A Deep river team skipped by Leo Buckly entered the first annual North Bay Granite clubs senior Men's Bonspiel on the 3rd, 4th and 5th of November. The 32-rink affair featured teams from across Ontario and was a 'tune-up' for upcoming Senior Men's provincial play downs. The Buckly rink had Ray Walker at lead, Martin Chisholm tossing second stones and Chris Knight at the mate's position. The team got off to a strong start with a win on Friday night. On Saturday the team garnered two more wins and headed into Sunday morning semi-finals against the North Bay squad skipped by Rick Mill.
Meanwhile on the other side of the draw, the semi-final featured Toronto's Tom Cushing, a long time Ontario top Men's rink, against another southern Ontario team skipped by two-time Brier winner and World Champion, Neil Harrison. Harrison played for Eddy Werenich and was all-star lead in a couple of Briers. Harrison defeated Cushing in 6 ends and headed to the final on Sunday afternoon.
The Buckly team started off very strong with a steal of 1 in the first and 3 in the second to jump out to a 4-point lead. In the third end the Deep River team had a chance to steal 2 more, but a jam on Leo's last stone and a great double by Miller led to a 3 for the North Bay squad. The game seesawed to a 5-5 tie after six. In the seventh end the Miller team got their rocks in the right place. A heavy draw by Knight that slipped through the house and a rollout by Buckley led to giving up a 3-ender. The 8th end developed well for Buckley and he had two rocks behind guards when Miller came up for his last rock. Miller made a delicate come-around and picked off one of the Buckley counters and it was over. Miller won the semi-final, 8-6.
Harrison defeated Miller in the final.
The Deep River squad had a very good run for so early in the season and came away with some great prizes. It was good experience for the upcoming Valley Seniors play downs that will be in Renfrew on November 24-26.