Mark Bice among the best on ice

By Dave Paul
The Sarnia Observer
January 5th, 2010

-almost a lark -nearly ended up in a national championship for Sarnia's Mark Bice in 2009.

Bice, and his rink of Codey Maus, Courtney Davies and Leslie Bishop, reached the final of the Canadian Mixed Curling Championships in November, before falling to Nova Scotia's Mark Dacey in a nailbiting finish.

The Dacey rink was one of only two teams to beat the Bice foursome at the event -they did it twice in a pair of back-and-forth contests, 8-7 and 7-5.

Still, it wasn't too bad a finish for a team that was assembled almost on a whim.

"We just did it more for fun, than anything," said Bice. "We hadn't actually played together before.

"We didn't even really practice together," added Bice, though Maus plays on Bice's men's rink and Davies and Bishop play together on the same ladies team.

"We played really well," said Bice, "in the end, (Dacey's rink) just played a little bit better than us."

After qualifying to represent Ontario, Bice's team became the host rink at the event, held at the Burlington Curling Club.

"The facilities were great. The event was really well-run. ... They really took care of us," said Bice, adding the atmosphere was comparable to the two Canadian Junior Championships, in which he competed, but the teams were "maybe a little bit more light-hearted. We'd hang out with them at night. There was a lot of camaraderie."

The new year is off to a pretty good start for Bice too. On the weekend, he skipped his men's rink into the provincial men's curling championship, scheduled for next month in Napanee.

Competing at the regional event in Shelburne, Bice lost a close A-side final to Brampton's Peter Corner, but rebounded with a win in the B-side final to move on to the 11-team Ontario championship.

Competing at the elite level provincially isn't easy, said Bice. His foursome is not all living in the area, so they have to practice separately. They try to synchronize their vacations to allow them to compete in as many events as possible.

Some teams even travel to western Canada several times a year, where there are more top-level competitions, he said, but that's taking things further than he's willing to go right now, said Bice.

"To put in a good effort, you have to spend at least $30,000 a year," he said. "It can be tough to get sponsors. We're lucky, we have a couple of really good ones -Burchill Financial Services and Lear Communications."

Glenn Howard's rink will be the prohibitive favourite in Napanee. After that, Bice said there are "a bunch of similar calibre teams ... we're in that group."

With the exception of Howard, "we have as good a chance as anyone else," added Bice, whose brother, Steve, who lives in Milton, is both a member of Mark's rink and the alternate for Howard's team (he'll be playing on his brother's team at provincials).

As good as 2009 was for Bice, he expects even more great results in the future.

"My ultimate goal is to win the Brier," said Bice, "and then, if the timing is right, ideally, compete in the Olympics."