The premier event of the season at the Schooner Club, the Schooner Open Cash Spiel, is Scheduled to go from February 13th to 15th. There was still one spot of the twelve available that remained open as of the event so a filler team from the club was entered to make up the teams needed. Teams competing included those from the Schooner, Sydney and Strait and Area Community Curling Clubs. Entry fee was $220 per team with all money being returned in prizes. We want to thank Tamarind Optical for their support of the Schooner Club in their sponsorship of the Open Cash Spiel.
Play got underway in the three-day event early on Friday evening with the first draw taking the ice at 5:30. All twelve teams would see their first action on Friday with teams playing on the final draw having a bye of sorts which gave one of those teams a slightly shorter path to the finals. The Stephen Leslie rink was the team that took advantage of that shorter path and met the Mel Windsor rink in the ‘A’ final on Sunday. Leslie defeated Don McCuspic and Jeremy Brow, both teams playing out of the Strait and Area Curling Club, on his way to face Windsor. Windsor defeated the Gordie Cormier rink on Friday and then proceeded to defeat the Julia Cormier rink and the Phil Edwards rink on Saturday to earn his spot in the final against Leslie. That game was a close affair, coming down to the final stones of the last end before Windsor claimed victory. Joining skip Mel in the championship was Keith MacEachern, Bryant Cormier and Bob Smith. The first place team received $800 and second place got $600
Teams losing in the first or second round of the ‘A’ division would move to play in the ‘B’ division. The ‘B’ winner was the Donald McCuspic rink of Port Hawkesbury. They defeated the Gordie Cormier rink from Schooner to claim the ‘B’ title. Team McCuspic lost their first game to the Leslie rink but the went on to defeat The Lynn Kelly rink and Team Schooner to make to the ‘B’ finals against Cormier. Team Cormier lost their first game against eventual overall winner Mel Windsor but were able to rebound with wins against Walter Nichols and Carrie Cress to earn their chance at the ‘B’ division title and prize money. The ‘B’ champion McCuspic rink was Don McCuspic, Mike McNamara, Neil MacNeil and Schooner’s own Russell Fitzgerald. Prize money in ‘B’ was $500 for first and $400 for the runner up.
The ‘C’ division final was won by the Jeremy Brow rink of Port Hawkesbury. They defeated Schooner’s Walter Nichols in the final of that division. Jeremy defeated Lynn Kelly to make it to the ‘A’ semi final but a loss to the Stephen Leslie rink in that game dropped his team to ‘C’. He defeated the Julia Cormier rink in the ‘C’ semi-final to setup a showdown with Nichols. Team Nichols dropped their first game to the Julia Cormier foursome and then lost another to the Gordie Cormier rink before beating Jenna MacNeil and Phil Edwards in the ‘C’ division to make it to the final game. Team Brow was skip Jeremy, Stella Cameron, Garrison MacNamara and Susanne Ross. The ‘C’ prize money was $300 to the winner and $200 to the runner up.
Congratulations to all of our winners and a huge thank you to all teams who took part.
Of course, spiels at the Schooner club are not just about the curling, they are also about the great food and great fun that everyone takes part in as well. Friday night of the cash spiel saw a variety of dips, finger foods and snacks for everyone to enjoy and Saturday there were muffins, fruit and other breakfast items to get the curlers going for the early start of 9am. There was soup and chili for lunch and all everyone was treated to pizza for dinner as well. Linda and Crystal were back selling Candy Grams and Ted E. Bear made a return appearance to deliver them to all the lucky Schooner Valentines on Saturday. There was a bar tab ticket sold on Friday and an even split on both Friday and Saturday. Saturday night a big crowd stayed at the club after curling ended to party the night away with DJ Jimmy. Overall a great weekend of curling, food and fun at the Schooner. Thank you to everyone who took part and congratulations once again to all of our winners. Thank you to everyone who helped plan and run the event and a big thank you to our 2026 Cash Spiel sponsor, Tamarind Optical. A big thanks to everyone who brought food to share, to Jenna and Georgette for the soup and the Chili on Saturday. Thanks to Jenn Cooke and Lindsay Construction for the help with the draw banner and Crystal, Linda and Mike for once again running the Candy Grams. Thanks to the bartenders, housekeeping volunteers and the ice crew who work long and hard to make events like this so great. And finally, thank you to anyone else who helped out in any way. It’s the hard working volunteers that make this and every event at the Schooner club so successful. See you next year at the 2027 Schooner Cash Spiel.
Entry Fee is $240 per team
Any Combination of Male and Female Curlers
Limited to 12 teams
Cash Prizes
Dinner for all Curlers on Saturday
Dance Saturday Night - DJ Jimmy - Open to Everyone 19+
Thank you to our sponsor
