Yorkton This Week | www.YorktonThisWeek.com | Wednesday, February 26, 2020
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SENIORS Our Monthly Feature ...For Seniors and about Seniors
Bernie Trischuk: curler for life By Cory Carlick Staff Writer Bernie Trischuk learned to curl as a kid. When his mom and dad gave him a little crash course in the game, that was it. “Oh yes, they played,” says Trischuk. “They played [on the] mixed team, which was mens and womens, and dad would with the men’s team, bonspiels, and all the curling things, he’d go and do that. So, that’s how I knew about curling. I just really played hockey when I was younger, because curling was maybe sort of the ‘older man’s game’, but as I went to university, they had intramural university curling, so I tried that because I knew about it and enjoyed that. Then, when I came to Yorkton, to start work, I started to meet people – especially over at the curling club – and joined a team. You could curl however you want [sic], you know? Either for fun, or com-
petitive, or you could join a men’s league, or mixed league – how[ever] far you wanted to go. I was at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, at the intramurals. Just for fun. It was nothing too serious at all.” Still, there was an undeniable appeal to the game. It wasn’t the only sport, of course. Golf and hockey were loves of his, too. But plenty know Bernie for his mettle on the curling rink, and the veteran curler knows a thing or two on how to command the ice. Trischuk dominated the floor at the Seniors’ Bonspiel this month, clinching the ‘A’ game final. There’s been a lot of changes in the game over the years in terms of equipment and other little upgrades — but at the end of the day, it still comes down to good, old fashioned skill. And skill, Trischuk says, comes from the time honoured tradition of putting your time in. In
The Bernie Trischuk rink, with Grant Preston, Ernie Brezinski and Cathy Gordon. short, practice. No tricks. No fancy theatrics. Watch your footwork, hurry
hard, and slide. Now, he devotes his time to his game and to his family, especially his grandson. Life is pretty good. “Well, you know, you’ve got a big heavy rock and you push it down the ice to the other end, and you tried to make it stop on the thing. They’d explain the rules to me, you sort of watch it, and then you’re interested. You can see that there’s a game involved. You just sort of go from there. The rules of curling, for those that have never seen it before, well, it’s not a real spectator sport. You just throw the rock and run beside it, go up or down
the ice like that, and you don’t understand it. It’s just like maybe cricket or something like that – in the game, you don’t know what’s going on. But that’s how you get interested, I guess. You just learn the sport, and the rules, and what’s available. It’s a good sport. It’s cheap to enter. Curling shoes, and a broom, and some warm clothes, and try your best out there. You can take lessons. Learn how to slide and not fall down, throwing the rock – in turn, out turn. I introduced my kids to it after a while. They played hockey. They came out and tried it and said, ‘Yeah, dad, that’s not as easy
as it looks.’ You’ve got to have the right grippers on the shoes so you don’t fall down. When you have the shoe with the slider on when you push out [from the hack] to slide the rock, you’ve just got to be really careful so you don’t fall down. “[Besides], there are other teams that are better than you that have curled longer, or more competitive,” he laughs. “But in any game, in any curling game, anyone can beat anybody at the time. It’s more fun when you have these better competitive teams and
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Bernie Trischuk watches over the shoulder of his oppoment in the ‘A’ Side final Friday.
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