Sports

The gym at St. Joseph’s School was packed for two nights in a row last week, as the Smithers Minor Hockey Association held their annual awards nights. Players on all the local house and rep teams, from Initiation all the way up to Midget, were given certificates, and each team from Novice age and older had players awarded medals for Most Improved Player, Most Sportsmanlike Player and Most Dedicated Player.

A total of 14 contestants gathered at the Smithers fairgrounds last Saturday for the Extreme Horsemanship Challenge, run in conjunction with a horsemanship clinic by Fort St. John area rancher Glenn Stewart.

This year’s Hazelton Youth Soccer registration will be Wednesday, April 20th from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. at the Gitanmaax Hall.

Seven wrestlers from Smithers Secondary School have continued an unprecedented season, with a pair of medals and a more than respectable sixth place finish at the 2011 National Wrestling Championships in Windsor, Ontario two weekends ago.

A group of 10 junior basketball players gathered at Smithers Secondary School last Saturday for a regional tryout camp that could lead to a chance at the provincial U14 team. The boys came from Smithers, Houston and Terrace for a day full of practice, drills and games, as part of Basketball B.C.’s U14 Development Camp program.

Walnut Park Elementary School has been the home to a recreational ball hockey program for about a decade now, under the organization of Jamie Grenkie. On Monday evenings, from 8 to 9:30 p.m., from October to May, ball hockey lovers from 13 years old to retirees gather at the school gym for some good old fashioned Canadian street hockey, but without the need to move out of the way of oncoming cars.

Hundreds of skiers, snowboarders and fans of fun gathered at Hudson Bay Mountain last Sunday for the Schnai Day Skiesta, the annual closing party to end the ski season. The difference this year is that, thanks to superb conditions, the hill will reopen this coming weekend for three more days of downhill before the lifts are closed up for the season.