It was a small bonspiel, compared to the glory days of the Hope Curling Club — but last weekend’s men’s spiel attracted one more than last year, thanks to a strong showing from a group of Vancouver-based curlers.
“We used to average 32 teams, back 10 or 15 years ago,” said club iceman, Roman Petryk on Monday, before heading out to pebble the ice for men’s night action.
The smaller draw left more time for socializing upstairs and a more relaxed schedule. Games didn’t start until 8:15 p.m. on Friday night and the finals kicked off at 1 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. Even the finals went quickly.
“Lots of times, the finals are real close and go down to the last rock or extra ends,” said Petryk. “This year, for some reason, they were all one-sided games.
“It’s up to the losing team, when they want to quit,” he added. “All of the games were set up to go eight ends but the finals were all only six ends.
Petryk ended up on the winning side of the B event, dispatching Don Wiens, who imported his brothers from Comox and Nelson, to play alongside Kent McKinnon.
Petryk’s team included Colin Hay as lead, Peter Kennedy as second and Ray Scott, third.
Tom DeSorcy’s rink was the third local team to finish in the prizes, coming second in the C event, to the Alexander rink of Vancouver. Joining DeSorcy were Dave Lane, Truls Asdal and Dr. Stefan Patrascu.
The Vancouver contingent showed up in the A event final as well, placing second to the Don Davis rink of Chilliwack.
“We were fortunate to have those five teams come up from Vancouver,” said Petryk. “It’s a bunch of friends from what they call the Sunday Morning Hangover League. They decided to come up here this year and they phoned me in early December to make sure they got in.”
Next up for the club is the annual mixed bonspiel, Feb. 23-25.
