To mark their year-end , the Lac La Biche & District Curling Club held a mixed bonspiel on April 5-7 at the local curling rink in the Bold Center. Twenty-four teams from around the area including Lac La Biche, Plamondon, Cold Lake and Athabasca took part during the weekend bonspiel.
The local Dan Leach rink won the A event, with Leach as skip, Cody and Carol Leach as second and third and Abigail Gordon as lead. In second place was Rooney Ouelette's team from Cold Lake with Christa Perepeltiza, Baz Chirko and Brenda Brouwer. In third place was Steven Slupski's team from Athabasca and in fourth place was another Lac La Biche team with Blake Chwedoruk as the skip.
In event B, the first place team was a Plamondon's Devon Germain rink with Taylor Watson, Mike teeter and Nicole Rodstrom. The second place team were Lac La Biche's Kyle Beniuk team with Danene Beniuk as the team's third, Greg Zevola as the second and Stephanie Monteith was the team's lead. Third in the B was Dylan Maskalyk's team from Lac La Biche, and in fourth place it was Jim Baumgardner's team.
In the C, it was Lac La Biche's Maurice Richard rink with Nancy Richard, Matt White and Danika Richard. at the top. In second place was Ryan Kilar's team from Boyle with Madison Graham as third, Jordan Johnson as second and Kelly Senyk as the team's lead. In third place was Brett Skakun's team from Lac La Biche, and fourth was Derek Gauthier's team from Plamondon.
Brenda Robitaille is the local curling club's manager. She said the year-end bonspiel went well, and is already looking forward to next season for more ice time.
"We had 24 teams. Mostly locals with family and friends coming from out of town to curl with them. It was a really good spiel, everyone seemed to really enjoy the great event and our curling clubs hospitality," Robitaille said, "We are thinking the exposure through Rocks & Rings program that we brought to the schools as well as the on-ice exposure courses will bring out more junior curlers. As for adult curlers, I have been hearing from different people of the desire to start curling. We are planning on offering some learn to curl nights early in the season to help new curlers."
The local club has a great social environment and that's what it is all about, says Robitaille. She also took the opportunity to thank the Bold Center staff for all their services to the Lac La Biche & District Club.
"We have a good club with a lot of good people. It is a very social sport. The emphasis is on enjoying your night out rather than winning a game...I appreciate the Bold staff for doing their best to provide great service to our club," said Robitaille.