Skip to content

Ponoka rinks flourish at annual T&C bonspiel

The second go-round of the combined men’s and ladies Town and Country curling bonspiel went off wonderfully.
49707ponoka170201-PON-T-Ccurling_3
(L-R) Ponoka skip Kristen Gordon along with Stephanie Tofsrud and Pam Baron put in a ton of effort into sweeping this stone in the third end of the ladies A-event final

The second go-round of the combined men’s and ladies Town and Country curling bonspiel went off wonderfully.

A number of Ponoka-based rinks made the event finals, however, the only hiccup was for the men’s championship where the local Sean Brake rink lost 3-1 in the final end.

The game saw Lacombe’s Lionel Baron put a single on the board in the opening end, followed by Brake’s rink blanking the next five before having to take a single in the seventh. That handed the hammer back to Baron, who made the most of the opportunity and capitalized on a couple of small errors for the win.

Brake’s foursome did have a chance in the sixth to score a deuce, but came up light on a split attempt on one of their own rocks sitting just outside the top of the house. The Ponoka rink nearly gave the hammer back at that point, but a measurement showed the one rock was narrowly outside the 12-foot ring.

In the men’s B event final, it was two local rinks doing battle with Cody Moench running Kevin Waldren out of rock in the final end to win 7-3, while the C event final saw two more Ponoka rinks facing each other with Laurie Holt watching Larry Goodwin’s final stone miss its mark to hand Holt at 9-7 win.

The women’s side of the Town and Country was also dominated by Ponoka rinks, with Kristen Gordon’s taking the championship title 6-2 over Melodie Woods. Gordon opened the game with a single then stole a point in each of the next four ends, before Woods managed to score a pair. After Gordon earned a single in the seventh, the teams shook hands.

In the B event final, two more local rinks faced each other with Melissa Maser stealing five in the fifth end, forcing Dawn Chesterman to shake hands after six to give Maser the 9-3 win. Meanwhile, the C event final was an all Lacombe affair with Laurie Bresee doubling up Bonnie Nielson 8-4.

Ponoka Curling Club president Bruce Clarke was pleased to see the event do well once again, a credit to the teams and event sponsors.

“We had a super week of some great curling,” Clarke stated, “A special thank you to the teams and sponsors who are a key to our success. We look forward to seeing everyone back next year.”

Hitting the broom: Beginning tonight and running every Wednesday for the next six weeks, the Ponoka Curling Club is hosting a second straight season of Social League Drop-in Curling. The informal, everyone plays for fun, evening started out last season as a way to get more people to try the sport and for more curlers to just come out and have some fun. Everyone is welcome at a cost of $10, with complimentary brooms and slides available along with lots of help for any beginners young or old.

The club is also hoping people will come out and watch the junior curlers in the annual bonspiel this weekend, while the club is also looking for more teams to enter the mixed bonspiel set for Feb. 10 to 12.