The Loreburn Aztecs, Outlook Blues and Davidson Raiders junior curling teams met up at sectionals last Thursday at the Davidson Communiplex with each school coming away with a rink advancing to the district playoffs March 7 and 8 at Rosetown.
The Blues junior boys curling team beat the Davidson squad of Cole Murfitt (injured), Addison Ouellette, Morgan Manz, Braeden Fowler and Reegan Taylor two games to none, while the Raiders junior girls team of Katherine Cool, Jordan Matheson, Hannah Gust and Jesselynne Palmer bested the Blues by the same score. In the mixed game the Aztecs rink of Kaitlyn Glubis, Shane Lafontaine, Tori Rendall and Jackson Norrish posted 7-3 and 6-4 scores to beat the Raiders squad of Phoenix Prpick, Breanne Townsend, Nathan Chomyshen and Jessica Townsend giving them the win.
Aztecs coach Heather Norrish said both of the mixed games were close and the outcome just came about through her players taking their time and thinking through the plays they learned to master in practice. She said winning is fine, but the players just getting in some games is the real reward.
“They’re learning lots about the game,” said Norrish. “Grant Abbott has been helping us with his expertise in curling and coming out and showing us different things and they’ve really learned a lot this year. The games are what they need. They gain experience on what to do.”
Tracey Palmer, coach of the Raiders curling team, said sectionals are just a great way for her players to gain experience in a game situation. She said the squads have been learning many different things this season including sweeping, turns, slides and everything else, so no matter how things turn out they can consider this a good season for curling.
“We have a number of kids this year, so that is good because we want to pique their interest and when that is piqued we want to keep going,” said Palmer. “It’s a sport that they can play for life. Hopefully they can get some experience here and want to continue to play.”
Norrish said the games in Rosetown would have four sectional winners going up against each other, but she doesn’t have any expectations about coming home with lots of victories. She said the hope is the curlers play well and apply what they’ve learned so far this winter.
“The kids have had some good learning experiences out on the ice so far,” she said. “I think that strategy wise they’ve learned a lot of things and hopefully they’ll have some good games.”