A look a winter sports in the upper Lynn Canal

Looking at sports in the upper Lynn Canal, the Skagway Panthers Basketball teams start conference play this week, Skagway’s bowling season is nearing its playoff run, and two Haines disc golfers recently competed in a major tournament in Hawaii.

The Skagway girls basketball team played two games against Juneau’s Thunder Mountain JV squad two weeks ago and split with each team winning one game. Head Coach Nate Jennings says his team came out for the Friday night game on fire.

“The first night we came out guns blazing and scored almost 60 points that night and really shot the lights out and showed what we were capable of,” said Jennings.

But they couldn’t quite get the shots to fall the next morning and lost by double digits. Next week the Panthers start conference play. They’ll play two against Angoon, then head over to Kake for another pair. 

Jennings says the conference is pretty even this year, meaning anyone can make a run at the title, and he likes his team’s chances because of their depth and ability to score in bunches.

“I have eight girls total and all of them can play, all of them are gonna see playing time. My starting five is really solid. All of those girls can shoot and I do think we’re one of the faster teams in the region for sure,” said Jennings.

The Skagway boys team will kick off its home schedule with games against Hydaburg on Friday and Saturday this week, and will join the girls for the trip to Angoon and Kake.

Two Haines disc golfers traveled to Hawaii last weekend to play in the PDGA sanctioned  Big Island Open disc golf tournament. Jim “Nasty” Foster and “Lucky Dee” Dunbar both planned the trip not knowing the other would show up. Dunbar says they did well to represent the Haines Disc Golf club called The Keg Bangers.

“Jim ended up in first place for amateur 50 And I took second with the amateur 40s. But yeah, I was really was chasing this guy at the very end. This fella Brad Parker he is a pretty solid character and, you know, he was such a nice guy couldn’t even get upset that he was kicking my butt most of the tournament,” said Dunbar.

Dunbar and Foster are no strangers to playing disc golf in a rain forest, as the Raven’s Bowl Disc Golf Course in Haines sits within the Tongass National Forest. But, the tropical setting was still a unique challenge.

“It’s very jungle-y here and there are tons of lost discs out there. Actually, I’ve got a chunk of plastic that traveled from Haines all the way out into the jungle somewhere out at Lava Links. It’s deep in the forest,” said Dunbar.

Dunbar did beat Foster overall by 14 strokes during the three-round tournament putting him 14 strokes under par on the weekend, but he says he’s not looking for bragging rights. Professional player Greg Barsby finished first overall at 52 strokes under par.

Bowling in Skagway is nearing its final stretch before league playoffs. There are two leagues competing this year, men’s and mixed. The mixed league has seven teams, so one team sits out each week, making it difficult to determine a points leader at this time. The men’s league has six teams, and league spokesperson John Lamar O’Daniel takes us through the top performers so far.

“This year, the Ravens are on top, they usually like to stay at the bottom of the dumpster for the least last five years, but for some reason this year, they’re on top. But right behind them by only about four and a half points is the Alley Cats who are always up there, I can’t remember the last time the alley cats didn’t make the playoffs. And then behind them in third place is the Pizza Station,” said O’Daniel.

He says the teams atop the leader board are the ones that can field enough bowlers each week. When one team doesn’t have a full squad they are required to use a “Dummy,” score, which is 10 pins below the average of the absent bowler on the team who’s rolled the most games.

For individual accomplishments so far, O’Daniel says one player recently had a breakout week.

“That would all be pretty much Luke Rauscher. Last week against the Ravens he bowled a 593 series just missed that glorious 600 series. But yeah, he was on fire. And he threw the high game of the year that night. He threw a 236,” said O’Daniel.

Both leagues will wrap up their seasons in late March.