Ogden, Labelle take Provincial Masters in Middleton
The Provincial Masters curlers played their last games on Feb. 28 at Middleton Curling Club after five days of highly competitive curling and great games for the fans.
The women’s championship was won by Louanne Labelle’s team from Dartmouth after five games in the round-robin and two playoff games.
It was a lot of curling considering the women did not start their games until Saturday. And the winning team was weary but proud to receive their trophy and champions’ jackets from Nova Scotia Curling Association representative Kathy Siddall (who was herself honoured that week with a national award for her contributions to curling).
The men’s championship took on the nature of a hardfought duel between last year’s championship team skipped by Steve Ogden and his frequent opponent Alan Darragh.
They first curled each other late on the Saturday night and the game was won by the Ogden rink. However, as the tripleknockout progressed, they met again late on Sunday – and then again, in playdowns on Monday for a place in the final.
The championship game was played on Tuesday morning with Ogden’s team taking the trophy. In the recent years of the championship, Ogden has won three times provincially, and Darragh’s teams have won twice. In fact, on the day after this event ended, Darragh was on his way to the Brier where he is the fifth on team Nova Scotia.
Both teams from the finals at MCC for men’s and women’s events are eligible to play in the Maritime Masters, played this year in PEI, and the Ogden and Labelle teams have a place in the National Masters played in Guelph, Ont.
February ended in a flurry of activity and club curling got back to normal with folks realizing MCC was in its final month of the curling season that ends league play the last week of March. Icemaker Ernie Killen always makes a little ceremony of turning off the ice-making plant after the last game and although the club remains busy with other activities, it is a watershed moment in the club year.
Chase the Ace continues on Friday nights with the club open at 6:30 for the draw at 8 p.m. This week’s pot will be more than $1,300 plus the night’s proceeds.
Next weekend is the Spring is Here funspiel, always a great event.
All club news is available at www.middletoncurlingclub. com