With the rocks shelved after a lively ladies Valentines Bonspiel, the Terrace Curling Club is ready to launch its next event.
Young junior curlers will throw stones in the juniors bonspiel with 10-15 teams March 4, an event which the local club plans to coordinate annually starting this year.
Kelly Bowles, one of the coordinators of the Monday night junior program, says it’s a nice climax for the youth to end their season with a competition.
“You gear them up all year to be able to play a game,” explained Bowles, adding that a bonspiel with out of town teams gives the youth the full experience of the sport.
Junior curlers ages 7-17, have had shots at competition in the past, through random bonspiels in Terrace, Kitimat, Prince Rupert and Smithers, but they want to start running an annual event, said Terrace club president Gordon Lawley.
“This bonspiel is a great way to promote the game of curling with the juniors that have worked hard on their skills during the winter,” he said.
“Hopefully with a successful bonspiel it will increase interest in curling within the northern region.”
The youth spiel is sweeping in this season after an animated Valentines Bonspiel Feb. 10-12, where 21 teams of ladies battled for the button.
The final match in the A-event took on a friendly air, with opposing teams well-acquainted and tossing friendly jibes across the sheet along with the rocks.
“It was lots of fun,” said Jacquie Munson from the Wyatt rink.
“It was a nice game between friends — two teams from the Terrace club, good camaraderie and good spirit.”
Playing against the McCleary rink in the A-event final, it was the fourth straight victory for the winning Wyatts, which included skip Cheryl Wyatt, lead Sandra Hoffman, second Nancy Reniero as well as Munson as third.
The second place McCleary rink threw a strong end early on, but Wyatts dominated the ice after that to claim an 11-4 victory.
“They pretty much whupped us,” said skip Peggi McCleary of the second place team, adding that it wasn’t a driving competitive match, but neither team played poorly and it was lots of fun.
“It was a fun final,” she said. “It didn’t feel like a final, because their team was a really nice team, they’re very friendly, we were joking a lot and we were congratulating each other for good shots.”
McCleary added that her team did play well, they just weren’t as on top of their game as previously.
“We didn’t play as well as the night before,” she commented. “If we’d played the night before, we would have given them a bit more of a run for their money.”
Organizing chair Lisa Lawley said the whole event was a blast, topped off with a great banquet, dance, and fun group games led by junior curlers.
The B event winners were the Griffith rink, while the Simpson rink won the C event, and the Billson rink won D.
Leanne Billson, skip of the D event winners, said their final game was a close match against the Durrant Rink, a junior team from Kitimat who is headed to provincials.
“It came down to the last rock,” she said.
The Billson rink was up two points as they went into the final end, and the Durrants had the hammer (final rock).
The Kitimat skip had to execute a double knockout with her final rock in order to score enough to catch up. She only managed a single knock out, scoring one point and giving the Billsons a narrow one-point victory.