Club curlers get chance to take on the best

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/02/2012 (5321 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Your average beer league hockey team will never take the ice against the Boston Bruins. And that slo-pitch team that rolls over the competition at John Blumberg better not be expecting a date at Busch Stadium against the St. Louis Cardinals.

But curling is different. If you want to win a world championship, you need to win the Brier; and if you want to win the Brier, you need to win your province; and if you want to win your province, you might just face a skip like Bruce Jones.

Jones, a 41-year-old from Windsor Park, used to curl fairly competitively, but gave it up when he got married and had a couple kids.

“Then I just started curling one night a week with some people I grew up with at the club,” said the member of the St. Vital Curling Club.

Jones and his team of third Dave Lemoine, second Ash Toews, lead Hank Lemoine and fifth Rick Lemoine (the three Lemoines are brothers) had no intention of trying to get into the Safeway Championship — the 32-team competition that determines Manitoba’s representative at the Brier.

They didn’t enter the zone playdowns, but they did sign up for the MCA Bonspiel. And they did quite well. Well enough to earn a spot in a single-game playoff for a berth in Safeway Championship.

The Jones squad won, and will now be in the same field as defending world champion Jeff Stoughton, World Curling Tour money leader Mike McEwen and a who’s who of Manitoba’s curling elite.

“There were tears and beers,” said Hank Lemoine, 57, who has never played in the Safeway Championship.

“We’ve all played sports all our lives,” added Jones, who has played in three previous championships, but never as a skip. “We like to compete, and we try to win. But we don’t have any expectations (for the provincials). We didn’t come in (to the bonspiel) with the goal of winning a spot.”

Jones is expecting to be seeded at or near of the bottom of the field, which would mean a first-round matchup against Stoughton or McEwen. Talk about a David versus Goliath scenario.

“Bring ’em on,” said the lead, who is a member of the Manitoba baseball and basketball halls of fame, and has only curled recreationally. “We might just do something silly like beat ’em.”

Jones, whose mom Elaine is in the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame for her accomplishments in curling, lawn bowling and softball, said having a chance to play an elite team is one of the special things about curling.

“You used to go in the (MCA) bonspiel 10 or 15 years ago as a club curler to say you played a Stoughton,” he said. “Now with all the Grand Slams and things like that they don’t need to play. So it’s nice to play them in a championship like this.”

avi.saper@canstarnews.com