High school curling zones start today

By Lethbridge Herald on February 13, 2023.

Justin Seward – LETHBRIDGE HERALD – sports@lethbridgeherald.com

There will be 18 senior high school curling teams vying for three Provincials berths during the South Zone Championship at the Lethbridge Curling Club today and tomorrow.

There will be a Zone champion from a men’s, women’s and mixed doubles category.

“I think the level of competition should be pretty high,” said Dave Fletcher, LCI curling coach and high school curling league organizer.

“These are the teams that have had to make out of their local areas in order to get to Zones. I know we have quite a few players that are on teams that play at a provincial level already, including the LCI girls team that for the most part, …  they’re a team that competed at a provincial level in the competitive league. It’s called the Tour of Alberta.”

When asked about a team that will have a strong Zones appearance, Fletcher looked no farther than the LCI girls team.

“The LCI girls team is the one that I think has a lot of exciting possibilities,” said Fletcher.

“I would definitely say that they should be able to win provincials this year. They’re a very strong team.”

The city playoffs were held at the end of January and at the beginning of February.

LCI girls’ Team Raquel Snideman took first place in their pool, followed by Chinook in second and Winston Churchill came third. LCI’s Team Rhett Whittmire beat out Chinook’s team for first place in the Mixed category.

All those teams advanced to Zones.

The boys side saw three teams have a 2-1 record.

The final came down to a collaborative draw to the button score, where LCI’s Team Ryan Petro beat Catholic Central High School.

Winston Churchill came third.

LCI and CCH earned Zones berths.

“I think we’ve got a really excellent high school curling league,” said Fletcher.

“So we play in the league first of all … up until Christmas and then afterwards we get into competitive teams. (We) rearrange ourselves and then we playoff for the cities and it was nice this year that we do have more berths available for the Lethbridge teams.”

Other entries for the boys side include Warner, Willow Creek, WR Myers and County Central.

The  other girls entries will also have Warner, County Central and WR Myers

The other mixed category teams will be  from Eagle Butter High School, FP Walshe and St. Mary’s.

Tuesday’s  round robin draws will be at : 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 3:30 p.m.

Wednesday’s medal round and playoff draws are at 9 a.m. 12 p.m. and 3 p.m.

Winners in each category will head to St. Paul for Provincials from March 1-4.