2007 Willmar Curling Club's 1st Annual Arena Ice Bonspiel
Here is how it turned out:
In the FIRST EVENT
1st place - Askew (Fargo)
2nd place - Moore (Alexandia)
3rd place - Orson (Willmar)
4th place - Matson (Bemidji)
In the SECOND EVENT
1st place - Dittberner (St.Paul)
2nd place - Dumm (Alexandria)
In the THIRD EVENT
1st place - Pickle (Fargo)
2nd place - Bjornberg (Willmar)
Notes from Troy Gorans, President of the Willmar Curling Club.
What we had was a bunch of fun; something good bonspielers know a little something about.
The draws began and 9:00am and the ice sheets where for the most part typically good. Of course we still had the "dogs" on Sheet D (we will be doing something with those stones for next season). Also, thanks to the warm and sunny weather we dealt with the dripping as well. But everyone worked with it and there was some great curling going on. In the middle of it, we had an excellent lunch put on by club members and spouses.
Then came "the break". By 5:00pm all of the curlers, spouses and friends alike were at the Hog Line Saloon for a great buffet, beverages and some laughs. "The break" was much, much longer for some then for others - I can tell you that!
By 7:00pm the two evening draws were underway; it was now dark and chillier, and thanks to Kevin's "ceiling squeegee" the dripping was done. There were some very close games, great shot making and in general some excellent curling - so they say. I personally would not know because I never made it out of the saloon for the evening draws!
Oh well - Sunday morning came anyway; some curlers more chipper than others and the bonspiel came to a close with two Sunday morning draws. The sheets were in great shape relatively speaking(thankfully no need for sheet D today). The bonspiel finished up about 1:00pm.
There were a number of lessons learned for next year - plus next year the Blue Line Arena that we curl in will be insolated, dehumidified and have some heat in it; plus the two arenas will be joined together in a million dollar remodel to make the Willmar Civic Center one big complex with two sheets of arena ice. The new Curling Rink addition is not slated yet but we of course are already working that all important, next big step.
If any of you have anything thing you would be willing to share with me about your experience here at our bonspiel; I want and frankly need to hear that input. I would greatly appreciate it and I promise I am not easily offended. Looking to keep improving on it this event for the future.
On a personal note; it was great to see all of you folks that I consider our curling friends; there was Bemidji Terry, Fargo Pickle and Cambridge Mike. Of course our fellow "startups" - Nancy in Alexandria and Paul and Darcy out at the Dakota Curling Club showed up in support of the Willmar Curling Club.
It was also great to meet all of the new people. There was .007 from Alexandria with his Canadian satellite issue and the Anderson rink from St. Paul (who got his first curling lesson from Kevin Madsen before the bonspiel started). Familiar names that now have faces like the Branch's, Dumm's and Dittbenner's from Alex(who can forget those names). Last but not least the Dochinak rink (just glad I don't have to pronounce that one) from St. Paul and of course our first event champs from Fargo the Askew rink(I would go with "What Would Patty Do") - that's just me.
I would be amiss to leave out our fellow Willmar curlers, many of them experienced their first bonspiel(best we could do with what we had anyway): the Bjornberg rink running off with the "toilet" bowl award, Orson in his skirt with a team member bleeding from the noggin; and of course there was Nohner, the Cargill boys and a rink named Burt.
I for one (and many others in our club included) are looking forward doing more bonspieling and seeing you all again soon - where ever the next bonspiel might bring us together.
I hope you enjoyed your visit and my little ramblings here(please forgive the grammer and spelling - I wend ta coun'ry scholl).
Thanks again!
Troy Gorans
Willmar Curling Club
President
Bonspiel - A competition in curling at which teams from several clubs or districts compete with one another. Dutch orgin; precinct of a city(bonne) + game(spel).