Blazing Leaves Bonspiel wrap up

Fifteen teams competed in the first Nutmeg bonspiel of the season. Five home town teams and 10 from as far as North Carolina. In the end Derek and Charrissa with Scott Price (Broomstones) and Phelicia (yes, she curls at Nutmeg) emerged as the winners. They had a good battle against a strong Potomac team.

Second event went to Elly and Karl with Sarah and Ted (both Plainfield). Third event was won by Diane, Don, Karen and Ann as Nutmeg III. Fourth event went to an Ardsley team skipped by Sandy Gaffner.

Lots of good food with the chili contest on Saturday and a new addition of an apple pie contest. Merlyn Glodek won for best chili and Jill Owens won the pie bake-off. Friday night saw the start of a new tradition that was very popular. A stalwart crew of Merlyn, Pinto Hope and Lee Cockey manned two smokers all night and into Saturday to produce some fabulous ribs, brisket and pork. They spent the entire night outside at the club with some forays into the warm room for naps.

Great job by Mr. Hirx and Jim O'Boyle in organizing and running a wonderful event. Thanks to all that helped out.

Harvest Bonspiel aftermath

In the previous post I failed to mention Michael Nordquist and Christen Bossu who were also playing at the Harvest..mia culpa. They along with Pam and Terry Smith had a good time and enjoyed the Philly CC hospitality.

Karl and Elly Bockley ending up winning the third event, the Mad Anthony Wayne trophy. A really good game for them in the final as they dominated on Sunday.

Jeff and Sally Hannon with Rob Reihl won the fourth event, the Friendship trophy. Subbing for Sally on Sunday was Pam Moan, who was subbing for another sub after Jeff ending up losing two leads in one game. Sally went down to a knee injury in the 2nd end of the first event semis and the sub (Elizabeth from Plainfield) went down with a twisted ankle in the 7th end of the same game. Pam was playing with Terry and Pam so she was available to jump in Sunday although Jeff was worried that he might need more than one lead for that game as well. But all worked out and Pam only came close to getting taken out in the 4th end.

A fabulous event as always and with the theme being James Bond many martinis were consumed. A great time was had by all and many of the Nutmeggers will be returning to this event in future years. If you want to try a mixed spiel in the future, this is one to put on the calendar.

Jeff

Nutmeg wins the Bog Spiel at Cape Cod

Well, I had a whole post written from Charrissa but can't seem to get it to copy and paste from Word.

Anyway, Derek, Charrissa, Matt and Chris won the first event at the Bog spiel in Cape Cod. Congrats to them. They played the Hoge team (the junior boys from the Blazing Leaves) in the finals.

JH

Bonspiel results

In Philly at the Mid-Atlantic Women's, Elly B and team win the fourth event.

In Laurel MD at the Inaugural, Joseph S. and team finish runner-up in the fourth event.

Nutmeg at the Calder Cup final results

Back from the Great White North were it was still snowing when we left today. A great time was had by all and the Saturday steak dinner was typically wonderful.

Team Haggis with Terry Smith, Star Childs (Norfolk), Jason Sethi and Jeremy Vanderhouton (both Potomac) lost out in the third event on Saturday. They won their first game with Terry absent due to jury duty, then lost the second to NY Caledonian who went to the first event final. Then a loss on Saturday afternoon freed them up to enjoy dinner and a evening of watching curling.

Team Hannon with Jeff, Rob Reihl, Alan Alward and Dave Hirx lost the first two to also hit the third event. A well played third game got them to the semi final on Saturday night as the evening entertainment. A very well played game on both side saw neither team score more than one per end. Team Hannon stole the sixth to take a two point lead into seven and held the Norfolk team to one. Up one with the hammer coming home all looked good until the last skip rock overcurled just a bit and Norfolk stole two for the win.

A great men's spiel with wonderful food and fun for all. Very competitive curling this year as seven of the sixteen teams are part of the GNCC Men's Curling Tour.

Norfolk also host a very nice mixed bonspiel in February. Get a team together and take the short drive up RT 8 to play.

JH

Nutmeg at the Harvest final results

Jeff, Sally and Rob tried their best but finished runner-up in the first event for the second year in a row. The opponents, Utica, played very well and the Nutmeggers just could not get anything going.

Karl and Elly lost the semi-final of the third event on Saturday evening. Watching from behind the glass they had a really tough game as well.

I realized that I have forgotten another Nutmegger who was in attendence. Sorry Peter. Pete DeJong was playing with his brother John, Sister-in-law Karen and niece Elizabeth. They were the team that eliminated Karl and Elly on Saturday night. Peter and family then went on to win the third event.

For an idea of the fun that occurs at the Saturday night party, click HERE.
JH

Founder's bonspiel at Plainfield

Jeff and Sally made the trip down to NJ for the Founder's bonspiel. They played with two curlers from Plainfield. Twenty two teams in all were competing for shovels. A win on Saturday night got them to Sunday morning (good) but they lost the semi final game of the third event (bad).

They did get a chance to play against and spend some time talking with the team from Columbus (OH) curling club. This is a group of curlers who until this year were curling on hockey ice. They raised some money, rented space in a warehouse and put in two sheets of dedicated ice. If you haven't been to the website to check out the pictures you should. They are also having a bonspiel this year in the middle of December with free beer and wine included. The ice equipment they bought will support four sheets and they have hopes to start building a warm room after this season.

The next bonspiel at Plainfield is the Thrifty at the end of January. Low cost and lots of fun. If you are looking for the that first away bonspiel, put a team together and make the short drive to NJ.

JH

Inaugural Bonspiel

Second event runner up finish for Nutmeg. Team of Joel Leneker, Jim Meinhold, Diane Muldowney, Joseph Smith (L to R).