Six rinks have punched their tickets to the Saskatchewan high school curling regional playdowns after clinching berth during the Battle West district playdowns at the Twin Rivers Curling Club Thursday.
Angus Reid and his North Battleford Comprehensive High School foursome were among those earning a spot to the regionals, which will take place in Saskatoon on March 4 and 5, after he won the boys鈥� 鈥楤鈥� event title.
鈥淚t was a pretty good couple of days,鈥� Reid said. 鈥淚t would have been nice to get a win against Spiritwood in the 鈥楢鈥� final, but it all worked out in the end and we鈥檙e going to Saskatoon.
鈥淭he biggest challenge was getting the draw weight down early in our games. Once we did that, we were able to capitalize on other teams mistakes to get a few points in each end.鈥�
The Spiritwood rink that Reid was referring to captured the 鈥楢鈥� event title earlier in the day, thanks to some great shooting by skip Garrett Reddekopp,
鈥淲e have a pretty seasoned group here,鈥� Reddekopp said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been curling together for about three years now and we鈥檝e been lucky enough to play in a few bonspiels this season.
鈥淲e kept things clean for the most part, and that was the key to our success. We have the juveniles coming up in St. Walburg in a couple of weeks, and that will be a nice tune-up for us before we go to Saskatoon.鈥�
The girls鈥� competition was led by a pair of veteran rinks as Jolene Gruber鈥檚 squad from McLurg School in Wilkie and Cyane Sperle of Unity earned regional spots.
鈥淲e鈥檙e undefeated so far this year so we鈥檙e obviously pretty excited with how things have been going,鈥� Gruber said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e been playing a simple game all season and we鈥檙e looking to keep that going through the rest of the year.鈥�
鈥淲e had a few ups and downs over the course of the event but everyone was staying positive out there,鈥� Sperle said. 鈥淲e kept calm when things didn鈥檛 go our way and we were able to make some key shots as a result.鈥�
The final two regional spots were clinched by Kerrobert鈥檚 Carter Murphy and Macklin鈥檚 Tanner Sieben in the mixed event.
鈥淓veryone on the team has curled before but we never played with each other prior to this season,鈥� Murphy said. 鈥淲e just clicked right away and we haven鈥檛 looked back since.鈥�
鈥淭his was the second year in a row that we made it to the 鈥楢鈥� final and lost, so maybe we鈥檙e a better 鈥楤鈥� event team,鈥� Sieben joked. 鈥淗opefully that changes in a couple of weeks in Saskatoon.鈥�
The top two teams in each regional event will then advance to the provincial playdowns on March 10 and 11.
The boys鈥� event will take place in Assiniboia, while the girls and mixed competition will be held in Moose Jaw.聽
