2009 Team Stafford – consisting of skip Robert Stafford, third Ben Curtis, second Mark Patterson and lead Ed DeSchutter – made history in 2009 as the first rink in the 160-year history of the Chatham Granite Club to win a national championship.


Team Stafford won regional and provincial bonspiels and went on to win the inaugural National Dominion Insurance Club Curling Championship in Islington, ON, in November of 2009.


The team played together for several years and enjoyed their greatest success in 2008-2009 when they won the Chatham-Kent Major Curling League and Chatham Granite Club's Men’s Flight 'A' championships along with their historic Dominion national title.
Stafford, Curtis and Patterson, along with a different lead, played in the Ontario Tankard in 2007 as DeSchutter joined the rink the following year.


Representing the Chatham Granite Club, Team Stafford began their march to the Dominion by winning the Southwestern Ontario Regional qualifier.
Next step was the 2009 Dominion Curling Club Championship of Ontario at the Annandale Golf and Curling Club in Ajax Ontario - October 31st to November 1st.
Team Stafford went 3-1 in the round-robin to send them to the playoffs, where they won the semi-final and the final in an extra end to win the provincial round and qualify for the National Dominion Championship.
The local rink, now known as Team Ontario, represented the province at the inaugural National Dominion Club Curling Championship at the St. Georges Golf and Curling Club in Islington Ontario - November 24th to 29th.
Team Ontario went 6-1 in their pool to advance to the playoffs where they met Manitoba in the semi-final and went on to defeat British Columbia in an extra end to win the Dominion championship.


There was no international championship for this level of competition.
Patterson was the only Chatham native on the team as Stafford hailed from Kingsville, Curtis from Belle River and DeSchutter from Forest but all four played for several years in the Major League and represented the Chatham Granite Club in many competitions.