Dan Falloon
It’s been an eventful first season for Isaac Keffer’s rink.
The local skip, whose team includes third Cody Ossachuk, second Cody Heyens, and lead Ian Grant, snagged a berth in the Nexcap Bantam NOCA Provincials by finishing second with a 3-1 record at the inter-region playdowns in Thunder Bay last weekend.
The top three teams at the provincials, slated Feb. 4-7 in Longlac, will advance to the Ontario Winter Games running March 3-7 in Gravenhurst.
All curlers on the team are 16 except for Heyens, who turned 17 over the weekend.
Keffer felt the victory was a total team effort in their first big tournament together.
“I’m really happy and excited,” he enthused. “We were working really well together as a team.
“I think that was a big part of it.”
The skip felt his young team is mature beyond their years, which was displayed in their attitudes shown throughout the competition.
“We don’t let ourselves down,” Keffer stressed. “If we lose some points, we try to get back up as quick as we can.
“We don’t let ourselves fall.”
Coach Thomas Fry felt the team has come together quickly for a squad in its first season of competition.
“They’re all great kids and they’ve definitely got a lot of respect for each other,” he remarked.
“It’s not like they didn’t know each other previously. It’s just that it’s the first time they’ve curled together.”
Keffer opened play with an 8-3 drubbing of Jason Pontynen (Port Arthur), highlighted by a four-ender in the sixth.
The local squad improved to 2-0 with a 9-2 pounding of Jesse Lock (Sioux Lookout).
The team suffered its only loss at the hands of first-place finisher Jordan Potter (Port Arthur), suffering a 5-3 setback.
Potter’s steal of two in the sixth end to bust open a tight 3-2 game made the difference as Keffer only responded with a single in the seventh.
But Keffer rebounded in his final match, edging Joshua Szajewski (Keewatin) 5-3 on Sunday morning.
With the top two teams advancing to Longlac, Potter and Keffer will square off again at the provincials. Keffer knows knocking off Potter will be a difficult task as the Thunder Bay rink is more battle-tested than the newly-formed local squad.
“They’ve played together as a team a lot longer than us because we’re a pretty new team,” noted Keffer.
“I think that helps out a lot.”
Fry felt that with the exception of a hiccup in their game against Potter last weekend, the team played as well as it could have.
“The boys played right up to their potential,” he lauded. “We’re definitely deserving of a spot.
“[Against Potter], it was one great shot in one end to get out of trouble, and one missed shot in the next end to put us in trouble, so that’s what it came down to,” Fry added.
Fry also felt the second half of the Szajewski game was a defining moment for the rink as it was a showdown Keffer needed to win in order to claim the second provincial berth.
“[Early on], they were noticeably a little tentative about how they were playing the game, playing a very defensive game,” recalled Fry.
“We had a discussion at the fourth end [break] and basically said that, ‘Guys, this is it, you’ve got to pull it all together and come up with the big shots.’
“And in the last four, they really did. In the last two, in particular, I don’t think there were any keys shots missed at all,” Fry noted.
Samantha Mueller, meanwhile, posted a 1-3 record on the girls’ side of the Bantam tournament last weekend.
Mueller and her rink of third Carley Busch, second Karleigh Wright, and lead Taylor Hartlin lost their first three games before rebounding in their last one.
They opened the playdowns with a 12-3 loss at the hands of Katie Nelligan (Port Arthur), who put up a four-ender in the first and didn’t look back.
Mueller was a bit closer in her next game against Grace Esquega (Port Arthur), falling 7-3.
In their next game, Mueller again allowed four in the first in losing 10-4 to Kaitlyn Poirier (Sioux Lookout).
Then in Sunday morning’s finale, Mueller got into the win column with a 13-0 whitewashing of Myan Miller (Stratton).
Esquega (4-0) and Poirier (3-1) earned the two girls’ provincial berths in Longlac.
