Medicine Hat Memorial Tournament

The Medicine Hat Lawn Bowling Club held a provincial tournament over the weekend, its largest event of the season.

The club’s ninth annual Medicine Hat Memorial Triples Tournament saw clubs from Edmonton (Royal LBC, Commonwealth LBC and Highlands LBC), Calgary (Stanley Park LBC, Rotary Park LBC and Calgary LBC) and the host Medicine Hat taking part.

Teams played five matches on Saturday and were then seeded in one of four pools on Sunday. The tournament is designed to include veteran players, novice players and newer players on one team to give them all a chance to play in a provincial-level tournament.

Two of the 14 teams represented went undefeated on Saturday, Team House from Calgary LBC and Team Starling from Medicine Hat. Both teams were eliminated Sunday morning. Team House lost to the fourth-seed Team Jo from Highlands LBC 4-2 and Team Starling lost to the third-seed team Moll 7-6

In the A final, Team Jo took the Memorial Trophy with a 7-4 win over two-time champion Team Moll.

Team Packer from Rotary Park/Stanley Park took the B side defeating Team Spencer from Royal LBC

Team Turner from Royal LBC defeated Team Gilchrist of Medicine Hat to take the C side championship.

Team Black of Commonwealth LBC took the D side defeating Team Millward of Highlands LBC

The Ben Osterman Award, for top skip, went to Keith Bacon of Calgary LBC for the second time in a row.

Bacon’s team also took home the Howard Davison Award for the team “most fun to play against,” both awards are voted on by participants.

Canada Day Tournament

The Medicine Hat Lawn Bowling Club celebrated Canada Day with its annual tournament on the holiday.

The local lawn bowling club hosted a mixed triples tournament, with the Burniston Family Trophy on the line.

Four teams vied for the tournament win and the right to lift the Burniston Trophy.

The competitors played a round-robin tournament and because of the heat, the games were shortened to six ends and they did not play a playoff match.

Doug Sanregret’s team that included Linda Bower and Denis Ethier took home the Burniston Trophy going 3-0 in tournament play. It’s the third time Sanregret’s name will be etched onto the trophy.

Curt Moll’s team consisting of Yvonne Sanregret, and Cave and Janette Starling went 2-1 in the tournament, finishing second.

Sam Ferrier’s group of Barb Moll and Shirley Richards finished the day in third place.

Dave Dennis Tournament

 The Medicine Hat Lawn Bowling Club held its first tournament of the year over the weekend.

The local club held the fifth annual Dave Dennis Memorial, with proceeds from the tournament donated to the Margery E. Yuill Cancer Centre in Dave Dennis’ memory.

On the ladies side of the tournament, Janette Starling defeated defending two-time champion, Barb Moll, 11-5 to win her first Dave Dennis title. Linda Bower defeated Yvonne Sanregret to take the bronze.

Jim Clegg also won his first Dave Dennis title with an 11-8 win over Curt Moll. Mike Gilchrist took the bronze, defeating Doug Sanregret.

Meet the Neighbours 2025

Poor weather was threatening the annual Meet the Neighbours open house event at the club. However, the sun came out and although it was a bit chilly at times, we had 16 people come and give bowls a try!

Medicine Hat Memorial Tournament

The Medicine Hat Lawn Bowling Club held its only Bowls Alberta sponsored tournament this weekend.

The Medicine Hat Memorial Triples Tournament was held this weekend by the local club, with 15 teams, totalling 45 players, from Highlands LBC, Commonwealth LBC, Royal LBC, Calgary LBC, and Medicine Hat LBC taking part in the action.

Medicine Hat’s tournament is the only tournament on the Bowls Alberta calendar that gives lawn bowlers who don’t normally play in provincial championships a chance to play. Teams are supposed to be made up of a mix of veterans, novices and beginners.

Saturday saw teams play five games, with teams divided up into four groups and play continuing on Sunday. The first couple of games on Saturday morning provided a challenger for bowlers, as they to adjust the playing on a wet green due to the rain storm.

By Saturday afternoon, as the temperatures rose, the lawn bowls got faster and faster and made for some good games.

Wes Bresee, Jim Clegg and Sam Ferrier of Medicine Hat LBC won the eighth annual trophy with a 7-4 score over Keith Bacon, Kathryn MacGregor and Mike Belliveau of Calgary LBC.

On the B side, Ed Gallacher, Chris Bezovie, and Blair Whitman from Highlands LBC of Edmonton defeated Barb Moll, Curt Moll and Eric Moll of Medicine Hat LBC 7-3.

The C champions were Barb Spencer, Tony Spencer and Monika Pachon of Highlands LBC. They defeated Mike McGee, Brian Hutcheon and Frances Poelen of Commonwealth LBC of Edmonton.

The D champions were from Calgary LBC. Peter Ballinger, Jo Anne Liberty and Laura Levesque beat Susan Kitzen, Deborah Mlinaritsch and Ann Black of Highlands LBC.

The Ben Osterman Award was awarded to the top skip, as voted on by participants, to two skips this year. Keith Bacon and Peter Ballinger, both of Calgary LBC tied in voting. The participants felt both skips displayed the virtues of a good skip – good sporting behaviour, knowledge of the game, hard work, and competitiveness.

Barb Moll, Curt Moll and Eric Moll were awarded the Howard Davison Award, as voted on by participants, for being the team the late Howard Davison would have wanted to play with.

Davison treasured fun, good sporting behaviour, laughter, competitiveness, and time with friends and family.

Canada Day Tournament

Four teams vied for the annual Burniston Family Trophy on Canada Day. Weather was an issue for some of the morning with some serious thunder and rain storms happening in and around Southern Alberta. Play was halted at one point for 20 minutes when there was a deluge of rain. 

Skips were drawn out of a hat of the six females playing. The four skips then drew the rest of their team out of the same hat. 

Team Bower - Linda Bower, Wes Bresee, Pat Ferrier, and Braydon Gordon

Team Starling - Janette Starling, Sam Ferrier, and Curt Moll

Team Sanregret - Yvonne Sanregret, Mike Gilchrist, and Cave Starling

Team Bresee - Jean Bresee, Barb Moll, and Doug Sanregret.

Due to the weather, the skips decided that the round robin would be sufficient to determine a winner. Originally we were going to play a playoff round. 

Team Bower and Team Bresee were tied at 2-1 in the standings, but Team Bresee had beaten Team Bower to win the tiebreaker. 

The bronze medal team was Team Starling, who were tied with Team Sanregret, but had beaten them in the round robin, too. 

Alberta Coach Visit

Mike O'Reilly, Bowls Alberta coach, spent a few hours with interested members and showed them different drills and skills they could practice. The focus was on the bowls delivery, but we also practiced rolling jacks and using the bowls pushers.