CANORA – There were plenty of jokes and smiles, but also lots of fierce competition at the Canora Senior Bonspiel which hit the ice from Jan. 5-8 at Canora’s Sylvia Fedoruk Centre.
When all 15 teams had each played five, six-end games, the clear winner was the Crystal Lake foursome made up of: Terry Dennis (skip), Laird Gervais (third), Lorrie Dennis (second) and Lynda Statchuk (lead).
The bonspiel was played under the Brandon Draw format, where teams were awarded four points per win, two points for a tie, two points for each end where they scored, and zero points for a blank end.
In addition to the Dennis rink, teams competing in the bonspiel included: Bill Foreman, Ernie Gazdewich, Ron Hoehn, Bob Kolodziejski, Don Probe and Peter Wiwchar of Canora; Larry Dahl, Lauri Lozinski and Bob Lumley of Norquay; Gerald Peesker and Scott Sears of Kamsack; Barb Coleridge of Good Spirit, Joe Yacyshyn of Preeceville and Ross Tressel of Yorkton.
As organizer Vern Schick noted, numerous teams struggled with inconsistency. It was not unusual for the same foursome to score 12 points in one game, and be held pointless in the next.
That’s where the consistency of the Dennis foursome stood out, earning at least 10 points in all five games. They came into the final draw at 52 points, tied with the Scott Sears foursome of Kamsack. But the Sears team played their final game earlier in the day, so Dennis and his teammates were definitely in the drivers seat.
They left no doubt who was the best team for the week, defeating Gerald Peesker of Kamsack in the final draw in a game that went right down to the final rock.
The game was tied 3-3 after three ends. In the fourth, Dennis made a clutch draw to the four-foot with his final rock to take a 5-3 lead, and the team never gave up the advantage the rest of the way.
Year after year the bonspiel promotes a fun atmosphere with a variety of awards, and this year was no different.
First place in the Calcutta went to the Peesker foursome.
The draw to the button winner was Judy Schick of Good Spirit.
The champion in the team draw for points competition was the Bill Foreman foursome of Canora.
Looking ahead, the Town and Country Open Bonspiel is coming up fast, scheduled for Jan. 22-24.
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