An Okotoks resident was foiled twice by the eventual provincial champion and missed out on her repeat bid at the Alberta Scotties championships.
The Shannon Kleibrink rink, featuring third Amy Nixon, second Carolyn Darbyshire and lead Chelsea Matson, was eliminated from contention by Crystal Webster, 9-7 in the C event of the 2012 Alberta Scotties, Jan. 28 at the Leduc Recreation Centre.
Webster was an alternate for Kleibrink ' s rink in 2011 at the Scotties in Charlottetown, PEI.
It was a rocky road for Kleibrink in Leduc.
“ We had some close games we were never really blown out and lost some close games on last rock,” Kleibrink said. “ It could have gone either way and we were in the hunt so we have to be happy with that.”
Kleibrink, the 2011 Alberta Scotties champion and a four-time winner of the event, started brightly on day one of the championships with a 10-3 win over the Casey Scheidegger rink before losing her second match to Heather Nedohin by a 7-3 margin to drop into the B event.
The Okotoks resident rallied for two straight wins over the Crystal Webster and Valerie Sweeting rinks to advance to the B qualifier and set up a rematch with Nedohin. The Edmonton-based rink, the eventual Scotties champion, got the better of Kleibrink for the second time in three days with a 6-5 win in 10-ends.
“ We still had a chance in the last end with my last rock and I threw it through,” Kleibrink said of the Nedohin game. “ They were playing great and they went on to prove that for the rest of the weekend that they were the best team.”
The close loss pushed the defending champions into the C – event and into a single elimination scenario.
“ That was a big game, probably one that we didn ' t play our best game in so that one really hurt it puts you behind the eight-ball. You have to win four in a row after that.”
Another draw with Webster awaited Kleibrink and the Calgarian avenged the earlier loss, earning a 9-7 win to eliminate the Okotoks-based curler on Jan. 28.
Kleibrink ' s failed bid to repeat as provincial champion is not surprising given the history of the Alberta Scottie ' Tournament. In the last 20 years, just one team — the Cathy (Borst) King rink — has won consecutive titles.
“ It ' s just that Alberta is such a tough province to come out of,” Kleibrink said. “ A number of them are in the top-10 in Canada and it makes it really tough to repeat or even go a few times in your career.”
