It was a medal-winning kind of day for teams from Moose Jaw on Saturday at the Saskatchewan High School Athletic Association provincial curling championships.
And what better colour to win than gold?
The Peacock Toilers dropped a single game on their way to claiming the SHSAA provincial title at the girls championship in Ituna, with the rink of Kaylee Hogeboom, third Abby Hogeboom, second Callista McQueen and lead Kelsey McQueen defeating North Battleford’s Chloe Semeniuk 14-9 in the championship final.
It was an incredible run for one of the tournament’s underdogs, as they came into the event as the second qualifier out of the Regina region and weren’t expected by many to get out of the round robin.
Coach Barb Owens wasn’t one of those, though, especially after the showing they put together throughout their campaign.
“We only lost two games all season, and I felt like we had maybe the strongest foursome in the province, top to bottom,” Owens said. “The games get harder every level you advance, and you’re expecting challenging games, especially at the provincial level, but the girls really responded and showed what they were capable of. It’s an incredible accomplishment, especially for a team as young as they are.”
Peacock wasn’t perfect through the round robin, as they defeated Yorkton 7-5 and La Ronge 10-1 but lost 8-2 in six ends to North Battleford. Their 2-1 record was enough to get into the playoffs, though, where the way things had played out a week earlier at regionals may have helped them along.
“We kind of flew under the radar a little bit since Cornerstone had beat us at regionals,” Owens explained. “I thought that showed our character and our ability to rebound from a loss and get right back out there and take a win. And the lesson we took from that is you can have a bad game, but you can’t have a bad day, so we were fine going 2-1 through the pool.
“Then when we made the playoffs, everyone was a bit shocked, and maybe teams thought things were going to be easier than they were. So I think we had an advantage being an underdog.”
Pool A winner Saskatoon Holy Cross was up in Peacock’s semifinal bout, where they’d come away with a 7-5 win to set up a rematch with North Battleford, who rolled over Yorkton Sacred Heart 10-4 in their semi.
That led to a dramatic final that saw Hogeboom leading 10-9 in the final end, with Semeniuk immediately getting a shot buried in the rings to set up the steal attempt.
“So I went out and told the girls ‘peel, peel until you can get at her stone and then remove it’,” Owens said. “We were sitting second and third shot, so that’s what the girls did and they did a great job of it.”
It all led to Semeniuk’s final guard attempt overcurling a touch, leaving Kaylee with a hit-and-stick for four that she’d make no mistake on.
And with that, Peacock were provincial girls champions for the first time since Jenny Chartier claimed the title back in 1996.
“We’re super proud to get that banner for the curling club and the school, because it’s been a long time and it’s definitely not easy,” Owens said.
Even more impressive is the fact all four players will be back next season, as Kaylee and Callista are both Grade 11s, Kelsey is in Grade 10 and Abby is in Grade 9.
The regional champion Cornerstone Christian School Falcons didn’t have a lick of luck in their girls provincials pool, falling 10-2 to Yorkton Sacred Heart, 9-1 to Holy Cross and 7-2 to Ituna.
The Central Cyclones came a single win away from winning the mixed provincial title in Lampman
Blake Montgomery, third Emily Osmachenko, second Laine Burnham, lead Ash Kruizenga, spare Tess Kuetback and coach Elaine Robson went unbeaten to the finals before falling 6-5 to Lampman in the title game.
Central went 3-0 in their pool with a 10-5 win over Watrous, 6-3 win over Yorkton Regional and 8-0 win over Langham before downing Saskatoon Bethlehem 9-6 in the semifinal.
