The winter gave way to summer with new beginnings, Smoke Eater signings, a Keystone ending, an achievement of a life time, and more and more success stories for Greater Trail athletes and teams.
May
5 – Trail Smoke Eaters sign highly touted forward Levi Glasman of Red Deer.
9 – Beaver Valley Nitehawks scout out top prospects at spring camp.
10 – 112 athletes from across the Kootenays compete at the Royal Canadian Legion Track and Field meet at Haley Park.
11 – Montrose native and former Beaver Valley Nitehawks Tyler Ghirardosi commits to Trail Smoke Eaters.
12 – Formerly the Trail Smoke Eaters Hockey Club Society, the Trail Hockey Club Society begins new era of support in Greater Trail hockey community.
16 – Trail Smoke Eaters name Vancouver native Troy Ring as their captain for 2017-18 season.
19 – Smoke Eaters head north for a prospects camp in Whitehorse, Yukon.
31 – The Trail Smoke Eaters name Jessie Leung as their new assistant coach.
– Trail Stingrays swim to top of podium in home meet at the Trail Aquatic and Leisure Centre as Stingrays capture the Jeli Orrell Award.
June
1 – Nashville Predators amateur scout Glen Sanders talks to the Trail Times about the Preds exciting run to the Stanley Cup Final.
2 – Smoke Eater forward Kale Howarth attends NHL Draft Combine in Buffalo, N.Y.
6 – Skate Canada honours Beaver Valley Skating coach Lis Iannone with Lifetime Achievement Award.
7 – Columbia Basin Trust addresses invasive northern pike problem in Castlegar with first U.S.-Canada trans-boundary collaboration.
8 – Beaver Valley Nitehawks president and Governor attend KIJHL AGM in Kamloops where officials award Hawks with Silver Stick Award for winning the provincial championship, Cyclone Taylor Cup. The representatives also agree to return KIJHL championship to best-of-seven games as well as cease participation in the Western Canadian Keystone Cup championship.
20- Following the BCHL AGM, the league confirmed that the Wenatchee Wild will join the Trail Smoke Eaters in the Interior Division increasing the number of Interior teams to seven.
21 – B.V. Nitehawks goalie Tallon Kramer commits to University of Jamestown in North Dakota, while former Nitehawk goalies Carson Schamerhorn and Brett Clark commit to the Vancouver Island University of the BC Intercollegiate Hockey League (BCIHL).
23 – Trail Smoke Eaters Athletic Therapist Angie Hurley promotes National Athletic Therapy Month.
July
4 – West Kootenay ‘A’ Orioles baseball team clinch top spot in the Area 3 Central Division and secure a berth in the Washington State American Leagion District championship in Spokane.
5 – Rossland native and former Beaver Valley Nitehawks captain Archie McKinnon is named captain of the Adrian College Bulldogs for the 2017-18 NCAA Div. III season.
6 – Special Olympics BC-Trail athletes Jake Miller (golf), Bocce players Lou Mazzei, Sherry Altrogge, Paula Prough, Maria Veltri, and Neil Emery, bowler Robert Tarko, swimmers Alyssa Berdusco, and Stuart Hawton get set to compete in the 2017 Special Olympics BC Summer Games in Kamloops.
6 – Trail Smoke Eater Kale Howarth attends Columbus Blue Jackets Development Camp, while former Smoke Eater and Trail native Jake Lucchini, who currently plays at Michigan Tech, returned to the Edmonton Oilers development camp for the second straight year.
10 – SOBC-Trail athletes shine at Summer Games. Hawton earns three gold and a silver in the pool, Berdusco swims to three bronze, while Tarko rolls to gold in bowling, Emery and Mazzei capture gold in bocce, and team of Prough, Veltri, and Altrogge take bronze in bocce.
12 – The West Kootenay U16 Steelers make a sensational run in the playoff round to win the BC U16C Girls Fastball Championship in Burnaby.
18 – Trail golfer Garrett Kucher fires a 5-under 67 to overcome a two-stroke deficit and win the Ogopogo Invitational Golf Tournament in Kelowna with a 6-under, 210, while Rossland native and Birchbank golfer Braden McKay, 19, finishes eighth overall.
19 – Trail triathlete Jackson Konkin races for Team Canada and finishes eighth at the Junior Elite Pan American Championship in Magog, Que.
19 – Fruitvale native Camryn Haines, 15, plays for the U18 BC field hockey team at the Canadian National Field Hockey Championships in Surrey.
28 – Trail Little League All Stars win their final match 11-0 over Sooke, but miss the playoffs at the BC Little League Major Championship in Victoria.
30 – North America’s most epic mountain bike race, Singletrack 6, rolls into Rossland with about 300 riders racing in a three-day adventure before moving on to Nelson and Kaslo.
August
9 – Fruitvale baseball phenom Allison Schroder is selected to play for Team Canada at the 2017 Women’s National Team baseball program following an impressive showing playing for the Prospects team at the 2017 Women’s Invitational Baseball Tournament in Windsor, Ont.
10 -A total of 28 U.S. golfers and their Canadian counterparts teed off at the Birchbank Golf Club in a battle for the coveted Border Cup, an exact replica of the Ryder Cup. The Cup’s four-day competition teed off at Christina Lake, Red Stone, Castelgar and Birchbank with Canada coming out on top.
10 – The Trail Stingrays cap off their summer swim season at the Regionals in Nelson with great performances including a new record set by O’Cat 2 medley relay team of Sloan Welsh, Jill O’Hearn-Stone, Claire Fricke, and Kayla Fraser. Eight Stingrays qualified for the provincials.
11 – Champions Hockey School, run by Kellen and Connor Jones, hit Cominco ice for its eighth season of developing young hockey players.
15 – The Rossland-Trail Men’s Open came down to the last putt as Pitt Meadows golfer Kevin Hogg birdied the final hole to win the 73rd R-T Open with a 10-under 206 at the Birchbank Golf Course.
17 – Trail Smoke Eaters decide their new mascot’s name, Stax, via a FaceBook page poll.
22 – The Trail Smoke Eaters open the 2017-18 season by inviting 60 potential Smokies to their Main Camp at the Cominco Arena.
24 – The Spokane Chiefs of the Western Hockey League announce the hiring of Fruitvale native Adam Deadmarsh as assistant coach.
29 – The Beaver Valley Nitehawks look to repeat as KIJHL champions and welcome about 40 players to its Main Camp.
