Saskatoon(The City of Bridges)

Year 2000Briar - Saskatoon(The City of Bridges)

Whenthe time camein the annualmeeting ofthe Friars'Briar Association at the 1999Briar to announcethe placeofnext year'sevent, the SaskatoonClergy Curling Club were ready with brightyellow leaflets,inviting us to cometo Saskatoon.Arrangements had already been madeto usethe r€furbishedHub City CurlingClub and to bookaccommodations at the Park TownHotel or the QueensHouse ofRetreats. Those ofus who hadbeen hosted in Saskatoon at the 1989Briat recalledSask Place and its acresof parkingspace nofih ofthe airport wherethe Labatt Brier CanadianChampionships had been played. Having already had a taste of Saskatchewanhospitality, we knewthat we werein for anotherg.eat time at the 2000FrF ars'Briar. A shadowwas cast over both the Labatt Brier andthe Friars'Briar by thedeath of thegreatly admiredyoung curler, Sandra Schmirler, in Reginaon theThursday preceding these two curling events.Sandra and her rink, consistingofJan Bettker, Joan McCusker and Marcia Guder- ie! hadwon threeworld championshipsand the first o{Icial OlympicGold Medal. Time wastaken out ofthe LabattBrier on Mondayaftemoon O{arch 6) to participatein thebroad- castofher funeralservice, and at the beginningofthe Mondayevening Friars' Briar game for a prayeron herbehalfand that ofher family Oneof ourfriars, Guy SchoizofCalgary, hadfinished a book on Sandraentitled, Gold On lce, Justpiot to herdeath. Donated copies wereamong the prizesawarded at the2000 B.iar Whenthe regjstrations were in, DavidHunter reported to his committeethat twenty rinks werecompeting -two from Vancouver,three from Edmonton,four from Calgaryfive from Saskatoon,one from Regina,three from Winnipeg,one from Guelphand one from St.Cath- erines.Please note that the cities named sometimes include rink membersfiom asmany as four provjncesas is the caseon the Clinefamily rink. Also,the Guelphrink who donateda curlerto Calgaryand had curlers from Torontoand Oakville. The2000 Briar got offto a greatstart following late afternoon registrations on theMonday anda deliciousassortment offinger foodsprepared by Sandyofthe Hub City C.C.coffee shopserved with coffeefor supper LesLazaruk from a localradio station presided over the openingceremonies. Counciilor Donna Birknaier broughtgreetings from the City of Saska- toon.,and Fraser Muldrew from theFriars' Briar Association.The procession out on to the ice for the openinggames was led by a piper,John Pollock. TheBrier Bear held the broom for thefirst rock throrvnby CharlieBrown (playedby SeanHoy) of theBlcrck Bo spielof WullieMacCrimnort currently piaying in the city.

Theopening game decided the winner ofthe covetedHeavenly Host Awardgiven by the CalgaryCurling Ciub for Easl^ryestcompetition yearly. Eve.yone west ofthe hostcity \tas consideredWest and the host city andthose east were their Eastem rivals. TheWest *'on by 111 a scoreof 8 to 2. Whoeverclaimed the p.ivilege oftaking home the shieldgets the privilege alsoofseeing that it getsto Kitchenerin 20011 Thehost committee did a greatjobin solicitingsome useful prizes from a hostoflocal sponsors Thisatlows more attention to be paidto thetravel pool which is availableto out-of- provincecurlers, many of whomfind thefinances to atlend,a realproblem, especially ifthey havea youngfamily backhome to support. ln an attemptto haveall regjstrantsto theFriars' Briar enjoysome ofthe atmosphereofthe NationalCurling Championship games ofthe LabattBriet eachwas given a ticketto watch, in person,one game ofthe curlingaction at SaskPlace.The cost was pan of the $100regis- trationfee wllich coveredice rental,banquet and lunches, and other administration outlays. Someofthe featuresofthe drawwere as follows: Allteams curledninegames. (This provedquite a challengefor someofthe seniorcurlers.) Ties were broken by a shootoutin whicheach player shot one rock andthe nngslvere valued from oneto four pointsdepend- ing on theircloseness to the centre.The games were eight ends unless fewer were agreed uponby thetwo skipsas the game progressed Teams were divided into two groups,each playinga roundrobin. Thetop four teamsin eachgroup played off to determinethe medals andoverall standing. The others played for overallstanding. Tjes were detemrined by shoo- touts,previously established.

Daily newssheets wele availablecalled, -Friars' Briar Petspective-!,giving the standingsin thegames, comments on eventstaking place around the curlingand helpful information, also thenames ofour sponsors.This is howDavid Hunter and Ken Petersonspent their sparc timeafter the rest of us hadgone to bedl Othermembers of thehard-working local commit- teewere. GeneGrant (chair), Don Barss,Joe Krystyniak, Wendell Stevens and Harold Hesje A vanwas made available by oneof thelocal automobile companies. BillBrown wasthe congenial driver who pickedup curlersat the QueensHouse ofRetreats and at the Parktown Hotel when that van was not available.Other local laymen assistjng with transpor- tationwere, Abe Zachariasand Wally Boymook. Another initiative ofthe Local Committee wasthe design and ordering of severalsweatshirts for sale.They were an elegantblue/tur- quoisecolor with theFriars' logo superimposedover the year 2000 on thefront They provedlobe verypopular with thebuyers. Oneofthe realhighlights of thistime together prior to theceleb.ation ofEaster for faith- bearersofmany denominationsfrom acrossCanada has been the Thursdaynight banquet. Saskatoon'sevent was no exception.ltwas heldin thelarge banquet hall ofthe Parktown Hotel. Thefood wasgreat and a spiritofcomraderie contagious. The Emcee was Darrell Ut- fey,who writesa dailycolumn in thelocal Star Phoenix under the caption,dka Rqftrcy Jiom thebot|ling alley. Ilis iltroductionincluded a piecehe hadwritten that \reek in thenewspa- percalled, Clergy Compele vith Bt ier Pdtc, Youwill find its contentsas an appendageto this chapter.Also in the programwas a humorousmonologue by ElmerLundback, a retired schoolprincipal, presently very active in churchand choir at St.Martins United in Saska- toon. Youwill enjoyreading his putdown on thegame ofcurling! Therewas some lively musicby our CommitteeChaiq Gene Grant and his cohorts,Nancy Guebert and Herb Essen- burg. Theyreferred to themselvessimply as Stmshine. Not to be outdonein the musical(?) world wasour Registrat David Hunter and his musicalapparatus composed ofJapanese plas- tic plunbinglittings. I{e cameon as The(joose o d D. id traiser. lt8 Thebanquetprogram was followed by theAnnual Meeting of theFriars' Briar Association presidedover by thc retiringpresiden! Fraser Muldrew. JanHundens, secretary summa- rizedthe minutesof lastyear's meeting and of a meetingofthe ExecutiveBoard held prior to this meeting.Ken l[nes, treasurer,reported on thecun"ent state ofthe finances.Fraser presentedthe names ofthose nominated to theExecutive ofthe BoardolDirectors: President: Kutch Imayoshi;\.4ce President: Doug Sloan;Treasurer Ken Innes;Secretary: Jan Huntjensl PastPresident:FraserMuldrew The slate was accepted fortheyear 2000-2001. Cameron Reidwas added to theBoard of Djrecorsto representB.C., replacing Kutch Imayoshiwho wasnow President.CliflMcMurtry (Archivist)and Kutch Imayoshi agreed to bring sugges- tionsfor updatingthe Constitutionofthe Associationto nextyear's meeting.

A committeenamed by theBoard Executive consisting ofFraser Muldrew, Doug Sloan, Andy Denholmand Jan Huntj ens agreed to look intothe matter of obtaininga nationalspon- sorfor theFriars' Briar events.A periodof silencewas obsewed for DuncanWhite and BasilAdams and any other clergy curlers who hadpassed away during the pastyear. The meetingadjoumed and all agreedit hadbeen a goodevening togetherl Spouses and special guestsare always welcome to ourbanquetsl Thefinal eventofthe 2000Friars' Briar was a luncheonserved by Sandyofthe Hub City Curlingclub andthe Awardsce.emony. CliffMcMurtry presentedthe now famousaward givenby RalphMilton ofWoodLake Press for theperson showing good sportsmanship. It hasbeen refened to by Ralphas the Iresle.),Leathelhead or Amazing Grdce tophy. The hard-workingchair ofthe LocalCommittee and musician at thebanquet, Gene Gtant, ir/as this yea.'srecipient. Dave Hunter then presented the Friars' Briar trophy and gold medalsto the GeorgeBudd rink from Albefta(with theexception ofa thirdfrom B.C.) Budd'sbud- dieswere Arnie Friesen, Stephen Hambidge and Orie Oldfield. Receiving the silvermedals wasthe Guy Scholzrink from Calgary(with the exceptionofhis fatherfrom Saskatchewan). Theguys with Guy wereGrant Rodgers, Dan Eagle and Herb Scholz. Bronze medals went tothePhil Hink rink from Edmonton.Other members oftherink wereGeorge Friedrich, DarrylDewalt and Lorne Lissel (another Lutheran, butfrom Saskatoon).Followjng the pres- entationsto thetop threerinks, each rink wascalled, in orderoftheir standing,to selecta prizefrom amongthe table ofgenerous donations from variouslocal sponsors. The newly electedpresident ofthe Association,Kutch Imayoshi prayed for a safetrip homefor all com- petitorsand friends ofthe 2000Briar in Saskatoonand asked them to \ratchthe mail for an- nouncementof the2001 Briar in eastemCanada. in thereeion of Ottawawhere the next CanadianBrier is to be played.

PS. May thewriter be excusedifhe addsthis note to drawattention to thefact that while the clergycurlers rvere all wrappedup in theBdar games,curlers from theprovinces and the Ter- ritorieswere contending for theBrier It j usthappened that when the fog waslifted, the B -C- teamskipped by GregMcAulay ofB.C. appearedas the clear winner. Hejoined Kelley Law ofthe Women'steam and Brad Kuhn ofthe JuniorMen's team in settinga Canadianrecord. All wereteam s from B.C. andall wenton to win Worldchampionships in the sameyearl It washigh time for poorold B.C. to receivea moraleboostl Thanks foryour applause.

119 THEY JUST GO NUTSFOR CURLING Oh theyjust go nutsfor curlingwhen winter time is here. Theylose their sleeplike silly creeps,it's thesame thing every year Oh theyjust go nutsfor curlingand they have for fifty years, And youngor old whenit's warmor coldgive out with cheersandjeers Thewomen work like busybees at servingsoup and pie. Theysure fill up an emptyspot in lots of hungryguys. Oh theyall go nutsfor curling;everyone picks up a broom. Mom, Dad andkids ali flip theirlids andit's overall too soon. Now I don't know aboutcurling; so last night I slippedout to therink. Thereis somuch noise and confusion that I hardlycould think. Everybodyis talkingtogether and something is queer; No onehardly ever mentions the weather. SomeGrandpa named Wendell Stevens is talkingabout curling 50 yearsago. SoI stickaround to seeifl couldhear something I wanted to know I hearabout hog andbutton, and about putting something in thehouse. Andabout the man who missed his broom being some sort oflouse. ThenI hearthat someone was shot, and they had to put on a guard. Thenthey said they got GeneGrant to sweep;they wanted to keepthings clean. I moveon a little furtherand I heara mantalking who is CamReid. He saysHe, Cliff McMurtry,Fraser Muldrew and Hugh Christmas are going to makea rink. Thensomeone else hollerc, you ca Iphgarink! I think thatman must have been crazy Becausethey don't wantto plugthe rink, theyjust wanted to makeone. Iffour menare nice enough to wantto makea newrink theyshould let them. By now I figureI know all aboutcurling so I go homeand tell my wife howto play. I tell herabout the hog that is sobig somecan't get over it. And everybodybrags about how well theycan draw buttons Thenthere is thelollsy guy who missedhis broom. He musthave been allful forgetful;He wasstill carryingit. And someofthem musthave been murderers because someone was shot andthey had to put on a guard. Wheneverthey got somethingin thehouse they called on GeneGrant to sweepit out. I think this all overand as I crawlinto bed I say, Mama, I think I'lljust play checken ir$tead. Oh theya)1 go nutsfor curlingwhen winter time is here, Sopull up your socksand throw your rocks; come back again next year.

120 FRIARS' BRIAR 20OO

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF CURLERS

Arno Bablitz Wynyard,SK Andy Jones Calgary,AB Don Barss Saskatoon,SK DavidKaiser Regina,SK Bill Brown Saskatoon,SK TomKahlet Dalmeny,SK Don Brown Edmonton,AB Alf Kiesman Kamloops,BC GeorgeBudd Okatokes,AB AndrewKiesmar. Saskatoon,SK Amy Butcher Winnipeg,MB Bill Kiesman SalmonArm, BC DennisButcher Winnipeg,MB AaronKlassen Kitchener, ON Mavor Eagle Calgary,AB LomeLissel Saskatoon,SK Hugh Christmas Calgary,AB FrankLittel Calgary,AB EllisCline Saskatoon,SK HenryLockhan Edmonton,AB FredCline WhiteRock, BC WesLong Saskatoon,SK PhilCline St.Catherines, ON ChaunceyMacKay Victoria,BC SteveCline Airdrie,AB CalMalena Saskatoon,SK JackColcough Edmonton,AB Bob McAdam Tisdale,SK RogerColl Winnipeg,MB Betb/McMurtry Delta,BC RossConnal VancouvetBC CliffMcMurtry Delta,BC Phil Costain Calgary,AB Ken Morris Edmonton,AB Andy Denholm NorthYork, ON FraserMuldrew Winnipeg,MB Darryl Dewalt Edmonton,AB OrieOldfield Ca1garyAB William Dick Kitchener,ON Ed Oman CalgaryAB DanEagle CaigaryAB Jjm Osborne Saskatoon,SK StewartFolster Saskatoon,SK KenPeterson Saskatoon,SK GeorgeFriedrich Edmonton,AB CameronReid PowellRiver, BC ArnieFriesen Abbotsford,BC JohnRoberts Saskatoon,SK Dick Gillanders Winnipeg,BC MarleneRoberts Saskatoon,SK NoreenGillanders Winnipeg,MB GrantRogers Calgary,AB GeneGrant Saskatoon,SK Guy Scholz Calgary,AB Ian Grant VancouvetBC HerbScholz Yorkton,SK Allan Grundahl Saskatoon,SK WayneShirton Edmonton,AB ClarenceHagen Birch Hills, SK Dan Skaret SaskatooqSK MurrayHalvorsbn Kyle,SK DougSloan Guelph,ON StephenHamb dge CalgaryAB Joy Sloan Guelph,ON Kathy Haugen Regina,SK Hary Steele Surrey,BC SidHaugen Regina,SK ThelmaStevens Saskatoon,SK HaroldHesje Saskatoon,SK WendellStevens Saskatoon,SK PhilHink Edmonton,AB WardStewart Saskatoon,SK lreneHohm Invermere,BC JackToth CalgaryAB lrvin Hohm lnvermere,BC DexterVan Dyke Saskatoon,SK EmmittHolmes Vancouver,BC SiegfriedWall Winnipeg,MB HeigeHongisto Oakville,ON TeenieWall Winnipeg,MB David Hunter Saskatoon,SK RonWegner Saskatoon,SK JanHuntjens Etobicoke,ON GaryWilliams Delmany,SK KatsumiImayoshi Vancouver,BC AnnaWinter Winnipeg,MB CaroleInnes St.Andrerv's, MB DaveWinter Winnipeg,MB Ken Innes St.Andrew's, MB HaroldWitte Edmonton,AB

12l SaskatoonBrirr 2000 Alberta DavidHunter Saskatoon Don Barss Saskatoon PhilHink Edmonton DexterVan Dyke Saskatoon GeorgeFriedrich Edmonton WendellStevens Saskatoon Darryl De\^/alt Edmonton Lome Lissel Saskatoon GaryWilliams Delmeny WesLong Saskatoon Guy Scholz Calgary Ron Wegner Saskatoon GrantRodgers Calgary JohnRoberts Saskatoon DanEagle Calgary HerbScholz Yorkton MurrayHalvorson Kyle ChaunceyMacKay \4ctoria Hugh Christmas Calgary Jim Osborne Saskatoon FrankLittel Calgary AaronKlassen Kitchener Neil Carnpbell Calgary Jack Toth Calgary SidHaugen Regina DavidKaiser Regina Ed Oman Calgary KathyHaugen Regina Phil Costain Calgary ClarenceHagen BirchHills Andy Jones Calgary Joy Sloan Guelph AIIanGrundahl Saskatoon WardStewart Saskatoon Don Brown Edmonton GeneGrant Saskatoon Ken Morris Edmonton Dan Skaret Saskatoon JackColclough Edmonton HenryLocklart Edmonton Manitoba

GeorgeBudd Okotoks FraserMuldrew Winnipeg Amie Friesen Abbotsford DennisButcher Winnipeg StephenHambidge Calgary RogerColl Winnipeg OrieOldfield Calgary Amy Butcher Winnipeg

BritishColumbia SiegfriedWall Winnipeg AnneWinter Winnipeg Harry Steele Surrey DaveWinter Winnipeg KatsumiImayoshi Vancouver TeenieWall Winnipeg Ian Grant Vancouver EmmittHolmes Vancouver Ken Innes St.Andrews StewaftFolster Saskatoon CameronReid PowellRiver CaroleInnes St.Andrews CliffMcMurtry Delta DickGillanders Winnipeg Irvin Hohm Invermere RossConnal Vancouver Ontario

Bill Kiesman SalmonAfm JanHuntjens Etobicoke AndrewKiesman Saskatoon Andy Denholm NorthYork WilliamDick Kitchener Doug Sloan Guelph AIf Kiesman Kamloops HelgeHongisto Oakville

Saskatchewan PhilCline St.Catherines EllisCline Saskatoon HaroldH€sje Saskatoon FredCiine WhiteRock Ken Peterson Saskatoon SteveCline Airdrie AmoBablitz Wynyard TomKehler Dalmeny D2

The ClergyCurlers render a rousingO Canadato highlightthe opening ofthe 21stFriars' Briar in Saskatoon,March 6, 2000.

MaleableCharlie Brown (Sean Hoy) "caststhe first stone"at the Friars'Briar while piperJohn Pollock and Dave Hunter stand by.

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TheFriars' Briar were proud oftheir manygreat sponsors.

Thetable of medalsand prizes

128 Gene Grant, hardworking Locdl Arrangements Chai| presented$/ith thelr?azi\ Grace Tiopb).

CamReidwith theBrier Bear.

129 CalgaryRinks take the Gold & Silver

PresidentFraser Muldrewpresents first placetrophy and gold medals to (r-l) SkipGeorge Budd, Arnie Friesen, Stephen Hambidge and Orie O1dfleld

SilverMedals to anotherCalgary rink (r-l) Skip Guy Scholz, GrantRodgers, Dan Eagle and Herb Scholz.

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