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Three generations capture curling win

The winning rink of the Men’s Loggers Bonspiel was a family affair this year.
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Here is the winning team from the Men’s Loggers Bonspiel receiving the winning trophy March 30 from the Terrace Curling Club’s president. Left to right is Archie Griffith

The winning rink of the Men’s Loggers Bonspiel was a family affair this year.

Three generations of curlers swept the ice for the tournament win at the Terrace Curling Club March 28-30.

The first place finish in the A event went to the Griffith rink. Skip Mitch Griffith was joined his sons Kieran,, 18, and Aiden, 15,  as the second and third, and his 86-year-old father Archie Griffith as the lead.

Mitch said two weeks before the event that he had a good feeling about the bonspiel this year.

“I just had a feeling, I said to my wife ‘I really think we are going to win this year,’” he said.

Mitch had previously won the event with his father in 1999, but this was his first time winning with his sons as well.

“It was pretty cool, it’s not too often that you get to curl with your dad and your kids and pull something like that off,” he said.

Archie Griffith is from Rocky Mountain House, and has been curling for more than 60 years. He has made the annual trip to Terrace for the bonspiel for the past 15 years.

“He was  ecstatic,” said Mitch, who added it meant a lot to Archie to be curling with his grandkids.

“We played against some pretty tough teams,” Mitch said, adding, “it’s always lots of fun because it’s always a friendly rivalry.”

John Evans’ team was beat out by the Griffith’s in the semi-finals. He said this family win is the real exciting story behind the bonspiel.

“It was a family thing and they played very well,” Evans said, adding the day after the event Archie also celebrated his birthday.

Donna Diana is a member of the Terrace Curling Club, and said they have celebrated a few birthdays with Archie, as the bonspiel normally falls close to the day.

“He still curls just incredible,” she said.

“This was most likely the oldest and youngest members that have ever won this spiel,” said Chad Sallenback, organizer for the bonspiel.

Sallenback said the tournament overall went great,  and with a lot of positive feedback from the 27 local and out-of-town teams.

The B event was won by the Vanderstar rink from Smithers. Ron Vanderstar was the skip, Len Vanderstar  the third, Deral Panrucker  the second and Gerry Beaman was the lead for the team.

The C event went to the Kennedy rink from Terrace. John Kennedy was the skip,  Kevin Jeffery the second, Ian Munson the third and Andy Hofman was the lead.

The D event was won by another Terrace team, the Fisher rink. Dan Fisher was the skip, Andrew Simpson the third,  Andrew Weisner  the second and Keith Melanson was the lead.

This event wraps up the curling season for the club.

There will be an annual general meeting April 15, and the first event next year will be the fun spiel in November.

Club president John Kennedy said the Curling Club had a good season this year.

“All of the Terrace teams did quite well during the bonspiel season,” he said, adding the only change in store for the club next year is more participation.