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Maple Ridge curling team wins gold at Salmon Arm tournament

Team Joanisse earned $5,000 for their win at the 2022 Twin Anchors Houseboats Classic
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Team Joanisse, consisting of (L-R) Dean Joanisse, Grant Dezura, Brendan Willis, and Dave Stephenson, won first place at the 2022 Twin Anchors Houseboats Classic in Salmon Arm. (Salmon Arm Curling Centre/Special to The News)

Maple Ridge resident Grant Dezura has earned many curling accolades over the years, and has just added another one to the long list as he and the rest of his team won gold at the 2022 Twin Anchors Houseboats Classic.

Under the leadership of Abbotsford’s 1989 Junior Curling Championship winner Dean Joanisse, Dezura and his teammates beat out the other seven teams to snatch a victory against Team Geall in the final round.

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Joanisse, who now manages the Golden Ears Winter Club in Maple Ridge, opened the Salmon Arm tournament with an 8-6 victory over Team Longworth from Vernon.

Unfortunately, the second draw (a.k.a match) resulted in Team Joanisse being narrowly nudged aside by Vernon’s Team Nobert in a 5-6 loss.

But for the remainder of the tournament, Team Joanisse would remain perfect, beating out Cranbrook’s Team Medford, Salmon Arm’s Team Belway, and topping it off with a hard-fought 6-5 revenge win over Team Nobert.

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In the first round of the playoffs, Team Joanisse beat out Team Longworth in a 7-4 match.

They then proceeded to the finals against Salmon Arm’s Team Geall, who they handily defeated 8-4 in order to win first place.

Team Joanisse consisted of:

• Dean Joanisse as skip

• Grant Dezura as third

• Brendan Willis as second

• Dave Stephenson as lead

As winners of the tournament, Team Joanisse was awarded $5,000. This was their first BCCT event win of the 2022-23 season, with the next BCCT event happening from Nov. 25-28 in Dawson Creek.


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Brandon Tucker

About the Author: Brandon Tucker

I have been a journalist since 2013, with much of my career spent covering sports and entertainment stories in Alberta.
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