Now that we’re into May, the curling brooms have been packed away for another season.
Things wrapped up internationally with another title for a Canadian men’s team, and locally with the presentation of year-end awards.
It was a most satisfying finish to the competitive season for Ontario skip Glenn Howard and his team.
Following his victory at the Brier, Howard captured his fourth men’s world championship in Switzerland.
With local leagues and playoffs now concluded, year-end awards were presented recently to teams from the various divisions of play at the Nanaimo Curling Centre.
Coordinator for the popular Tuesday night men’s league again this past year was Garry Smith. The league involved two draws each evening of play, with a total of 28 teams taking part.
Based on points accumulated throughout the season, the overall league aggregate champions were skip Steve Waatainen, third Kevin Weinreich, second Sean Krepps and lead Keith Clarke.
The Waatainen foursome were also winners of the year-end A square playoffs, posting an 8-5 victory in the final over skip Mike Kenefick and his teammates Mike Pepin, Rob Brockley and Bill Milward.
In other final games, skip Tim Cullen and his team of third Mike Chahley, second Bill Shaw, lead Andy McDougall and fifth player Mark McQuilkin captured the B square playoff final. The Cullen foursome jumped out to a 4-0 lead en route to a 7-1 decision over skip Mark LaBonte and his teammates Colin Wood, Mike Lajos and Joel Lypkie.
Winner of the C square playoffs was the Martin Mindel rink, which faced the Dave Perpeluk crew in the final. Others on the winning Mindel team were Gary Nobel, Bob Palynchuk, Gord Petley-Jones and fifth man Jack Olsen, while teammates with Perpeluk were Gary Howk, Murray Renner and Scott Peffers.
In the Tuesday night league D square playoff final, the team of Neil Edwards, Louis Papp, Dave Bandy and Darryl Jacobs was victorious against Darren Horton, Bob Harmston, Rob Williams and Brendan Neff.
Frank Smith was the coordinator for the Thursday night men’s curling league this past season, and at the year-end awards night his team was a double winner. Skip Smith, together with third Doug McGlenen, second Tony Wright and lead Bill Shaw, compiled enough points to win the aggregate title on the year. As well, the Smith foursome captured the year-end A square playoff, claiming a victory in the final over the Craig MacRae and his team of Louis Cavezza, Tom Weinreich and Paul Merkel.
Honours in Tuesday night B square came down to a close final game between teams skipped by Bruce Willgress and Ferdie Hobson. Down by one heading into the final end of play, the Hobson team used last rock advantage to score two points to snare a 6-5 victory.
Others on the winning squad were third Jim Forrester, second Steve Hobson and lead Nolan Paquette. With Willgress were Ward Wiltsey, Neil Edwards, Murary Norby and fifth man Ken Albrecht.
At the conclusion of league play, the top five teams from the men’s Tuesday league along with the top three teams from the Thursday league competed in a special double-knockout playoff to determine the overall men’s club champion.
Qualifying for the competition were Tuesday rinks skipped by Steve Waatainen, Bob Chlan, Martin Mindel, Joe Green and Mike Kenefick, and Thursday teams led by skips Gerry Adams, Craig MacRae and Frank Smith.
The final came down to a pair of Tuesday league teams, as the Waatainen foursome prevailed over the Green team. Teammates with Waatainen were Weinreich, Krepps and Clarke, while Green was backed by Dave Yule, Gerry Taylor and Gerry Coukell.
For teams not involved in the club championship competition, a double-knockout mini spiel was held to wrap up the season.
In that, the A event winner was skip Frank Voysey and his team of Brian Cocks, Tim Stromar, Patrick Belanger and fifth player Robin Pedersen. In the B event final, a pair of points in the final end gave the Randy Forbes rink an 8-7 victory over the Rick Ringma entry.
Others on the Forbes team were Joel Brittain, Scott Forbes and Rick MacLachlan.
Teammates with Ringma were Chris Marcan, Don Lutes and Lorne Bury.
We’ll pass along a recap of year-end awards to ladies’ and senior ladies’ teams in the coming weeks.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair and show good sportsmanship.
Ian Thorpe writes about sports Saturdays.
