Diane Dalio didn't need curling ice to practice her form coming out of the hack.
The kitchen linoleum served that purpose just fine.
You don't get to be a skip in the Scott Tournament of Hearts Canadian women's curling championship without becoming obsessed with the sport. But as much as she loved curling and the hours of practice and travelling it took to be counted among the best in the country, Dalio did not let it rule her life to the point where she neglected her responsibilities as a devoted wife, mother and school teacher.
"To describe Diane as a curler, I'd say she had more passion for the sport than anybody I've ever met," said Patti Knezevic (nee Thompson), who lost in an extra end to Dalio at the 1994 District 10 final for the right to go to the B.C. provincial championship. "She had a dream of where she wanted to go and she proved by having that passion you could get there. I learned a lot from her, for sure."
Dalio, who died Sept. 4 at age 67 after a prolonged battle with cancer, reached her pinnacle as a curler in February 1994 when she teamed up with third Donna Gervais, second Rae Ann Copeland (now Schouwenburg), and lead Lorraine Flannigan to represent B.C. at the Scott tournament.
"She was so determined and so focused, she was just this little ball of energy tied up in a tiny package," said Flannigan. "We did not have a history together before that year and there were strong personalities on that team, so Glen [coach Pierce] had a big job ahead of him because the strong personalities didn't always see eye to eye."
The Prince George rink went 6-5 at the Scott and Dalio made 73 per cent of her shots. After a pair of opening losses, the 46-year-old Dalio posted wins over Colleen Jones, Anne Merklinger and Sherry Anderson, but lost her last two games to Team Canada skip Sandra Schmirler (Peterson) and Connie Laliberte of Manitoba to finish just out of the playoffs.
"We were able to hold our own and you don't do that without a good leader and Diane certainly was that," said Schouwenburg. "It was a great experience. We placed sixth in Canada and we were one end away from being in the playoffs.
"When you curl at that level of competition it's completely different, curling in front of thousands of people. We had our mics on when we were playing against P.E.I. and there was a bit of heated discussions between the third and the skip. We got a few warnings for language."
Playing in the Prince George Super League earlier that season, Dalio and her team held their own against the top men's teams skipped by the likes of Bob Ursel, Kevin Smale and Jim Horswell. After winning the district title they cruised to a 9-2 record at the B.C. championship in Abbotsford.
"Being there and being competitive at the A-level gave us a lot of confidence and we began to not look in awe at teams considered the better ladies teams," Dalio told Citizen reporter Gordon Hoekstra at the time.
Although the four team members were together only for the 1993-94 season, combined they had more than 70 years of curling experience and that added up to a formula for success. With Dalio's Mensa-quality brain making the decisions on the ice, the team devised an effective strategy to take advantage of Flannigan's draw-weight precision to utilize the free guard zone rule, introduced two years earlier.
"It has to do something with team chemistry," Dalio said. "I think my team has given me a lot of confidence I have lacked in previous years, and that has enabled my game to be the strongest it's ever been."
Pierce, a former Canadian mixed champion who died in 2011, said just prior to the Scott trip he never met a women's curler who brought more fight to the ice than Dalio did.
"She practices every single day, pretty much," Pierce told Hoekstra. "I don't know anyone in town who works harder at the game than her."
In warm weather months, golf took over from curling and Dalio's competitive nature had her practicing with her clubs indoors long before the courses opened. Knezevic remembers going to Dalio's house for a curling meeting and watching her knock a hole in the ceiling with a golf swing. Dalio surprised her husband Rick one day when he entered the room just in time to catch the head of her nine-iron squarely in the teeth.
Dalio is survived by Rick, sons Daniel, Jason and Kristopher, and four brothers.
She was raised on a farm near Punnichy, Sask., a town of about 300 near Regina, and grew up a tomboy as the only daughter in a family of seven kids. She got her teaching degree at the University of Regina and moved to Calgary, where she earned her pilot's licence. She met future husband Rick, a U.S. navy radio technician, while on a Christmas vacation to Hawaii. A year later they were married and spent the next five years in Rick's hometown of New Orleans before they made the move to Prince George in 1974, eventually settling at Nukko Lake. Diane taught elementary classes at Buckhorn, Quinson, North Nechako and Salmon Valley schools until she retired in 2000.
"She was extremely intelligent and she was a great book-smart girl but the best part about her was she was sweet and always looked for the best in everybody," said Dalio's youngest son Kristopher.
