Two curling teams from southeast Saskatchewan came home with medals from the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association’s provincial competitions.
Carlyle’s Gordon F. Kells High School senior boys took top spot at their tournament Assiniboia on March 10 and 11, while the Carnduff Education Complex Tigers senior girls team won bronze in Moose Jaw the same weekend.
Carlyle opened their tournament with a 2-1 record in the round robin. They won 11-7 over Regina’s Campbell Collegiate and 6-2 over Spiritwood, but lost 8-4 to Tisdale.
They doubled up Saskatoon St. Joseph’s 6-3 in the semi-final, and routed Spiritwood 9-2 in six ends in the final.
Coach Brian Romaniuk thought his team might have felt more pressure in the final, but they didn’t, and came up with one of their finest games.
Still, he thought the final would be closer.
“We knew we could prevail,” said Romaniuk. “I think what happened, really, was that the boys were putting pressure on the other skip, and he wasn’t quite getting the shots that he needed.”
When the champions returned home to Carlyle after winning the provincial title, a crowd of about 20 to 30 people were waiting to greet them at the curling club at 11 p.m.
“It was a very nice reception for the boys, coming back from quite an accomplishment,” said Romaniuk.
Team members were skip Lane Newell, third Zack Romaniuk, second Ethan Newell and lead Jayce Fischer. Brayden Hill was the fifth, and did play in one game at provincials.
None of the students are in Grade 12, so they could be back next year.
“If they curl anything like they did this year, we should do well (next year),” said Brian Romaniuk.
The Carnduff Tigers, meanwhile, also went 2-1 in their round robin games at provincials. They opened the tournament with an 8-3 win over host Moose Jaw Vanier. An 8-5 loss to Saskatoon Holy Cross followed, but the Tigers responded with a 10-2 win over Prince Albert St. Mary’s to close out the round-robin with a 2-1 record.
Carnduff lost 6-1 to Esterhazy in the semi-final, but recovered to defeat Ituna 6-3 in the bronze medal game.
Coach Steve Smith said they were a little down after losing to Esterhazy, but they regrouped and came out ready to play for the bronze medal.
Smith said the team has been very good with their hits all year, and that carried over to provincials.
“As a matter of fact, in their last game, the bronze medal game, we were up three coming home, and in the eighth end, every rock we played was a hit, and we made them all, which made it easy to coast into the win,” said Smith.
The four teams in the medal round were fairly equal, he said.
“Anyone could beat any other one at any given time,” said Smith.
Holy Cross out of Saskatoon won the provincial title, and Smith said they were a strong team.
Team members were skip Bailey Komza, third Hallie McCannell, second Meegan Hood and lead Hannah McCannell. Kozma and Hallie McCannell are Grade 12s, while Hood is in Grade 9 and Hannah McCannell is in Grade 10.
Smith noted he has coached Kozma since Grade 7, and has watched her develop into a very good young curler. The other members of the team have also come a long ways over the years.
