TISDALE — Persistence was rewarded for Team Bernath as they put on the green jackets.
The Sutherland Curling Club-based team won the Junior Men’s Open Provincials at the Tisdale Curling Club held Oct. 28 to 31, earning the right to represent Saskatchewan on the national stage. To get to this point, Team Bernath had not only lost three previous championships, but also had to deal with delays created by the pandemic.
“We've been here a few times and we're on the losing end ,so it was really nice just to be on the winning end for once,” said Daymond Bernath, Team Bernath’s skip.
Martensville Curling Club’s Team Ede had won the A Event against the Wadena Remax Curling Club’s Team Pomedli, while Team Bernath had won the B Event against Team Pomedli. Team Pomedli then won the C Event.
In the playoffs, Team Ede defeated Team Bernath 5-4, then Team Bernath won against Team Pomedli 15-8. The final saw Team Bernath win over Team Ede 9-4.
Bernath said his team saw the final as a tough battle going in.
“We were really just mostly focusing on it shot-by-shot but I think as we came to the end, once we'd realized, it was just overwhelming joy.”
The skip said the difference between the first time they faced Team Ede and the final was their intensity.
“Our execution was much better. We were making a lot more shots. We felt a little more comfortable with the ice and weight. Where we were making half shots last night, we were focused on getting the full shots – and we made those today.”
Now Team Bernath will be practicing for the nationals, aiming to do well and win them.
Women’s
Tisdale also hosted the Junior Women’s Open Provincials.
The Sutherland Curling Club’s Team Kleiter won the right to wear the green jackets after winning all four games in a round robin.
The final game saw Team Kleiter win a close game against the Sutherland Curling Club’s Team Haupstein 6-5. Team Kleiter took advantage of its final shot in the tenth end to get that final point.
“We just had a good game as a team and I was just really confident that we were going to make that last shot,” said Madison Kleiter, Team Kleiter’s skip. “I just threw it with lots of confidence and the girls swept it there.”
The final game saw Team Haupstein score a point in the second end, then Team Kleiter score three points in the third end.
“I think that three ball was huge for us getting ahead and they had them chasing us a bit but we just stayed close and bottle it up,” Kleiter said.
Team Haupstein score one point each in the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth ends, while Team Kleiter scored one point each in the fourth, seven and tenth ends.
“We'll head off to Nationals and hopefully represent Sask with pride and when that national championship would be pretty cool, and then to go to Worlds, obviously, would be awesome,” Kleiter said.
‘Amazing’
Jim Wilson, CurlSask’s president, completed the play of the competitors.
“These kids are amazing,” he said. “It's tough because it is still October and most of these kids have only been practicing for maybe a month, but they've come out of the gate just amazing.”
Wilson said Tisdale’s a great community for hosting its events.
“Anytime we've tapped Tisdale on the shoulder and said, ‘can you host an event,’ they've been right on board right from the beginning,” he said.
“This year, being an extraordinary year, most of our events are going twice. We're tapping a lot of rinks on the shoulder in a lot of communities because there's so many events.”
