January 30, 2010

Merk's rant

Well, here we go again. As everyone I am sure knows by now, we are hosting the Canadian Direct Insurance BC Men’s Provincial Curling Championship. We have spent the past few days setting up the curling rink to showcase this event and it looks FANTASTIC! You will not recognize your curling rink. The winner of this event advances to the Brier to represent BC in Halifax NS in March 2010.


The event officially starts Monday with the first draw at noon. Teams will be practicing Sunday from 2-5pm. Feel free to drop by and have a drink and watch the team’s practice. There is no charge to watch on Sunday. Event passes covering Monday through Sunday’s final game costs $50 or $10 for a day pass. The curling will be top notch. Our very own Jim Cotter will be playing with Team Ursel and Tyler Orme with Team Richard. There are also a few ex-Vernonites, Rick Sawatsky, Brendan Willis and Chris Anderson.

There is a link from our website front page to the Playdowns.com website where the line-scores, teams, etc will be shown. In addition there will be a live chat happening during the draws. If you can’t make it down to the club to watch the action, login and read as the games progress.

Friday night we see the return of the Goods, after popular showing during the Men’s spiel. Saturday night, Mercer & Pete will be performing a little celtic music. A week pass or a Friday / Saturday day-pass is your ticket to the action that day. $5 will be charged to those coming into the club after 9pm on Friday and Saturday. The entertainment will begin immediately following the conclusion of the 7pm games (approx 9:30pm).

There is seating on-ice as well as bleachers upstairs & down. Canadian Direct Insurance has been kind enough to provide fleece blankets for those choosing to sit amongst the action on-ice. These are loaner blankets and not for you to take home.

We are looking forward to hosting another fantastic event. Thanks to those that have volunteered, and for the community’s support

January 1, 2010

Merk's rant

Another year has come and gone, hope everyone had a good one. Here we come… 2010. It is going to start out very busy, at least for me. We have the Men’s Spiel next weekend with 44 teams signed up. Sure would be nice to get to 48 as it makes for a perfect draw. Deadline for entries will be Monday. On Saturday evening of the Mens Spiel we have the GOODS playing, they are an excellent band. All you ladies come down and grab a Man and dance. On the Saturday night we will also be doing the Draw for the Twin Anchors Houseboat Vacation. If you haven’t got a ticket yet get it next week. Regular league curling starts this Sunday, here we go again.


The French Mens team will be arriving on the 5th of January. This is the same team that will be competing in the Olympics. They will be making Vernon their home for a month to train for the Olympics. They need practice games and bonspiels etc….if anyone wants to set up challenge games it would be appreciated. They are also looking for accommodations, problem is there are 6 of them. If you know of someone that has a house to rent for a month let me know. Maybe someone has a large house and they could billet them. They are really nice guys, so let’s show them a good time while they are here.

Men’s Provincials are around the corner. It all starts February 1st . Two teams have already been declared: Sean Geall from the Coast who was last year’s champion and Bob Ursel from Kelowna who has our own Jim Cotter throwing last rocks at the top CTRS points winner. We have a couple of men’s teams competing in the Interior Zones (16 teams, 4 advance to the Provincials). Good luck to Brad Kuhn & Tyrel Griffith and teammates. In the next week or so we will get organized with all the volunteers and get this show on the road.

The Olympics are just around the corner and soon Wayne and I will be gone. One Two will be taking care of the ice during our absence. I am sure it will be a fantastic experience for both of us. It has been a long 3 years waiting for this to finally arrive…try not to miss us too much. If you see something that needs to be done around here please jump in and lend a hand.

Junior teams, Jenn Gerow and Jon Gardner played a fantastic provincials, both earning byes to the final games. Both fought hard in the final game, but were both unceremoniously dumped in the final, which is too bad. They have worked so hard; hopefully they will all be eligible for Juniors next year. The Gunner team finished with a record of 3-4. Congratulations to you kids and we were all really pulling for you.

Our inaugural 2 on 2 spiel was a great success with 18 teams, with the father-son act of Scott & Chad Kyllo winning the first annual 2 on 2. They defeated TJ Perepolkin and Darren Heath in the final game. The curling was excellent throughout the event. The format worked well and I trust that next year we can fill it with 24 teams. I anticipate a waiting list. Fun time had by all.

Last but not least, attached is our advertisement for our Saturday nights. We are running both an 8-week league and a drop-in. It starts this Saturday, January 2nd at 6:30pm. Call or email for more details.