The richest bonspiel in curling history took place in 1990 in Moncton, New Brunswick. The event was created to help celebrate the city’s centennial and it pitted 16 top teams playing for $250,000. It is still the most lucrative bonspiel ever held and also one of the most significant in that it was the first to utilize rules that are now standard. Some notes about this legendary bonspiel:
• The field included two women’s teams, skipped by Heather Houston and Linda Moore, four European teams, and two from Atlantic Canada. The rest were hand-picked by the organizers from across the country.
• This was the first major event to use a variation of the free-guard zone. The rule stated that leads could not play takeouts on rocks anywhere between the hog line and the tee line. It was a huge hit with the curlers.
• The event was the first to include a separate singles’ skills competition for an extra purse. The players in the main event also participated in the challenge, being scored on their ability to play a number of difficult shots. A similar challenge was later added to both the men’s and women’s Canadian championships.
• It was the first event to use a draw to the button to determine last rock. All four players threw one stone, and the team with the lesser cumulative distance had last rock in the first end.
• The teams were charged an entry fee of $1,000 but received free airfare to Moncton, complimentary hotel rooms and, if they lost all their games, $1,500 in prize money.
• With the new free-guard zone rule in place, most games were high-scoring, close affairs … except for the final. Ed Lukowich defeated Russ Howard 13-2 to win the Moncton 100. Lukowich earned $100,000 for the victory.