Monasterski captures first ladies’ bonspiel crown

Nettie Monasterski prefers the balanced attack.
The 46-year-old skip scored often and consistently to blank Lois Tabak 9-0 in just the six ends here Sunday afternoon to capture her first ‘A’ crown at the annual ladies’ bonspiel.
“Actually, there were no big scores in the game,” said Monasterski, whose rink included third Sylvia Smeeth, second Lynn Hazen, and lead Rachel Hill.
They stole two in the first and second ends, added singles in the third and fourth, stole another deuce in the fifth, and then one more in the sixth to finish the weekend at 5-0—tops among the 33 teams competing in the 49th-annual event.
“We were pretty happy with how things went,” she added.
Monasterski defeated Kim Roy, Evelyn Goodman (Gimli, Man.), Leslie Armit, and Barb McEwen to reach the ‘A’ final.
“We had some pretty tight games on the way up. We played a lot of good teams,” she noted.
Tabak, curling with third Maureen Thomson, second Jan Gluehuisen, and lead Carol-Leah Laing, was a former ladies’ champ, having won the title in 2000.
Defending champion Kathie Jackson opted not to compete this year.
In the ‘B’ final Sunday, Roz Broman’s rink of Elaine Sande (third), Barb Asplund (second), and Sally Stewart (lead) nipped Teresa McFayden’s foursome 6-4.
Meanwhile, Roy bounced back from two opening losses to edge Sandra Robertson 6-4 in the ‘C’ final.
After dropping her first two draws to Monasterski and Diane Pattison, Roy won her next four over Midge McTaggart, Joanne Hyatt, Debbie Armstrong (Rainy River), and Jackie Windigo before facing off against Robertson.
The Bonnie Mueller rink, which had played Jackson in the ‘A’ final last year, this time around could only reach the ‘C’ semi-finals, where they were felled 9-0 by Robertson.
And in the ‘D’ final, Renee McDonald’s foursome—featuring third Elsie Ward, second Pat Cresswell, and lead Gladys Kerr—edged Tracy Coran and her rink of Mary-Beth Tkachuk, Kerri Tolen, and Doris Barton 5-4.
McDonald had blanked Bonnie Broman 6-0 in the semi-finals while Coran downed Armit 7-1.
Ontario Scott Tournament of Hearts skip Jodi Judd, originally from Couchiching and currently curling out of Thunder Bay, competed here over the weekend but was eliminated in the ‘C’ flight.
Although play began Thursday evening, opening ceremonies were held Friday night. After being piped onto the ice by the Rainy Lake Highlanders, former club presidents Lollie Brunetta, Shirley Avis, and Karen Jackson threw the ceremonial first rock.
“We thought it would be a nice idea because they don’t curl anymore and still come by to watch most of our games,” said Wendy Brunetta, who emceed the opening ceremonies.