Weyburn was well-represented during the Junior Men's and Women's provincial curling championships, hosted at the Weyburn Curling Rink.
Weyburn was well-represented during the Junior Men's and Women's provincial curling championships, hosted at the Weyburn Curling Rink.
"We were extremely busy and crowded during the provincials, the nice thing about hosting the junior curling is that all the students brought a lot of family and fans with them," said Scott Paxman, president of the Weyburn Curling Club and co-chair of the junior provincials.
Paxman noted that all the curlers complemented the club on the quality of their ice. "We had no complaints from the curlers, which is a good thing, keeping the ice in good quality is an important part of hosting an event like provincials."
The Weyburn Curling Club planned for the junior provincials with the Saskatchewan Curling Association for the last year, since their bid was accepted. "Since it was a joint provincial event, we relied on a lot of volunteers to run it smoothly," said Paxman.
"We had a full rink, so it was successful for us," added Paxman. Any proceeds from the provincials will go back to the Weyburn Curling Club for their facility, or junior curling programs.
There were three rinks at the provincials, held Jan. 3 to 7, that were skipped by Weyburn athletes. In addition, some Weyburn curlers were competing as seconds, thirds or leads.
For the junior women's provincials, Brooke Tokarz skipped a rink from Nutana Curling Club. Her team included Janelle Regier, Amanda Shalovelo and Brie Spilchen. Ashley Skjerdal skipped a Callie Curling Club rink, with Jordaan Maas, Shelby Hubick and Amanda Kuzyk.
The Tokarz rink had a record of three wins and two losses, while the Skjerdal rink had one win and four losses. The top five teams from the women's side all had four wins and one loss.
The Tokarz rink lost 7-5 to the Katherine Michaluk rink, won 7-4 over the Jessica Hanson rink, won 5-4 over the Alison Ingram rink, won 5-4 against the Malysha Johnstone rink, then lost 10-4 to the Nicole Thompson rink.
The Skjerdal rink lost 9-4 to the Kristen Streifel rink, won 10-3 over the Allyson Grywacheski rink, then lost 7-6 to the Danielle Bertsch rink, 7-5 to the Alexandra Williamson rink and 10-6 to the Lorraine Schneider rink.
For the junior men's provincials, Travis Tokarz skipped a Weyburn Curling Club rink, with teammates Kyle Cherpin, DJ Englot and Zac Fradette.
There were two other local males who competed with other teams, as Brendan Ryan played second for the Daniel Selke rink and Justin Sidloski was lead for the Jayden Shwaga rink.
The Tokarz rink had a record of two wins and three losses, the Daniel Selke rink had four wins and one loss and the Jayden Shwaga rink had three wins and two losses. There were three rinks that had four wins and one loss, with one rink claiming a perfect five-game record during the round robin.
That rink, skipped by Brady Scharback, also won the junior men's provincial final game.
During the round robin, the Travis Tokarz rink lost 6-4 to the Scharback rink, 11-7 to the Kris Keating rink, won 13-4 against the Zachary Turner rink and 9-8 over the Allan Walter rink. In their final game, they lost 10-6 to the Cole Tenetuik rink.
The Daniel Selke rink had won 10-6 over the Scott Loyns rink, then lost 6-4 over the Lucas Richards rink; he won 7-4 over the Jayden Shwaga rink, 12-7 over the Jeremy Venderbuhs rink and 10-2 over the Dallas Burnett rink. Then during the qualifying rounds, the Selke rink lost 10-7 to the Brady Scharback rink and lost 5-3 to the Tenetuik rink.
For the Jayden Shwaga rink, they won 9-2 over the Lucas Richards rink, won 8-3 over the Dallas Brunett rink, lost 7-4 to the Daniel Selke rink, won 7-5 to the Scott Loyns rink and lost 7-6 to the Jeremy Venderbuhs rink.
During the championship finals, for the men's side, the defending championship rink, skipped by Brady Scharback, defeated Cole Tenetuik 9-2.
For the women's side, the defending championship rink, skipped by Kristen Streifel lost 9-8 against the Jessica Hanson rink. The Canadian Junior Men's and Women's championships will be held in Fort McMurray, Alta. from Feb. 2 to 10.
