The Super Seniors Squares Bonspiel has turned out to be ideal in pretty much every other way. Having a perfect game – an eight-ender – scored by one of the entries was the icing on the cake.
Leroy Durand, 79, skipped a 55+ competitive entry rink that included teammates Greg Hill, Roy Martin and Royce Baker, all 55, to scoring what’s considered to be the hole-in-one of curling by having all eight of their rocks score in one end.
The feat is so rare, Curling Canada will be sending the curlers special pin to commemorate the feat, says bonspiel coordinator Doug Campbell.
“They’re very rare, extremely rare,” says Campbell. “Basically, it means none of the opponents eight rocks never took out any of yours and every one of yours was in the rings instead of being out front.”
The “Beaverlodge Boys” were proud, yet playful when it came to talking about the eight-ender. All long-time curlers, it was the biggest of their many firsts during the bonspiel.
Durand, 79, a retired school teacher from Beaverlodge moved to Cochrane 10 years ago with his wife Irene. A regular participant in 55+ sports here, Durand invited three former students from Beaverlodge to join him in the bonspiel. One of them, Royce Baker, is his son-in-law.
The four have never played on the same team, although Hill and Baker curl together in Calgary. Durand jokingly said he paid them to come to try out the Cochrane Curling Centre for the first time but really it was a chance to reunite while playing the sport they enjoy. All were impressed with the quality of the ice.
None of them have been part of a team to score an eight-ender but they have been part of seven enders. Durand says he was on the losing end of one in 55+Sports competition in the past.
Either way, it’s something you never forget.
To the best of her knowledge, Barb Gibson, of the Cochrane Curling Club, believes it's the first eight-ender at the new curling centre.