The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs mixed curling team came back from an early 3-0 deficit in the second of two provincial qualifying games at the Power Dodge Curling Centre on Sunday to beat Team Myers 8-4 and gain a spot at the CurlSask Juvenile Open Provincial Tournament next weekend at Regina's Callie Club.
The ECS mixed curling team, which includes skip Kyle Johnson, third Rachel Kramer, second Lucas Wallewein and lead Caitlyn Green, gave up two in the first end on Myers’ steals before allowing another steal in the second end to fall behind 3-0. Team Johnson got one back in the third with the hammer, which was followed by a blank end in the fourth.
“We just tried to keep the house more cluttered,” said Johnson about their strategy after the second end, “so we could get some more rocks into play.”
Team Johnson stole two in the fifth end to tie the game at 3-3 before Team Myers replied back with the hammer in the sixth end to make the score 4-3. Coming in with the hammer in the seventh, Johnson filled the house with rocks scoring three to go up 6-4. The rink solidified the comeback in the eight and final end by stealing two.
“It was just lucky shots and missed shots,” Johnson said about the last ends of the game. “We just shot our best to win.”
Team Ryan, comprised of Estevan second Jordan Walter and Weyburn lead Laurel Oberkirsch, third Jaedon Miller and skip Rachel Ryan, earned the first berth at the CurlSask Juvenile Open Provincial Tournament earlier Sunday afternoon with a 5-3 win over Team Myers.
Team Myers took a 1-0 lead in the first end with the hammer, which Team Ryan tied up in the second frame. After a blank third end, Team Ryan stole a point in the fourth end before the Myers’ rink matched them at 2-2 in the fifth. Team Ryan scored two with the hammer in the sixth end, Myers got one back in the seventh, and Ryan finished off the game with a point in the eighth.
“We played a good hitting game,” said Ryan. It was “keep them in the house rather than just going through. (We made) sure to keep them all in the house and then they had to play for hits, so we liked it that they were hitting at us rather than us hitting at them.”
Ryan said the team’s hope at the provincial championship is to at least win two games, but not knowing what the competition will be like makes their future unknown. She said they have a strong team and the hope is they’ll do well, which was echoed by Johnson.
“It’ll be pretty challenging there,” he said. “It’ll be a great experience.”
