A scaled down Flin Flon Men’s Bonspiel hit the ice over the weekend with no shortage of rock-clanking, broom-swishing suspense.
Eight rinks entered the 83rd installment of the annual bonspiel, with victory for teams led by Jason Levers, Trevor Watt, Ken Tetreault and Dale Connolly.
“There were many heads looking down and it was nice to see,” said bonspiel co-organizer and participant Keenan Kennedy, referring to spectators gathered in the lounge overlooking the Uptown Curling Club ice. “You still get people coming out to watch the curling.”
But Kennedy was disappointed by the turnout on the ice.
“I don’t think I ever remember any men’s bonspiel having only eight rinks,” he said.
The turnout barely enabled the usual four events, with all eight rinks competing in Sunday afternoon’s finals.
Winning the A Event was the Jason Levers rink of Lyle Kennedy, Darren Lyhkun and Murray Kirkup. They defeated the Brad Hyrich rink.
The B Event went to the Trevor Watt rink of Tim Smith, Derek Reid and Doug Salahub. They downed the Derald Groff rink.
In the C Event, the Ken Tetreault rink of Bill Morrell, Rob Lengyel and Terry Arnold came out on top. They bested the Keenan Kennedy rink.
Capturing the D Event was the Dale Connolly rink of Harley Eagle, Mike Blok and Jon Vancoughnett. They handed a loss to the Scott Nawrocki rink.
Like the recent Flin Flon Ladies’ Bonspiel, the men’s edition had faced possible cancellation due to low participation.
“It was almost at that point where we almost didn’t have it,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy had set a minimum number of 10 rinks, but when only eight signed up, he decided the bonspiel would still proceed.
“It would [have] bother[ed] the people that do really want to curl,” he said. “I’m not going to put them at fault.”
Though this year’s turnout was poor, Kennedy is optimistic for the future given that a new junior curling program has proven very popular.
He said organizers are also looking to hold the next bonspiel in November instead of March, hoping that more curlers will be in town and less involved with other activities such as their children’s hockey tournaments.
Kennedy, who has been curling for more than three decades, organized the bonspiel with fellow curler Lyle Kennedy.
