Local Sports

Joe Eppele changed schools and moved from Squamish to Vancouver to be closer to his hammer and shot put coach, not for football. But the pigskin may replace the hammer as the Squamish product's meal ticket.

The Squamish Golf and Country Club has broken a record - this is the earliest the course has opened for regular season play. The greens officially opened on Feb. 9. Previously, the earliest opening was Feb. 13 in 1998 following El Niño.

There's no ice needed for this game - the Totem Hockey League is all about a gym floor. Squamish's new ball hockey league has five teams with 10 players each.

The Squamish gold division U15 boys' team is the top of the North Shore League standings and has gone undefeated all season. "They've worked hard to get where they are," said Andy King, who has been coaching the team for five years.

Keegan Murphy had a goal - he just didn't expect to accomplish it with an injured foot. He had planned to come in the top ten in the Canadian Figure Skating Championships senior men's division, and he did, placing ninth.

The Test of Metal Trials competition almost didn't happen this year, but organizers just couldn't let it go. "They just felt it was important to trials in North America to keep it," said Cliff Miller, Test of Metal executive director.

Local hockey player Jamie Jacquard-Sowa, 17, a member of Team BC, almost took home a gold medal at the Under 18 National Championships in Salmon Arm last weekend. The team finished the championship with a bronze medal. On Jan. 26, the B.C.

There is no stopping the Killer Eagles novice ringette team. The team is on a seven-game winning streak, and hasn't lost a game since Port Coquitlam beat them 11-8 on Nov. 21. "I feel it's awesome," said Steve Stanley, the team coach.

It was -25 C and by 10 a.m. there were eight cases of frostbite among the 37 Howe Sound Secondary school students. And were they ever happy. The HSSS snowboarding and skiing team was in Whistler Jan.

The Atom C1 hockey team just doesn't give up, no matter what is happening on the ice. On Jan. 21 the team faced Hollyburn, and lost 5-2 with misfires into their own net, but that didn't stop them from throwing themselves into the game.