An Okotoks curler is peaking at the right time.
Through two months of competition the Scott Smith rink, featuring Okotokian Taylor Ardiel at second, sits at the apex of the Alberta Junior Curling Tour standings with 43 points to its name.
The ascendency was parlayed into an A-final victory at the Leduc Lions Junior Men’s Bonspiel on Sunday.
“With curling you can’t come out super strong because it’s really tough to hold perfect records all the way up to provincials,” Ardiel said. “In September we got into four B finals and won three out of the four and then we finally started working our way up last weekend in Lloydminster and this weekend we worked our way up to the top.”
Smith and company started the tour off with a loss in the C-final to Okotoks’ Kyler Kleibrink rink at the Curler’s Corner Junior Classic in Calgary, followed that up by winning the B event at the Michael Izsak Memorial Spiel on Oct. 21 in Lethbridge. The Smith rink then made it to the quarterfinals of the A event of the Whitney Field Classic, Oct. 28 in Lloydminster before winning in Leduc on the weekend.
“It’s more of a mental thing of getting the team to all get on the same track at the same time,” said Ardiel, the head instructor of the Okotoks Junior Curling Academy. “If you peak too early your season could be done before districts even come.”
Smith squared off with Airdrie’s Michael Roy in the A-final in Leduc and pulled off a 6-5 come from behind win in eight ends.
“We blanked the fifth end and they got two in sixth and we came back and scored our crucial two in the seventh,” Ardiel said. “In the eighth we pulled off a bit of a greasy win and buried one back four when we all we had to do was touch a four foot and it slid deep.
“It was a crucial shot on Scott’s behalf it had to be shot rock or it was game over.”
Ardiel is a former member of the Roy rink, and was on board the team for his gold medal performance at the Alberta Winter Games in 2010.
He said it’s still an odd feeling to square off with his old team.
“It was a little nerve-wracking going out against them the first time,” Ardiel said. “You tend to know their tendencies, but every team whenever new players or coaches come on, the team completely changes.”
The Smith rink barely advanced to the A final after earning a late comeback win over Dylan Theroux by an identical 6-5 score in nine ends.
“Instead of scoring two in seven we only managed one,” Ardiel said. “We knew that we were still going to have to steal so we stole one in eight and played a textbook seven, eight, nine to pull off a steal of one each end.”
Confidence is high on the Smith foursome, which trains out of the Calgary Curling Club, as they head into the stretch drive of the season with Junior men’s district playdowns coming up Nov. 23-25 in Black Diamond.
“From last year to this year we’ve had a big improvement on team dynamics and what we can do for each other on the ice,” said Ardiel who works closely with lead Gregg Hamilton. “Sweeping wise Greg and I playing front end last year we were pretty good, but now we’re one of the top sweeping pairs out there.”
The Okotokian, who joined the Smith rink at the start of the 2011-12 season, said the foursome’s extensive work on the sheets is paying off.
“It just shows that with a little bit of practice, a little work and a little bonding we can become a pretty good team,” Ardiel said.
Next up for Ardiel is a trip to Brandon, MB for the weekend of Nov. 16 to 18 for the Sun Life Financial Junior Challenge.
For more information on the Alberta Junior Curling Tour go to www.albertajuniorcurlingtour.com.
