Rafuse rink completes historic double with senior win

BY JOHN DECOSTE

Kings County Register

Curt Palmer might want to think about taking the month of March off work. He just might be too busy curling.

Palmer, a Coldbrook resident and Berwick lawyer, is the third on the Brian Rafuse curling team, which followed up its win at the Keith’s Tankard in Wolfville earlier this month with a win last week at the provincial senior men’s championship in Liverpool.

Rafuse, Palmer, Alan Darragh and Dave Slauenwhite, representing the Bridgewater Curling Club; captured the senior title with a 9-4 win Feb. 17 over the Don MacIntosh rink from Dartmouth.

It was the third meeting of the competition between Rafuse and MacIntosh. The two skips had also met in the A draw final, with Rafuse winning 8-6, and in the 1-2 Page playoff game, won by Rafuse 6-0.

The victory marked the second straight senior men’s title for Rafuse since turning 50 two years ago. Rafuse and his teammates also become the first team in Nova Scotia men’s curling history to win the Tankard and senior men’s championship in the same season.

Rafuse went 4-0 to win the A draw, and MacIntosh captured the B draw. Milt Larsen and Richard Belyea won the two C draws to complete the playoff picture.

Larsen took on Belyea in the 3-4 Page playoff, with Belyea winning 8-6. Belyea then played off against MacIntosh, with MacIntosh winning 7-3 to advance to his third rematch with Rafuse.

A pair of Valley teams competed at the provincial event, skipped by Brian Boutilier of Wolfville and Dave Ronaldson of Greenwood. The Ronaldson rink finished with two wins and three losses, and the Boutilier team with one win and three losses.

It has been a successful past couple of years for both Rafuse and Palmer, who curled together for many years, winning a provincial Tankard title in 1996 along with Slauenwhite and this year’s alternate, Glen Josephson.

When Rafuse turned 50 and chose to put together a senior team, Palmer, two years his junior; curled two years as third for Mark Kehoe – the team won the 2007 provincial Tankard title – before resuming his partnership with Rafuse this winter.