Kickers Finish Season on a High Note

  Despite tangling with a couple of tree roots on the 12th hole, Cedar Glen golfer Kurtis Barkley easily led Monday’s men’s Open field with a two-under-par 66. To defend his 2014 championship title, Barkley […]

It may be near the end of the season, but the Morrisburg Curling Club’s senior citizens are still curling up a storm.

Last week, eight men journeyed to Gananoque for a bonspiel. Dave King, Jack Barkley, Doug Jarvis and Bill Magee dropped their first game against a foursome from Kingston, but had better luck after lunch, defeating a Brockville team. Sid Morrell, Raymond Benoit, Neil Williams and Al Harriman, in the late draw, played two Gananoque teams, defeating both of them. Their score was just three points behind the overall champions in the 16-team bonspiel, so they had to settle for second place. No problem, though, for every one of the sixty-four curlers took home a pork roast as a prize. 

It was the first time in the rink for many of the fellows, and the club impressed them. It was older, but very well maintained, and besides, they had a private meeting room.

Friday, the same two teams represented us in Cornwall for the four club, two-team McLennan Bonspiel. Dave’s team defeated Lancaster and Prescott, leaving Sid’s men to try to match them. They did it in style, knocking off the top Cornwall team in the morning and defeating Lancaster handily in the afternoon. 

Unfortunately, the scoring method Cornwall uses, total points for both teams from each club, left our boys short by two points against –you guessed it, the Cornwall hosts. Even though we had bested their top team in the morning, they had run up a high score in the afternoon match, and that was enough to keep the trophy in Cornwall. Well done anyway, Morrisburg.

Saturday and Sunday, the Morrisburg club hosted the Bantam Mixed Regional Playdowns, although we had no local teams involved in the bantam or junior regional play. Foursomes from R.C.M.P, Perth (2), Huntley (2), Cornwall, Quinte and Carleton Heights competed. The winners, Calwell of Quinte and Leslie of R.C.M.P., will be in the Provincial Championships March 28-31. 

Ian McGillis, from the OCA, officiated, and our ice technician, Wally Baker, and President Mahlon Locke and his volunteers made sure things were ready and ran smoothly. 

   There’s a notice in the lounge at the club for the last two-person ‘spiel of the year this weekend. Sign up for the competition if you’re interested.

A closing bonspiel is scheduled for March 31st. Included in the event will be lunch, an evening banquet, the annual meeting, and the club championship final. See the sign-up sheets in the lounge for the bonspiel and for the banquet. A lunch will be provided for those in the bonspiel. We’ll have more details and information next time. 

Don’t forget to follow our men in the City of Ottawa Bonspiel. We also have some men and women in what will likely be the last bonspiels of the season for them. We hope to have those results for you next time. With the Scotties, Canadian Women’s Championship, in Kingston next year, our executive is looking to see whether there is interest in renting a bus to get people there. Look for the survey sheet in the lounge to help your board of directors gauge interest.

That’s it for this week.

Good curling to all!

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This past weekend our ladies’ team of Kathy Killick, Linda Murphy, Penny Charlebois and Liz Locke Doherty competed against seven other foursomes in Ontario playdowns here, for curlers with five or fewer years of curling experience. 

Morrisburg defeated one  of the three R.A. teams in their first match, and followed that up with a victory over Richmond. That put them into the “A” final against a Granite foursome. 

In the “B” final, two R.A. quartets duelled for one trophy, in 10-end matches. Cartwright’s team defeated their clubmates, led by Clarke, for the “B” trophy, while Granite’s Stinson won out over the Morrisburg ladies for the “A” championship. The L.C.A.’s Virginia Cunningham presented pins to all four teams, and the trophies to the victors. Our lounge was crammed with spectators, and as usual, a large number of volunteers worked to make the event run smoothly. Congratulations to our team, and we hope all who qualify will consider entering again next year. We’re proud of you.

At Metcalfe last Saturday two of our ladies’ teams competed in their four-club competition, the Broder. Greta McGann, Kathy Hardy, Betty Locke and Janie Connolly defeated Metcalfe in their morning match, but lost to Russell in the afternoon. In the “A” final, a Russell team emerged victorious.

Susan McIntosh, Kathy Norg, Joanne Baker and Leanne McCooeye dropped their first game against Metcalfe, and after lunch went onto the ice again, emerging victorious over one of the Winchester teams. That put them into the “B” final in the evening after the banquet and the annual meeting. While they curled well, they lost to the other Metcalfe representatives. Well done, ladies!

A team of day ladies were in Ottawa’s Granite club for a bonspiel last week. Greta McGann, Janie Connolly, Penny Charlebois and Joan MacKinnon played Carleton Heights in the morning, and Perth in the afternoon. Our ladies came out on the short end of both tight matches, but nevertheless enjoyed their outing.

Our senior men hosted Prescott last week in a friendly bonspiel. Jack Barkley, Bill Magee, Paul Gunther and Kent Dawley, Peter Zeran, Ron Beaupre, Eric Johnson and Glenn Cougler, as well as John Allison, Rick MacKenzie, Peter Byvelds and Albert DeJong hosted our visitors. Our men won their matches  and this week three more teams head off to Brockville for another friendly bonspiel. Isn’t retirement wonderful?

Our hard-working board of directors meet on a regular basis to plan and oversee the business operations of our club. They work hard on our behalf, and we are grateful for their efforts. They’ve made some changes so far this year. In case you haven’t attended or seen minutes of their meetings, we’ll have highlights from time to time. As per the club’s constitution, the plan is to have members serve two year terms, with two new members elected at the Spring General meeting for continuity. They plan fall meetings as well. 

In closing, we were saddened to learn of the passing of Ian McGillis. He died too young, of cancer. Ian was a former president of our club, assisted behind the scenes on our behalf, and continued to work for the Ontario Curling Association until his death. Our sympathies go out to Nancy and to Ian’s family.

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