An Airdrie rink hoisted plenty of hardware on March 27 winning the Okotoks men’s bonspiel and the Foothills Triple Crown of Curling title.
Team DeLair took the final leg of the Triple Crown with a victory at the Okotoks bonspiel which propelled the Airdrie foursome to the top of the standings.
DeLair skip Darren Moulding said his team was focused on their goal heading into the weekend bonspiel at the Okotoks Curling Club.
“If we would’ve won the ‘spiel, we would’ve won the Triple Crown and that’s where our focus was,” he said.
The Foothills Triple Crown is comprised of three separate bonspiels including Black Diamond, High River and Okotoks. Each victory was worth points (five points in Black Diamond, 10 in High River and 15 in Okotoks) that contributed towards the final standings.
Moulding and his rink of Don DeLair (third), Greg Hill (second) and Warren Schmidt (lead) hovered near the top of the standings all season.
Moulding and his teammates collected two wins and 10 points in the first leg in Oilfields and then went on to win in High River and grab 40 more points.
After fellow top-three competitors Kevin Muir (High River) and Dan Bubola (Calgary) fell off in two and three rounds respectively in Okotoks, the DeLair rink clinched the Triple Crown title heading into Sunday’s final against the Mesic rink.
“We didn’t need any help. It was nice (that) we got it because it took some pressure off of us,” Moulding said after defeating Mesic 7-2 in the final.
The winning moment came earlier in the day with a victory over two-time Triple Crown champion Brad Culp of High River.
A four-point end propelled Team DeLair into the ‘A’ final and gave the Airdrie rink the Triple Crown.
“It just came down to a big shot for four that put the other team away,” Moulding said.
The champion skip had an interesting debut in the Foothills Triple Crown of Curling.
Moulding was sitting at home without a team just two weeks before the Black Diamond bonspiel.
After receiving a call from Hill, the Airdrie resident was thrust back into the curling scene.
“It was a bit of throw together at first but it worked out well,” Moulding said.
The winning rink received $1,500 for its Triple Crown title and $1,800 for winning the ‘A’ side competition in Okotoks.
The Bubola rink remained in second-place in the final Triple Crown standings while Culp took third.
Richard Kleibrink and his rink were the highest ranked Okotoks curlers finishing in sixth spot with 70 total points.
Black Diamond’s Mike Libbus team finished in 12th with 45 points.
The Triple Crown winners were gracious in their victory and lamented the end to a great season of rock throwing.
“I think the Triple Crown here is a model that a lot of places should use,” Moulding said. “I give the (organizers) a lot of credit.”
