Local teams medal at curling provincials
By Woodard, Dale on March 9, 2020.
Dale Woodard
Lethbridge Herald
Jaden McIntyre and his Coaldale Kate Andrews mixed curling team had seen this opponent before.
A couple of times, actually.
McIntyre and his team of third Sarah Peters, second Ethaniel Ericksen and lead Jasmyn Kallen advanced to the bronze medal game of the Alberta Schools Athletic Association high school curling provincials Saturday afternoon at the Lethbridge Curling Club against a Catholic Central team they were more than familiar with.
The CCH foursome of skip Josh Kroker, third Emma Knodel, second Ty Dudas and lead Grace Bell won the round-robin match 6-5 in the Thursday evening draw earlier in the week, but with a medal on the line the Kate Andrews crew delivered with a 6-2 victory.
The win made Kate Andrews one of two southern Alberta teams to medal this weekend as the LCI boys team of skip Kyler Kurina, third Lowell Whittmire, second Braeden Petro and lead Joe Iwashita defeated Edwin Parr 9-5 in the bronze medal game. The LCI rink lost a 5-4 decision to eventual gold medallist Calgary Henry Wisewood in the semifinals.
As for the Kate Andrews and Catholic Central mixed, they had crossed paths even before provincials, which were hosted by LCI.
“We played CCH in the zones finals and we were able to edge them out there,” said McIntyre. “To play them again after losing to them in the round-robin was nice to do. The team played really well and we had lots of support. We’re really happy to come home with the bronze.”
The loss to Catholic Central in the round-robin aside, Kate Andrews went 3-1 the rest of the way.
However, a trip to the gold medal game wasn’t meant to be as McIntyre and his rink lost 6-3 to Barrhead in the semifinals Saturday morning. Catholic Central lost their semifinal game 10-4 to Cochrane.
“I think we were a little bit relaxed,” said McIntyre of the rematch with CCH.
“We just came off of a game where everybody was a bit disappointed because we weren’t in the one-two game.
But at the end of the day were really happy with winning that last game, it was really fun. The ice was awesome, there were really good ice conditions.”
The provincial medal puts a nice cap on the Kate Andrews foursome’s first year of competing together.
“They were awesome, tons of support and great sweeping, to,” said McIntyre.
Saturday’s provincial medal was also a hometown win of sorts for the mixed rink.
“It’s nice to have the family and a couple of friends come and watch,” said McIntyre. “It’s nice to drive 30 minutes to provincials instead of travelling six or seven hours like most teams.”
The LCI hosts nearly landed a second medal Saturday, but the girls team was edged 6-5 by St. Paul Regional in the bronze medal game. LCI lost 7-6 to Wainwright, who went on to win this year’s provincial title, in the semifinals.
In the boys’ gold medal game Calgary Henry Wisewood (skip Aidan Sinclair, third Ryan Tait, second Jake Evanson and lead Brennan Tait) defeated St. Paul Regional 9-2.
The Wainright girls team (skip Draidyn Gibb, third Jordan Gibb, second Denna Gibb and lead Tessa Burke) earned this year’s provinicial banner with a 7-4 victory over Cochrane.
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