Another season is in the books for local curlers, and year-end awards nights have now been held. Among them was an evening to recognize the top men’s teams from the past year.
It was a successful season for skip Steve Waatainen and his team in the Tuesday men’s league. Based on their record over the entire year, the Waatainen foursome claimed the overall league title.
As well, Waatainen also won the year-end playoffs between teams who had won one of the three squares of competition during the season. Sharing in the success with skip Waatainen were third Kevin Weinreich, second Sean Krepps and lead Keith Clarke.
In the playoffs for Tuesday night B square winners, the Dan Allarie team emerged victorious, thanks to an extra-end steal for an 8-5 win against Tim Cullen. Others on the Allarie foursome were Dave Wainright, Matthew Merrit and Braiden Kirkland. Teammates with Cullen were Mike Chahley, Bill Shaw and Dean Mousseau.
Skip Gary Nixon, third Rod Edgeworth, second Stan Wheat and lead Mike Redlick combined to claim C square honours. The Nixon team posted an 8-4 win in the final against Rick Ringma and his teammates Scott Maclean, Don Lutes and Lorne Bury.
Top spot in D square playoffs went to Kevin Smith along with third Bill Hamilton, second Roy Prosad, lead Bernie Devereaux and spare Ron Kaneen. The Smith foursome posted a 7-2 victory in the final against Randy Forbes and his team of Joel Brittain, Scott Forbes and Rick MacLachlan.
From this past season’s Thursday men’s league, aggregate champions were skip Craig MacRae together with third Louis Cavezza, second Paul Merkel and lead Tom Weinreich. The MacRae squad also won the round robin portion of the season with a perfect 15-0 record.
In separate A and B square competitions held during the final portion of the season, A square winners was the five-man team of Ferdy Hobson, Jim Forrester, Steve Hobson, Mike Redlick and Bill Chapman. Tops from B square was the team of Keith Rodway, Karmen Yee, Don Boudot and Mark Skovmose.
This year’s men’s club championship playoffs featured the top five teams from the Tuesday league along with the top three teams from Thursday night.
The final came down to a tightly-contested match between Waatainen and Bob Chlan. With the game tied 3-3 in the final end, Waatainen needed to catch a piece of the button with his final rock. He did, providing an exciting finish and a 4-3 victory. Others on the championship team were Kevin Weinreich, Sean Krepps and Keith Clarke, while Chlan was backed by Howard Jeglum, Bob Franklin and Harold Levesque.
For teams not competing in the men’s club championship, a separate mini-spiel was held. Both A and B division winners were declared, with the A event won by the team of Garry Smith, Frank Smith, Gerry Coukell, Ken Wilson and Gerry Taylor. It was 8-1 in the final for the Smith team over the runner-up foursome of Karmen Yee, Keith Rodway, Don Boudot and Mark Skovmose.
Winners of the mini-spiel’s B event were skip Michael Sloan and his team of Vic Brice, Scott Currie and Dennis Anderson.
Next week we’ll review year-end awards from the various divisions of local ladies’ curling.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair, and show good sportsmanship.u
Ian Thorpe writes about sports Saturdays.