It only took him 33 attempts over 38 years but Garnet Boese is finally a Kelly Cup champion.
He won the prestigious men’s curling crown Sunday at the Prince George Golf and Curling Club in fine style, chucking virtually a perfect game in the final to beat Ron Vanderstar of Smithers 7-1.
“That’s the best I’ve played in years,” said the 60-year-old Boese. “I played seniors (nationals) a few years ago and it’s carried on and it really came together and I can’t explain it. It felt great.
“I played pretty well over the weekend but these last three or four games, as Stewie (second Stewart Robertson) says, it’s like the guy pitching the shutout – they were starting to move away from me on the bench.”
The game was tied 1-1 in the fourth end went it started to unravel on Vanderstar. He had a chance to score two but had to settle for a single when he jammed on his takeout. There was more trouble ahead in the fifth when third Len Vanderstar missed a hit on his second shot and Boese eventually capitalized, finishing the end by raising two of his own blue stones, which left him scoring three for a 4-1 lead.
Vanderstar had what was shaping up to be a big sixth end with two of his own hanging around the back of the four-foot, but Boese negated that threat with a double on his second shot. Vanderstar then caught only a sliver of Boese’s shot stone, not enough to dislodge it, and gave a steal of one to his opponent.
After a blank seventh end, Vanderstar held the hammer in the eighth but got into more trouble when his brother Len ticked off a guard with his first shot, allowing Darrell Johnston easier access for his takeout. Boese then left three of his own in the white zone and Vanderstar recovered nicely with his hit to get behind cover with shot rock, poised to score at least two.
But Boese had one more trick up his sleeve and with deadly precision took out both yellow stones near the back of the house to leave three of his own in the rings. Vanderstar missed on his draw and that prompted the handshakes.
Boese had lost four times in the Kelly Cup final, most recently coming out second-best to Michael Dahms in 2010. Of the eight players in the final, Dave Johnston was only one with his name already engraved on the trophy. Now living in Kelowna, the 62-year-old Johnston made the trip back to his hometown to play with his 29-year-old son Darrell, Boese’s third, and complete the crew with Robertson.
Dave Johnston is now a four-time Kelly Cup winner and he’s won the championship playing all four positions. He played second for Sandy McDonald in 1984 (they beat Kevin Smale and Boese in the final that year), was third for Glenn Pearce in 1988 and skipped his own team to the Cup in 1998. This year he filled in for Boese’s usual lead, Rick Gibb, who was vacationing in Hawaii.
Dave Johnston and Boese won the B.C. provincial senior championship in 2012.
“We were pretty much archrivals in ’84 and I won two (Kelly Cups) since then and I almost wished that I’d lost in ’84 so Garnet would have one, so this is super-sweet for me,” said Johnston.
“If you can’t beat him, join him,” quipped Boese.
For the younger Johnston, celebrating a Kelly win on the ice with his dad is about as good as it gets.
“It’s one of the most special things when you can play a sport with your father and to win is even more special,” said Darrell Johnston. “It was a good birthday present on Friday qualifying for the Kelly.”
The 55-year-old Robinson ended a 10-year hiatus from curling when he started playing with Boese two years ago.
“I’ve never come close to winning before this,” said Robertson. “We won the (D-event) last year.”
For Ron Vanderstar, it was tough getting all the way to the final and coming up short with his team, which also included second Matt Steventon and lead Greg Campbell. But the 56-year-old skip was happy for Boese, his former teammate.
“We came out a little flat and they were on and they deserved to win,” said the Smithers skip. “It’s Garnet’s first Kelly win so I cannot feel bad. He’s such a good friend of mine. We curled together competitively for a few years. We were torn, we tried to play aggressively.
“Matt was our star this weekend, he got us here.”
Steventon, an 18-year-old junior, was on fire all weekend, helping the Smithers team win the A-event to qualify for the Kelly Cup round. They beat Kelsey Dusseault of Grade Prairie in the quarterfinals and Bud Burbee in the semifinals to get to the championship game.
Boese got progressively better as the weekend went on. After a loss to Frank LaBounty in the second round of the A-event he went 6-1 the rest of the way. Boese’s only other loss was to Bill Hedden in the B-event semifinal. Boese was one of the four Kelly Cup qualifiers out of the A-event and in the Kelly Cup round he defeated Jason Howse in the quarterfinals and dispatched Scott Sherba in the semifinals.
In other Kelly Cup results, Hedden won the B-final over Tracy Steinke, Garret Overton topped Tim Hamilton in the C-final, James Knievel defeated Kory Johnson in the D-final and Greg Morgan took the E-final over Chris Moir.
