LITTLE CURRENT—The men and women competing for the Northern Ontario Curling Association (NOCA) berth at the Montana Briar Men’s Canadian Curling Championship and a spot at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts for the Canadian Women’s Curling Championship. brought an outstanding weekend of curling during the championship playdowns hosted by the Little Current Curling Club.
“It’s been a great weekend, hasn’t it?” said Little Current Host Committee Chair Joe Cooper, who pronounced the tournament a great success. The club will not be seeing a huge boost in revenue from the event despite the robust ticket sales. “But that wasn’t the point,” said Mr. Cooper, who said the event was a great boost to curling on Manitoulin and offered an opportunity for the hundreds of active curlers in Manitoulin’s five clubs and Espanola to participate in volunteering at the event and make connections, while providing an awesome weekend of curling for the fans.
In the end, it was the Bonot Rink out of Fort William Curling Club that captured the NOCA Briar seat, taking down the Horgan Rink in a true nail-biter of a final end. It took the measuring rods and the umpire’s decision to determine whether the final game would go into an extra end. The final score was 7-5 following a 6-5 ninth end.
Favourites, the McCarville Rink, also out of the Fort William Curling Club, took the women’s berth at the Scotties Championship with a blanked score in the 10th after the Burns Rink conceded. Score in the ninth end was 6-4 with a single scored by Burns to give Krista McCaraville the hammer going into the 10th end.
The Bonot Rink consisted of skip Trevor Bonot, vice Mike McCarville, second Jordan Potts and lead Kurtis Byrd with coach Al Hackner completing the list.
“It was great,” said Mr. Bonot. “Of course, we are a bit biased seeing as how we won. An incredible week, organizers were great as was the ice crew, officials were fantastic.”
Asked about his most nerve-wracking moment, the skip admitted there were plenty of moments. “But that last measure was pretty much it. I am very proud of the boys.”
Mr. Bonot and his rink companions are now off to the Montana Briar, and then the mixed doubles nationals as well. “I am not going to be working much,” laughed Mr. Bonot.
The McCarville Rink consisted of skip Krista McCarville, vice Andrea Kelly, second Ashley Sippila, third Kendra Lilly and lead Kendre Lilly—alternate was Sarah Potts and the team coach was Rick Lang.
Throughout the weekend, the parking lot at the NEMI Recreation Centre was packed as fans flocked to see the action. The first day on Friday saw students from Little Current Public School attend with banners they had created urging the hometown favourites, the Chandler Rink, on to glory.
Upstairs, the Little Current Legion carried out a great canteen that brought stellar reviews on the food offerings and Saturday the Little Current Curling Club hosted a gathering celebrating the Chandler Rink with family, friends and community members gathering for an evening of music and camaraderie.
Volunteers from across the Island and Espanola gathered to help make the tournament a great success and a bittersweet moment was observed recognizing long-time volunteer Lew Lanktree, whose recent passing prevented him from taking up his spot on the timekeeping tables.
