-Player frustrated with season-

OSOYOOS TIMES-March 5, 2008-

By Chad IngramrnOsoyoos Times

One Osoyoos Whaler said this week he will not be returning for another season with the World Hockey Association (WHA.)
I won't come back, defenceman Duke Reeves said in a March 3 telephone interview.
The Whalers' season ended early last weekend when the Barrhead River Kings failed to show up for playoff games on March 1 and 2 at Osoyoos's Sun Bowl Arena.
Reeves, a 17-year-old Colorado native, said there were simply too many cancelled games this season to make returning to the league worth his while.
You could see it happening, Reeves said, adding that Barrhead had cancelled previous games because of injured players. In all, he estimated that nearly 10 of the season's 40 games were cancelled.
Whalers' coach Garry Unger, a former NHL player who came to coach the team last fall, said he received a call from a member of Barrhead's coaching staff on the afternoon of March 1.
They said they didn't have enough guys and were having trouble with their bus, Unger said.
That phone call effectively cancelled Osoyoos's playoff drive and ended the season for the fifth-place Whalers, a team formed by the merging of the Osoyoos Spurs and the Vancouver Whalers earlier in the season.
The Barrhead River Kings were last in the league at sixth place.
A rookie with the Whalers, Reeves said he was excited when he tried out at the beginning of the season.
Before it sounded like it was a great league to play in, he said. At the end of the year, it's frustrating when games are getting cancelled. It was a little disappointing because I was looking forward to playing more hockey.
Like his teammates, Reeves paid a $4,000 entrance fee to the WHA for the season, as well as $300 a month for accommodations.
Other league teams such as the Squamish Cougars have struggled to keep themselves on the ice.
According to the Squamish Chief, the Cougars were on a pay-as-you-go basis with their home rink and the WHA had to pay roughly $2,000 owed to the District of Squamish to maintain the team's ice privileges at Brennan Park Arena.
The Chief also reported that it is unclear if the Cougars will stay in Squamish next season.
Although the Whalers/Spurs have had trouble paying the Town of Osoyoos for rink time in the past, the town has reported the team has paid up this year.
Meanwhile, the Oliver Jets beat the fourth-place Lumby Fighting Saints in two consecutive games on the weekend to remain the league's top team.
They will play in the league final on the weekend of March 15 against either the Squamish Cougars or the Armstrong Sharks.
Those teams will compete in a best-of-three series this weekend.
Unger said the Whalers will be looking ahead, preparing for next season.