New team clinches first place title at mixed bonspiel

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY—The Arti Jalkanen rink took home first place honours at the 40th annual Northern Ontario Native Mixed Bonspiel, held April 7-9 at the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay.

“We’re happy,” says Theresa Jalkanen, who curled with Arti Jalkanen, Delena Toset, and Chum Ray on the winning team. “It’s the first time for us.”

“We’ve been curling in this bonspiel for over 20 years and we finally won an ‘A’ event,” Toset says.

The Jalkanen rink won the ‘A’ final 4-3 after the final shot, by the Karen Hardy rink, came up short in their attempt to raise one of their stones to the button to tie the game at 4-4.

“We just curled a nail-biter against the Arti Jalkanen rink,” Hardy says, noting that her final shot didn’t curl enough. “It had to curl up maybe half a rock and it just didn’t want to curl. That’s okay, you win some and you lose some and we lost to one of the nicest teams around.”

The Kelso rink, skipped by Dave McDonald, won the ‘B’ final with a draw for a 5-4 win.

“I had to draw into his rock,” says Holly Kelso, who threw skip rocks and was one of the organizers of the bonspiel. “I had backing, so that helped me out a lot.”

Kelso began curling when she was 15-years-old.

“I love curling,” says Kelso. “I curl in the Business Women’s [League] here as well.”

The Eric Kwisses rink won the ‘C’ final and the Denise Hardy rink won the ‘D’ final.

“It’s a new name on the trophy now,” says Gloria Hendrick-Laliberte, one of the organizers of the tournament, about the Arti Jalkanen rink’s win. “They played well, everything came together—the ice gods were in their favour.”

Other bonspiel organizers included two-time world champion skip Al Hackner, Dave Wesley, Lillian Hackner, and Mary Anne Seabrook. K&A Variety, from Fort William First Nation, was the main sponsor of the bonspiel.

The bonspiel featured 30 teams, including curlers from Quebec, Moosonee, Onigaming, Red Rock Indian Band, Geraldton, and Pays Plat. Each team in the bonspiel was required to have two Indigenous curlers, including one as the skip or third.

“We have a curling clinic on Friday from 4:30 to 5:30 before the spiel starts to support those curlers who are brand new to the game and to help curlers who are experienced to get a refresher to help with their style and their form and their techniques,” Hendrick-Laliberte says. “This year we had three or four teams who were all brand new curlers.”

The bonspiel also included wheel chair curlers who have been competing for several years.

“They’re always competitive,” Hendrick-Laliberte says. “And all of the curlers are very supportive of each other.”

The top 16 teams received prizes at the bonspiel and draws were also held for a variety of prizes.

“This year we had a major donation of a Kashabowie River Resort weekend stay with a boat and motor included,” Hendrick-Laliberte says.