Local Sports

Golfers from Chatelech and Elphinstone began their quest for a provincial title this week. The high school golf season started last Friday at the Sunshine Coast Golf and Country Club as Chat and Elphi squared off in their first match of the season.

The U17 Coast Thunder competed in a U17/U18 tournament at SFU last weekend. The 16-team, two-day tournament started Saturday with round robin play.

The Sunshine Coast Youth Soccer Association (SCYSA) House Leagues had their year-end tournament last weekend with approximately 1,200 young players competing at several fields on the Coast.

The 2006 basketball season for elementary schools finished with a flurry of games last Tuesday and Wednesday at Elphinstone Secondary School.

Rugby is alive and well in Pender Harbour. Last Thursday, 42 players, including two female students, took part in a two-hour rugby clinic sponsored by the B.C. Rugby Association. The PAC at Pender Harbour Secondary School helped sponsor the event.

More than 440 runners have now signed up for the 29th Sunshine Coast April Fool's Run, set for Sunday, April 2. Nearly 60 of those are on relay teams, while the rest will runthe entire 13.1 miles from Gibsons to Sechelt.

There will be a new champion crowned this year in the men's A-division hockey league.The Suncoast Flyers and Inlet Raiders will meet in the championship final starting April 1 after both teams swept their first round series 2-0.

In the last week of regular season play, the Xenichen Ya Yas were the only team to score more than a single goal, as the squads seem to be saving their strikes for the upcoming playoffs.

The Sunshine Coast Volleyball Club (SCVC) Smash U16 girls team played their first tournament of the season on March 11 in Richmond. Coaches Eric Pinfold and Jason Jenkins were pleased with the result.

A couple of former minor hockey players from the Coast are still alive in the post season with their respective junior teams.