Lucas Punkari
The Fort High curling rinks, skipped by the brother-and-sister duo of Isaac and Tirzah Keffer, made a double dose of history last Thursday night during the annual club championships here.
The squads not only were the first high school rinks to capture the ‘A’ title in both the men’s and ladies’ divisions, the Keffers also became the first siblings to take home the titles in the same year.
“I don’t really know what to say about that,” Tirzah Keffer said after her team doubled Elaine Sande 6-3 in the ladies’ ‘A’ final.
“A lot of people think that there’s a rivalry between myself and my brother, but there really isn’t,” she stressed.
“We’re very supportive of one another, and we both want to see each other do the very best.”
In her final game with third Samantha Mueller, second Taylor Hartlin, and lead Carley Busch, it was the second major victory of the season for Keffer, whose crew also captured the local ladies’ bonspiel back in February.
“After we didn’t make it to OFSAA this year, our new goal was to just run through the club playoffs,” she joked.
“We knew that it wouldn’t be easy, and that the other teams wouldn’t cut us any slack, but we were able to pull it off and it feels great,” she enthused.
As for Isaac Keffer, who was joined by third Cody Heyens, second Ian Grant, and co-leads Jordan Sokoliuk and Luke Esselink, their convincing 8-3 win in five ends over Ken Jackson last Thursday wrapped up a successful season for the Muskie rink, which included a silver-medal showing at OFSAA in Thunder Bay last month.
“We hadn’t curled our best the night before {Wednesday], so we just wanted to go out and improve on that showing here in the final,” he reasoned.
“Everything was just going right for us today, and it’s pretty neat to say that we’re the first high school team to win the ‘A’ title and to also be part of a brother-and-sister team of winners,” he added.
Meanwhile, it was a fairly convincing win for Jack McFayden in the men’s ‘B’ final last Thursday, beating Bill Gushulak 9-2.
“Unfortunately, they had a few misses and we were able to pull away as a result,” noted McFayden, who was joined by Ron MacKinnon and the father-son duo of Jim and Scott Avis.
“At the same time, though, I thought we curled really well for our final game of the year, so it was a good way to end the season,” he added.
The closest game of the night came in the men’s ‘C’ final as Bill Hudson and his foursome of third Bruce Nichols, second Arlan Hahkala, and lead Neil Whitefield edged out Rick Wiedenhoeft 7-6 in an extra end.
“Oh God was that close!” Hudson exclaimed afterwards.
“We had a bit of luck on our side to be sure there late, but it was a really close game and it was just nice to come away with the victory,” he remarked.
Back with the ladies, the ‘B’ final saw a bit of a surprise as Sandra Tibbs upset Judy LaBelle 10-4 in just six ends.
“That was the first time that we had gotten a win over Judy all year as they’re always a tough team to go up against,” noted Tibbs, who is joined by third Bev Rinke, second Christine Denby, and lead Carolyn Skirten.
“This was also the first year that Carolyn was playing with us, as well, so to finally get a win over Judy and to have her get a title in her first year is really nice,” Tibbs added.
Finally, the ladies’ ‘C’ final was a tightly-contested affair between Nettie Kaufman and Peggy Loyie right until the final end, with Kaufman stole two points to claim the 7-4 victory.
“She [Loyie] had to make a double take-out with her last [rock] but she didn’t hit right where she wanted to and that allowed us to get the steal,” recalled Kaufman, whose team included Deb Cornell, Lynn Hazen, and Bev Thomson.
“It was a very close game, though, and all in all it was a good way to wrap things up,” she added.
While on-ice competition is over for another season, the Fort Frances Curling Club officially will wrap things up this Friday night when they hold their annual banquet at 6 p.m. at the club.
Tickets can be purchased at Sight & Sound and Fort Frances General Supply, or by contacting club manager Rick Grenda at 274-6667.
