You can’t keep a good man down

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/02/2009 (6399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RADIO man Bob Picken, who retired from reporting last year, just couldn’t stay away from the MCA Bonspiel.

Picken’s been hanging around bonspiel headquarters all week and Saturday Shane Ray, the MCA executive director, spotted Picken just when Ray needed some extra help answering the phones.

And so there was Picken, working at bonspiel headquarters all over again, just as he did as a reporter for the better part of five decades.

The humour wasn’t lost on him. “They pressed me into service,” Picken said with a laugh. “What could I say?”

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The list of undefeated teams had been trimmed to just 11 heading into Saturday night’s 9 p.m. draw.

Ste. Anne’s Murray Woodward, Morden’s Brad Wainikka, Duluth’s Tyler George, LaSalle’s Randy Neufeld and Heather’s Bernie Wenden all enter today with unblemished records, while six other undefeated teams were playing at 9 p.m. Saturday night in the premier Labatt’s event.

Unaffiliated Kyle Einarson was playing West St. Paul’s Rob Cosens, Assiniboine-Memorial’s David Bohn was playing West Kildonan’s Randy Dutiaume and St. Vital’s Darryl Friesen was playing Brandon’s Allan Lyburn.

The Bohn-Dutiaume matchup was particularly interesting, pitting last year’s provincial men’s runner-up against the 2005 Manitoba champion.

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Bonspiel drawmaster Mel Marsh said last night that just one team has defaulted all their Sunday games and he was uncertain what effect the broadcast of today’s Super Bowl would have on bonspiel no-shows.

“So far, we’ve just heard of the one team defaulting and I don’t know if that even had anything to do with the game,” Marsh said.