SPORTS FLASHBACK 1969: SCI rink brings back Dan Davidson Trophy
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A decade after a Steinbach Collegiate curling team made history by travelling to Winnipeg to win a major event in the Manitoba Schoolboys Bonspiel during the Christmas school holidays, another SCI foursome brought the Dan Davidson Trophy back to Steinbach for a second time.
The Steinbach team, skipped by Jack Ladobruk, with Wayne and Ken Pauls and Grant McVicar, finished the first day of curling with one win and one loss.
On the second day, the SCI foursome got off to another slow start, losing the first game to the eventual Free Press event winner in an extra end. They went on to win the next game, where a loss would have meant elimination.

The third day was the most successful for the foursome from Steinbach, as they won three straight games to advance into the semi-finals of the fourth event, playing for the Dan Davidson Trophy.
In the semi-finals, the Steinbach rink managed to overcome a five point deficit to defeat a West Kildonan team, then went on to take the Dan Davidson Trophy by defeating a Notre Dame foursome 8-5 in the final match.
A decade earlier, another Steinbach Collegiate team also came back from a slow start to capture a major event in the Manitoba Schoolboys Bonspiel.
The team was comprised of Peter Vogt, skip; Larry Tarasenco, third; Alvin Steingart, second, and lead Laverne Loewen.
In the 1959 bonspiel, that was followed closely by the high school crowd at home, as well as numerous other well-wishers, the local squad lost the first game, won the second, and lost the third. From there on, it was clear sailing right through six more games, to win the Davidson Trophy.
“It took us some time to get on our feet,” skip Peter Vogt related later. “None of us had ever played on artificial ice before, and it took us some time to get used to it.”
Larry Tarasenco, who also played hockey on Steinbach’s senior team, travelled to La Broquerie one evening during the bonspiel, to help the Huskies win a game against Boniface.
After winning the Davidson event, the 1959 SCI team played in a round-robin series, involving the eight major event winners and were one point short of earning the right to represent Manitoba in a Western Canadian high school curling final.
The first provincial high school championship was held in 1947. The top eight event winners from the Manitoba Schoolboys Bonspiel competed in a playdown to represent Manitoba in the Canadian championships.
The annual Christmas bonspiel attracted a record 312 rinks four times during the 1960’s.
Editor’s Note: The Dan Davidson trophy was first awarded in 1940, donated by a well-known Winnipeg clothier. Despite the Dan Davidson Clothing Shoppe closing in 1970, a group of junior curling supporters kept ensured the trophy was kept in competition through the years.