‘Our team played perfectly’: Local curling club racks up rare eight-ender

Scoring an eight-ender is very rare in curling. Imagine doing it when you're in your 80s. That happened recently at the Garrison Curling Club.

Ingrid Saunders has been curling for 50 years and says she likes everything about the game.

“I love curling,” the 88-year-old said. “I love the camaraderie and the challenge.”

Recently, Saunders and her team of Flo Volcko, Barb Aasen and Nancy Matyas were up for the challenge.

They did something most curlers will never do—they scored an eight-ender.

Saunders skips the team but was throwing lead rocks.

She says she’s still in shock.

“Well, it wasn’t planned,” she said. “After I saw six yellow stones, my mind was working and it worked. Our team played perfectly.”

Team Saunders is all the talk at the Garrison Curling Club right now, and rightfully so.

Scoring an eight-ender is very rare, according to the club’s general manager, Steve Cloutier.

“A hole in one in golf, the odds are one in 12,000,” he said. “An eight-ender in curling is one in 120,000, so most people don’t come anywhere close to it.”

Better still, this wasn’t the first eight-ender for teammate Volcko.

She also did it in 1992 at a women’s bonspiel in Banff.

This time around, the 81-year-old was throwing skip stones for Team Saunders.

She says she was shocked to put up another eight-ender.

“Because I had a pacemaker put in and this was my first day back curling. No warmup, no anything—I just got on the ice,” she said.

“The curling gods were with me because I made two of the most perfect shots to take them out and gave us an eight-ender.”

Saunders says curling keeps her young, and this eight-ender inspires her to curl a little while longer.

“Maybe until I’m 90. We hope a couple more years,” she said.

As for Volcko, it’s been suggested she buy a lottery ticket.

“People keep saying that. I did go buy one, but I didn’t win,” she said with a laugh.