In a town the size of Spiritwood, it’s easy for everyone to get involved in making sure that a major event goes off without a hitch.
That was especially true this past weekend at the Spiritwood Curling Club as eight teams battled it out for a provincial title at the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association boys’ curling championship.
“It’s so much more than just the athletic department organizing things behind the scenes,” Spiritwood co-curling coach and event co-commissioner Nancy Caffet said. “We have a big curling community here in Spiritwood and we had a ton of support from outside of the school.
“Having the provincials here is a huge deal for Spiritwood. There was a lot of buzz in the community in the weeks leading up to it and it also bring in a lot of revenue for the town.”
Spiritwood previously hosted a provincial high school championship in 2009 when they played host to girls’ curling playdowns.
“We tried to take some of things that worked then and improve upon it this time around,” Spiritwood co-curling coach and event co-commissioner Brad Nemish said.
“For instance, we wanted to make sure that we had an actual piper bring the teams in for the opening ceremonies on Friday, as we felt that really adds to the experience.”
Helping to add to the excitement was the fact the Spiritwood boys high school curling rink of skip Garrett Reddekopp, vice Devyn Thompson, second Derryk Franson and lead Rian Caffet would be competing at their home club after winning a provincial silver medal last year.
“Nothing’s ever guaranteed in curling but with all four guys coming back from last year’s team, we felt like there was a good chance that they would be playing in the provincials once again,” Nemish said.
After gaining a measure of revenge in the semifinal over Lane Newell’s rink from Carlyle that beat them in last year’s final, the Reddekopp foursome went up against James Hom of Regina LeBoldus in the championship game.
In a tightly contested game, Reddekopp had a chance to force an extra-end but his final draw in the eighth end came up inches short as Hom picked up a 3-1 win and the provincial crown.
“We didn’t know this until after the fact, but LeBoldus had gone undefeated all season so they pretty much had a dream campaign going,” Nemish said.
“Both teams are really good at hitting so there wasn’t a ton of chances for multiple points. Their shot stone was buried in the full four foot so it came down to Garrett’s draw to force the extra. He had a great shot, but it was just on the right side of the inch for us at the end.”
Meanwhile, the Spiritwood mixed team of skip Dalton Wasden, third Emma Beaulac, second Jordan Tuttroen and lead Payge Galambos captured a provincial medal as they took home the bronze at their provincial playdowns in Rosetown.
“They kind of flew in under the radar compared to some of the older teams,” Nemish said. “Jordan’s in Grade 11 and the rest of the team is in Grade 9, but they have some experience under their belts already from playing on the junior circuit.
“As you can imagine, they were pretty excited about coming away with a medal and they are really looking forward to next season.”
With two more provincial banners set to hang in the Spiritwood Curling Club, expectations are high around the school for their success to continue in the years ahead.
“We have a strong group of Grade 9 teams in the boys’ and girls’ category that made it to the regionals but just missed out on making it to the provincials,” Nemish said. “We have a lot of good young curlers in the community and it’s one of those cycles that you hope to take advantage of.
“The success we’ve had as of late is pretty awesome to see,” Caffet added. “There was a big gap of provincial high school curling banners from 1947 until 1979 at one point, but now we’re starting to add to it pretty regularly.”
