The Sports Year in Review wraps up with a nod to promising beginnings, milestones set, and hopeful segues into 2019.
September
4 – Sixteen-year-old Fruitvale native, Allison Schroder, threw four solid innings in relief to pick up an 8-5 win over the US and lead Team Canada Women’s baseball team to a bronze medal at the women’s baseball World Cup in Viera, Fla.
6 – Jeff Tambellini ready to open Trail Smoke Eaters season as coach and GM.
7 – CurlBC announces that Trail will play host to the 2019 BC Senior Curling championships Feb. 19-24.
8 – Hockey season starts for Trail Smoke Eaters and Beaver Valley Nitehawks.
13 – Rossland rider Keegan Fry finishes in 47th at the UTI 2018 Mountain Biking World Championship in Lenzerheide, Switzerland in his first world championship race.
13 – For the first time in its history the 55+ Senior Games features women’s hockey with Greater Trail products Janice Nightingale and Kathleen Kandborg playing for Team Kootenay.
14 – Three Rossland riders top podium at BC Cup Downhill in Kelowna. Logan Merringer finishes first in Jr. Expert Men, Bodi Kuhn takes top spot in U15 Men, and Gavin Patterson wins the Jr. Sport Men category.
19 – Greater Trail athletes return home with more than 30 medals won at the 55-plus BC Games held in Cranbrook.
20 – Trail native and former Smoke Eater captain Jake Lucchini is named co-captain of the Michigan Tech Huskies.
21 – The BC Major Midget Kootenay Ice kick off third season as part of the J.L. Crowe High Performance Hockey Academy and faces off against 2018 league champion Fraser Valley Thunderbirds.
27 – Rossland rider Logan Merringer captures overall Jr. Expert title after finishing eighth at the last stop on the BC Cup Downhill circuit at Mt. Washington with Keegan Fry placing second. Bodi Kuhn won the UCI 13-14 Men’s title, and Caroline Rousselle won the UCI Master Women’s class.
27 – Penticton Vees trade for former Trail Smoke Eaters forward Andre Ghantous for forwards Henri Schreifels and Ryan Miotto.
October
5 – The Beaver Valley Nitehawks trade veteran defenceman Dylan Kent to the Kelowna Chiefs in a three-way-deal that fetches the Hawks Kimberley Dynamiter forward Luke Recchi.
9 – Kootenay Savings Super League hits the hack with a pared down but no less skilled league of nine teams for 2018-19.
11 – Selkirk College Saints open new season with a bevy of former B.V. Nitehawks on the squad including Tallon Kramer, Dylan Heppler, Nolan Percival, Tyler Hartman and Kadrian Klimchuk.
17 – Major Midget Kootenay Ice forwards Mason McLeod and Joe Davidson each net a hat trick in 7-3 victory over the North Island Silvertips.
– Pride Gym martial artist Noah Champagne won gold and silver at the Spokane Submission Only Tournament.
– BC Hockey made a stop at Warfield Elementary School bringing the World Junior Hockey Championship trophy along with a few Trail Smoke Eaters and introducing its new mascot, Celly, to over 300 students.
18 – The Trail Smoke Eaters rookie Sean Donaldson requests a trade, and is eventually moved to the Prince George Spruce Kings for Layne Sniher and Max Kryski.
– Fishing regulations open Duncan River to bull trout with a limit of two, while rainbows are ‘catch and release.’
26 – The Trail Smoke Eaters trade veteran forward Levi Glasman in three-way deal with Chilliwack Chiefs and Powell River Kings. Glasmaan goes to the Kings, while Trail receives high-end defenceman Powell Connor from the Chiefs.
29 – Smoke Eaters deal forward Blake Sidoni to the Virden Oil Capitals of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League for future considerations.
31 – Ice management have no response to rumours that the WHL’s Kootenay Ice will move to Winnipeg.
November
7 – The Kootenay International Junior Hockey League has a new president, Larry Martel, open its semi-annual board of Governors meeting in Castlegar.
8 – Trail Track and Field coach Dan Horan presents athlete Gabby Paterson with the B.C. Track and Field Junior Development Award for her top finishes during the 2018 season.
14 – Heart and Soul Tae Kwon Do hosts martial arts tournament at the Trail Memorial Centre with over 50 practitioners competing from Trail, Fruitvale, Castlegar, Nelson and Cranbrook. Heart and Soul athletes claim over 40 medals.
16 – Green Bay Committee shut down season ticket sales campaign for WHL Kootenay Ice due to “lack of engagement” from Ice owners.
18 – Trail Smoke Eaters trade d-man Jeremy Smith and the rights to Ethan Martini to Surrey Eagles for forward Chase Stevenson.
21 – Black Jack skier Julien Locke is set to start the season on the FIS World Cup circuit with the Canadian National Ski Team.
22 – Sisters Katie and McKayla Yuris are rebuilding the Wildcats girls hockey program from the ground up, and coached the Pee Wee Girls Kootenay Wildcats team to gold at the Kamloops Pee Wee Girls Rec tournament in Kamloops.
23 – Seven Summits Learning Centre and Navigate Principal Jeff Taylor presents Black Jack skier Remi Drolet with the Governor General’s Bronze Medal for Academic Excellence.
30 – A game between the Selkirk College Saints and the Vancouver Island Mariners at the Beaver Valley Arena bring a number of former Nitehawks back to the Hawks Nest, including Dallas Calvin and Brett Clark from the Mariners.
December
4 – The Trail Smoke Eaters trade goalie Tanner Marshall to the Brooks Bandits in exchange for futures.
5 – Beaver Valley Nitehawks coach Terry Jones celebrates his 1,000th win as coach of the Hawks in a 5-3 win over the Revelstoke Grizzlies. Trainer Tom Meakes was alongside Jones for every one of the victories earned over 23 years.
11 – BC Hockey is launching a Major Bantam AAA hockey program in the Lower Mainland and Okanagan for the 2019-20 season.
12 – Pride Gym fighter Charles Bisset wins the IKCC Muay Thai title with a second round knock out of Iggy Zambrano.
– Trail native Jake Lucchini earns WCHA Offensive Player of the Month for leading the Michigan Tech Huskies to a 6-3-1 record in the month of November.
13 – Former Smoke Eater goalie Tanner Marshall is named the Alberta Junior Hockey League’s Defensive Player of the Week after recording three wins and two shut outs in his first week of action with the Brooks Bandits.
18 – Team Canada West wins bronze at the World Jr. A Challenge with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic.
19 – Rossland native Ross Armour is given the nod for WCHA Rookie of the Week after getting three assists in a Bemidji State Beavers win over Anchorage in NCAA Div. 1 action.
19 – Craig Cunningham returns to Trail and is a special guest at First Responders Night at a game between the Smoke Eaters and Wenatchee Wild. Cunningham dropped the puck for the ceremonial face off and accepted a cheque from the Trail Hockey Club Society to go towards his All Heart Foundation.
20 – Black Jack cross-country ski trio of Molly Miller, Remi and Jasmine Drolet qualified to compete at the World Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland, Jan. 20-27.
