The Greg Van Rossum rink from Merritt went undefeated on the weekend to win the “A” final of the Black’s Pharmacy men’s curling bonspiel, held at the Merritt Curling Centre.
The local quartet, comprised of skip Van Rossum, third Ken Conway-Brown, second Dave Horn and lead Dean Jaeger defeated the Gerry Sanders foursome (also from Merritt) 10-1 in the championship game played Sunday afternoon.
“It was just one of those games,” said Van Rossum, a former teammate of Sanders, in describing the lopsided score. “We all have those days.”
Both the Van Rossum and Sanders rinks earned their way into the “A” final the hard way, with dramatic come-from-behind victories in their respective semifinal matches.
Curling against the Grant Angman rink from Merritt in its semi, the Van Rossun team needed a big four-ender in the seventh and a steal of one in the eighth to battle back and narrowly win 9-8.
“We were down 8-4 after six,” said Van Rossum. “Fortunately, we had a couple of our shots go right and a couple of theirs go wrong and we managed to take it.”
One sheet over, the afternoon’s other semifinal went to an extra end before a winner could be decided.
With the opposition lying two, Sanders drew perfectly to the button with his final stone in order to defeat defending champion John Miller and his foursome from Delta 8-7 in an extra end.
“It was a great shot,” said Sanders’ teammate Chris Walder. “[The Miller rink] was a tough team. We played about as good as we could play to pull off the win.”
This year’s “B” final also featured a pair of Merritt rinks as the Bob Taylor foursome defeated the Brent Lindquist quartet 6-2 on Sunday.
Both local teams had their work cut out for them in the semis in order to make Sunday’s afternoon final.
The Taylor rink edged the Rob Kin-levin foursome from Kelowna 6-5 in an extra end while Lindquist’s squad nipped the Johnson rink 7-6 over eight ends.
Two of the many on hand for the 100th anniversary celebrations at the Merritt Curling Centre on the weekend were 11-year-old Megan Dunsmore from the MCC’s Monday night junior program and seniors curler Rick Olsen (appropriately attired). Ian Webster/Herald
Winning the “B” final was an improbable accomplishment for the Taylor rink given that it was hastily assembled just 24 hours before “game time” to replace a team from the Kootenays that had to bow out of the bonspeil at the last second.
The Taylor-made team included first-year competitive curler Bill Stowell, Jim Murdoch and Dave Weber.
“The guys were gracious enough to come out and curl at the last minute,” said Taylor of his teammates. “Every-thing worked out pretty nice.”
Taylor had a special word or two for Stowell.
“Bill must have been quite an athlete when he was younger,” he said, “because he sure curled well on the weekend. Considering it’s his first year in the sport, I was very impressed.”
Both men’s bonspiel champion Van Rossum and club executive member Paul Montgomery drew attention to the fact that it was all Merritt teams in both the “A” and “B” finals this year.
“In the 20 or more years that I’ve been curling in Merritt, I don’t think that’s happened before,” said Montgomery.
“Very nice to see,” said Van Rossum. “It shows the quality of curling that’s being played here in town.”
The strong showing by local rinks was all the more appropriate given that the Merritt Curling Centre is celebrating 100 years of men’s competitive curling this year.
On Saturday, curling action took a short break for a special ceremony honouring the century of curling activity in the valley. Dignitaries on hand included Merritt Mayor Susan Roline and a pair of Scottish pipers — local doctors Don McLeod and Duncan Ross.
