Erickson, Kleiter & Sutherland Capture U18 Provincial Championships!

Team Erickson had a week to remember at this years U18 Women’s Provincial Championship, as her Maryfield rink captured the title yesterday at the Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre.Team Erickson won themselves a spot into the semi finals after qualifying through the B Event with a win over the Jessica Thompson rink out of Saskatoon 6-0.

Once championship Sunday rolled around, the Ashley Thevenot rink out of Naicam had a bye straight into the championship final, leaving Erickson to play the hometown rink of Skylar Ackerman in the semi final. This one was a constant back and forth low scoring battle between the two teams, as it was a 2-1 scoreafter four ends of play. But it was Erickson who came out firing after the break as they scored a big three points in the 5th, but Ackerman responded nicely with three points of her own. Erickson took the eventual final score of 5-4 and a shot at the title against Thevenot.

Left to right: Rachel Erickson (Skip), Sarah Hoag (Third), Rachel Ryan (Second), Kelly Kay (Lead), Shane Kit (Coach)

Left to right: Ashley Thevenot (Skip), Paige Engel (Third), Mary Engel (Second), Rianna Kish (Lead), Darren Camm (Coach)

The provincial final got underway with Erickson jumping out to an early lead scoring back to back deuces with hammer in the 3rd and 5th ends holding on to a 4-2 lead. Ackerman came out firing after that with back to back steals knotting this game up at 4-4 heading into the 8th and final end. Erickson used the last stone to her advantage scoring the single point her team needed, winning the final by a score of 5-4. Congratulations toall the teams in the U18 Women’s category who provided the fans a great weekend of curling!

Erickson and team will now represent Saskatchewan at the very first Canadian U-18 Girls Curling Championship. This event will will take place April 17-22 out east in Moncton, New Brunswick!

What a year it has been so far for the Rylan Kleiter rink out of the Saskatoon SutherlandCurling Club. Back in January, the team won the 2017 Provincial Junior Men’s Championship representing Saskatchewan at the 2017 Canadian Junior Championships in Victoria, British Columbia. This will be the third U18 Provincial Championship for Team Kleiter in the past three years!

The Kleiter rink of Rylan Kleiter, Trevor Johnson, Joshua Mattern, Matthieu Taillon & Coach Dean Kleiter won all three events (A,B,C) that lead to the provincial title. In the A Event final, they faced off against the Garrett Reddekopp rink of the Spiritwood Curling Club. A great game had by both teams heading into the 5th end, as it was all tied up at 2-2. Kleiter then scored a big score of three in the 6th followed up by a steal of two to take this one by a final score of 7-2.In the B Event final game it was a rematch between Kleiter and Reddekopp, where a couple bad breaks lead Kleiter to an early 9-0 lead after three ends of play with them taking the final score over Reddekopp of 9-1 after 4 ends.

Left to right: Dean Kleiter (Coach), Rylan Kleiter (Skip), Trevor Johnson (Third), Josh Mattern (Second), Matthieu Taillon (Lead)

Meanwhile in the C Event, Reddekoppwon a close game against the hometown rink in Brendan Moss by a score of 4-1. In the other C semi final, it was Kleiter up against the Dustin Mikush rink who plays out of the Humboldt Curling Club. This was a very close game that lead to an extra end finish where it was Kleiter scoring the single point he needed to take the score by a final of 5-4.

In the C Event final game it was another great game had by both teams, as it was a 3-1 contest in favour of Kleiter heading into the 4th end break. Kleiter responded with a score of three and a steal of one to take the 7-1 final capturing another provincial championship. Congratulations to all teams who put on a great show for the fans in Moose Jaw all weekend long. Kleiter will now represent Saskatchewan at the 2017 Canadian U-18 Boys Curling Championship April 17-22 in Moncton, New Brunswick!

Team Sutherland out of the Rosetown Curling Club captured this years U18 Open Provincial Championship on Sunday afternoon. This years event was a slightly different format in Moose Jaw as compared to the boys and girls championships, where it was a pool play leading into a page playoff system.

Once championship Sunday came around, the Sutherland rink found themselves in the 1vs1 page playoff game finishing with a 3-0 record facing off with Team Silversides out of the Balgonie Curling Club, who also finished with a 3-0 record. This game saw Sutherland jumping out to an early lead of 7-1 heading into the fourth end break, taking this one with a final score of 8-1 after five ends of play. This then dropped Silversides down into the semi final game.

Left to right: Cody Sutherland (Skip), Hannah Olivier (Third), Connor Robertson (Second), Cassidy Baddiuk (Lead), Kevin Sutherland (Coach)

In the 2vs2 page playoff game it was the Sean Thompson rink out of Yorkton defeating the Rachel Kramer rink out of the Estevan Curling Club 7-2. Leading the Thompson team into the semi final game against Silversides. Thompson scored a big score of five in the 3rd end to take a 5-2 lead, but Silversides stormed all the way back in this one scoring five points of their own to take a lead of 7-5, and winning this one in the final end by the score of 8-6, setting up a rematch with Sutherland in the final.

The provincial final Sunday afternoon was a very good game had by both teams, with the score being 4-3 in favor of Sutherland after six ends of play. Sutherland responded with a score of four in the 7th end to take the final 8-3. A great weekend was had by all teams in the open division, providing some fantastic shot making!

We want to thank all players, volunteers, and organizers on another successful U18 provincial event!