October Recap: Back to School, and Back to Bonspiels!

With school back in session, teams across the country were eager to compete in the first events of the season. Thank you to the students below for providing recaps of the October bonspiels they attended. Stay tuned for all the upcoming events this November and beyond!

Cape Cod Bonspiel

From October 11th-13th, 12 teams from across the East Coast competed to take home the first spiel win of the year in sunny Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Battling an ongoing marathon in town, these teams competed diligently, driven by the spirit of curling to the very last draw. In the final draw of the A bracket, it was Navy and Bowdoin competing to take home the Gold metal and first place prize of a massive stuffed animal. The game would come down to the 8th end which saw Navy up two points with hammer, trying to defend their lead. Navy skip, Quinn Gonzalez stepped into the hack with hammer facing Bowdoin sitting two and delivered a beautiful peel to clip the corner of a Bowdoin rock, spilling it out of the house and giving Navy the win and Bowdoin the Silver. Harvard would defeat Penn State 1 to take home the Bronze, and a mixed team of Hamilton and Penn State would defeat MIT to win the B bracket.
– Evan Chapman

University of Minnesota Bonspiel

We had a wonderful Midwest opener with an undefeated University of Nebraska-Lincoln victory over University of Minnesota. Thanks to UNL, UWSP, and UW Madison for joining UMN on the ice!
– Oliver Lee

Philadelphia Bonspiel

On October 26th and 27th, 8 teams from around the northeast region competed in the Philadelphia Bonspiel of Fire and Ice, vying for a chance to take home a coveted dragon plushie. All teams represented their houses well, but only a few would make it to the final draw on Sunday. Team RIT representing House Stark and team Hamilton representing House Tyrell faced off in the A-event finals. Team UPenn/Nova representing The Brotherhood Without Banners and team Penn State representing House Lannister competed for third place in the D-event finals. Both teams in the third place game fought hard, with the game coming down to a single point. Team UPenn/Nova was able to emerge victorious, clinching the final award as the third place finisher. At the same time, the game for first was taking place. In a performance not unlike their earlier games, team RIT was able to decisively defeat team Hamilton 6 points to 3 to win the A-event and take home the first place prize in honor of House Stark.
– Marcus Otto