| 1972 Air Canada Silver Broom | |
| Host City: | Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany |
| Arena: | Olympic Eisstadion |
| Dates: | March 19–21, 1972 |
| Skip: | Orest Meleschuk |
| Third: | Dave Romano |
| Second: | John Hanesiak |
| Lead: | Pat Hailley |
| Prev: | 1971 |
| Next: | 1973 |
The 1972 Air Canada Silver Broom was held at the Olympic Eisstadion in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, West Germany from March 19–21, 1972. The 1972 Air Canada Silver Broom was the site of the infamous incident that led to the Curse of LaBonte.
| Fort Rouge CC, Winnipeg, Manitoba Skip: Orest Meleschuk Third: Dave Romano Second: John Hanesiak Lead: Pat Hailley | Grafton CC, North Dakota Skip: Robert LaBonte Third: Frank Aasand Second: John Aasand Lead: Ray Morgan | EC Oberstdorf Skip: Manfred Räderer Third: Peter Jacoby Second: Peder Ledosquet Lead: Hansjörg Jacoby | Hamilton & Thornyhill CC, Hamilton Skip: Alex F. Torrance Third: Alex A. Torrance Second: Robert Kirkland Lead: Jimmy Waddell | |
| Dübendorf CC Fourth: Peter Attinger Jr. Third: Bernhard Attinger Skip: Peter Attinger Sr.* Lead: Ernst Bosshard | Stabekk CC, Oslo Skip: Knut Bjaanaes Third: Sven Kroken Second: Per Dammen Lead: Kjell Ulrichsen | Mont d' Arbois CC, Megève Skip: Pierre Boan Third: André Mabboux Second: André Tronc Lead: Gerard Pasquier | Djursholms CK, Stockholm Skip: Kjell Oscarius Third: Tom Schaeffer Second: Bengt Oscarius Lead: Claes-Göran "Boa" Carlman |
| Country | Skip | W | L | |
| 7 | 0 | |||
| 4 | 3 | |||
| 4 | 3 | |||
| 4 | 3 | |||
| 4 | 3 | |||
| 3 | 4 | |||
| 2 | 5 | |||
| 0 | 7 |
See main article: Curse of LaBonte.
The 1972 Air Canada Silver Broom saw the incident which led to the Curse of LaBonte. In the finals, Canada under Meleschuk was playing the Americans under LaBonte, and Canada was down by two points in the final end. Meleschuck had the hammer and tried to hit out an American stone on the button so that Canada could take two and tie the game. The rock succeeded in knocking out the American stone, but rolled so that it came to be very close to another American rock biting the 8-foot. US third Frank Aasand saw that the American rock was still second shot and jumped in the air to celebrate. LaBonte also followed suit, but slipped and kicked the Canadian stone while Canadian third Dave Romano was still investigating the shot. It was decided that Canada got two points in the 10th end, forcing an extra end in which Canada stole a point and won.
It was said that LaBonte placed a curse on Canada, which did not win a world championship until 1980.