At a well-attended end-of-season potluck awards dinner on Saturday, April 11 following K-W Granite’s Monkey Bonspiel, our third annual Junior Curling award nominees and winners were announced to a full house at the Elmira and District Curling Club. Each of the winners was presented with a tabletop glass plaque, engraved with the Elmira and District Curling Club logo and their name.
Bonspiel results
April 11 saw five Elmira teams in action at both the K-W Granite Club and at the Orangeville Curling Club.
At K-W Granite, two Little Rock teams participated in the Little Rock division of the Monkey Bonspiel, representing the countries of The Netherlands and Japan. Team Netherlands finished in 3rd place overall, skipped by Larissa Musselman in her first event as a skip.
In the bantam division at the Monkey spiel, Team Paulley and Team Jorna (Linden Jorna, Kyle Henry, Cameron Olmsted and Michael Buettel) competed against 10 other rinks from K-W and surrounding area. Team Paulley (Andrew Paulley, Sam Domaratzki, Ryan Paulley and Tony Domzella) finished the day in 1st place overall.
Finally, Team Molenaar (Anika Molenaar, Emma McKenzie, Kate Martin, and Alison Poluck) competed at the season-ending Optimist bonspiel in Orangeville and posted two solid wins to earn 1st place honours in that event.
Congratulations to all of the participants!
2014-2015 Award nominees and recipients
Completing the evening on April 11 was the presentation of the end-of-season awards. All of the nominees were deserving of recognition for their hard work and sportsmanship, and consequently the coaching staff was challenged in the selection of this year’s winners. Congratulations to all!
The Ken Watson Sportsmanship Award, presented to the player in each age category that exhibits the highest levels of sportsmanship both on and off the ice.
- Little Rock nominees: Paige Harrow, Adrianna Molenaar, Leia Wrigglesworth, Avery Hartwick, Brody Runstedler, and Quinn Caplice. Winner: Adrianna Molenaar.
- Bantam nominees: Linden Jorna, Quentin Mayer, Nathan Wells, Thomas Kraemer, Erica Poluck, and Tony Domzella. Winner: Erica Poluck.
The Sandra Schmirler Rookie of the Year Award, presented to the Little Rock and Bantam/Junior player who exhibit the best mastery of the skills of curling in their first year in the program.
- Little Rock nominees: Larissa Musselman, Leia Wrigglesworth, Olivia Desroches, Paul Boccanfuso, Lena Eys. Winner: Leia Wrigglesworth.
- Bantam nominees: Jade McCallum and Nathan Lawson. Winner: Nathan Lawson.
The Vera Pezer Most Improved Player award, awarded to the player who in the view of the coaching staff improved their curling skills the most during the past season.
- Little Rock nominees: Adrianna Molenaar, Leia Wrigglesworth, Olivia Desroches, Cameron Johnson, and Larissa Musselman. Winner: Larissa Musselman.
- Bantam nominees: Alison Poluck, Sam Domaratzki, and Michael Buettel. Winner: Sam Domaratzki.
The Russ Howard Most Valuable Player Award, given to the player of each age group who, in the opinion of the coaching staff, is the most valuable to their team or to bonspiel teams that are formed during the season.
- Little Rock nominees: Larissa Musselman, William Henry, and Riley Domaratzki. Winner: William Henry.
- Bantam nominees: Emma McKenzie, Veronica Bernard, Anika Molenaar, and Andrew Paulley. Winners: Andrew Paulley and Veronica Bernard.
Congratulations to all of the selections! In addition to personalized plaques, each of the award winners has their name engraved on our Junior Curling Awards plaque that hangs in the downstairs hallway adjacent to the main bulletin boards at the curling club.