The Hub » curling

Ready to rock the curling season

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:26:51 +0000

Hurry! Hard! The Hay River Curling Club doesn’t want anyone to miss out on the season.

With new programs, clinics, upcoming tournaments and the regular league season now in full swing, club president Davida Delorey said she’s hoping more people come out to play the sport she’s spent the last 30 years raving about.

“We are looking forward to a successful year,” said Delorey.

“Our numbers are up from the last two years or holding their own.”

This year the club will be trying a few new things.

This weekend, they’ll be hosting a parents and tots curling as well as an officiating clinic to get ready for upcoming tournaments. They’ll be hosting the Men’s Territorial Championships this year as well as the Firefighters Championships in February.

They’ll also host the territorial school championships.

Headed up by Deb Stanley, this year’s open league has nine teams while Glenn Smith organizes eight teams in the corporate league games on Friday nights.

Last season, four club members attended the Men’s Master Nationals in Winnipeg.

They were all between the ages of 60 and 70. As well, a junior ladies team attended the U18 in Toronto after achieving a second place finish in the territorial championships.

The club is also going to try open doubles midweek.

For those just starting out, the club has equipment to loan. Delorey encourages people of all ages to give curling a whirl.

“Come out and try,” said Delorey.

“If you don’t know anything about curling and would like to find out and to see if you like the sport. You can curl in Grade 1 and you can curl when you’re 60. It’s a generation sport.”

The officiating clinic will take place this weekend, as well as parents and tots curling. It begins this Saturday from 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 am and seniors curling is Tuesday mornings starting this week.

And for those who want to brush up on their skills, a curling clinic will be held this weekend.

A sign-up sheet will be posted outside the club.

For more information, contact Delorey or Gary Hoffman.

Delorey rink takes care of ‘bizness’

admin — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 18:09:04 +0000

It was a battle of old versus young in the final of the 48th “Bizness” Bonspiel this weekend at the Hay River Curling Club.
The Delorey rink of lead Alison Billard, second Rob Billard, third Davida Delorey and skip Paul Delorey were up against the Finning rink, which featured the Amanda Moizis rink of Moizis, Elizabeth Sperry, Amanda Roach and Olivia Gibbons. Sperry and Roach were both unavailable for the final, so spares D’arcy and Betti Delorey joined the Finning rink prior to the game.
Both teams had made it to the finals after posting identical records of four wins and zero losses in the round robin. The Delorey rink dominated play from the outset, taking a 3-0 lead after the first end. In the second, Moizis and Gibbons discussed options prior to throwing their final stone, with the Delorey rink lying three. Moizis attempted a tough draw, which was ultimately unsuccessful, leading to a 6-0 lead for the Deloreys. Following the end, Paul Delorey spent a few moments chatting with Moizis.
“I talked to Amanda about not giving up and staying in there,” he said following the game. “She took it really well.”
After scoring two in both the third and fourth ends, the two teams shook hands after four ends, with the Delorey rink winning 10-0.
Moizis and Gibbons said they always felt like they were in the game, no matter what the scoreboard showed.
“It was kind of like when we went to nationals,” Moizis explained. “We weren’t really paying attention to the score.”
Instead their on-ice conversations were about strategy and how to manage points, Gibbons added.
Amanda’s father, Roman, was impressed with the team’s never say die attitude.
“She knows she can win the game. It’s not, ‘I’m down seven, and I give up.’ She just fights back and fights back,” he said. “The whole team has that confidence. They know they can get back – which is a really unique trait.”
Tournament organizer Glenn Smith said while the numbers were down slightly from last year, the nine teams had fun during the tournament. Finning, NTPC 1, NTPC 2, Ashton, and Buffalo Fish competed in the “Drunken Hacks” pool, while Snap On, the Deloreys, Northland Utilities Limited and Ring’s Pharmacy competed in “The Bitter End” pool.
“There were lots of good laughs and energy out on the ice,” he said. “It looks like a lot of similar faces from last year, but a few new people that got out there. That’s always encouraging for us – especially at the beginning of the year.”
There was also an impressive sign of sportsmanship. While Ashton’s and Finning finished tied atop the standings in their pool, Ashton’s were scheduled to move on to the final due to the fact they had a better plus-minus, Smith explained. They asked the Finning foursome to play in their place.
“They thought they’d give the junior girls a chance to go out there and play another game, (and) give them a chance to win some money and help out their team,” Smith said, noting that the team quickly became the talk of the tournament. “They’re quite strong for a group of four young girls. They were obviously one of the better teams out there this weekend.”

Firefighters take second at territorials

admin — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:00:08 +0000

Sometimes second best is just good enough.

Following an intense weekend of curling, a team of Hay River firefighters returned home as the runner-ups following the Northwest Territories firefighter curling play downs in Fort Simpson Feb. 12-14.
The team of Wyatt Scheller, Kyle Wright, Doreen Scheller and Darryl Buhler rode a record of four wins and one loss to a second place finish in the tournament. The only blemish on the team’s record was a tournament-opening 12-11 loss to the eventual champions – the Fort Simpson rink of Roger Pilling, Brian Jaffray, Brian Harold and Dave Magarey.
“We had our troubles,” Scheller said Thursday. “Just like every other game, the first game is always the one you want to win.”
The team bunkered down following the loss, winning their remaining four games over teams from Inuvik, Fort Smith, Yellowknife and a second team from Fort Simpson. Scheller said the two Fort Simpson teams were tough to play against, as well as the Steve Moss rink from Yellowknife.
As the tournament drew to a close, Pilling informed Scheller that he would be unable to send a team to the 51st Canadian Firefighters Curling Championships, which will be held March 25 to April 3 in Regina, Saskatchewan. As the runners up, Scheller’s rink was selected to represent the NWT.
He is currently scrambling to fill his roster for the championships as Wright will be unavailable to play due to previous commitments and Buhler is still undecided if he will attend.
“It takes a lot of money to go,” Scheller admitted. “It costs about $10,000 to send a team there for 10 days for airfare and hotel rooms. I can see where they’re all coming from.”
One possible replacement is Moss, who skipped Team NWT to the national firefighters championship title two years ago. He was in Whitehorse, Yukon last week competing in the Yukon-Northwest Territories Senior Championships and his participation would depend on his placing. He has also represented the NWT at the Brier.
“He’s got a lot of knowledge,” Scheller said. “It’ll be good.”
Scheller said he has until the end of the month to set his roster. Whatever the makeup of the team, Scheller said there won’t be as much pressure this year as there was last year, when his team attended the nationals in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island as defending champions.
“It’s going to be way easier,” he said. “Once I get a team there we’ll go and represent the territories as best we can. It’d be nice to be in the top six or top five, but it’s getting more and more competitive down south.”

Hay River women curlers compete on national stage

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 01:29:19 +0000

The Hay River ladies’ curling team travelled to the Dominion Curling Club Inaugural Championships in Toronto last week to represent “Team NWT” and compete against other curlers from across the nation.

The Dominion Curling Club Championship is Canada’s first-ever national championship for club curlers. The best curlers from every province and territory gathered to compete.
The Hay River ladies – Deb Stanley, Lorraine Peterson, Davida Delorey, and Rita Moizis – played seven games throughout the tournament. Stanley, the skip of the team, said that although the team didn’t win anything, the games were fun.
“The competition was pretty stiff,” she said. “It was very, very good competition.”
Stanley, who had been curling with a sore shoulder, said the team put up a good fight.
“Our curling was up to par,” she said.
She said because of Hay River’s curling sheets, the team was underprepared.
“Whenever Hay River competes somewhere else, we fight the ice because it’s much faster,” she said, noting that Hay River’s sheets are maintained by volunteers, not by a professional. “Our ice is very slow and very dirty.”
Also representing the NWT in Toronto was a mens curling team from Yellowknife.
The champions of the mens tournament were Chatham Granite Club from Ontario, and Toronto’s High Park Curling Club for the women.
The championship also welcomed a high-rolling guest list, including world champion Canadian curler and Olympic hopeful Glenn Howard, 1998 Olympic Silver Medalist Mike Harris, and multi-time provincial curling champion Sherry Middaugh.
Although the Hay River ladies qualified for the next championships in March, the team will not be attending due to personal engagements.