While the St. Mary Marauders’ senior boys curling team didn’t end up with the result they were hoping for at the Saskatchewan high school boy’s provincial curling tournament, they still have a lot of positive takeaways.
The St. Mary rink of skip Bowen Webb, third Carter Minier, second Owen Macdonald-Miller, lead Mitchell Minier and alternate Dylan Krip advanced to provincials following a second place finishing regionals two weeks ago at the Prince Albert Golf and Curling Club. They exited the provincial tournament after failing to qualify for the playoffs with a 1-2 record in pool play.
The team is the first from St. Mary to make it to provincials in five years. Coach Remi Joncas says despite the quick exit, there were still a lot of moments to be proud of.
“They played really well over the weekend,” Joncas said. “But with how curling goes, sometimes you miss a shot that ends up being a key shot, and that’s what happened with us. We missed a couple of key shots, and that’s when it gets hard to comeback. We were really proud of how far the team came this year. We played some really tough teams, and we were happy with how we played.
“They were able to practice a lot and they were able to get their chemistry with each other really fast. I feel like the rust got off pretty quick too. In terms of what I saw compared to some other teams, we’re pretty good.”
St. Mary dropped their first game of the bonspiel 5-2 against Spiritwood. They bounced back with a 5-4 win against the host Swift Current team, setting up a must-win final game against Esterhazy with a playoff spot on the line.
Unfortunately, the Marauder rink lost 8-1, bringing an end to their provincial bonspiel.
“If we would have beaten Esterhazy, we would’ve finished second place in our pool and moved on to the Playoffs,” Joncas said. “We had to get first or second in our pool to move on, and two teams from each pool had to go home, and we were one of those teams that went home.
“We were able to face some very good competition. When you face the smaller towns like Spiritwood, it gets tough for our guys. We have kids that come to curling and then have to go and play club volleyball and they nave a million things in town. With the smaller towns, they’re able to focus on one sport at a time, and that’s what makes them so good.”
Bowen Webb, who serves as the skip of the team, is the only grade 12 player. With two boys in grade 11 and another in grade nine, experience wasn’t exactly on St. Mary’s side. Additionally, with last year’s curling season called off with the pandemic, this season was the first time that anyone on the team had made it to regionals or provincials.
“In general, everyone improved,” Jonas said of the team’s growth throughout the year. “Last year was a pause for everyone, so they didn’t curl. It was a recovery year, but we got better. Everyone was working on their own things to improve, and they all got a lot better over the year. You could just see how much each of the players changed and improved at the end of the year compared to the start.
“Our team was put together around Christmas time during our Christmas bonspiel. They started knowing how they play together, and that’s when we started to work who works best in what position. Everyone was working on better technique and making better shots, and they were able to get a lot better. Our team did very well considering how busy they are outside of curling, and we have a lot of reasons for us to be proud of them.”
Provincial curling results
1st Place: Spiritwood
2nd Place: Saskatoon St. Joseph
3rd Place: Bellevue
@kyle kosowan•sports@paherald.sk.ca