The 100 Mile Curling Club wrapped up a successful season this year with 32 teams across four leagues and 15 local teams showing up for their first-ever Open Doubles Bonspiel.
For Maria Hamilton, a longtime curler of 33 years and the club’s promotion director, this was a good year for curling, especially doubles. Both Maria and her husband Pat love playing doubles and have been trying to promote it in the club as much as possible this year while also taking part in as many bonspiels as possible.
Maria said that this year the club had four different leagues on three sheets of ice including Mixed, on Tuesday nights with 10 teams, Men’s, on Wednesday nights with eight teams, Ladies, on Thursday nights with eight teams and Open Doubles, every other Friday night with six teams. For their bonspiels, 14 teams competed in the Mixed league, 18 teams took part in the Men’s league, their most since 2008, 16 teams took part in the Ladies league and at their inaugural Open Doubles league 15 local teams took part.
“The season as a whole was very successful for the club. We have had some heavy ice problems caused by air in the lines,” Maria said. “But we think we have fixed the problem and hope to have great ice throughout the 2020/21 season.”
Despite this, overall the leagues and bonspiels were really fun and successful, Maria said, for everyone. Most of the leagues were very close and competitive with ties right up until the end that could have broken either way.
However, the club did ultimately close two weeks early with one more week of league play to go followed by the Men’s league’s playoffs. Because of this early closure, Maria said whichever team was in the lead at the time of the doors being closed have won the season.
The results for the leagues are as follows:
The Mixed League winner was Team E. Ney with Skip Ed Ney, 3rd Hollis Ney, 2nd Gord Smith and Lead Karen Smith.
The Men’s League winner was Team Bourassa with Skip Gord Smith, 3rd Chance Bourassa, 2nd Cameron Bird and Lead Ron Vandermey.
The Ladies’ League winner was Team Ney Skip Hollis Ney, 3rd Gwen Mitchell, 2nd Betty Warman and Lead Judy Peterson.
The Doubles League winner was Team Peterson/Dodge made up of Judy Peterson and Mel Dodge.
One of the highlights of the season, Maria said, was the purchasing of new curling rocks that brought some nice curl to everyone’s games.
Read More: 100 Mile House Curling Club’s Men’s Bonspiel coming next month
The biggest highlight for her, however, is the fact the club held their first annual Open Doubles Bonspiel. Maria said they first started their Doubles league last year and have found it to be pretty successful, especially considering the size of the 100 Mile Curling Club.
“This Open Doubles Bonspiel was a complete shock. We had 15 local teams, not one from out of town, and only five of those teams had played before in the league,” Maria said. “Ten teams were brand new. During the weeks before the bonspiel, the ice was very busy with people learning the game. All of the events were won by teams who had never played before. It was amazing, I’m still shocked.”
The club’s junior curlers also enjoyed a successful year Maria said with a junior team winning an A event in their Mixed Bonspiel and Open Doubles Bonspiel along with placing second in the B event in the Men’s Bonspiel. In addition, three groups of junior curlers even convinced their parents to come out and curl with them, which was heartwarming to see.
Looking to next year, Maria said their bonspiel dates are already set and can be found on the club’s website. She added they hope to continue to grow the Open Doubles league and follow up on the success of their first Doubles Bonspiel.
“We hope to attract younger people to curl and we hope to continue nurturing our junior parents to come out on the ice and play. It is a ton of fun and way better than watching,” Maria said.
Maria ended on a note of thanks to all the volunteers who help run the 100 Mile Curling Club. From their ice maker, to bar manager, to bonspiel coordinators it’s all 100 per cent volunteers which is what she loves the most about being a part of this club.
