Mixed bonspiel a ‘bon’-ified “spiel’-ing good time

Times Contributor 

 

The Strathmore Curling club was a ‘rocking’ place to be last week as many teams played out the Mixed Bonspiel at the Strathmore Curling Club from Jan. 23 until the final games Sunday, Jan. 27. The event started with 22 teams and was slowly whittled down to the final six who duked it out on Sunday afternoon. Spectators were treated to an exciting afternoon of curling as the three final events took place at the same time in a dazzling show of skill and sportsmanship.

In the C Event the Hanna Rink beat out the Egan Rink after six ends with a final score of 5-2. Both teams played a great game, but it just wasn’t in the rocks for the Egan Rink. In the B Event, the Bleier Rink narrowly beat out the Outsliders Rink for the win with a score of 8-5. And finally in the A Event the Ashlee Rink gracefully forfeited the game to the Koch Rink. They played a tough game resulting in a 5-0 score.

“It takes a good skip and a well strategized game to win in this sport. You can’t just play a reactionary game, you need a winning strategy and a solid team,” Matt Musselman explained while watching the final games on Sunday. 

The rocks will slide again as curlers gear up for the next set of Bonspiel games. The Ladies Bonspiel is the next big event happening Feb. 7-10, followed by the Junior and Men’s Bonspiels in late February and early March respectively. Sheldon Schiffner, the Mixed Bonspiel organizer, had this to say about the games: “The Strathmore Mixed Curling Club is extremely pleased with the 2013 Mixed Bonspiel. We had a total of 22 rinks participating this year beginning on Wednesday, Jan. 23 and winding up on Sunday, Jan. 27. On Saturday night we had a fantastic meal catered by In-Kahoots followed by a dance where a good time was had by all. We really appreciate the very generous support from our many sponsors which really helped to make the bonspiel a smashing success. We are looking forward to an even bigger and better bonspiel in 2014.”