ESTEVAN — The Power Dodge Curling Centre in Estevan played host to some talented young curlers on the weekend during CurlSask U18 and U15 bonspiels.
Nine teams were entered in the U18 division and six were in the U15 age group. The U18s utilized a triple-knockout bracket, with six teams advancing to the playoffs. In the final, the Brandon Weiss rink defeated Dayne Heisler's team 7-2 in seven ends, thanks in part to a score of three in the seventh end.
Competing out of Estevan was Team Fradette, comprised of skip Heidi Fradette, third Kalli Johnson, second Amy Fradette and leads April McMillen and Olivia Fonstad, who alternated playing the lead role. They opened with a 9-4 victory over Team Okraincee, thanks to a score of three in the sixth and a steal of two in the seventh to take over a 4-4 game.
A 6-4 loss to the Grace Wickenheiser rink, in which Wickenheiser scored four in the fourth end, knocked Fradette down to the B event.
Fradette then lost 7-1 to the Heisler rink in six ends, with Heisler scoring five unanswered points in the final three frames.
The Fradette rink recovered to defeat the Bjornson rink 10-2, thanks in large part to a steal of five in the first end and two more in the second, to advance to the playoffs through the C event. Seeded fifth, they played fourth-ranked Team Simpson, and lost 8-6 in an extra end.
Fradette scored four in the second to take a 4-1 lead, but Simpson had three in the third. Fradette had a 5-4 lead through six ends, but Simpson scored two in seven to take a lead. Fradette put up one in the eighth to force the extra end, where Simpson notched the two-point score.
The U15 curlers played triples, a relatively-new variation of the sport from Curl Canada to encourage more participation from youths. Teams are comprised of three players instead of four, and each curler throws two rocks in an end.
It also features a different scoring system. Instead of awarding points for each end, they play three sets of two ends each. A team is awarded points if they win a set, and the third set is worth more than the first two.
The six teams in the U15 event were split into two pools of three for a round robin. Estevan was represented by NAD, comprised of Natalie Currie, Alice Mowchenko and Daane Schlamp. They went 0-2 in the round robin. Then they played DLC, the third-place team in the other pool, and lost that one.
HND won gold over the 3 Stooges in the gold-medal game.
Scores were not tracked in the U15 division.
