The 90th annual Men's Open Bonspiel held in North Battleford March 21 to 24 attracted 28 rinks with the top prize going to a local rink skipped by Barry Massett.Twin Rivers Curling Club spokesman Doug Fehr said it's the highest attendance the bonspiel has had in about 10 years. That's partly due to the fact that it's the first men's open to be held in the new Northlands Power Curling Centre. But it's also due to North Battleford being known to put on a good bonspiel, says Fehr.In fact, he said, there would have been 30 rinks had it not been for the winter storm on the first day of the bonspiel. Two rinks had to drop out due to the road conditions, and there was only one draw Thursday evening.While this year's bonspiel is under the banner of the Twin Rivers Curling Club, its history goes back 90 years and has been hosted under several names as the curling community of the Battlefords has evolved. The last time it was actually held in North Battleford was before the Granite Curling Club building closed in 2006, with the subsequent demolition of the building. The North Battleford club took up facilities with the Battleford club until a new curling centre could be built, and in 2011, the Battleford and Granite clubs merge to form Twin Rivers Curling Club in anticipation of the opening of the Northland Power Curling Centre at the CUPlex.Many of the rinks in this year's open represented past members or former residents, some of whom have returned for this bonspiel for many years, says Fehr. At times there are some interesting reunions on the ice, such as the C final between the Travis Gansauge rink of Moose Jaw and the Andrew Kowalski rink of Regina.It was a pleasure, says Fehr, to have had former resident Ray Nichol of Comox, B.C. curling with Wayne Cubbon, Doug Horn and Russ Brown. Nichol moved away about 20 years ago, says Fehr, and said he would come back for the first bonspiel in the new facility. He also spoke at the bonspiel banquet.Play finished up Sunday with the local rink of skip Barry Massett, third Lorne Voinorosky, second Roger Cameron and lead Evan Reid taking first place in the A event.Second in the A event went to the Cole Tenetiuk rink of Moose Jaw, with Tenetiuk skipping, Shane Tenetiuk playing third, Chadd McKenzie, second, and Mark Richardson, lead.Third and fourth in the A event were the Wayne Pauls and Daryl Eddingfield local rinks, respectively.Myron Schell of Wilkie, along with third Herb Schell, second Ervin Sieben and lead Kevin Glessing took first place in the B event.Second place in the B event went to the local rink of Gary Southgate along with Randy Redding, Leonard Oborowsky and Roy Redding.Third and fourth in the B event went to local rinks skipped by Doug Fehr and Rodney Wuttunee, respectively.The C final was won by Travis Gansauge of Moose Jaw skipping with Drew Wilby, Shaun Hart and Derek Dejaegher.Regina's Andrew Kowalski, Jason Barnhart, Shawn McDonald and Kurt Roberts took second in the C event.The local rinks of Aaron Shutra and Doug Flasch were third and fourth in the C event.
The last rinks on the ice Sunday were the Lloyd Fell rink of Wilkie and the Jim Powell rink of Unity.Fell, along with third Todd Miller, second Mike McKenzie and lead Jeff Hyland took first.Powell along with Trevor Gerein, Rob Bakken and Todd Nichol took second.Local rinks of Alex Scott and Wayne Cubbon took third and fourth.Fehr sent out congratulations to Cubbon, the facility's ice technician, for the great ice they had to play on.Photo Filename: 032813menmassett.JPG
