Team Duce Electric beat the Smoken Rocks 9-3 in six ends to capture the 57th annual Oilfield Technical Society (OTS) Bonspiel A event at the Power Dodge Curling Centre on Saturday, which closes out the 2015-16 curling season in Estevan.
Thirty-two teams competed at the March 17-19 OTS Bonspiel, down from the 40 rinks that participated last year, with each having a goal of supporting the Estevan Curling Club instead of just winning the tournament. Team Duce Electric skip Dusty Schneider said competitors such as the BGW rink of Brent Gedak, Jesse Rosengren, Justin Fieber and Evan Wild donate a lot of time and effort to keep the club going for the community and supporting the OTS Bonspiel is one way of doing that.
“Even though times are tough, and that’s why the draw is down a bit on teams, guys are still trying the best we can to keep the club going,” said Schneider, a former Estevan resident who travelled from Grand Prairie, Alberta, to take part in the bonspiel.
The Smoken Rocks stole a point in the first end of the A final, before Team Duce Electric, which includes Schneider, Devon Fornwald, Donald Willock and Daryl Duce, took two with the hammer in the second end. The pivotal point of the match came in the third end when Smoken Rocks’ skip Jeremy Mackenzie sent both his shots through the house without taking any Duce Electric rocks with them allowing his opponent to steal three.
“It gave us a stronger lead, so we could go on defence and just play the scoreboard,” said Schneider. “The pressure was put back on him because we had the lead, so we could go more on defence (and) more on hitting. We could give up points and still feel confident.”
The BGW rink won the B event, while Team Electrogas’s Brent Leptich, Chris Kennedy, Bryan Pratte and Damyen Seeman took the C event and the AECOM Estevan rink of Doug Seymore, Lawrence Hansen, Stephen Krieger and Lloyd East won the D final.
Pauline Ziehl Grimsrud, manager of the Estevan Curling Club, said the OTS Bonspiel puts the wraps on a very successful season that included a strong youth program, good turnout at their Curling Day in Saskatchewan events and great support for the Affinity Credit Union/CurlSask Learn to Curl Adult Clinic among other highlights. She said the club will be bringing back the popular World Curling Tour stop in Estevan next season as well as their regular McComb’s Youth, Roy’s Transmission Open and Corporate Bonspiels.
“We look forward to seeing everybody in the fall,” said Ziehl Grimsrud. “We’re going to look at doing some upgrades to our facility and we’re going to roll out a new (mixed doubles) league next year.”
