Former neighbours from Okotoks squared off in Black Diamond with a spot at the Junior men’s southerns on the line and the elder statesman walked away with bragging rights.
Okotokian Taylor Ardiel, a member of the Scott Smith rink, dispatched the Kyler Kleibrink foursome 8-2 in the B-qualifier of the Southern Alberta Curling Association’s (SACA) district playdowns Sunday at the Oilfields Curling Club, to advance to the southern playdowns in Medicine Hat.
Strategy was at the forefront of the victory as Team Smith worked an unconventional style of play to perfection.
“With Kyler we know that if we throw it in he is just going to hit it,” Ardiel said. “Instead of doing what we normally do we decided to switch gears on him. They were expecting a straight wide open hit game and (the change) worked.”
Ardiel, the second for Team Smith, said a pep talk from coach Earl Smith lit a fire under the foursome for the final two ends against Kleibrink.
“We didn’t play too well and then the fifth end came around and Earl came out and said get your poop in a group,” Ardiel said. “We basically turned it around and curled 80s within the last two ends and shut them down.”
The Calgary Curling Club team ratcheted off two in the sixth end and a single in the seventh to lock down the six-point win.
“It’s nice to move on because our season could have been over,” Ardiel said. “So it’s a big sigh of relief to get through there.”
Team Smith knocked off Colin Harty and then older brother Jeremy Harty to earn a berth in the A event qualifier versus Red Deer’s Shane Parcels. The latter would win 8-2.
“As much as we were trying to score points we just got outplayed in that game,” Ardiel said. “It’s a tough battle, but we came back and knew what we had to do in these last few games.”
Kleibrink, along with third Colin Peterson, second Christian Sprinkhuysen and lead Jeremy Burnett, had another opportunity to qualify for southerns against Colin Harty.
However, the Highwood Curling Club outfit outlasted the Okotoks curlers 10-9 in a back-and-forth 10-end thriller.
Also in the C event, a newly formed unit out of the Okotoks Curling Club made their first playdown event as a team count. The Colton Goller rink edged Calgary’s Tyler Lautner 6-5 to shock the field and advance to southerns, an amazing feat given the squad’s relative inexperience.
“We were the underdogs so we wanted to play our best and learn from the other teams,” said Goller, whose foursome is in its first year together. “That was our goal and we came a long way this weekend as a team.”
The Goller rink, represented by curlers from Nanton, Cochrane and Lethbridge and coached by Okotokian Wayne Ardiel, found its third meeting with Lautner to be the charm.
“From where we started to where we are now is incredible,” Goller said. “That was the third time we have played Lautner and they’re a Juvenile team like we are and beat us the first two times we played them. It shows how far we have come.”
In defying the odds, Goller booked a spot at the Junior men’s southern playdowns at the Medicine Hat Curling Club, Dec. 7 to 10.
“At southerns we expect to be a stronger team,” said Goller, 17. “To go there and take what we learned and execute it.”
The Junior women’s southern playdowns, featuring the Okotoks Curling Club’s Kathleen Steele rink, run simultaneously from Dec. 7 to 10 at the Medicine Hat Curling Club.
For full schedules and results go to www.saca.ca.
