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.”

The Western Hockey League’s Victoria Royals put on a display of skill and hard work for a small group of minor hockey players Feb. 16 at the Davidson Rink.

The Royals stopped by the rink for an hour-long practice sandwiched between a 5-4 win over the Prince Albert Raiders a day earlier and an eventual 4-3 shoot-out victory in Moose Jaw on Family Day against the Warriors.

“We (were) on our way to Moose Jaw and there was no ice available for us,” said Dave Lowry, head coach of the Royals (41-16-4). “We started looking at the smaller communities on the way and Davidson had ice available. We play an afternoon game (Feb. 17), so we just wanted to have a quick skate and loosen up.”

Lowry said the ice was good and the rink was pretty unique. He said it’s great for smaller communities to have facilities like the Davidson Communiplex that teams on the road can take advantage of.

“If we can’t find ice along the way we’ll stop wherever we can,” he said. “We’re fortunate that this community had ice available and let us take it and use the facility.”

Brett Cote, a third-year defenceman for the Royals, said they likely wouldn’t get in a pre-game skate before their afternoon game against Moose Jaw, so stopping at a different rink on the way for a skate was a good move.

“We’ve done this in previous years,” said Cote, who has two goals and 28 points on the year. “We did it I remember two years ago when we came out here. We did it once, but usually we just go to whatever the city is and use their barn.”

The Royals practice in Davidson came after they completed the first leg of a seven-game road trip that sees the team play four games in Saskatchewan split up between a quick hike to Manitoba to play the Brandon Wheat Kings before eventually finishing off with a two-game stand at Prince George against the Cougars.

“It’s real important, but the one thing it’s good for our team is we’re comfortable playing on the road as well,” said Lowry. “We play the same whether we’re at home or on the road and we’ve been able to find success that way.”

Cote said they’re pleased with how things are going for the club so far this season, but the teams they’re facing over the two weeks across the Prairies and back home in BC are all tough. He said they’re just going to keep working hard and hopefully move up in the standings as they get ready for the playoffs.

“The last couple years we’ve gotten knocked out in the first round of the playoffs,” said Cote. “The expectation this year is definitely to make it past the first round and then obviously see where we go from there.”

The outcome of game two and the winner of the first round provincial ‘A’ playoff series between the Davidson Cyclones and the Kindersley Red Lions may not have been decided on a penalty shot save, but it sure helped.

“That save on the penalty shot was huge because we went in there short guys and got that 5-1 lead and they came back,” said Cyclones coach Jason Shaw. “If they would have scored there it would have been 5-5 and they had the momentum. That was a huge turning point.”

Taking a one-game lead in the best-of-three opening round series into Kindersley after a close 6-5 win in game one on home ice Feb. 7, Davidson could still only be considered the underdog. The Cyclones (13-8-1 during the regular season) were facing a strong Red Lions team (18-2) on the road with only 13 skaters compared to a full lineup of Kindersley players determined to exact some revenge, but that didn’t stop Davidson from pulling out a 9-5 win.

“We knew it was going to be tough and didn’t really know what to expect,” said Cyclones forward Chad Manz. “We beat them in pre-season, but I think their team was quite a bit different then and going into provincials you never know because they could pick up guys. Every round is going to be tough. Provincials bring a different game. Everyone seems to get up a little better.”

Shaw said one of the players who raised his compete level in that second game against the Red Lions was defenceman Zach Sim. He said Sim broke a bone in his foot blocking a Kindersley shot in the first game, but that still couldn’t keep him off the ice for the second.

“He played really well,” said Shaw, noting Sim picked up a goal and three assists in the game. “But everybody that we took got lots of ice time and played well. Kyle Boris got a hat trick. Carter Smith played well. It was a real team effort there.”

Manz said the great play from Sim and their goaltender Mark Zoerb had a big part in the win, but so also did special teams play. He said the team was able to pick up two power play goals and a shorty in the opening frame leading them to the quick 5-1 lead.

To read more please see the Feb. 17 print edition of The Davidson Leader.