The Lighthouse

On Saturday, our Friday night curling team played in our very first ever omigod what are we doing bonspiel. Doug, our skip, has been curling for years. The rest of us are in our third season and still getting the hang of things.

It was the annual Lighthouse Bonspiel held at our local club. A bonspiel that, until a few years ago, was called the Oyster Bonspiel and players enjoyed free oysters and a seafood buffet between games. We still had oysters and some seafood but the name was changed and the menu expanded to appeal to people who weren't big fans of fishy things. The East Coast theme still held and some people showed up dressed for the occasion.

The bonspiel involved 3 six-end games. Never having played in an event like this, I didn't even set any goals. I just wanted to play as well as I could and not let my team down.

I wore my lucky socks and my lucky Scottish plaid sous-vêtements. We walked into the club the hear the opening notes of one of the only songs that can make this Irish lassie cry: Cockles and Mussels. I hummed along and thought about my family, my little sis who loves the song, my little nephew who had it sung to him by his mom. When it ended and another East Coast ditty began, I knew it was going to be a fun day.

Here's how it all shook down.

For the first game we were paired randomly against a team I had never seen before. Which meant I had no idea how they played. The first few ends were one-point ends but then we took a few points in one end and the game quickly turned. We finished by winning it easily 9:3.

We handed in our score card. We get points for winning the game, points for each end we won and points for each point we took. Our final tally was 16.25.

We found ourselves, surprisingly, in second place, behind a team that took 17.

Break time! Oysters, lemon juice, horseradish and tea. Best! 

For the second game, they paired the top two teams, then the next two and so on. So we were up against the lead team with 17 points. We knew them from our Friday night games and knew they were good. 

The first few ends were back and forth, one point at a time. Then we took 3. Then two. And we won the game with a score of 9:3 again which gave us another 16.25 points. 

We were now in first place with 32.50 points. The second place team had 29.25 points and we were paired against them in the final game. If we won that game, we'd win the event hands down. If we lost, we would fall down to third or worse. If we tied it, we'd have a chance for first depending on how the third place team did. 

First end: we took one

Second end: they took one

Third end: we took one

Fourth end: they took one

Fifth end: they took two

Sixth end, we had to get two to tie. With two hail mary shots from our fabulous skip, we did it. Two points - and a tie. 

We headed back in for a few more snacks while we waited for the other teams to finish and then waited some more while they tallied the scores 

Might as well have a few more while we're waiting...

The final scores. For those of you who don't know - we were Team Geddie.

Winners of the 2013 Lighthouse Bonspiel!!

When they announced our team and handed us our trophy we were pretty proud of ourselves. Then they announced that the vice of the winning team is responsible for organizing the 2014 event. 

Guess which position I played? 

Oh yes my friends. It looks like I'll be organizing my first bonspiel next year.