Broomstones skip Bryan Fink, a junior star at Schenectady in the 1990’s, won his fourth Gordon Medal Sunday by easing past Schenectady 1 skip Dean Wadland 11-3 in the finals of the 141st Grand National Curling Club Championship at the Schenectady Curling Club.

The Gordon Medal, one of the oldest sporting events in North America that has been played for since 1869, went to Fink for the third time in four years. He curled with Eric Paul, Paul Marseglia, and Sam Chandler (who is a third generation winner) of the Gordon Medal. Wadland, who won the event in 2007, had Charlie Brown, Matt Daly, and Jim Sinkins on his team.

In the other finals, Schenectady 2 Dan Navratil with Tom Lancaster, Ken Rice, and Kirk Wallace downed Plainfield Brady Gould with Bruce Belschner, David Folkes, and Ron Scorese in the 82nd Richard Stockton Emmett Medal 9-5; Petersham Ted Paul, John Griffith, Scott Ennis, Dave Kittredge defeated Schenectady 4 Dion Warr and his team of Tom Holbrook, Brandon Chew, and Ron Holbrook in the 74th Mohawk Trophy 11-8; and Schenectady 5 Dan Machold with Tim Brooks, Peter Drechsler, and Rob Klees edged out Albany 1 Brian Costello with Dan Keller, Bret Sentiwany, and Dimitri Garder in the 36th Reid Medal for the semifinal losers in the Gordon, 7-6.

SCC Sweeps Women's 10 Year and Under at Albany Curling Club

Three Schenectady teams competed in the 2nd Annual 10 Year and Under Women's Bonspiel at the Albany Curling Club from December 7-9, 2012. Team Navratil, with Fay Navratil (skip), Paula Lancaster (vice), Becky Trousil (2nd), and April Katz (lead) bested Albany's Team Boyak to win the 'A' Event and the prestigious Growler Pin. Team Navratil's only loss in the pool/bracket play was to the Boyak team on the first night of competition, however a rematch and win over Team Boyak was in order after Team Navratil bested teams from Ardsley, Albany, and Green Mountain.

Second year curler Christina Hall, skipped her team of Yuko Kashiwado (vice), Mary Sue Reed (2nd), and Amy Machold/Jenn Wood (lead) to a nail-biting victory over the Green Mountain women to take the 'B' event. Christina threw a fabulous stone to the button to clinch the win. Team Feiden, with Roberta (skip), Laura Dolins (vice), Amy Howansky (2nd), and Nancy Gaines/Kathy Clancy/Jenn Wood (lead), played well but were not able to reach the semi-finals.

A big thank you to Albany for sponsoring the Women's 10 and Under event and to the sponsors of the Growler pin, last year's winning team - SCC Team Linda Austin, Laura Knussman, Amy Machold, and Barb Kimmey (miss you Barb).
 

Team Machold Wins Exmoor Men's Continental Bonspiel

Team Machold travelled to Illinois to attend the Men's Continental Bonspiel at the Exmoor Country Club in Highland Park, IL from December 6-9, 2012. Dan skipped his team of Ted Kreutz at vice (formerly of SCC, currently of Plainfield), Peter Drechsler at second and Robert Klees at lead to victory by beating a rink from North Halton, ON in six ends. They captured the Continental Cup, pictured here.

Other vanquished teams on the way to the A event finals included Mayfield (Ohio) Ardsley (NY) and Chicago (IL).

This was their first trip to this bonspiel and they reported there was awesome hospitality and scenery at the Exmoor Country Club.
 
 

GNCC Mens Club Nationals Playdowns, December 6-9

Good curling to the two SCC teams who are headed to the GNCC Men's Club Nationals Playdown from December 6th through 9th at The Country Club in Brookline, MA. This is a 15 team divisional round-robin with playoffs.

SCC's is very excited about the two teams representing us this year: Team Brown (Charlie Brown, Dion Warr, Rich Gonyeau and Scott Brennan) and Team Wadland (Dean Wadland, Jack Stopera, Mike Stefanik and Brian Damon). Team Brown's first game is Friday at 8am with Wadland's at 7pm on Thursday. Here are the round robin matches set for each team:

Wadland vs Clafin (Country Club) - Thursday 7pm
Wadland vs Bialck (Broomstones) - Friday 4pm
Wadland vs Bykowski (Potomac) - Saturday 8am
Wadland vs Petrov (Plainfield) - Saturday 4pm
Brown vs Collier (Broomstones) - Friday 8am
Brown vs Calabrese (Rochester) - Friday 8pm
Brown vs Ho (Broomstones) - Saturday 12pm
Brown vs Kraft (Plainfield) - Saturday 4pm

Good luck Gentleman! Check out the CurlingZone site for draw, rosters, and linescores.

Check out our prior stories from the road:
SCC Results from the Road (12/5/2012)
SCC Results from the Road (11/28/2012)
RPI Wins RIT College Bonspiel
SCC Results from the Road (11/9/2012)
Elliott Wins C Event at Big Pumpkin
SCC Results from the Road (10/8/2012)

Calder Cup, November 30-December 2

Due to the tragic arson that destroyed the Norfolk Curling Club a few weeks after last year's Calder Cup, the Nutmeg Curling Club in Bridgeport, CT stepped up to host this season. Proceeds of the bonspiel supported Norfolk's rebuilding efforts, which are on track to see the next Calder Cup back in Norfolk! To support the cause, please visit www.RockNorfolk.com.

16 teams competed in the event, representing 11 GNCC clubs. Schenectady's Team Brown, with Charlie Brown (skip), Dion Warr (vice), Dan Machold (2nd), and Scott Brennan (lead), won the Darrell Russ Sap Bucket (C event). Charlie, Dan, and Scott won the Calder last year along with Rich Gonyeau, so this was pretty much a defending rink. Their first games did not go well and they fell to Gert Messing's Ardsley/Plainfield rink, who just won the Achilles bonspiel, and George Austin's team from the New York Caledonian Club.

Once they landed in the 3rd event, they defeated Cape Cod's Paul Mort and Norfolk's Terry Olsen to advance to the finals where they had a rematch against Team Messing. The outcome this time was different with Brown winning by 4.

The ice, competition, and food were excellent and a big thank you to Nutmeg for hosting. Check out the draw and roster for the event.
 

USWCA Senior Women's Bonspiel, November 28-December 2

Team Szymaszek competed in the 31st Annual United States Women's Curling Association (USWCA) National Senior Bonspiel at the Mayfield Curling Club in South Euclid, OH. This exciting event started November 28 and ran through Sunday, December 2. Dorothy Szymaszek skipped her team of Charlene Fitzgerald, Lorraine Waybourn (of Broomstones) and Alice Rubin. Team Szymaszek was one of eight rinks representing the East with sixteen other teams from the West, Wisconsin, and Central areas.

They won their first game on Thursday at 2:30pm against the Cairn Lassies of St. Paul. On Friday, they lost to Philadelphia in the last end. They were down one without the hammer and though they had three in the house bunched together the Philly skip made a great shot to knock them out to win. Great game! Team Szymaszek won a 2nd game 16-1 and then lost out in their final match to finish out of the finals.

Good showing ladies!
 

Check out our prior stories from the road:
SCC Results from the Road (11/28/2012)
RPI Wins RIT College Bonspiel
SCC Results from the Road (11/9/2012)
Elliott Wins C Event at Big Pumpkin
SCC Results from the Road (10/8/2012)