By K.A.Pendergast
The North Thompson Sportsplex was a busy place to be last weekend. The Clearwater Blackhawks Oldtimers hockey team hosted its annual tournament, and the Curling Club hosted its yearly Ladies Bonspiel.
The hockey tournament setup worked for two divisions of four teams each. They played a round-robin format and the younger division had a playoff game although the older division let their regular play stand for placing. The setup was such that there were two average age groups.
Over and under 45 years old. The teams involved were The Clearwater Blackhawks and also younger division Clearwater Hawks as well as Ashcroft, WCC from Quesnel, Arrow from Kamloops, as well as the Free Radicals, and Salmon arm had the Wildcats and Cavaliers.
This made for a more even line-up during most games and the teams had some great skills shown out there. The playoff game for the younger group was a competition between the Clearwater Blackhawks against Arrow from Kamloops. Although they put in a good effort the Blackhawks fell to Arrow.
During the weekend there was also time squeezed in to fit in a couple games for the Clearwater Midget Icehawks hosting Trail. These games were for a competition to see who would take the top in the league. The Clearwater team pulled off two nail-biter close games with a 5-4 and 4-3 wins to clinch the top spot.
This also made a total of 20 undefeated games in a row.
The Ladies Curling Bonspiel was “L” for the theme and this reporter saw Lips, Ladybugs, Loons, Leopards, and Lego to name a few. There were some really fun and imaginative costumes. Besides the fun, there were many skilled players out there and there was some tough competition out on the ice.
