Lucas Punkari
Another season of league play came to an end last Thursday evening at the Fort Frances Curling Club as the finals in the club championship for both men’s and ladies’ divisions took place.
In the men’s ‘A’ final, Don DeBenedet’s rink, consisting of third Brian Beers, second Ian McLennan, and lead Rod Newman, held off a late charge from Lorne Jackson to earn a 7-5 victory.
“We jumped out to a bit of a lead early on, but they caught back up and that final end was pretty scary,” DeBenedet laughed.
“I had the hammer coming home with a 6-5 lead,” he recalled. “And on Lorne’s last shot, he had somewhat of a corner guard to draw around that would have forced me to draw to the four-foot on my last shot in order to win.
“But his shot ended up just barely sliding through the house, so I didn’t have to throw my last stone.”
The ‘A’-side championship was the icing on the cake for the DeBenedet foursome as they performed well during their Monday and Wednesday night league games.
“We ended up in second on Monday night and a third-place finish on Wednesday, so all in all it was a pretty good and fun year,” he remarked.
The other men’s finals last Thursday saw Danny McFayden capture the ‘B’ title over Rick Collett by a score of 9-6 while Rich Peri took the ‘C’ crown with a convincing 9-2 triumph over Mike Cawston.
Prior to Thursday’s finals, Craig Armstrong took home the grand aggregate title after his rink defeated Greg Gustafson.
Meanwhile, the women’s ‘A’ crown went to Kathie Jackson and her Monday night team of third Christine Jean, second Jacquee Loerzel, and co-leads Jeannie Sheppard and Joanne Spence after they edged Kim Beaudry 5-3.
“It was very exciting for our team,” Jackson enthused.
“I had played her on Tuesday night in the semi-finals with my regular Thursday night team [which included third Teresa McFayden, second Lisa Penner, and lead Kristine Sinclair] and we had lost to that team, so we were looking for a little bit of revenge,” she joked.
“The game was a really exciting one and was well-played by both teams, and it was a nice way to round [out] the whole year,” Jackson added.
Prior to the ‘A’ final, both of Jackson’s rinks squared off for the grand aggregate title, which ended up going to the Monday night squad, which was skipped by Jean.
“That was pretty interesting, actually, and the game really could of gone either way,” Jackson recalled.
“I have to give a lot the credit for our success this year to the players on the teams as I wasn’t able to play until January due to a bad knee, and they were able to win all of the games before I came back,” she stressed.
In the other women’s finals Thursday, Bonnie Mueller defeated Nettie Kauffman 8-5 to win the ‘B’ title while the ‘C’ crown went to Tammy Lamb following a 6-4 triumph over Karleigh Wright and the Muskie girl’s team.
The Fort Frances Curling Club officially will conclude the 2011-12 season with its annual wind-up banquet next Friday (April 20) starting at 6 p.m.
For more information, contact Rick Grenda at 274-6667.
