An Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) rink and one comprised of teens from Estevan and Weyburn both earned a podium finish at the CurlSask U18 Open Provincial Championship this past weekend at the Regina Callie Curling Club.
Team Johnson, which includes skip Kyle Johnson, third Rachel Kramer, second Lucas Wallewein and lead Caitlyn Green, went undefeated in the 24-team tournament before losing the championship final 6-5 to Assiniboia’s Team Gronsdahl. Team Ryan, comprised of Weyburn skip Rachel Ryan, third Jaedon Miller, lead Laurel Oberkirsch and Estevan second Jordan Walter, placed third in the competition losing 7-3 to the Gronsdahl rink in the semifinal.
“It came to a battle of take-outs,” said Angela Johnson, a curling liaison between ECS and the Estevan Curling Club, about Team Johnson’s final match. “They put one in and we had to take it out. In the end it came up to the last shot. We were sitting three in the house and they just had to take one out and they were able to take the one out, so it ended up being a score of 6-5. They had hammer, so not much we could do about it (except) hope for a miss.”
Johnson said the final action of the season for the ECS rink was impressive considering they were competing against the best teams in the province at the tournament. She said they put up scores of 9-5, 6-1, 12-2 and 12-4 before the championship match and actually faced their toughest competition, again against the Gronsdahl rink, in the opening match of the round-robin.
“It was tight,” she said. “It came up to the last end. The score was (6-5) going into the last end and we had hammer. They were sitting two and Kyle had to do a takeout for two and he got the takeout and we ended up with three.”
Team Ryan coach Wade St. Onge said they fell behind early to Team Gronsdahl in the semifinal and made a good comeback attempt, but their opposition didn’t miss anything in the game. He said they started off the weekend well earning 9-2 and 6-1 wins in round-robin play, as well as a close 8-6 loss, placing them first in their pool and earning an A-side versus B-side playoff with Team Johnson, a 12-4 loss, to determine who would advance to the final.
“From the start of the year, they just as individual curlers each improved so much,” said St. Onge, noting Oberkirsch is the sole graduate from the team this year. “We came together very nicely at the end and we’re happy with our season and our accomplishments.”
Johnson said the ECS rink struggled a bit at the beginning of the season, but hit their stride at districts and that carried over to a great performance at the U18 Provincial Curling Championships. She said the two boys on the team will graduate this year and the hope is the girls keep the team’s success going next year.
