Norm Magnusson & Resby Coutts (Fort Rouge) went undefeated, posting nine straight wins, to win the 2nd annual Red River Valley Stick ‘Spiel in Morris, November 3-5.
The bonspiel winners defeated reigning Manitoba Open provincial champions, Warren Johnson & Dan McDonald (St. Vital), 7-3 in the final game. It was the third straight Morris event in which Johnson-McDonald had played in the final game. They won the red River Valley ‘Spiel and the Manitoba Open provincials in Morris last season.
In the bronze medal game, Jim Rouse & Jim Webster (Warren-Stonewall) were 7-2 winners over Ray Sherrin & Don Adamko (Stonewall). Magnusson-Coutts had beaten Rouse-Webster in the semifinal while Johnson-McDonald had beaten Sherrin-Adamko.
The other four qualifiers, the teams who lost in the quarterfinals, were Curt Brandt & Quinn Brandt; Britta Spiring & Ron Shafirka (subbing for Fred Spiring); Ken & Shirley Strand; and Harold Hamilton & Willie Friesen.
Greg & Mike Harding were unbeaten in winning the 4-team consolation pool.
Don Fischer & Grant Nicolson and Del Stevenson & Brian Kushner both scored 15’s on the pre-event draws-to-the-button. While the draws were used as the tiebreaker mechanism, they took on new significance with prize money being awarded to the winners.
