The Big Apple Bonspiel – March Madness on Ice

Warren Rosenberg - MetroSports Magazine March 26, 2022

After a two year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Big Apple Bonspiel returned to the ice of the Ardsley Curling Club in Westchester County, New York. Ninety-seven athletes from the United States and abroad comprising 24 teams gathered for this four-day event. As is typical of this very social sport, the 2022 Big Apple Bonspiel included high-level athletic competition, plentiful food and beverage, a Trivia Night, and a Comedy Show.

While the recently competed Beijing Winter Olympics put the sport of Curling front and center in the eyes of many for the first time, for those in the New York Metropolitan region Curling has a long and prominent history. In New York City, Curling first took root in 1855 at the New York Caledonian Curling Club and, shortly after, at the St. Andrews Curling Club in 1858 and the Yonkers Curling Club in 1895. In 1932, the year of the Ardsley Curling Club’s founding, George B. Ogden, one of the Ardsley Curling Club’s original members, competed in the 1932 Olympic Games playing for the New York State team.

Logging the most miles to compete in the 2022 Big Apple Bonspiel, the 'Luzern Blue Sox' from Switzerland got off to a strong start beating Philadelphia’s ‘BCC Green’, New Jersey’s ‘This Field is Required’, and Connecticut’s ‘Nutmeg Rangers’ before falling in their fourth match to the ‘Ice Breakers’, a team with players hailing from the host Ardsley Club and Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

Massachusetts was represented by four teams from two clubs, the ‘Massholes’ from the Broomstones Curling Club in Wayland and the ‘Cape Belfadelphia’, ‘Ice Breakers’ and “St. Cods’ from the Cape Cod Curling Club. The 'Massholes' finished the tournament crowned as the first-place championship team. Finishing in second place was the 'ice Breakers'.

Pictured above is the 'Luzern Blue Sox' team who won five out of their six matches in the tournament defeating the 'PCC Green', 'Nutmeg Rangers', 'PolyDACTyl', and the 'Nutmeg Rangers' again in the finals to capture third place in the 2022 Big Apple Bonspiel . Their only loss was to the 'Ice Breakers on Saturday afternoon.

Two competing teams were fielded from the Brooklyn Lakeside Curling Club, the all-female ‘Sweeping Beauties’ and the well-dressed ‘Fancy Pants’. Both teams struggled in their opening matches but did notch some wins as the Bonspiel progressed.