It was a busy year for the Rimbey Curling Club.
“Given the concerns of the pandemic and the requirements for creating an environment that was as safe as possible for our members, we had a good season in all our leagues,” said Connie Jensen, secretary for the Rimbey Curling Club who spoke on behalf of the players and organizers.
She said that although numbers were a bit down in the fall, largely due to the pandemic, they hosted four successful bonspiels this season.
“It was particularly gratifying after a season of closure to see people back on the ice enjoying the game again,” said Jensen.
“We had an eager bunch of junior players under the guidance of Rick Moon and Janelle Lundgard,” she said, adding that even though the younger players did not host a bonspiel this year they are hoping to next year.
The high school junior men’s team, skipped by Ben Boyce and coached by Teri Boyce won bronze at the Central Alberta High School championship.
In February the club hosted the 12-team men’s bonspiel. Event winners were the Steve Pederson rink in A, Jim Robinson in B, and the Ben Boyce rink in C.
The Boyce foursome then went on to represent Rimbey in the high school playdowns, coming home with the bronze medal.
At the beginning of March, Rimbey played host to their own open bonspiel that saw 16 teams vying for cash.
Finalists in the ‘A’ event were the Sheila Frayn rink vs the Jensen squad, with Frayn emerging as the winner. In the ‘B’ event, it was the Reis rink succeeding against Ledieu and the C event was taken by the Woolsey team over McNaught.
The season ended with a Ladies’ Bonspiel that ran March 18 to 20.
Every year, the club chooses a theme for the event and this year, it was “your best Zoom attire.”
“This required a costume night at the Saturday banquet, which took on the theme of a zoom meeting. The event was a lot of fun and we saw some really good curling.”
“In our ladies’ league we had some excitement when the Anna Ledieu team scored an 8-ender,” she said, adding that that is an equivalent to a golf hole in one. “Except much more difficult because in curling there is an opposing team doing its best to prevent it from happening.”