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ohomistsunfribuhe sports thursdayfebi 3 2060 19 class is in session for ice anglers all lined up as an awardwinning outdoor writer wil wegman has extolled the virtues of angling and tried to help those with a thirst for knowledge by revealing some tricks of the trade in recent years wegman has extended his boundaries of thought by offering courses on angling at community colleges in southern ontario with another ice fishing season underway wegman plans to assist hard water piscatorial enthusiasts enhance their success rates by pro viding a course at seneca college on feb 8 and 22 wegman will provide a oneevening class devot ed to yellow perch and black crap- pie fishing through the ice wegman feels the species have gained in popularity among the ice angling fraternity a lot of anglers realize they enjoy the challenge that perch and crappies have to offer there are times when you cant do anything wrong to catch these fish and theyre a good species for beginners and especially youngsters to catch then there are times when you need a certain skill level to catch these fish when they get finnicky and as compared with going after whitefish or lake trout youre usually hoping for one bite with perch and crappies you can have more consistent action the feb 8 course will be con ducted at senecas richmond hill campus while the feb 22 class is slated for the king city campus i the program will be comprised of a classroom seminar handouts the opportunity to win door prizes and entry into the ambassadors cup ice fishing competition at lake simcoe feb 26 students will learn how to use live maggots for bait about special ized ultralight rods light line tech niques imported tackle such as russian marmooskas and even about lethal homemade baits students will also be taught about the safety aspects when trav elling on a frozen surface as well as deciphering fish activity level and adjusting to weather patterns wegman who works with the ministry of natural resources aurora district office said teaching remains a rewarding experience i learn a lot from the students and i hope they can learn some thing from me i love to share infor mation that ive gained over the mike hayakawa years and i love to see people catch fish he said cost of the program is 70 for further information call seneca college at 416 4934144 bait clarification ice anglers hoping lake simcoe ice hut operators will supply salted minnows can forget about that ian buchanan a ministry of natural resources spokesperson from the aurora district office pointed out that under newly imposed regulations ice hut opera tors are not allowed to supply salted minnows to their clients however the regulations allow people to bring their own salted minnows providing they dont exceed the new limit of 120 min nows per angler more wild turkeys planted the rouge watershed received some new guests into its valleylands saturday as the ministry of natural resources released 10 wild turkeys the project to transfer wild turkeys to the rouge involved cap turing birds from wild populations in neighbouring king georgina and brock townships and releasing them into the rouge park the meadowlands mature woodlands and rivers in the rouge provide ideal habitat for wild turkeys said natural resources minister john snobelen in a media release were excited that the suc cessful reintroduction programs elsewhere show that transferred turkeys will reproduce and estab lish selfsustaining populations when carefully managed the ministry has contributed 3900 in inkind funds matching the financial contribution of the rouge park alliance in establishing a wild turkey population in the rouge valley staff photomike barrett members of the unionville synchro skate team practice for the nationals coming up in three weeks waxers to retire uniforms of 14 former goaltenders by mike hayakawa sports editor for the markham waxers junior a hockey team the year 2000 rep resents more than just the start of a new millennium waxers president don bremner declared 2000 as the year of the goaltender and to commemorate this theme the waxers will honour some of their top netminders from years gone by prior to the start of tomorrows provincial junior a hockey league contest against the spirit of stouffville at centennial arena the waxers will retire the uni forms of 14 former netminders who donned the blue and white included in that group are former national hockey league puck stoppers mike palmateer mike liut rick tabaracci brian hayward bob essensa steve weeks and greg millen rounding out the honourees are ray leblanc dean anderson martin maglay mark michaud mike lenarduzzi jim baxter and the late steve bloomer the year 2000 has three zeros in it so weve designated it as the year of the goaltender bremner stated in a m pressrelease a the pregame festivities which begin at 730 w y pm also allow the waxers to main tain their tradition as being a former farm club of two of the greatest organizations in hockey the toronto maple leafs and toronto marlies the club which has been a fix ture in markham for more than 70 years is proud to point out that about 100 former waxers players worked their way up the ranks to the national hockey league and nowdefunct world hockey association another 200 made their way to the ontario hockey league while more than 250 players received us college scholarships or elected to continue their trade at canadian universities or colleges the markham waxers hockey program stands for tradition her itage community and education we have a lot of deep tradition but hockey is not just about winning hockey games championships and trophies it is about developing our youth and fulfilling their dreams as young canadians the dream of every young canadian hockey player is to play for your home town in front of your family and friends or to possi bly go on and succeed in the junior ranks the ohl college of universi ty and maybe even going to the nhl or playing for canada the 14 netminders will join steve thomas ron wilson and adam oates in having their num bers retired by the team thomas wore 16 wilson 20 and oates 10 the festivities will continue saturday as the waxers hold their valentine and alumni dance at fontana gardens banquet halls 7400 keele st starting at 7 pm for further information and tickets call bremner at 1-800-894- 4924 japanese women s hockey team eye stouffville as training base by bruce stapley correspondent the road to this springs womens world hockey championships could wind through stouffville for the japanese national team the japanese squad is on the verge of accepting an offer from the stouffvillemarkham girls hockey association to host a 10day train ing camp at the rec centre includ ing an exhibition game with team usa to precede the national tour nament in mississauga in april under the arrangement the japanese team would set up camp in stouffville from march 24 to april 3 familiarizing themselves with the southern ontario environment in preparation for the world event it looks like this is going to hap pen said smgha president dianne white im trying to figure out all the details white was approached in november by the canadian hockey association about preparing a bid to host a national team prior to the world showdown the proposal has been offered to the japanese team now its just a matter of whether they want to come white said white thinks its almost certain theyll accept the game between the japanese and us womens national teams has been scheduled for april 1 white is hopeful arrangements can be made with ice users for the game versus the usa as well as one or two exhibition contests white said its unlikely the canadian womens team can be enticed to come to stouffville to play the japanese unit id love to have them here but i doubt it could happen white said having the japanese national team which is ranked in the top four in the world train in stouffville would give the 300 play ers in the smgha a rare chance to observe talented women hockey players from close up basically im doing this for the girls i think its a good opportunity for them to have a look at a higher level of hockey white said the fact stouffville was considered as a site for such a camp is indicative of the respect the smgha has earned in its 27 years of existence she said the stage was initially set for when the smgha hosted one of seven ontario womens hockey association camps to select members of the ontario midget under17 girls team two seasons back once you start doing things like that for the owha they remember thats how you develop it