The Westlock Curling Club’s annual mixed bonspiel went off without hitch last weekend, Feb. 12-13.
Sixteen rinks came from as far away as Beaumont to participate in the mixed spiel — team skips and thirds had to be opposite genders to participate.
The Sheehan rink took the ‘A’ event 9-4 in six ends, ending the night early for the champions.
“I think everyone curled well,” Terry Sheehan said.
The game almost ended before it had the chance to start when Tammy Fraser with the opposing Westlock Ford rink took a nasty fall, smashing the back of her head on a catwalk.
It took her a few ends to recover, mixing the rink’s lineup. The chaos put Sheehan up five, leaving Westlock Ford and skip Mike Taylor to play catch up. Taylor nearly caught Sheehan, bringing it to 6-4 in the fifth.
Tucked on the button behind a tight cluster from Sheehan in the sixth, Taylor looked like he might sneak another rock to close the lead, but Sheehan blew the game wide open, taking three to close it 9-4 in the sixth.
“The last one was obviously the key,” Sheehan said. “We had a lot of rocks in play. Everybody made their shots.”
“We did alright. Terry played better, though,” Taylor acknowledged. “He deserved to win.”
The Burchett rink took the ‘B’ 9-8 and curling club president Paula Clark and her rink took the ‘C’ 6-4, but all eyes ended up on the ‘D’ matchup, which went late into the evening.
The Anderson rink would beat out Emily Clark’s rink 7-6 in an extra end, but the long haul was valuable experience for Clark and her rink, who will play at the Provincial Juvenile Championships March 3-6 in Lacombe, Alberta.
“In provincials, we’re going to be playing a lot of games back to back,” said lead Gabriella Rocque.
“This sets us up because we’re going to need to be able to play that many games.”
