Betsy Kline
Castlegar News
The Castlegar Curling Club hosted the 32nd annual Men’s Groundhog Bonspiel last weekend. Thirty teams from all over B.C. played in the three day event including teams from Rossland, Nelson, Fruitvale, Trail, Creston, Christina Lake and Kamloops.
Castlegar was well represented in the finals with locals playing on teams in three of the four final games.
In the “A” event, the score was tied in the sixth end, followed by a blank for the seventh end. At the end of a close eighth end Skip Brent Pihowich and his team mates Bernie Johnson, Alan May and John Rampone of the Rampone rink from Nelson remained undefeated and came out victorious over the Van Yzerloo rink from Castlegar.
The “B” event also was tied heading in to the eighth end. After a back and forth end the Haynes rink, made up of players from Nelson and Castlegar, took one and defeated the Terrill rink from Creston 6 to 5.
The Castlegar Horning rink defeated the Trail Fines rink to win the “C” event. After ending the eighth end in a tie, the Beaudry rink from Nelson went on to defeat the Beecham rink also from Nelson in the extra end.
The main sponsors of the Groundhog Bonspiel were Van Hellmonde Sporte, Numba5 Metalcraft, Castlegar Pharmasave, Castlegar Safeway, Kootenay Optometry and Heritage Credit Union.