CANORA - At the Canora Ladies Bonspiel held from Feb. 24-26 at the Sylvia Fedoruk Centre, most of the time it was hard to tell who was behind and who was ahead, as everyone seemed to be smiling and having a good time.
But when it was all said and done after the final draw, Canora rinks took first place in all three events in the 10-team bonspiel.
The championship in the A Event went to the Ally Rock team, made up of: Rock (skip), Kylee Toffan (third), Jodie Kowalyshyn (second) and Jessica Kwas (lead).
The first-place team in the second event was skipped by Maxine Stinka. Other team members were: Dorothy Schick (third), Elaine Park (second) and Sharon Ciesielski (lead).
The rink skipped by Lauren Mentanko won the C event, and included: Brie-Anne Keyowski (third), Chelsey Giesbrecht (second) and Ashley Dutchak (lead).
The bonspiel was played under the Brandon Draw format, with six-end games. Each team played three round robin games, with 10 points for a win, five points for a tie, and two points awarded for each end won.
Playoff positioning was set according to points totals.
The A event final pitted Rock and her teammates against the Jeannette Ebert foursome of Norquay in a true back-and-forth battle. Through six ends, each team had scored in every other end. In the second end, Kylee Toffan made a delicate hit-and-roll behind cover to set up a score of two, but Ebert and her teammates bounced back with two of their own the next end, and eventually the game was tied 5-5 after the regulation six ends. The skips then each threw a draw, with no sweeping allowed, to break the tie. Rock’s draw nestled into the four-foot to seal the win.
The B event final saw the Maxine Stinka foursome meet up with the Meaghan Hadubiak rink, also of Canora. Stinka and her teammates had a narrow 3-2 lead after five. In the final end, she drew behind a guard. With last rock, Hadubiak had the opportunity to draw for the tie, but came up just a bit heavy.
The Katie Wileman team, with players from Canora and Langenburg, provided the opposition for the Mentanko rink in the C final. Mentanko and her teammates had a two-point lead coming home, but Mentanko found herself looking at three Wileman counters when it was her turn to shoot. She calmly hit the Wileman shot rock and rolled behind guards. That rock turned out to be impossible to remove, clinching the victory.
Other teams competing in the bonspiel included: Brigitte Herriges and Kristen Worobetz; both with players from Canora and Yorkton; Shawna Rosowsky from Yorkton, and the Linnette Severson rink from Norquay and Kamsack.
But the weekend competition went beyond what happened on the ice.
The traditional costume contest culminated at the banquet on Saturday. Brigitte Herriges, who in addition to competing in the bonspiel, also organized the event, said, “It appeared everyone had a good time and enjoyed the costume contest the most! I received lots of positive feedback regarding this year’s theme: ‘Movie Marathon.’ Most of the teams participated, with the winners being Team Rock as Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. Team members received the Best Team Costume Prize which included a popcorn bowl full of treats and a ‘mock’ Oscar award of a spray-painted Ken Doll on a hockey puck.”
Runner up rinks included Team Rosowsky as Men in Black, Team Mentanko as Minions ,Team Mak as The Hangover, and Team Herriges as Matilda.
“Our senior team, Team Schick, dressed up as The Golden Girls,” added Herriges. “Several teams even had practiced skits to show off their costumes, which was very memorable and enjoyable for all in attendance!”
As far as the eating goes, from all reports, Sheila Dmitruik and her team “put on an awesome meal.”
“We would like to thank all of our sponsors who donated prizes and/or money to make the ladies bonspiel a huge success. Overall, the club fundraised $1,000! Our Club would not be able to operate without the amazing generosity of our community partners/sponsors as well as all of the volunteers,” said Herriges.
Next up is the first annual Youth Bonspiel March 17-18 for ages 15 and under, and to end the curling season, the year-end Mixed Bonspiel is coming up on March 23-25.
