SRSS curling team tops province in Beausejour

The Steinbach Regional Secondary School Sabres boys curling team came back from Beausejour as provincial champions.

The team, featuring skip Noah Giesbrecht, third Brennan Doig, second Parker Fast and lead Otto Goertzen went undefeated at the Manitoba High Schools Athletic Association championships, winning comfortably until the championship game Feb. 15.

It came down to the final rock but when a Morden draw to potentially tie the game came up short, the Sabres were able to walk away with the banner.

It was a picture perfect start for the Sabres, nabbing a steal of two in the first end, before forcing a single in the second and scoring big in the third end. Steinbach managed to set up a multi-point end behind a centre guard to take control of the game with three counters to lead 5-1 after three.

“We came in trying to start hot, trying to get a good head start to the game and we managed to pull that off,” Giesbrecht said.

Giesbrecht almost clinched the game in the fourth with an outstanding solo effort. With three Morden counters, he attempted a triple take-out with the final Steinbach rock of the end, and got all three stones moving but could only eliminate a single one. The subsequent Morden hit had the shooter roll out of the house for a score of only two.

Morden managed a steal of one to tie the game in the fifth when a couple Steinbach draws ran deep, but the Sabres replied with a well-positioned end in the sixth to get back on top by two.

That set up a spectacular end in the seventh. Steinbach played perfect curling, slipping a stone in the four-foot with excellent guards, forcing a miracle raise takeout attempt from Morden which went wide short and gave them the three-point margin they needed to pick up the victory.

“When we’re firing like that, hitting everything, good things happen,” Giesbrecht said.

“We try to lift each other up. I don’t thing bringing each other down helps us, even when we miss shots. We take our time and make sure we try to do it right and call a good game.”

Zone 13 champions had a chance to sweep the varsity banners, but Pointe des Chenes came up just short in the girls final against Miles Mac. After falling down 3-0 thanks to giving up an early steal of two, the Cavaliers were able to storm back with three consecutive steals of their own to take a 4-3 lead.

The game would come down to the seventh end, with Pointe des Chenes unable to find a shot to stop a big end for the Buckeyes, who scored a massive five-spot after a extremely difficult raise take-out attempt skewed wide and a final draw to cut down the scoring area didn’t get the curl to hook behind a guard, leaving it open to hit. Miles Mac proceeded to run their opponents out of rocks in the final end.

At the mixed provincials in Virden, the Garden City Gophers came out on top, defeating Baldur in the finals.