The curling rink saw continued action with the Bramiche Farms Ltd. Open Ladies' Bonspiel. Although the number of ladies' teams entered is down from previous years, the gals who enter certainly know how to have fun. The rink was decorated in a St. Patrick's theme and some of the teams chose to don the green as well. This year's bonspiel included 13 teams competing, with two of them being out of town teams and one team of Grade 10, 9 and 8 junior curlers.
Winners were: A event - skip Corinee Van De Meutter, third Kyla Krushelinski, second Shanna Aytrey and lead Gail Forbes; B event - skip Lori Cey, third Karen Johnson, second Sheri Fulton and lead Tracey McKenzie; C event - skip Wanda Heitt, third Terry Duffin, second Donna Boser and lead Terra Heitt. There were lots of fun and games off the ice Friday and Saturday evenings. The club hosted a banquet for the ladies Saturday night. It was quite a contrast seeing the men come watch the ladies in curling action and trying to keep their eyes both on the ice, as well as the Brier action on the big screen TV in the lounge.
Next weekend the curling rink is hoping to play host to the annual Last Chance Bonspiel. This event usually wraps up curling season. At press time it was undetermined if this event was going to go through, due to low entry numbers.
And because there are many of us that are sad to see the curling action leave for the season there is a fun spiel on the March 26 weekend. The only stipulation is that there is at least one senior or one junior player on each rink entered. Along with the Ironspiel and Boxing Day Bonspiels, this one is sure to give the participant a good time as well as their last curling fix before the rink closes for the season. In the 21 weeks since October there were only 10 weekends the curling rink was idle.
Hockey action has wound down for many teams, and all others are in the final leg of their league playoff hopes. Novice Red played their last league playoff game Friday against Wilkie and ended up losing the series after a valiant effort. Novice White completed their league playoff run Wednesday in Neilburg for the B final and they wound up their season as consolation champions. Minor hockey, in several levels, will now offer three on three hockey until season end.
Other hockey action has lots of excitement still to go. Local girls Jensen Chorney, Brennae Hofman and Samantha David have played the northern semi finals in the Provincial Peewee A girls match. They played Friday in Saskatoon and won. Their return game was Sunday in Dodsland where they won, so they now advance to the final against Estevan. At press time no dates have been set for this final matchup.
The peewees played the league B final March 16 in Macklin and were up 4 - 2 in a two game total point series. The peewee provincial team played Spiritwood at home Saturday and won 9 - 4 which gave them a five goal advantage when they returned to Spiritwood Monday for the northern finals, and their results were a big win as well. Their match for the provincial final is Praire Storm, which are located around the Balgonie area. The first game of this series takes place Friday in Unity.
The Bantam A team won their series against Rosetown for league playoffs and met Biggar last Friday in Biggar where they won 5 - 3. They returned to play in Unity Sunday and made a big overtime win to move on to the league final against Kyle. This last game was an 'on edge' matchup moving into overtime. It was Rhett Feser who scored the winning goal in OT.
Other local girls playing hockey yet are Kelsey Wildeman, Sydney David and Heather Wood. These gals play for the West Central Wheat Kings Midget AA team based out of Kindersley. They came in first in their league and have moved past Elrose in the first round of playoffs. They won in Canwood March 12 in the next round of playoffs and won the second game at home. This places them in the league final. They are also still in provincials. They beat East Central in the first round then Saskatoon in the next round and they beat Biggar in the first game of the next round, which they won and are now headed to the provincial championship.
This weekend, Unity Skating Club presented their annual carnival with the theme Dreams. All the decorations, decor, atmosphere and skating talent we have come to know and love were present at this annual event. Right from the littlest Canskaters warming our hearts with their very best efforts in skating skills they have learned over the season to the talents of the senior skaters, many of whom have skated with this club for over 10 years.
Coaches Colleen Smith, Michelle Brown McLean, and Corinne Van de Meutter are to be acknowledged for their dedication and commitment to the Unity Skating Club. It takes many hours away from home and families to assist these up and coming skaters in their talents and it does not go unappreciated. As always flower and stuffed toy sales were rigorous as several hundred fans who came to watch appreciated their favorite skaters with these 'toss outs' following their numbers.
The club bid farewell to their lone Grade 12 skater, Chelsea Robertson, who did a phenomenal job of her final solo for the club. BMO presented three Canskaters with their annual acclaimed Canskater awards. Presented by BMO representative Vanessa Spendelow, August Thompson, Joshua Delhommeau, and Janessa Bakken all captured these awards.
The annual Ducks Unlimited supper and fundraiser is taking place in Unity Saturday. This event attracts supporters who believe in the mandate of Ducks Unlimited, or those who enjoy the format of this evening out.
Away from the rink, the UCHS basketball teams saw gold and silver success at districts with their junior teams. This past weekend, UCHS hosted conference playoffs for senior teams and the results are both senior girls' and senior boys' teams moving on to regional playdowns next weekend.
Ball registration took place March 10 and judging by the line ups to deliver registrations this will be another busy ball season. Unity minor ball will once again host a minor ball day May 14 that kick starts the season for all local teams. With our facilities being second to none (officially quoted from Kevin Waugh at the CTV hometown tour event), Unity has no difficulty hosting games and events. Unity midget softball will also be hosting provincials this year as well as mantam boys' baseball. So while some of these teams will start their practises indoors until the snow is gone, it won't be long before the crack of the bats will be heard again at the diamonds.
The film production in Provost that brought producer/director Corbin Bernsen to town a couple of weeks ago is still underway, but we haven't had the fortune of a return trip of Corbin or any of the film's stars.
The Unity Ministerital Association began their annual Lenten lunches March 16 at Unity United Church. March 23 the lunch will be held at the Anglican Church with joint hosts being the Anglican and Lutheran congregations. March 30, the venue will be the Baptist Church and St. Peter's Catholic Church will host April 6. A short worship service at noon, is followed by lunch.
I apologize last week for listing incorrect names for the Celebrate Unity Event as it should have read Lorne and Irene Action and Vern and Sadie Burns, for long standing community volunteers. Only in a small town can you have folks correct your mistake without being offended, or angry with the writer. I have had much positive feedback on this Unity correspondent corner, so I need you to help me with these corrections as well as events you would like mentioned in this weekly report.
Two special gals are celebrating wonderful milestones this weekend - Ruth Phillips and Edith Wallace! Happy Birthday to these fine ladies and we wish you much health and happiness in the years to come.
Coffee row should soon have a different topic than weather now the sun has decided to visit us sooner in the morning and stay with us a little longer at night. There is some discussion on where all the white stuff is going to go once the sun's power starts to eliminate it. Hopefully it won't be in our basements. And after Monday's heat wave and subsequent downpour, it was apparent there is much water to dissolve from this year's snowfall as we all made way around lakes and streams on our roadways.
It is still hoped the thaw will be slow so the ground can absorb it naturally without having to spill it over on our highways.
The truth to the rumour a robin was spotted is still being highly debated and contested. Although this is a sure sign of spring, the theory as to whether this robin was actually seen or just fondly remembered remains to be proven.
Coffee row gives our community wisdom, freedom of speech, and humour that we all can appreciate in a world full of bad news stories. Especially this week when we found it so easy to grumble about another winter storm warning while Japan was suffering tremendous losses from the earthquake and other coastal communities were suffering tsunami damage.
So, again, you can see we keep busy in Unity with activities and wisdom from our friends on coffee row. Until next week . . .
