For as much as national playdowns are “nice to haves” for the local curling community, they are most certainly not the bread and butter of the five Sudbury and area curling clubs.
In mid-March, the 43rd annual edition of the Messier Family Bonspiel was hosted at the Capreol Curling Club and for as much as there might not have been a future Scotties or Brier participant in the 20 team field in 2026, that doesn’t mean that these largely “once a year” rock throwers don’t have some semblance of what they are doing when they step out on the ice.
“The trickiest part is trying not to fall,” said Wahnapitae resident and bonspiel mainstay Jeanne Turgeon, helping out with the administration of the event this year and missing out on the curling fun for only the second time since 1982 (notwithstanding Covid).
“You want to make sure that you don’t chase the rock. That’s something we tell everyone that goes out there. If it gets away, just let it go. And we watch a little bit of curling to inspire ourselves – or I do, anyways,” Turgeon smiled.
Over the years, the branched-off relative of long since passed Stanislas Messier (his son, Jean-Jacques, passed away at 93 in 2019; Lucien at age 80 in 2009) has ran the gamut of good and not so good showings, capturing the coveted three-win trophy at least once and also having just as much fun being awarded the “Skunk Sportsmanship” award in other years.
Ironically, it was the conversations of various cousins at funerals almost a half century ago that started the ball rolling on the initial iteration of the curling festivities which were originally held at the old Falconbridge Curling Club.
“We would always meet at a funeral and it’s not a very happy environment,” said Dan Messier, club president and icemaker at the Onaping Falls Curling Club – and bonspiel participant for the 43rd time last month.
“My cousins started talking and we decided to do the curling thing and everyone can enjoy themselves.”
“We used to curl six end games but decided to switch it to four because it cut into our time to socialize,” said Turgeon, with a laugh. “It’s really nice to get together with everybody – and for families with kids, this hall is amazing. You have curling on one side and you can socialize on the other – and the kids have space to run around.”
The Messier Trophy (three wins – top points) was captured by Daniel Messier, Sandra Roger, Andrée-Michel D’Aoust-Messier and Callianne Mallek while the Lefebvre Trophy (top points – two wins) was handed over to Nathalie Larocque, Caleb Larocque, Sophie Larocque and Andrew Morandin.
The best of the one-win bracket was the rink of Michel Laforest, Maurice Laforest, Joel Laforest and Dominique Laforest-French while Gaetan Messier was presented with the coveted Yvon Messier Memorial Family Sport award.
