Ahoy mateys! This past weekend was the Providence Bay Curling Club’s Ladies Bonspiel where the theme was Pirates in Prov! The 25th Annual Glenda Campbell Memorial Ladies Bonspiel had 16 teams of ladies from all over the Island come together and batten down the hatches for a three day bonspiel.
As usual for a ladies’ bonspiel, there were skits, costumes and lots of laughs. Deanna Smith DJ Services provided music all weekend for the event. And the curling was good too! Sixteen teams was perfect for the two sheet ice surface and the ice conditions were excellent.
Laurie McDougall and Nancy Head (daughters of Glenda Campbell), and Amanda McDougall (grandaughter) presented Glenda’s plaque to the winners of the 1st event – Heather Niven (Skip), Maureen Pearce (Vice), Dawn Wall (Second) and Wendy Niven (Lead). Runners-up in the 1st event were Marilyn Proulx, Laurie Beaudin, Nancy Cranston, Annette King.
1st place in the 2nd event: Bev McDermid, Angela Johnston, Pam Woods and Terri French. This team is made up of mother (Bev) and three daughters who curled together for the first time in 19 years, so this was a special win for them, congratulations! Runners-up in the 2nd event: Ellen Holroyd, Jary White, Colleen Edwards and Judy MacKenzie.
1st place in the 3rd event – Sandie Merrylees, Mary Lynn McQuarrie, Betsy Clark, and Gaynor Orford. Runners-up in the 3rd event: Victoria Cranston, Gillian Giroux, Nikki Williamson, Carmen Sheppard.
In Baxter Cup news, the first leg that took place in Espanola saw the home club take a commanding 44-20 lead. The Little Current lads are in tough and will have to pull off some major home ice magic to claw back and retain the coveted Baxter Cup for a second year in a row.
Olympic Curling is well underway, Canada already winning the first ever Mixed Doubles Gold Medal. In Men’s and Women’s curling, we’re seeing something that Canadian Curling fans aren’t typically used to, adversity!
The women’s team skipped by Rachel Homan started with three straight losses and a controversial removed rock that was burned by an opponent. They have since pulled themselves back into playoff contention with three straight wins.
The men’s team skipped by Kevin Koe started with four straight wins have now lost three straight and are sitting in the middle of pack. Both men’s and women’s teams have faced tough competition at the Olympics, curling is an unforgiving sport even to the best teams in the world. We’ll continue to cheer on our curling teams who are fighting hard to bring home some Olympic hardware!
Sliding back to the controversial removed rock that has caused debate in the curling world. Rachel Homan faced immediate criticism from commentators for removing a rock that was burned by an opponent just before it came to rest in the house. It was described as a ‘rash decision’ one that ‘didn’t look good on her.’  Excuse me, this is not club curling, this is the Olympics. At this level a burned rock should be automatically removed by an official and Homan should not have been criticized for acting within the rules of the game.
However, this discussion leads to my (controversial) Tip of the Week. At the club curling level, if a rock is burned and doesn’t cause a major disruption to the other rocks in play, it should be left in play. We’re not professionals and we’re not playing for an Olympic Gold Medal. That being said, use your best judgement and standby your decision, after all it is your decision as the opposing skip.
