by Glen Gibbs Peak Sports Men’s and ladies’ curling teams gathered at the newly renovated Powell River Curling Club in Cranberry for a parallel bonspiel that, given the season, will henceforth be called the Hollyspiel.
This was the first test for the curling club, which has undergone major changes in a bid to ensure Powell River curlers have a place to play.
Much of the credit goes to President Marlene Hall and her husband Ted and she got more use out of the facility than anyone as she was the very last curler off the ice in Sunday’s ladies’ final.
She and teammates Marci Hayes, Barb Cooper and Barb Bombardir were up against Karen Forster of Qualicum and Hall had to make a delicate raise takeout to break a 5-5 tie in the final end.
“Oh my God,” were her first words that came spilling out after the exciting finish in the A event. “I just had to blank everything out,” Hall said, “and just hit the broom. I was afraid that it would float if I got out a little bit but I just needed to go right at the broom.”
Powell River had a strong ladies’ showing as skip Donna McDowell, Polly Long, Barb Selby and Sarah Wolf earned a 9-7 win in the B event over Sally Noonan of Nanaimo.
The C event winner was Marg Obee of Nanaimo who beat Cindy Elliot, Katie Bulhozer, Gerry Elsworth and Lindsay Elliot of Lund.
On the men’s side Powell River didn’t fare quite so well as Gord Milne and his teammates Doug Boese, Dick Vanderkemp and Dan Devita lost 5-3 to Qualicum’s Brian Conlin in the A event.
Conlin, a frequent visitor to Powell River bonspiels, was clearly pleased with his first ever title and victory over Milne who curled very well and could have won the game if not for a few rolls in Conlin’s favour.
Conlin looked back to a bit of luck in the seventh end that was critical to the result.
“I missed the broom and that shot fell the whole way but we clipped ours in behind the guard on the button for one. It was an accident,” he confessed.
This was his first visit to Powell River since the improvements to the club and he said enthusiastically, “we’re very pleased and we think they did a great job on the upgrade to the club. It’s really looking good.”
The men’s B event was very exciting with Powell River’s Mike Cameron narrowly missing a couple of attempts at a double takeout to break a 6-6 tie in the extra end.
The winners were a team skipped by Tony Todosychuk from Gibsons but they had a local flavour with Ron Robertson who they picked up at the last minute.
“I got a call Friday morning and they needed someone to curl so I came out,” said Robertson. “Curled with guys I didn’t even know, and we end up winning the B.”
In Sunday’s morning draw Felix Massullo, Pat Hill, Scott Franklin and Greg Babcock prevailed to win the C event over the Doug Clark foursome.
Bonspiel chairman Barrie Phillips was extremely pleased with how things went and was quick to praise his volunteers.
“I’m chairman of the bonspiel committee,” but he said, “I had lots of help from our volunteers and curling members who really stepped up for the club.”
They will be called upon again when the club hosts a Curl BC event in February.
“We had two ladies’ teams here who are coming back at the beginning of February for the Masters Zone playdowns which we are hosting,” said Phillips, “and if these events are successful then it is hopeful curlers will return for others like the summer bonspiel.
“The response to our renovations is outstanding,” he said and joked, “Barry Meyers from Gibsons was going to bring us new pails to replace the old ones that used to catch the water from the ceiling but he didn’t have to now.”
Certainly the facility and the curlers made the bonspiel a rocking success for Powell River Curling Club.
