Jamieson, Forget Qualify for Men’s Provincials

Nugget Column #16 – Tuesday January 10th, 2017

North Bay curlers were following three particular competitions this past weekend where the Granite Club was being represented.

In U18 action North Bay’s Kate Sherry, a member of the Sudbury Curling Club’s Team Brunton, went undefeated at Region 5 playdowns to secure a berth into the NOCA’s U18 Girls’ Provincials. Sherry and her team of Jessica Leonard (Lead), Sydnie Stinson (Second), Kira Brunton (Skip) and Coach Steve Acorn hope to repeat as champions when they arrive at the Longlac Curling Club February 23rd to 26th.

North Bay was also represented in the boys’ category during U18 competition at the Copper Cliff Curling Club. Malcolm O’Bright (Skip), Dylan Burns (Vice), Sean Breadmore (Second), Andrew Hong (Lead), Kyle Vainio (Alternate) and Coach Brian Whitehead finished with a 3-2 record, good enough for second place, but unfortunately not for an entry to provincials in Geraldton.

Team O’Bright will now travel to New Liskeard for the East Qualifier, their last opportunity at qualifying.

In men’s curling happenings, North Bay’s Ryan Forget and Gavan Jamieson have qualified for next month’s Northern Ontario Curling Association’s Men’s Provincial Curling Championship at the Fort William Curling Club in Thunder Bay.

The Granite Club curlers threw front end for Ryan and Graehem Sayer of New Liskeard and came threw an extra end steal and a tiebreaker game to secure the third and last available berth available at the Men’s East Qualifier in Timmins.

Sayer joins Chris Glibota of Sault Ste. Marie, former Canadian and World champion Al Hackner of Thunder Bay, reigning Olympic gold medalist Brad Jacobs, and Canadian Junior silver medalist Tanner Horgan. Three final spots will be up for grabs at the West Qualifier in Fort Frances January 19th – 22nd.

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Broomstacking Still an Expectation

In the olden days when curlers completed a curling game on the pond, they would stack their brooms in front of the fire and enjoy beverages with their opponents. This traditional and social get-together after each game is referred to as “Broomstacking” and it is an important reminder to curlers that it is not necessarily optional.

If you are a player (winning or losing) and you must leave immediately after curling, the proper course of action here is to offer your opponent a beverage and then communicate to the table that while you would love to stay, you just can’t this time. People understand that you might have somewhere important to be, but treat it as if you were leaving before the game was over – because in the eyes of many, that is what’s is happening here.

Please understand that there is no expectation that you consume an alcoholic beverage or stay out until 2 o’clock in the morning (unless of course you want to). The tradition does call however for the players on the winning team to offer their opponent of the same position a beverage, and for the losing player to reciprocate. Meanwhile you talk about the “what ifs” of the game and popular news topics of the day as a means to contribute to the nurturement of a club, as opposed to just a facility.

Bobby Ray General Manager North Bay Granite Club