Good turnout for senior men’s bonspiel

The annual Sun Life 60+ senior men’s bonspiel wrapped up here last Wednesday afternoon with Thunder Bay rinks dominating the 32-team field.
But then again, it was all just for fun.
“[I like] everything about curling,” enthused Jerry Whittaker of the Earl Connors quartet from Thunder Bay, which won the ‘A’ event with a narrow 9-8 victory over McKinnon of Fort Frances.
Whittaker said he was in the bonspiel for the fun but admitted there was still some competitiveness between the rinks.
“They still have the competitive spirit–all of them,” he noted. “If you scratch them deep enough, you will find the competitive side of them.”
McKinnon opened the bonspiel Monday afternoon with a convincing 11-2 win over Gini (Thunder Bay). Then on Tuesday, he beat Wickstrom (Fort Frances) 7-4 and Sweaney (Dryden) 11-6.
His rink advanced to the ‘A’ final after doubling Thorpe (Fort Frances) 4-2 in the semi-finals Wednesday morning.
Connors also was perfect through the first seven draws although all his wins were by just one point, including a 5-4 victory over Payne to start play in the first draw Monday.
He followed that Tuesday with an 8-7 win over Marshalok (Kenora) and then 7-6 against Chochla (Thunder Bay).
But his rink dominated in the semi-finals Wednesday morning, advancing to the final with a 7-3 win over Olson (Dryden).
After his narrow opening loss to Connors, Payne’s rink was perfect the rest of the way en route to the ‘B’ event crown, which they captured with a 10-8 victory over Nabb (Keewatin) in the final Wednesday afternoon.
Payne reached the final with an 11-9 win over Nagy (Thunder Bay) later Monday, then dumped Francey (Thunder Bay) 10-2 on Tuesday before beating Young (Keewatin) 6-2 in the semi-finals on Wednesday morning.
Brown (Thunder Bay) took the ‘C’ event with a 9-5 win over Martyn (Thunder Bay) while the all-McThunder Bay ‘D’ final saw McLean beat McLeod 7-3.
“I was not expecting to win,” said Marty Tribe, who curls out of the Ezyduzit club in Thunder Bay. “I am just here to have fun and to see old friends. I used to live here years ago.”
Draw chairman Rob Sinclair opened up the bonspiel last week by welcoming all the curlers and wishing them good luck.
“It is a great pleasure to welcome you from Thunder Bay, Dryden, Kenora, and Keewatin,” he enthused before heading onto the ice for the first rock ceremony which also included Conrad Lemieux, Steve Melnychuk, and Lou Farago.
“I hope you all have a good two/three days here and good curling,” he added.