Whitehorse’s Donna Scott didn’t realize it at the time, but there was a lot riding on her final shot at the Halloween-themed Stones and Bones Bonspiel at the Whitehorse Curling Club over the weekend.
With her final shot in the skins format bonspiel, Scott’s team, Spellbound Scott, won the end to collect two points and take first place in the bonspiel.
“I had to draw to the four-foot for my last shot and we did,” said Scott. “My sweepers swept it in.”
Scott’s final shot was against Scott Gammel’s team, Shipwrecked – dressed as Gilligan’s Island characters on Saturday – that finished one point back in second.
Placing third was Lee Malanchuk’s team, Sheet Disturbers.
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Also on Spellbound Scott were third Kevin Chowen, second Brendan Peters and lead Ken Haslet.
While Scott has lots of curling experience, with four appearances at the Scotties Tournament of Hearts under her belt, her team had far less. In fact, Haslet just started playing and is in the Whitehorse Curling Club’s new Greenhorn League for people who just took up the sport.
“My third and second started curling two years ago at Friday Night Fun and my lead started in the Greenhorn League, which is an introduction to curling that the club is hosting this year for new people to curl,” said Scott. “We have about 30 people coming out every Friday night, we are showing them how to curl, and by Christmas they will be curling in the Friday night curling league. They are doing well, they are having fun – it’s a fantastic introduction to curling.”
By splitting the stronger teams and less experienced teams into two pools, every team was in the running for a top spot. The three top finishing teams all came out of the B Pool for less experienced teams. Three teams tied for second, including one from the higher level A Pool, with a draw to the button deciding their final placements.
A total of 11 costume-clad teams took part in the bonspiel, which raised an estimated $6,000 for the United Way.
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com