Power outages cut ladies bonspiel finals short Saturday

By Ken Johnston
Editor

While many citizens were lighting candles and finding ways to stay warm when the power went out Saturday evening, the participants of the Rainy River Ladies Curling Bonspiel were trying to figure out who would be crowned champs.
With the power going out earlier in the evening and then coming back on about 15 minutes later, everyone thought the problem was licked. But apparently Mother Nature had something to say about that. With winds gusting to 90 km/hr. the power went out again at 8:40 p.m., with just two ends of play completed in bonspiel finals.
At first everyone thought that maybe the power would come back on in about 15 mins. again. But that did not happen.
Bonspiel organizers Debbie Armstrong and Angie Armstrong took a poll of the teams and it was decided that they would all wait until 10 p.m. to see if the power would come back on and then resume play. If it did not come back on they would go by the teams records in the rest of the bonspiel. As 10 p.m. passed they had to choose the latter option.
Donna Ivall’s rink, who was playing Patti Bonhomme’s team in the ‘A” Event final ended up being declared the winner. Ivall did lay a four ender on Bonhomme in the first end. However, Bonhomme was on the come back trail counting one in the second end and was lying one in the third when the power forced a stoppage of play. Bonhomme said she has been the ‘A” final numerous times but never won it. She was disappointed that she did not get to play the game and see if she could have won it this year, but she was powerless to make that happen.
In the ‘B’ Event it was Deb Armstrong’s foursome against Angie Armstrong. Deb had the best record before the finals in the ‘B’ event. She was leading 3-1 after two ends.
In the ‘C’ Event, Cheryl Matthew’s team faced Jen Armstrong’s rink. Unlike the other two events, Matthew did have the better record but was losing in the finals. She was down 3-0 after two ends. But because she did have the better record in regular play her team was declared winners of the ‘C’ event.
The power did come back on around 10:30 p.m. but they did not go back out and play the rest of their games.