CANORA - Young curlers from across the region gathered in Canora on Feb. 2-3 for the East Central District Athletic Association Junior Curling Championships. The double elimination event included a total of 20 boys, girls and mixed teams.
Curtis Baillie, one of the organizers, said junior curling is generally for student athletes from Grades 7 to 9.
“There are exceptions to use students in Grade 6 when you need them to formulate a team in smaller communities.”
Most Canora and area curling fans were focused on the boys competition, where two of the eight teams were from Canora Composite School.
“Generally a school is only awarded one entry into a category,” said Baillie “In the event a category needs one more team to make an even number, the host school usually has first opportunity to fill that spot. It just happened to be that we needed an eighth team for the boys event.”
Boys event
CCS Team 1 was skipped by Jordan Zbitniff, who was joined by: Owen Ostafie (third), Josh Prychak (second) and Jackson Palagian (lead). Aidyn Tratch was the skip of CCS Team 2. Rounding out the foursome were: Liam Trask (third), Brandon Woicichowski (second) and Jaxton Ditz (lead). Other boys teams in the hunt were: Preeceville, SHHS, Norquay, Esterhazy, Columbia and Yorkdale.
CCS 1 and CCS 2 each won their first two games, before CCS 1 defeated CCS 2 in the third round. But this was only the first of three games between these evenly matched teams. CCS 2, with one loss, then defeated and eliminated Esterhazy, setting up a rematch with CCS 1. Since CCS 1 didn’t have any losses, the odds were stacked against CCS 2, as they would have to win two straight games to win the championship.
In the first game, it looked like CCS 1 might cruise to an easy victory. In the first end, Zbitniff and his teammates were counting four, behind guards, when Tratch went to shoot the last rock. But he calmly drew to the four foot through a narrow opening to count one important point. That shot seemed to change the momentum of the game completely, as Tratch stole one in the second end for a 2-0 lead. The two teams traded singles in the next two ends, leaving CCS 2 with a 3-1 lead after four ends. In the fifth, Zbitniff was heavy on a final rock draw, leaving CCS 2 with a steal of two and a 5-1 lead coming home. CCS 1 counted two in the sixth and final end, leaving Tratch and his teammates with a 5-3 win and forcing another game, since each team had one loss at this point.
In the championship game, CCS 2 continued to apply pressure and scored a big four points in the opening end. In the second, Zbitniff had a chance to bounce back with a score of three, but was heavy on his last rock draw, leaving the score at 4-2 for CCS 2. The third end proved to be pivotal in this game. CCS 1 was lying a hard-to-believe five, but with last rock, Tratch made a tricky raise-tap to cut it down to a steal of one, and retain a one-point lead.
CCS 2 took advantage of the hammer in the fourth end to pick up a pair, and stretched their lead to 6-3. In the fifth, Zbitniff came up with a clutch takeout against two counters, and trailed 6-4 coming home. CCS 1 battled hard in the sixth and final end but were only able to score a single point, leaving CCS 2 with a 6-5 win and the East Central District junior boys curling championship. The rink from SHHS finished third.
Tratch said the third end was when he made his best shot.
“[It was] probably when they were sitting five and I made the shot to cut them down to one.” Trach said his team’s victory was possible due to teamwork and shot making. He also complimented the efforts of CCS Team 1. “They were using lots of teamwork and they were also hitting good shots.”
Girls and mixed events
On the girls side, five teams were entered: Sturgis, Churchbridge, MacDonald, Esterhazy and MCS. Esterhazy won the championship, going through the bonspiel with a perfect record of three straight wins. Churchbridge earned second place, and MCS finished third.
In the mixed event, six teams competed for the championship: Preeceville, Sturgis, MCS, YRHS, Columbia and Esterhazy. The first two games were wins for Sturgis, followed by a loss to Yorkton Regional High School. This set up a game against Esterhazy, the only other team with one loss. Sturgis defeated Esterhazy, leading to a rematch with YRHS. But the Yorkton rink defeated Sturgis for a second time to win the ECDAA junior mixed curling championship, with Esterhazy placing third.
Championship a ‘good success’
Baillie and co-organizer Kellyanne Ostafie reported that the event was “a good success with lots of students participating from all over GSSD and Christ the Teacher school divisions.”
Baillie said that events for the three categories; mixed, boys and girls, are often split between multiple communities. But this year, Canora took on the challenge of hosting all three categories at once.
The teams played six end games, and coaches were allowed to provide guidance to their young curlers with up to two 90-second timeouts per game.
Like many local residents, Baillie was excited to see the two Canora teams make it all the way to the boys final.
“Their coaches have done some great work with those students and it shows in their ability to make some amazing shots on the ice.”
Baillie said putting on this event should significantly benefit the future of curling in Canora and the surrounding area.
“This is the first time in 15 years that Canora has hosted the ECDAA. It was awesome to see the curling rink packed with students, parents and spectators. It brings excitement surrounding the sport and hopefully encourages other to join.”
Baillie attributed the success of the curling districts in Canora to teamwork within the community.
“The town and Aaron Herriges with Leisure Services have put a lot of work into our facilities and the feedback received was nothing but positive,” he said. “Folks visiting from out of town were blown away with how amazing our curling rink was and the overall quality of our facility.
"This championship doesn’t get hosted in Canora without our Curling Club executive being committed to Kids/Youth Curling in our community. They have been nothing short of amazing when it comes to booking the facility for practice or hosting this championship. They truly value youth involvement in the sport.
“Our kitchen was open all weekend for the championship and the doughnuts were receiving rave reviews.
“Our ice makers Mark and Kelly McTavish kept the playing surface in tiptop shape the entire event, nothing but great feedback regarding the ice conditions.
“Without the help of all these folks our school would not be able to host this event and showcase what Canora has to offer.”
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