St. Mary Marauders curlers had a chance to learn last weekend as the school hosted the St. Mary Christmas Classic.
The event drew 21 high school curling squads to the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club om Friday and Saturday, including rinks from La Ronge, Spiritwood, Shellbrook, Tisdale, and Martensville.
St. Mary curling coach Brooke Fetch said that getting the curlers on the ice was the most important part of the bonspiel.
“It went really well,” he said. “We had 21 teams come out, and so we had seven sheets of ice always in use, and kids getting out curling.
“Our St. Mary teams did well. We had some wins, some losses, some excitement, and some made shots. It was overall a learning weekend, and that’s what I like to see.”
The two-day bonspiel was the first of the season for the St. Mary curling team. Fetch said it was the first time some of the teams had played anyone from another school.
In the Championship Pool on the “A” side, Spiritwood 1 met La Ronge. Spiritwood advanced after defeating Swift Current 3 earlier on Saturday, while La Ronge advanced after defeating Wynyard. On Saturday morning Spiritwood defeated Swift Current 1 to advance to play Swift Current 3. La Ronge defeated St. Mary 2 on Saturday morning and Wynyard defeated Martensville 1.
In the Consolation Pool St. Mary 1 met Martensville 2 in the “A” side final. St. Mary 1 defeated St. Mary 7 earlier Saturday to advance.
On the “B” side of the Championship Pool Swift Current 2 met St. Mary 2. St. Mary 2 advanced to the final after defeating Martensville 2 on Saturday afternoon.
On the Relegation Pool “A” side Tisdale 1 faced St. Mary 3 in Saturday’s final. Tisdale advanced after defeating Meath Park earlier on Saturday to face St. Mary 3. On Saturday morning on the Relegation side Tisdale 1 defeated Spirtwood 1 and Tisdale 2 defeated St. Mary 7 and St. Mary 3 defeated St. Mary 7 to advance. Individual game scores were not posted.
Fetch said to have seven teams at St. Mary shows there is some interest in curling at the school.
‘We have a team of just about 40 curlers,” she said. “We come out twice a week and we’re practicing developing our skills. It’s awesome to see just that many young kids out here picking up the game.
St. Mary 1 skip Micah Bridal lays down the broom during the team’s match against Martensville on Saturday night during the St. Mary Christmas Classic at the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Centre.
“We have people who have taken curling lessons and want to keep going. We have kids who are just starting in grade 9 or grade 10 and they just want to learn and it’s awesome.”
The team goes from the bonspiel right into the Christmas break and Fetch hopes that the curlers do not lose all the skills they have built.
“We go into a two-week break after this. We’ll have some practices next week and then into that, but we’re going to start focusing on doubles because we have a doubles tournament in January here,” Fetch said.
The doubles bonspiel is scheduled for Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 at the Golf and Curling Centre. Fetch said the focus for the season is mostly about learning.
“I have young teams that we’re focusing on learning and development of just their general skills. I have two doubles teams that went to provincials last year and so we’re hoping that we can end up in provincials again this year,” she explained.
Fetch explained that the New Year will get some more focus on competition with provincials approaching.
“We will have a boy’s team, a mixed team, a girls team and some doubles teams going into our high school playdowns here in February so we’re hoping for some provincials for some of them for sure.”
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
