LAC LA BICHE - The mixed bonspiel held over the first weekend of April wrapped up the season of curling for the Lac La Biche and District Curling Club at the Bold Center rink.
It’s been another great year on the ice, says club president Dylan Maskalyk.
“The curling season has been a busy one at the Lac La Biche Curling club,” he tells Lakeland This Week. “The club saw a small increase in both the Men’s and Open leagues this year. The Drop-in curling on Tuesday afternoon’s had the largest increase of players.”
The up-tick in players is good news for the club and the sport. Maskalyk says the club’s steady event schedule over the five-month curling season is one of the reasons there has been some more interest.
Having a world champion Canadian senior men’s curling team tied to the club doesn’t hurt either.
Golden connections
“We started the season with a kick-off event in October featuring the Senior Men’s World Champion team of Wade White, Barry Chwedoruk, George White and Dan Holowaychuk. This was well attended by club members, friends, and family of the team,” Maskalyk said.
Although Chwedoruk is the only player on the team living in Lac La Biche — the rest live in the Edmonton area — the team calls the Lac La Biche curling club its home base. Playing together since 2016, the team won the World Senior Men’s title in 2022, following up on a previous world championship gold-medal win in 2018, along with multiple national and provincial titles.
While their own season didn’t go quite as planned, losing in the final game of the 2023 provincial senior men’s championships played in Red Deer from March 21-26, Chwedoruk says it's good to see the success in his hometown club.
Plus, he said with a grin — winning isn’t everything. It’s nice — he quickly clarified — but there’s still a huge level of enjoyment just playing the sport with a team of friends. Old friends — he added, with emphasis on 'old', and another laugh that was easily joined by his teammates during an interview with Lakeland This Week in the lounge of the local curling club.
“I’ve been curling since I was 13,” said Chwedoruk, who calls himself the baby of the senior men's team as he hasn’t yet turned 60, which opens the door for entry into the provincial Masters level. “So that’s 40-some years of curling for me…”
“We’ve got about 45 each,” said George, speaking for himself and his brother Wade.
“I’m in for about that, 40 or 43,” chimed Dan.
Then the Solo drink cups were put down on the table and the fingers came up — to count by tens.
“So — 40 plus 45 plus another 40 or 45 … I’d say we’re just shy of 180 years of combined curling,” said Chwedoruk, smiling with his teammates. “How can you go wrong with that much experience?”
“We’re a well-oiled machine,” added Holowaychuk, picking his drink cup back up from the table and raising it to toast his teammates.
It’s that kind of bond — whether among world-champion athletes or a new team trying out their first season of community curling — that makes the sport great, says Chwedoruk.
“We are still playing for that love of the game, the love of the sport that we started with all those years back,” he said.
Getting to visit different cities, provinces, countries and people as championship level curlers is pretty good too, said George White.
“Where else can you go with four guys, four friends...” he began.
"...Playing the sport you love…” added Chwedoruk.
"...Travelling the world and representing your country?" Holowaychuk joined in.
“It’s extra-ordinary,” finished team skip Wade White.
Chwedoruk says the bond of the team that has allowed them to travel and play and win is the same bond he sees on the local curling ice when teams come out to throw rocks.
“There is a lot of fun mixed into this game,” he said. “It can be competitive, but it should always be fun.”
Putting the finishing touches on the local season, Maskalyk hopes community members continue to come to the Bold Center rinks next season to find more of that fun.
If the season-ending, sold-out Mixed Bonspiel is any indication — “We had 28 teams from the region playing all day and night leading to the banquet with band Sweet Tequila,” he said — the Lac La Biche and District Curling Club will continue to be a draw more fun-seekers and the home of more championship contenders.
