Weyburn and Estevan mixed teams claimed the championship in A and B side finals respectively, thus ensuring their spots at provincials. The Southeast District senior mixed curling tournament was held at the Power Dodge Curling Centre on Feb. 14-15.
Weyburn won over Carnduff in a very close eight-end game in the A-final, which pushed Carnduff to B-side.
Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) had junior and senior teams entered. After losing their spots in A-side, the teams ended up playing against each other and the ECS senior team won, making its way to finals, where it faced Carnduff.
“We ended up having a really, really good day on Saturday,” said Estevan Comprehensive School coach Mike Keating. “Senior team ended up beating Carnduff in the sixth end… with the score being up 13-0."
The final game was nervous from the beginning, however, the Estevan team managed to pull away right from the start. They gained two points in the very first end, and in the second they ended up stealing two points.
In the third end, the Carnduff team had an open draw to 4-1, came up light and the Estevan team ended up stealing four.
“In the third end we already put the game away being up 8-0,” said Keating, noting that the team lost to Carnduff just a day earlier. “It was a really good comeback win … Carnduff was a super, super strong team. It’s just they were off a little bit Saturday, and we were on fire Saturday.”
Both A and B-champions are now going to try their skills and luck at regionals that will take place in Whitewood on Feb. 28-29.
“We are super excited. This is all we worked towards all year, to get to districts. This will be the first time for the team... to move on and go to regionals. If they play like they did this weekend, you never know what can happen at regionals … We are super excited to win districts and move on to regionals.”
Keating said that while preparing to regionals the senior team is going to stick to their game plan. They have two more practices and a couple more games.
“We are going to hone in on our skills and prepare them to regionals,” said Keating. “It’s definitely going to be just as tough playing in the regionals, get some of those teams that we’ve never seen before out of Regina. But I have all the confidence in my team. If they play like they did this weekend, there is no reason why they can’t win regionals and move on to provincials.”
Keating also thanked all the parents and friends, as well as the ECS cheer team who came out and supported the ECS curling teams throughout the tournament.
