The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs junior and senior curling teams fell short in their final games at the McComb’s Automotive Youth Spiel at the Power Dodge Curling Centre on Saturday, but their overall results from the weekend competition can be considered a big step forward.
The ECS Elecs junior curling team of skip Devin Fichter, third Megan Parsons, second Jesse Debruyne and lead Hailey Wallin came out strong against the Balgonie Elementary School team by staying on their brooms and keeping the rocks in line on their way to an early 4-0 lead after the first end. However, the Balgonie rink refused to back down bringing the score to 4-3 after three ends and eventually taking a 6-4 lead on a triple steal in the fourth frame.
“We’re all good friends, so we can cooperate together,” said Balgonie skip Elizabeth Kessel, who was joined on the team by third Jordan Carruthers, second Tesa Silversides and lead Jared Domais. “Then we’ve played on this sheet before so we knew the ice. We also know to have the rocks in and guard out front.”
The Balgonie foursome rolled to a 10-4 win over the Elecs to capture the Tim Hortons under-15 bronze medal and hand the ECS rink their first loss in four games at the two-day spiel.
“We just let off a few rocks and then we came between a rock and a hard place and couldn’t bounce back after that,” said Fichter. “We won the first three (games), so overall I think we did fairly well. I’m not really too disappointed.”
The Elecs senior curling team, with skip Rachel Kramer, third Trey McIntyre, second Caitlyn Green and lead Myles Stepp, went 1-1 during pool play in the Tim Hortons U18 competition before suffering a 12-4 loss to Regina’s Team Hom in the B final. The Queen City rink of skip James Hom, third Braden Breit, second Michael Hom and lead Joseph Duczek started strong by stealing two from the Elecs in the first end before picking up five more in a dominant third end.
“We were pretty calm at that end and we stayed focused all the time,” said the Regina skip. “The way we played that end it was tough for them to make their shots.”
The Elecs shook off the tough end and brought the score to 8-4 after the fifth stanza on a couple of solid draws to the house by McIntyre and Kramer. The Hom rink then finished the game with hammer in the sixth end, scoring four.
Kramer said her first season as skip of the Elecs team started off well with the rink capturing a B-side championship at a tournament in Moose Jaw in early December, but it’s been a bit of learning curve since then. She said the team will keep working with their coach Marcus Lau and the hope is they’ll peak by the time the High School District Playdowns are held in Estevan on Feb. 24 and 25.
