The Humboldt Curling Club was a busy place over the weekend as Humboldt played host to the Travelers Curling Club Championships.
The Travelers featured teams from across the province as 12 men’s teams and nine women’s teams were in action including a pair from Humboldt as Aaron Gaudreau’s team competed in the men’s event, and Amy Hogemann’s squad competed in the women’s event.
Bringing a provincial championship like this one was an easy decision, noted competition liaison Jerry Shoemaker.
“Humboldt is a great city to host any event. It’s got a fantastic facility, which we found out this weekend out on the ice and they have great volunteers and we knew it would go over well.”
Go over well it did, noted Shoemaker, who said everything ran well, and the ice was great.
“It was an all around good weekend.”
Being able to showcase the facilities is a large part of being able to host a provincial championship, said Humboldt Curling Club Manager Bev Kaip, who says everyone was really pleased with Humboldt’s facilities.
“All we heard were compliments on the ice and everything but not only our curling rink but also just the facility. They couldn’t believe we had a swimming pool, hockey rink, and high school attached so that was awesome.”
Of course, with two Humboldt teams in action the curling club was packed, but it was all weekend, not just when Humboldt played.
“People just came out to see what it’s all about and that’s the important thing. It’s important for us to have more and more people just check out what curling’s all about,” noted Kaip.
On the ice, it was Team Osmachenko from Moose Jaw who took home the ladies title, while Team Kohuch from Saskatoon took home the men’s title.
Thanks to their provincial titles, both teams will be representing Saskatchewan at the 2018 Travelers Curling Club Championship in Miramichi, N.B. Nov. 19-24.
While Humboldt’s clubs failed to win the title both enjoyed solid events.
Team Gaudreau started off their tournament with a win, and were 2-1 by the end of day two.
Unfortunately for the men’s club they ran into some trouble losing their final two games, which left them with a 2-3 record, and on the outside looking in at a playoff spot.
Team Hogemann meanwhile, enjoyed a terrific bonspiel.
Hogemann’s squad rattled off two straight wins to earn themselves a spot in the semi-finals.
Their final round robin contest came against the eventual provincial champions, and while they put up a fight they ultimately fell 5-2, finishing second in their pool.
With their second place finish Team Hogemann took on Team Ryde, the top seed from the other pool, in the semi-finals.
Hogemann’s squad started out of the gates slowly as they gave up points in the second, fourth, and fifth ends, and found themselves behind 4-1 with three ends to play.
A deuce in the sixth cut Hogemann’s deficit to one, but a single in the seventh was too much.
Hogemann ran out of stones in the final end and eventually conceded losing 5-3 and bring their bonspiel to a close.
While Humboldt teams failed to win, Kaip was pleased with how the week went.
Kaip, and the rest of the organizing committee were aided by a number of volunteers, who stepped up to help make the weekend a success.
“We have a huge volunteer base with the curling club. We can’t complain at all. They were fantastic. This event couldn’t have happened without them.”
Shoemaker was also pleased with how things went and said he would be open to bringing the curling championships back in the future.
“I hate to speak for the Humboldt Curling Club but probably any event they want we could probably accommodate them.”
While Kaip is unsure which, if any Curl Sask events they will have coming next year, she did note that the Humboldt Curling Club will play host to the high school provincial championships next March.
