women's kata championship, its women's (18 and over) athlete of the year for 2001. In the last nine years, 16 students from the Steveston Karate Club have entered the national championships as members of the B.C. team. Thirteen have won gold medals and two silver. They include Stav Adler, Nicole Poirier, Darren Choo, Serey Sinn, Dorothy Kobayashi, John Shigeta, Yuichi Motohashi, Nancy Sham, Akina Motohashi, Dan Kawai, Eric Chan and Jason Emanuel.