Thunder Bay STOH, Kamloops Brier and more

“Buried Treasure” looks at past issues of The Curling News and dissects the coverage we offered way back when. You can find previous installments under the Archive tab.

The 2025 Scotties is taking place in Thunder Bay, Ont. Before we focus on the year 1996, let’s look back at the Lakehead’s hosting history.

Fort William welcomed the area’s one and only Brier in 1960 and first hosted the Canadian Ladies Curling Association (CLCA) Championship in 1969. The ’69 winner was the Joyce McKee rink from the Hub City Curling Club in Saskatoon; the 10th national championship for women in Canada.

McKee was the winning skip for the first two in 1960 and ’61, then called the Diamond D Championship after title sponsor Dominion Stores Ltd. Her initial victory was a two-team, best of three challenge series with McKee—representing the west—against Ruth Smith of Quebec (east).

1961 saw the field expand to 10 teams, with all provinces represented but without Northern Ontario, despite its inclusion in the Brier since 1927.

In 1969, McKee had Lenore Morrison and Jennifer Flak at front end, and Vera Pezer (episode 15 of the Curling Legends podcast) at third. The McKee squad captured Joyce’s third championship, held at the Fort William Curling and Athletic Club.

Fort William amalgamated Port Arthur and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January of 1970. It would be 27 years before the women’s national championship returned. 

This time it was called the Scott Tournament of Hearts and it was recapped in the April issue of The Curling News, which was—at that time—a glossy magazine!

Before digging in, let’s revisit what else was happening in the early months of 1996.

Art Modell moved Cleveland’s NFL team but was not allowed to keep the “Browns” nickname. The “Ravens” helped the city of Baltimore recover from losing the Colts to Indianapolis. Cleveland will get their team back in 1999 and have been mired in something less than mediocrity ever since.

In another fine display of executive decision-making, Modell fired Bill Belichick. Bill went on to coach New England to nine Super Bowls, winning six titles.

The 6,138th performance of Cats was held in London, becoming the longest running musical. The 2019 movie starring Judi Dench, Idris Elba and (check notes...) Taylor Swift, was in theatres for a much shorter time, but did win six Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Picture of the Year.

Reigning world champion Garry Kasparov lost a game to IBM’s Deep Blue. This was the first time a computer defeated a human at chess. Kasparov did win the match (4-2) but lost in the 1997 rematch (3.5–2.5). The last win by a human against a top-performing computer took place in November of 2005.

A few years earlier, Canadian dance music sensation “Alanis” had decided to drop the single name trend of artists like Madonna, Bono and Sting and use her last name. Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill won Album of the Year at the 38th Grammy Awards on Feb. 28.

In January, the NHL approved the sale of the Winnipeg Jets, clearing the way for the team to move to Phoenix, Arizona. Fans were devastated until Jeff Stoughton won his first Brier two months later, and all was forgotten.

Stoughton went on to win the world championship held at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton, Ont. Women’s and men’s events were combined in those days and Scotties champion Marilyn Bodogh captured her second world title, just an hour up the road from her hometown of St. Catherines.

The April 1996 issue begins with a recap of the Brier in Kamloops, B.C.

Under “Going Nuts” (next image) it’s noted that Stoughton is the only competitor with a tuck delivery at the ’96 Brier. He mentions that Kerry Burtnyk won it the year before with the same technique and “I’m lucky. I’ve never had a knee injury. But I’m also very light”.

Kevin Martin, who was originally leery of the rule, is quoted as saying “The Free Guard Zone is just fine, I win a lot more games than I lose playing it.”

Martin lost his second Brier in a row to a Manitoba team. He will shake the monkey buffalo from his back the following year, beating Vic Peters and his Winnipeg crew in one of the craziest finals in history.

The Saddledome in Calgary was filled with fans marking the largest Brier attendance, and the battle for cresting and money continued to escalate. Dave Walker helped explain the sentiment of this era that led to the Grand Slam’s infamous Brier Boycott five years later, in 2001.

On to the Scott (not Scotties) recap.

Bodogh and her team of third Kim Gellard, second Corie Beveridge and lead Jane Hooper-Perroud defeated Cheryl Kullman (nee Bernard) of Alberta in the championship final.

Bernard will never reach another Scotties final, but she will win a silver medal at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C.

Team Bodogh dominated during the event, losing only one round-robin game to Sherry Scheirich (now Middaugh) of Saskatchewan, but then fell to Kullman in the Page playoff and won a tight semifinal against Connie Laliberte’s Team Canada.

The event featured four tiebreaker games after no less than five teams tied at 6-5 for fourth place.

Only four teams failed to make it past the round robin!

This issue of The Curling News also included a strategy article from new Canadian champion Jane Hooper-Perroud.

In the second-last paragraph, Jane mentions the 1995 Ontario men’s provincial final, which included husband Pat Perroud at second stone for Ed Werenich, who took on Russ Howard.

In that final, The Wrench came back from four down to win his ninth purple heart. That incredible game, along with Eddie’s earlier miracle wins against Wayne Middaugh in the semifinal and Mike Harris in a tiebreaker, are all available on the Curling Legends Presents YouTube Channel.

This issue also featured a short preview of the upcoming world championships in Hamilton.

You may notice that championship featured a team from England, skipped by Alistair Barns.

Despite finishing 4-5, 1996 marked England’s last appearance at a men’s world championship to date.

I recently spoke with past champion and longtime England Curling Association executive John Brown. In our not-yet-released recording, he explains some of the history of English curling and speculates why it hasn’t flourished the same way that golf migrated to the south in Great Britain over the last few centuries.

This magazine era of TCN included regional curling coverage, and the Saskatchewan article really stands out. Murray McCormick of the Regina Leader-Post gave readers a look into another curling family from the wheat province, the Muyres clan—offering a look into what made playdowns and the dream of winning a purple heart so special.

Looking ahead to the 1996-97 season, plans were made to determine Canada’s representatives for the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.

The path to reaching the Canadian Olympic Curling Trials at the Keystone Centre in Brandon is improved over the dreaded camps of 1987 but still offers challenges teams don’t face in 2025.

Despite a points system (for men at least) rankings other than first will not award any spots in the competition.

Teams will need to win a national event, like the Brier or Scotties, or one of six major cashspiels that were bestowed the honour of being Regional Qualifying Events.

These bonspiels increased their size that season, providing greater access for teams across the country. Up to 64 men’s and 48 women’s teams suited up at each event, in a convoluted selection process that may have been influenced by ranking points but appears more like a job application.

It's worth noting that Curling Canada—then known as the Canadian Curling Association—paid for the “Go For Gold” advertisement, in an attempt to inform athletes of the fall events they’d need to enter for their Olympic drive.

Yes, governing bodies used to regularly place adverts in the bible of curling.

Most notably, this format will leave out 1992 Brier champion and top seed in the chaos of the 1993 Brier playoff, Vic Peters. Kevin Martin’s narrow victory over Peters in the 1997 Brier final will secure him a spot and leave one of the stronger teams of the decade sitting at home.

This issue also contained a brief report on team changes as players prepare for the Brandon Olympic Trials. Paul Savage (podcast episodes 22 and 23) is apparently teaming up with his Dream Team compadre Ed Werenich to help manage the bonspiel load.

The final note reminds us of a “superteam” formed in British Columbia under the chequebook of Merv Bodnarchuk. Pat Ryan (episode 1), Ed Lukowich (episode 9) are named, while Merv will curl lead. Randy Ferbey will eventually fill out the roster.

Keen readers may recall that Paul Savage will make the Canadian Olympic team, but as the coach/alternate for the Mike Harris foursome.

Frank McCourt’s cartoon, elsewhere in this issue, teases Kevin Martin’s penchant for the hitting game.

Looking back to that curling season, Canada had a historic “what was happening at the time” moment. Quebec held a referendum on Oct. 30, 1995 and some will recall the vote was razor thin in support of remaining in Canada rather than separating and becoming a sovereign nation.

The Curling News editor George Karrys told an emotional story that Pierre Charette also shared on episode 44 of the Curling Legends podcast.

Charette had dropped to lead that season (he has played every position in the Brier) and his Quebec team took to the stage at the Brier Patch midway through the week. They spoke of “their love for Canada and the unity of the Brier”, then led the crowd in an emotional rendition of the national anthem.

Quebec eventually lost a close battle to Martin in the semifinal but won the hearts of curling fans … and maybe helped bring Canada closer together.

Finally, we conclude with more on Team Quebec and other rants from the Manitoba-centric curling columnist Jack Matheson, in another “get off my lawn” report.