It was déjŕ vu for an Okotoks rink in the A final of the second leg of the Ladies Triple Crown.
Just a week after qualifying for the A final in Black Diamond, but losing the title match the Lois Fast rink out of the Okotoks Curling Club repeated the feat, by dropping the title match at the Highwood Ladies Bonspiel, Jan. 15 at the Bob Snodgrass Centre in High River 6-3 to Terri Loblaw’s rink.
Fast, who beat a trio of Highwood Curling Club teams in the Tanilla Doyle rink, Team Marj Ryland and the Janis Stark foursome en route to the final, said her team curled at an exceptional level in High River, but expressed disappointment in her shot calling in the final moments of the A-event.
“Same thing last week as I did this week I don’t think I called the seventh end right and same result,” Fast said. “I was a little bit light on my draw on the seventh end and we would have got one instead of them getting three and that was pretty much it.
“The other team played really well it was a really good game,” she added. “We had a good game, we’re happy, the girls are happy.”
Loblaw, out of Calgary’s North Hill Curling Club, agreed the seventh end marked the turning point in the match.
“Down three coming home in the eighth is always a pretty tough battle,” Loblaw said. “It was a really good game up until the seventh when (Fast’s shot) came up just a little bit light, but other than that it was a obviously a really close game.”
Team Fast took second in the A-final of the first leg of the Triple Crown in Black Diamond on Jan. 8, while the Loblaw rink won the C final at the same event, meaning both teams brought 15 points to their credit into High River. Teams’ Fast and Loblaw, both newcomers to the Triple Crown series, left the Highwood Curling Club with 45 points each, but the Calgary-based rink holds the tiebreaker advantage based on nailing more draws to the button.
The defending Triple Crown champion Debbie Miller rink, based out of the Okotoks Curling Club, took home the B-final at the expense of the Doyle rink. Meanwhile, fellow Okotokian Dianne Young got the better of the Highwood Curling Club’s Janis Stark rink to win the C-final. With four wins in High River, the Young rink leads the Triple Crown standings with 50 points, followed by Loblaw and Fast, while Team Miller sits in fourth place with 30 points going into the final leg.
Loblaw, in her first kick at the Triple Crown can, said there isn’t much to choose between the teams in the competition, 11 of which were featured at the Highwood ‘spiel. The 2012 Triple Crown title is on the line at the Okotoks Ladies Bonspiel, the final leg of the series, Feb. 10-12 at the Okotoks Curling Club.
