COLUMN: Act of God turned dream to heartbreak for Orillia's curlers

Orillia's curling club had been a powerhouse in Ontario since winning their first Ontario Championship Tankard in 1885. Perennially in the running to win it again, they kept coming up just short until 1896. That year they dominated the bonspiels leading up to the Tankard playoffs and felt sure it was going to be another championship year. The club had built their own building on Elgin Street, between Peter and West Streets, after their previously shared rink on West Street burned down in the late 1880s. Now that new building, with its natural ice rink dedicated to curling, was the host for the 1896 District Championships on Jan. 24, the first step towards the provincial tankard. The 'cream of Orillia' – professionals, businessmen, politicians, industrialists – were present in the arena, some 2,000 strong, crammed into every available space to cheer their team on, and they were not disappointed. From the start, Orillia was clearly the class of the competition. The 'Tankard', the Ontario Curling Championship trophy. They don't make trophies like this any more. Photo Courtesy Orillia Public Library Not long after the start of the games, people began nervously looking at the broad roof. It was creaking and groaning ominously under the weight of snow on it. Two weeks earlier a blizzard had created a massive drift on the lea of the roof. Thirteen inches of snow had fallen and was drifted into enormous snowbanks by the huge winds that had been strong enough to tip over trolly cars in Buffalo. Then, two days of heavy rain leading up to the curling bonspiel had been soaked up into that drift like a sponge, putting a tremendous strain on the roof. Several of the spectators noticed two iron braces supporting the rafters that looked like they had snapped. The caretaker was summoned, and after an inspection he announced there was nothing to worry about and the bonspiel continued. Soon after, with the groaning in the roof increasing, two cracked beams in the rafters were spotted. That was enough for many people. Half the crowd, 1,000 people, fled the building in spite of the caretaker's assurances. The curlers, from all around the region, pressed their luck and kept on curling. This was the championship; it would take more than a creaky roof to stop them. The Orillia rink, in spite of the excitement over the roof, won the district championship that night as expected and were feted by the crowd that remained. Assuredly, the building emptied quickly after the competition ended though. Two hours later the caretaker noted two more braces had snapped, and the roof was sagging noticeably in that region. Then he went home. Not long after, in the dead of night, the roof caved in. The newspaper noted, 'A large proportion of Orillia's most prominent business and professional men' had been present just a few hours earlier. It could have been tragic. The reporter then went on to say future curling matches (in this curling-mad town) 'will be played in the open air,' after the debris had been cleared away. Those curlers were a tenacious lot. But after two weeks of clean-up officials finally faced reality and cancelled any more use of the rink. But, never mind the cave-in, the Orillia curlers were off to the Tankard! Only lacrosse was a bigger sport in Orillia at the time. Three weeks later, after more rain and then another big snowstorm prevented any practice on the lake, the Orillia curlers slid onto the ice for their first match at the Ontario Championship Tankard Bonspiel. Their first opponent (of four rounds to win the cup) was their old nemesis of St. Mary's (a small town just outside London). After losing a close match to them in the final game of the 1884 Tankard, Orillia had beaten St. Mary's in the final in their rematch in 1885 to win their own provincial championship. And here they were again in round one, the loser going home empty-handed. A curling match in those days consisted of four games. Each town was represented by two four-man rinks, each playing the other town's two teams. The scores of the four games were added together to give the final score to decide the winner. Orillia's two rinks were skipped by veterans T.A. Main and Dr. William Harvey. The Toronto Globe newspaper called the Orillia-St Mary's match 'the game of the day.' Two heavyweights duking it out. Every game was close, and the lead changed hands repeatedly. These were two evenly matched teams. When all was said and done and the scores tallied, St Mary's came out on top 38-37. Heartbreak. Orillia was out in the first round. St Mary's went all the way to the final only to lose a very close match to the Toronto Granites, a perennial Tankard champion. The top runners-up played one further game for the Governor General's cup, essentially second place, and St. Mary's won that game easily by 23 points. By a fluke of the draw, Orillia was eliminated early by one of the top teams, and just barely. The Orillia papers were quick to point out that the Orillia rinks had not thrown a stone for three weeks thanks to the cave-in, and would have been tough to beat with a little practice. St. Mary's, they said, had been darn lucky! The Orillia Curling Club building was re-built and ready for the next season. Orillia's curlers continued to be a dominant force, winning a few Governor General's Cups in the next decades, but not a Tankard again until 1933 (the last year of the double rink competitions) and then again in 1957 and '61. New curling club buildings in Orillia were built in 1925 (Andrew Street), 1964 (West Street North) and 1999 (Barnfield Point), but it was that creaky building in 1896 that cost the Orillia club what it felt was their rightful place as Ontario champions. Sport is full of heartbreak due to acts of God. A flat tire on a bike; a collision in a canoe race; a fluky goal in lacrosse. The roof cave-in in 1896 was a big one for Orillia. David Town is a local chiropractor with a passion for local history. He has written 30 books about Orillia over the past 18 years. They are available at Manticore Books and at the Orillia Museum of Art & History gift shop.