Team Malpass - Club Champions 2022-2023: (left to right)
Lead – Chris Bode
2 nd – Ron Bichler
3 rd – Eric Peterson
Skip – Todd Malpass
The Superior Curling Club held their annual club championship on March 29 th . 12 teams competed for
the coveted title of club champion. The competition was open to any league team. Six Monday teams,
four Tuesday teams, one Wednesday team, and one Thursday team competed in the single elimination
tournament. Seeding was based on regular season league record and placement in standings.
The club championship playdown is named after longtime Superior curler Bill Strum. A lifetime member
of SCC, Bill won 3 world championships in 1965, 1974, and 1978. Bill became an Olympian in 1988 when
curling was reintroduced to the Olympics in Calgary. Along with his son Mike, Bill won a bronze medal at
the 1992 Olympic games. The Strum legacy continues at the club, as the SCC membership includes son
Dave and several grandkids.
The first round of competition saw the lowest seeded eight teams playing to compete against the top
four seeds. Rick Flesvig lived up to his “Mr. March” nickname by advancing both his Monday and
Thursday night squads past John Bradshaw’s Monday night squad and Steve Mosack’s Wednesday night
squad respectively. Steve Bradshaw’s Tuesday team advanced for the chance to compete against his
father Jim’s Tuesday team. Rounding out the first-round winners was Mike Britton’s Monday night
team, defeating Trent Wickman’s Tuesday squad.
The second round of competition saw the defeat of both Rick Flesvig’s teams, as his Monday and
Thursday teams lost to Mike O’Brien’s Monday night champions squad and Todd Malpass’s Tuesday
night squad respectively. All four top seeds advanced as Jim Bradshaw bested his son Steve in an extra
end and Brian Bergquist’s 2 nd place Monday night squad defeated the Brittons.
In the semifinals, Brian Bergquist pulled off the upset of Monday champ and 2 nd seed Mike O’Brien,
while Todd Malpass beat Jim Bradshaw in a replay of last year’s championship. The championship
match of Brian Bergquist versus Todd Malpass was set. Chris Bode, a member of both teams, was only
allowed to play for one, despite his “insistence” on playing for both teams and sweeping continuously…
The game started with Todd scoring a deuce with hammer in the first end. Brian was forced to one
point in second, returning the favor with a force of one in the third. Brian scored one point in the fourth
after a failed blank attempt. Todd scored another deuce in the fifth, followed by a force of one in the
sixth and force of one in the seventh. With a 3-point lead, Todd forced Brian to attempt an angle
runback for a shot at 3. Brian was only able to get a single point, sealing Todd’s 6-4 victory and an
undefeated season. Thank you to all participants, this was an amazing event!
