Lucas Punkari
It may have been a quarter-of-a-century since a local rink represented Northern Ontario at the Canadian senior curling championships, but watching the field at this year’s provincial playdowns in Fort Frances brought back a flood of memories for Walter Avis.
“To win a championship, and to be able to represent Northern Ontario, really meant a lot,” explained an emotional Avis, who played third on the foursome skipped by the late Jake Kehler.
“Not everybody has a chance to wear that crest,” Avis noted.
“And you see the guys here now playing to get that opportunity, and that’s the big thing.”
Avis, along with second Cal Robertson and lead Bruce Holmlund, were honoured at a luncheon Friday at the Fort Frances Curling Club as a framed box with their sweaters and crests from the 1986 national playdowns was unveiled.
The three surviving members reminisced about their run to the nationals, which had been a nearly six-year process.
“We were oh so close to actually going to the nationals in St. John’s in 1984,” recalled Holmlund.
“So to actually be able to make it there a couple of years later was a great feeling,” he enthused.
“The [provincial] event was in Thunder Bay, at the Fort William [Curling Club] that year, and we took down two big teams in John ‘Chucker’ Ross [Sudbury] and [1975 Brier champion] Bill Tetley [Thunder Bay] in order to win it,” Holmlund added.
After capturing the provincial crown, and having a social held in their honour back at their home club, the rink then made the trek to Portage La Prairie, Man. to take part in the nationals.
“We were playing with the big boys now,” Robertson laughed.
“We were in a lot of close games and ended up finishing with a 3-8 record,” he noted.
“But it was a real honour to be there since it was so hard to make it to that event.”
The team also reminisced about Kehler, who passed away in 2000, and his one-of-a-kind personality.
“He was the only guy here to use a brush, as opposed to a broom like everyone else, when he started curling,” Holmlund said.
“He got a really hard time from everybody because of that, but he kept on going and now everyone is using a brush.
“And he was the one who instigated that here,” Holmlund remarked.
