With the end of January in sight, local curlers are now well into the second half of their playing season. Many leagues had a break in their schedule last week, as regular games were suspended while club championship playoffs were held. So now, as leagues resume, we’ll catch up on some results from the first portion of the season in men’s and senior men’s action…
Tuesday night men’s league this year consists of 26 teams, divided into four separate divisions. Following each square of competition, the top two entries move up one division while the bottom two teams drop down one category. To this point, two squares of competition have been completed.
In the first square, winner of the A division was the team of Steve Waatainen, Bart Sawyer, Craig Burton and Keith Clarke. Tops in B division was skip Jason White and his team of Bob Cavezza, Glyn Doyle and Brendan Plamondon. The C division title went to the five-man team of Rick Ringma, Scott Maclean, Don Lutes, Collin Morgan and Mike Gallo. Winner of D division was Dean Mousseau and his teammates Dean Illingworth, Pat Wilkinson, Bob Friskie, Dean Lewis and Doug Hogg.
In the second square of action, the Waatainen team again captured A division, while B group champs were the Rick Ringma squad. Top team in C division was that of Herb Veasey, Jeff Stevens, Colton Angell and Bernie Devereaux. D division honours went to Travis Fritz and his team of Rod Hanson, Lincoln Silk and Darren Brosseau.
The Thursday night men’s league involves 15 teams that have just completed play in a round-robin format. Top team overall was that of Frank Voysey, Garry Smith, Brian Cocks, Patrick Belanger, Tom Stromar and Glynn Doyle. Close behind in second place was Frank Smith along with teammates Doug McGlenen, Tony Wright, Bill Shaw and Dan Allarie.
Turning to senior men, the CIBC Wood Gundy men’s 55-plus league plays twice a week. Teams are drawn from a hat, with two groups of teams in action on Tuesdays and Fridays. From the first square of competition, Group 1 winner was the combination of Bob Davies, George Duffell, Bob Larsen, Roger Lytton and Pat Meehan. Top entry in Group 2 was that of Brian Scorer, Vic Brice, Jake McGlenen and Chris Price.
Results from the second square saw the Group 1 title claimed by skip Nels Symbaluk and his team of Bob Larsen, Doug Defeu and Barry Webb. From Group 2, the winning team was Brian Scorer, Fred Mater, Bruce Farquharson and Kevin Hood.
Senior men’s teams this season also took part in the Nanaimo Open Masters’ Cash Bonspiel, involving 30 local and visiting teams. Organizer Merv Osler sends word that the out-of-town entries won all four bonspiel events. In A event, the Branch 256 Royal Canadian Legion Trophy went to Rob Hinton’s Duncan squad. Runners-up were Nanaimo’s Ron Kulai along with Jim Forrester, Darrel Graham and Vic Brice.
The B event Yasuko Kaneen Memorial Trophy was claimed by a Kerry Park group skipped by Cliff Merriam. Second place went to Nanaimo skip Natallea Strilesky and her teammates Linda Torgerson, Sharon Luttrell and Carol Tromans. Duncan’s Geoff Leney and his team captured the Steve Stechishen Memorial Trophy in C event, with another Duncan entry skipped by Paul Kondal in second place. The Alex Schroh Memorial Trophy in D event went to Keith Ainsley’s Duncan team, with Dennis Cassidy and his Qualicum entry the runners-up.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair, and show good sportsmanship.
