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Mixed results at Ponoka weekend bonspiel

A pair of local area rinks came away with titles in some close final games over the weekend in the annual Ponoka Mixed Bonspiel.
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Ron Wolfran along with Deb Wolfran and Dale Moench watch helplessly as the stone tracks the wrong line in the fourth end of the A-event final of the Ponoka Mixed Bonspiel

A pair of local area rinks came away with titles in some close final games over the weekend in the annual Ponoka Mixed Bonspiel.

Courtney Smith’s foursome captured the B-event and the Steve Pederson rink won the C-event, while the Dale Moench rink fell victim to a ‘pick’ and lost to a Lacombe rink in the A-event final.

Courtney along with her sister Nikki and the rest of their rink managed to hold off the foursome led by their father and longtime coach Kelly and earn the victory by a count of 6-4.

Courtney’s squad took a single in the first then added a steal of two in the second end before Kelly got his rink back into it with a pair in the third. Following a blank, Courtney was able to score two in the fifth, which had most of Kelly’s foursome looking to shake hands.

But with Kelly nearly down at the other end of the sheet already, the teams kept playing. Courtney added a steal of one in the sixth then Kelly put up a deuce in the seventh, but had nowhere to hide after hogging one of their shots and were run out of rocks to make it a 6-4 final.

The C-event was a wild one that wound up coming down to the final stone.

Pederson opened with a single then gave up a pair in the second and was down 3-2 at the midway point of the contest. Things were looking up for Pederson when his rink filled the house and made a couple great shots to score three in the fifth for the lead.

However, the Throndson foursome from Edmonton took one in the sixth and managed a steal in seven to tie it up, but gave the all-important hammer to Pederson for the final end.

And Pederson took advantage to score his single for the win, although it was tight. He needed the perfect tap back draw weight through a pair of staggered guards out front to nudge the opposition stone off the button.

Meanwhile, early indications in the A-event final were for a very entertaining and high scoring affair. Dale Moench’s rink got two in the opening end, followed by a three in the second for Lacombe’s Doug Batke.

Unfortunately though, the final stone for the Ponoka foursome in the third ‘picked’ on a hair, which handed Batke a steal of four and that was followed in the fourth with another steal of three after of full house left no stones available to get at for the local rink. That led to handshakes and a 10-2 win for the Lacombe foursome.