The annual Elmira Junior bonspiel was held on February 11, 2012 and hosted 64 Little Rock and Bantam curlers from the Brampton, Brantford, Markdale, Westmount, K-W Granite, Maitland, and Elmira curling clubs. This year’s bonspiel featured new permanent trophies for the winners of both events, and are named in honour of two Elmira life members: Mr. Norm Clement, and Mr. Ted Starling.
Little Rock event
Elmira’s Tony Domzella skipped a rink consisting of third Olivia Ronson, second Michael Buettel, and lead Caroline Bulgarelli (on load from Brampton) to victory in the Little Rock event.
In Pool A, the two Elmira rinks skipped by Kyle Henry and Nathan Wells drew an opening-round match, which Kyle won 6-3 to proceed to the A Pool final against the Kevin Simone foursome from K-W Granite, who defeated Mikayla Ottogalli of Brampton 10-0 in their first game. In the A Pool final, Kyle Henry’s rink of Linden Jorna, Connor Stone and Fiona Bernard prevailed over Simone’s foursome of Simone, Meaghan Mallett, Derrick Milroy, and Aidan Drekic from Granite 7-3. The A Pool consolation featured Wells and his rink from Elmira against the Ottogalli foursome from Brampton, and Nathan and his rink of Nolan Coe, Jakob Ruprecht and Sam Domzella prevailed over the Brampton rink in a close one, 5-4, with Nathan scoring 3 with hammer in the sixth end for the win.
In the opening matches of Pool B, Tony Domzella’s foursome defeated Nick Prychitko’s rink from Brampton 6-2, while Ryan Watkinson of K-W Granite defeated Szczur of Brantford – who were unfortunately only able to field 3 players – 6-3, a fine effort by the Szczur threesome under the circumstances. Hence Domzella from Elmira squared off against Watkinson from K-W Granite in the B Pool final, with Domzella’s foursome prevailing 5-3. That final game exhibited some excellent shot making from both teams; perhaps the most memorable was a hit for two through a port by Tony Domzella on his last stone in the first end.
With the Henry foursome winning both their games in the A Pool, and the Domzella rink prevailing in the two games in Pool B, the bonspiel winner, decided by points as usual, was determined to be Tony’s rink who edged the Kyle foursome by 6 1/2 points to win the Norm Clement trophy. At the trophy presentation, we were thrilled to welcome Mr. Clement who made the presentation personally. Mr. Clement, a life member of the Elmira and District Curling Club, has been an Elmira member for more than half a century and was instrumental in the construction of the club building in 1966.
Bantam event
In the Bantam event, Sam Mooibroek skipped his Westmount Golf and Country Club rink, consisting of Eric Wardell, Adam Aubin, and Dylan Reany to victory in Pool B.
The first games in Pool A featured Jennie Hooker vs. Jenny Colton, both from Markdale, playing to an 8-end draw, tied 5-5. Hooker prevailed in the subsequent draw-to-the-button to determine her opponent in game 2. In the other Pool A match, Colin White of K-W Granite dumped Ryan Hill of Maitland (Goderich) 11-6. In Pool B, on sheet 3 the Mooibroek foursome dominated the Schmidt side from Brantford 12-1 in six ends. On sheet 4, Fraser from Markdale lost to Johnston of Markdale in a close one, 7-5.
The A Pool final featured the Hooker foursome from Markdale against Colin White from K-W Granite, and Colin and his rink had a fairly easy time, 7-2 in six ends. The A pool consolation was similarly lopsided, with Jenny Colton from Markdale defeating Hill from Maitland 8-3. In Pool B, the Schmidt side from Brantford adjusted their lineup and played a much better game, defeating Fraser from Markdale in a close one 6-5. In the B Pool final, Sam Mooibroek and his foursome defeated a no-give-up Johnston side from Markdale 11-6. On points, the Mooibroek rink from Westmount edged out the Colin White foursome from K-W Granite by a slim margin of 4 points, earning their names on the Ted Starling trophy.
We were delighted that Mr. Starling could join us at the club for the trophy presentation. Mr. Starling, another of the few life members at the Elmira and District Curling Club, is celebrating his fortieth year as a member, having joined the club in 1972.
Congratulations to all the curlers for a great day of play. My thanks to Reg Domaratzki for leading the kitchen volunteers, Dianne Crossley for organizing the food, Jennifer and Veronica Bernard and Allison Olmsted for helping with the party games for the kids over the lunch-time break, my colleague Dove Champagne for the loan of the Angry Birds slingshot, and Paul Miller for managing the ice during the day. As well, my thanks to Shawn Keba of Brampton for his efforts in filling the Little Rock draw to 8 teams.