CANORA - With only seven teams entered, organizers had little trouble finding a catchy name for this year's Canora Men's Bonspiel. “The Magnificent 7 Bonspiel” was held from Feb. 29 to March 2, and the 'magnificent' local teams on the ice were led by: Zeno Gulka, Don Probe, Len Bazarski, Vern Schick, Darcy Zielinski, Terry Wilson and Bob Kolodziejski. The Zeno Gulka foursome emerged as champions, defeating Don Probe in the first place final.
For the round robin portion of the bonspiel, teams were divided into two groups; three in Group A and four in Group B. Group A teams played two games and Group B teams played three. The Bob Kolodziejski foursome was the only team eliminated at the end of the round robin. Matchups for the first, second and third place games were decided by order of finish.
In the first place game between Gulka and Probe, absolutely nothing was decided in the first three ends as the teams were tied 2-2. The Gulka foursome took a pair with last rock in the fourth, and never trailed from then on. After stealing a point when Probe was light on a last-rock draw in the fifth, the Gulka foursome cruised to a 7-3 victory, running Probe out of rocks in the eighth and final end. Joining Gulka on the winning team were: Clarence Homeniuk (skip), Mark McTavish (second) and Mel McCormick (lead).
The second-place matchup pitted the Len Bazarski team against the Vern Schick rink. This one was never really in doubt as Bazarski and his teammates scored six consecutive points without a reply from their opposition to start the game. The remainder of Bazarski's team members were: Brendan Halchyshack (third), Kris Currie (second) and Lionel Dutchak (lead).
The most intriguing of the three finals was likely the third place game between the rinks skipped by Darcy Zielinski and Terry Wilson. The Zielinski foursome looked to have everything under control after taking a 4-1 lead halfway through the game. But Wilson made a tricky raise takeout in the fifth for a pair, and cut the deficit to just a single point. The Wilson team continued the momentum in the sixth, and forced Zielinski to draw against three with his final rock. Zielinski did well to cut it down to a steal of one, and the game was tied 4-4 after six ends. Zielinski and his rink scored a pair in the seventh for a 6-4 lead coming home. With last rock, Wilson had a difficult raise takeout opportunity to tie the game but just missed, clinching the win for the rink skipped by Darcy Zielinski, which included Blake Zielinski (third), Travis Ostafie (second) and Brandyn Woicichowski (lead).
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