BRAINERD — The Brainerd Curling Club will host 20 of the state’s best senior men’s curling teams during the 2025 Minnesota Senior Men’s Bonspiel, set for Friday through Sunday, Jan. 10-12.
Organizers said in a news release that the event promises to showcase some very competitive curling. It is broken into three classes: Seniors (50 and older), Super Seniors (65 and older) and Masters (70 and older).
Teams will be gunning for the defending champs: Team Nelson from Brainerd. Having never curled together in a bonspiel, the four curlers came together in Bemidji for last year’s Senior Men’s Bonspiel to finish undefeated in pool play before beating Team Pustovar in the finals. Skip Paul Pustovar is a World Senior Champion, decorated medalist and one of the most prolific curlers in the United States.
Team Nelson is Bob Nelson, Michael Williams, Brent Gunsbury and Craig Johnson. Two other teams from Brainerd will compete as well. Team Jones is Tom Jones, Robert Haugly, John Smyrski and Garey Burditt. Ripcurl is Paul Murray, Dalen Hodge, Shon Roberts and Brian Stenglein.
The bonspiel is free and open to the public. Games are 4-11 p.m. Friday and 8 a.m.-10 p.m. on Saturday. Semifinals and finals games start at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Located in the Crow Wing County Fairgrounds, the Brainerd Lakes Curling Club is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information, visit brainerdcurling.org or email brainerdlakescurling@gmail.com.
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