All three finals featured local rinks on the weekend at the Athabasca Mixed bonspiel.
While the field of entries was down from some years, that seemed make things more competitive as the three event finals were all decided by a single rock.
The Gord Tebbenham rink – which included Sherry Tebbenham, Stan Lyle and Kelly Cooper – prevailed as the top team, claiming the A-event by a score of 4-3 over the Dennis Saby rink.
Tebbenham experienced some anxious moments in the final end, but stole the win when Saby’s final rock over-curled slightly and his raise attempt couldn’t squeeze through the hole to reach the Tebbenham rock sitting near the button.
“There was some great curling out there and every game was close,” Tebbenham said after the victory.
“The ice was fairly interesting, you had to watch it very carefully.”
The B-event was the most exciting, with Wayne Schinkinger’s rink – that included Cheryl Minns, Bill Kump and Lois Schinkinger – scoring three on a unique and skillful split to tie the game.
That sent it to an extra end, where Rob Balay’s final stone was heavy on a draw to the four-foot, which enabled Schinkinger to steal an 8-7 win.
In the C-event, the Ed Deren rink – which included Maria Wallach, Nick Wallach and Emily Deren – outlasted Trevor Martin’s foursome to win 5-4 in a match that featured lots of rocks in play, but only one end where more than one point was scored.
