With everyone seemingly eating everything in sight on Dec. 25, it鈥檚 nice to know there鈥檚 one event happening the following day where you can work off all of that turkey or whatever meat product you ate on Christmas.
That鈥檚 the Koe Family Boxing Day Bonspiel and the latest edition of the fun tournament happened as scheduled on Monday at the Yellowknife Curling Centre. A total of 18 teams battled for the big trophy. In the end, it was the Naugler family 鈥� Ben, Adam, Tara and Tom 鈥� who walked away victorious. It鈥檚 the first time the family has won the event as a unit.
鈥淔inally,鈥� said Tom Naugler on Wednesday. 鈥淚鈥檝e won it before, back when the Naugler-Hamer contingent would enter more than one team, but it鈥檚 the first time we鈥檝e won it together as just our family.鈥�
The tournament format sees teams split evenly into one of two groups based on competitiveness. That鈥檚 so teams stay as close together as possible in terms of skill, and that continues on as teams win or lose their games. Each entry was guaranteed three games and each game consisted of four ends as opposed to a regular game of eight or 10 ends.
The scoring system is different as well 鈥� in addition to earning points for having the closest rocks to the button, points are also given to a team that wins an end, along with points for winning a game outright. Whichever team has the most points at the end is declared the winner.
鈥淭he scoring format encourages you to rack up the points, if that鈥檚 what you want to do,鈥� said Naugler. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still a fun day because you鈥檙e always playing against someone close to you in skill.鈥�
To ensure no team is stacked, each entry must have one junior curler and one curler with little to no experience playing the sport. In the latter case, that鈥檚 where Ben Naugler came in as he鈥檚 the only one of the four who doesn鈥檛 curl on a regular basis.
鈥淏en played so well and he was making a lot of his shots,鈥� said Tom Naugler. 鈥淗e skipped two of our games and I think he missed maybe one shot in both of those games.鈥�
Because of that, Tom Naugler said they may have to find a new non-curler to play next year when they defend their title.
鈥淚 think we have a target in our backs now,鈥� he said with a laugh. 鈥淚f Ben鈥檚 making shots, we鈥檒l need someone else. But the curling gods were on our side. I鈥檓 not as competitive as (wife) Tara 鈥� she knew we hadn鈥檛 won it together as a group 鈥� but we all put the effort in to win it.鈥�
Lynda Koe, the event鈥檚 organizer, said this was the 24th year that her family has been hosting the event.
She said the community support was wonderful again this year with plenty of prizes donated by businesses around town.
With a bit of luck, she added, next year will be the 25th year for the family playing host.
