BCSS 2023 Curling Championship

BCSS 2023 Curling Championship

BCSS 2023 Curling Championship Participants

Pentiction Secondary girls curling team make history

MONIQUE TAMMINGA

A first for Penticton — Lakers girls win the B.C. championships in Terrace Feb. 25

Penticton Secondary School’s Lakers Girls Curling Team not only took home gold last weekend, they made history at the BC High School Provincial Curling Championship in Terrace on Feb. 25.

It is the first time in Penticton history that the Lakers Girls team has won the title.

The last time Pen-Hi won the junior curling provincials was the Laker Boys Team in 2018 and before that, the boys took the title in 1962.

During the weekend tournament, Team Penticton won the round-robin championship five games straight, with zero losses. The final match was between Penticton and Grand Forks on Feb. 25.

Since Team Penticton won the most games advancing to the final, this gave them the hammer advantage and choice of colour stone they wished to play.

The Pen Hi Girls Curling Team beat Grand Forks Secondary in the gold medal game with a score of 9-2.

Coach Laura Tomlinson led the girls to the win.

The girls will present the banner and trophy to the principal Chris Van Bergeyk and the athletic director Brian Hurst on Wednesday.

Penticton Rotary Sunrise donated $500 towards travel costs to the tournament.

Pen-Hi’s provincial champion girls’ curling team includes Lead – Audrey Gosse (curling for nine years), Second – Miranda Allen (seven years curling), Third – Rachel Lane (nine years curling), Skip – Erin Manning (10 years) with coach Laura Tomlinson.

Penticton and Grand Forks win gold at B.C. School Sports curling provincials in Terrace

MICHAEL BRAMADAT-WILLCOCK

Young curlers from across the province attended the High School curling championships in Terrace last week.

The B.C. School Sports curling provincials wrapped up in Terrace on Saturday, Feb. 25 with the Penticton Secondary girls team and the Grand Forks Secondary boys team taking home gold after Zack Wolfram broke the tie in a tight extra-end shot right to the button over Salmon Arm Secondary, who took silver for the boys after losing only one game.

Grand Forks Secondary won silver for the girls over Kitimat’s own Mount Elizabeth Secondary, who won bronze early in the day before Langley’s Walnut Grove Secondary won bronze for the boys.

Terrace’s Caledonia Senior Secondary had a shot at the finals but would have needed two wins in a row on Friday to make the final cut.

The week-long tournament brought teams from across the province together at the Terrace curling rink with the top two teams from each round robin facing off for the weekend championship.

Zone representative and Kitimat coach Dave Durrant came up with the idea to have the event in Terrace and coordinated through BC School Sports, the Terrace and Kitimat clubs.

“I’m from Kitimat and our ice plant has not worked for the last two years. And the the Terrace people embraced me and my team like they were members of this community. They’ve just been awesome.

“This is an absolutely brilliant facility. I’ve been so fortunate to get to know all of the people. We’ve had over 30 volunteers helping us with this tournament. It’s just been fantastic.”

Seven boys teams and six girls teams participated in the championships, with some arriving late due to flight delays. But it all came together and went smoothly at the end of the day, said Durrant.

“Some teams who arrived 24 hours late had to basically get off a plane, scramble to the hotel and then run to the rink to play their first game with all the jet-lag and everything else.

“I breathed a real sigh of relief when those last teams got off the plane.”

The teams got a chance to mesh and socialize at a banquet on Friday with about 100 people including coaches, some parents and all the athletes, followed by a dance.

They wrapped up Friday with a friendly tournament and are again facing cancelled flights on Saturday due to inclement weather.

“We’re trying to promote mixed doubles concept for BC School Sports so we’ll have randomly placed teams out on the ice,” said Durrant.

Durrant added that curling is a great sport to promote among youth and it can become a life-long pastime.

“In my experience as a coach, and I’ve been doing this for a while now, it’s about seeing the absolute happiness and quality people that participate in curling and the kids are absolutely no exception.

“They’re just a pleasure to be around and a joy to coach.”