Curling fans should be hyped this weekend as stones will be flying, and brushers brushing as a ton of broomers take to the ice today.
The World’s best curlers may have drawn some fans to Penticton this week for the Continental Cup - the curling version of the Ryder Cup - but local curlers are also competing in a range of tournaments, from provincial berths in Cranbrook, to some cold hard cash and prize bonspiels in Trail and Beaver Valley.
The Zone 1 and 2 Kootenay senior regional playdowns go in Cranbrook with senior men’s and a ladies teams vying for a spot at the Tim Horton’s provincial championship tournament in Trail Feb. 11-17.
For the men’s, the Trail Curling club is represented by the Donald Bedard rink and Rob Ferguson foursome.
Bedard’s rink includes lead Terry Bublitz, second Barry Paseichnyk, and third Randy Lucas while Ferguson is augmented by lead Jack Beard, second Russ Beauchamp, and third Brian LeMoel.
In the ladies bracket, just two rinks are competing, the Deb de Tremaudan rink from Nelson with lead Allison Sutherland, second Joanne Drystek and third Terry Richardson, and the Teresa Hiram rink comprised of Trail’s Rose Beauchamp as third, Rhonda Lee Bedard second and Cindy Pattapice as lead.
Don Freschi from Trail and Fruitvale’s Bill King have also teamed up with skip Tom Shypitka and Fred Thomson from Nelson at the senior playdowns, while Super League’s Myron Nichol’s rink will represent Castlegar.
At the Trail Curling Arena, the Retiree Men’s club hosts 30 teams from Rossland, Beaver Valley, Castlegar, and Nelson for a cash spiel that starts today and goes until Sunday. The 11 Trail teams, always the consummate hosts, drew their teams out of a hat to avoid team stacking, says retiree rep Tom Hall. The teams are split into five groups of six, that play each other once, the winner of each game taking a skin.
Meanwhile in Beaver Valley, 20 Ladies curling teams will also take to the ice for the annual Beaver Valley Ladies Bonspiel this weekend with the final match going Sunday at 3 p.m.
Stop by either the Trail Curling rink or the Beaver Valley curling club to check out the action, enjoy a beverage, and some good curling.