The Friars' Briar curling Bonspiel took place in Summerside, PEI, where we gathered at the Silver Fox Yacht and Curling Club, February 17-21. Because of stormy weather in the east, only 8 of 10 teams were able to get to the event. For example, Team USA passed through Pearson on a flight from Minneapolis only one hour before the Delta plane that flipped upside down on landing. The airlines were unable to get them to PEI until Thursday, so they returned home. The team from Vernon BC of David Hunter, Paul Hunter, Russ Crawford, Arnold Badke were fortunate to have scheduled flights between storms on Saturday, and drove the Confederation Bridge Sunday, a few hours before the winds picked up and gusts were recorded at 95 km/hr.
An 8-game format was abbreviated to 6 games because several teams’ arrival was delayed. Two pools of 4 played a 3 game round robin. Team Hunter had a 1-1-1 record. (They let ties stand this year.) The championship round was also a round-robin, and we had a clean sweep. The last game was a rematch against the Catholic Priests from Edmonton, who handed us our tie in the regular round. Although our first game with them started with a big lead which they chipped away at, the final was a series of steals that allowed us to creep away from them. The final score was 9-4.
The Friars’ Briar Association aims to promote fine fellowship and good curling nationally among clergy persons and their associates. The Association has held an annual curling competition, known as the Friars’ Briar Bonspiel, since 1978. The teams that made it to Summerside represented BC, AB, SK, ON and PEI. The two teams that were grounded by the weather were from Wisconsin and Paris, ON. The 2026 Friars’ Briar will take place in Kelowna, BC, March 2-6, and welcomes all clergy curlers and their associates.
For more information visit www.friarsbriar.ca
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