LAC LA BICHE - A curling tradition continued on Lac La Biche ice during the Nov. 4 weekend, with the 42nd running of the Lac La Biche Oilmen's Bonspiel.
This year, 20 teams competed in the event which dates back to the late 1970s.
Although numbers were a little lower than expected, organizers say the event lived up to its history — offering great curling action and even better entertainment.
"Teams come from all over for the curling and the fun," says Jim Piquette, a Lac La Biche realtor and one of 13 volunteers who make up the most recent group of community members to organize the event.
1985 hat
When the event first began, original organizers included founding members of area trucking and industrial companies. It's always nice to be reminded of the ties to the early days of the event, says Piquette, who was recently given a souvenir from a 1985 Oilmen's event.
"You should see the hat someone gave me from Oilmen's number seven. It's a red baseball cap, but it's one of those old ones, you know, with the hard material and the thin foam lining — It's fantastic," he said when asked how this year's overall event played out.
"The curling was good and we had some great prize giveaways at the Saturday night dinner — we had two trips and lots of other things," he said. "We gave away the little green quad that was in Marczak's Tru Value too. We bought it from them and then gave it away."
The Oilmen's Association has always had that give-and-take tradition.
"We bring money in and we spend it locally for prizes," he said, explaining that over the years, the community backing for the weekend of curling has stayed strong. "The community support continues to be overwhelming ... We sent out just a few texts about a month ago looking for sponsors, and we were 90 per cent done in just a few hours."
A B C history
With more than four decades of history, Piquette says it's not just the sponsors' list that sees familiar names — there's also familiar faces returning to play on the ice year after year. Organizers are seeing younger, familiar faces as well.
"I think we see generations of curling families coming back to us — it's great to see that tradition passed along as well."
Names from the 1985 Oilmen's winners list where Piquette's new hat originated highlight those common threads.
After a battle among 48 teams that year, the second place rink in the 1985 Oilmen's Bonspiel B Event was the Dave and Richard's Tire Shop crew of Dave Skakun, Richard Doucet, John Tesolin and David Beniuk. This year, Dave Skakun's grandson, Brett Skakun was part of the B Event winning team. The familiar names continue this year as the 2022 C Event winners were an entire rink of Beniuks — Ken, Kyle, Brad and Dalen.
The Suncor rink from Wandering River won the A Event at the1985 Oilmen's. That team was made up of Duane Felt, Joe Stychin, Robert Tarrant and Doug Hankinson. The 2022 Oilmen's A Event winner was also a northern team — the Gerard Hannaford rink from the Fort McMurray Oil Sands Curling Club. Second in the A this year was the Ted's Automotive rink skipped by Matt Blandford, with Corey and Cody Leach and Patrick MacIntyre.
This year's B Event winner was the Accubuilt Homes team of Kevin Gaberel, Brett Skakun, Carson Tosczak and Gerry Webster. Second in the B event was the R&Y Farms team of Greg and Randy Zevola, Wayne Putnam and Harvey Torresan.
The 2022 Oilmen's C Event winner was the Beniuk Farms rink of Ken, Kyle Brad and Dalen Beniuk. Second in the C went to the Swamp Cats rink of Kyle Leach, Devon Germain, Corey Shukilak and Paul Rogers.
