Two weeks ago in this space we credited top local women’s teams from the past curling season. So time now to review year-end awards from the various men’s leagues…
Following final games of the year, a men’s awards night was held at the Nanaimo Curling Centre. One of the organizers was Frank Voysey, coordinator of the Tuesday night men’s league this past season. He sends word that the league had teams split into four squares of competition, with top teams determined for each square.
Winning the A square trophy was skip Jason White and his team of Harold Levesque, Vern Stephens, Bob Franklin and Bob Chlan. Tops in B square playoffs was the group of Steve Waatainen, Keith Clarke, Keith Balcke and Gary Howk. From C square, the trophy went to the foursome of George Duffell, Bob Davies, Mark Duffell and Chuck Rogerson. The D square winners were skip Ken Rafter and his teammates Kevin Webb, Colin Wood, Frank Zver and Mark Labonte. Based on points accumulated through the year, the overall league aggregate champions were skip Voysey together with his third Brian Cocks, second Al Edwards, lead Patrick Belanger and fifth player Jim Newlands.
The Thursday night men’s league featured a 16-team round-robin prior to teams being split into A and B squares for the final portion of the season. Skip Craig MacRae was a double winner. MacRae and his team of Louis Cavezza, Paul Merkel and Tom Weinreich not only captured first place in the round-robin, but also won the aggregate title.
Winners of the A square were skip Gerry Adams together with third Ian Thorpe, second Randy Gummer, lead Mike Gallo and fifth man Gary Howk. Finishing first in B square competition was the team of Darren Horton, Al Jensen, Rob Williams and Gary Noble.
Following the end of league play, a mini cash spiel was held for Tuesday and Thursday men’s teams. In the A event final, the Voysey squad posted a 7-2 win over Ian Cook and his team of Dave Fraser, Ross Barnard, Lee Venables and Gerry Roy. The B event final resulted in a win for skip Bailey and his teammates Aaron Kirkbride, Adam Coronica and Kevin Turner. The Bailey foursome were 6-2 winners over the team of Mac Pawliuk, Russ Pawliuk, Todd Belton and Dhillon McKinley.
This year’s men’s club championship playoffs involved top teams from the Tuesday and Thursday leagues. The final came down to the defending-champion Mike Kenefick team from Tuesday league against Adams squad from the Thursday league and it was an entertaining matchup. After trailing 6-2 after four ends, the Kenefick team rallied to tie the game after seven, only to see Adams respond by scoring a hard-earned point in the final end for a 7-6 victory. Others on the club championship Adams team were Thorpe, Gummer, Gallo and Howk. Teamed with Kenefick were Bob Palynchuk, Bill Millward and Mike Pepin.
As a result of their win, the Adams team went on to represent the Nanaimo Curling Centre at the Travelers Curling Club Championship Island South Challenge, featuring club championship teams from around Vancouver Island. The locals did well, losing to Kerry Park in the championship final but coming away with a silver medal.
In a future column we’ll wrap up curling with a review of award winners from mixed leagues as well as the senior men and senior ladies’ leagues.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair, and show good sportsmanship.