By Scott Roblin

Koch rink falls one shot short of provincials at Southern Alberta Playdowns

Jan 14, 2019 | 10:04 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Denton Koch put himself into a position to clinch a spot at provincials, but a couple centimetres made the difference between elation and heartbreak.

Koch’s hometown rink came up one shot short in the 10th end of their ‘C’ bracket final at the 2019 Men’s Southern Alberta Curling Playdowns on Sunday, unable to make a runback in a tied 8-8 contest with the Dale Goehring rink.

Goehring was able to steal one in the 10th, winning the final match of the weekend and securing one of three spots at the 2019 Boston Pizza Cup provincial tournament with a 9-8 victory.

Going for the winning shot after Goehring made a stunning draw to the four-foot with his last rock, Koch said they had their work cut out to make the raised takeout.

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“He’s making good shots, we’re making good shots and at the end of the day it comes down to the last one,” said Koch. “Another inch more ice and I think we’re going [to provincials], an inch less ice and he’s going.”

Trailing 8-7 after eight ends of play, the Goehring rink was able to get a single in the ninth before stealing a point in the 10th to secure the come from behind victory.

The Calgarian said the team stayed calm throughout the elimination contest and was able to rally with some patience in the late stages of the match.

“We didn’t panic and we just wanted to grind it out till the end,” said Goehring. “We thought that patience would pay off and I just needed a shot at the end. I got the opportunity and made a good one at the end.”

The weekend bonspiel was a marathon for the Goehring rink, who competed in eight games and previously lost in the ‘B’ final 7-5 to the Jeremy Harty rink in their first crack at a provincial berth.

Goehring said his rink responded well after his defeat against Harty earlier in the day, coming up big in two do-or-die games on Sunday.

“It was a bit of a long road this weekend, we played every draw,” he said. “We had a good first game [Sunday] morning in the ‘B’ final, lost that, came back [Sunday] afternoon, won the semi, got in the last game here. We played these guys [Saturday], we knew it would be a good game and we were fortunate to come out on top.”

As for the Koch rink, comprised of Denton, Colton Koch, Justin Frank and Bryden Smith, it was a heartbreaking conclusion to their weekend where they finished with a 4-3 record and won a pair of elimination games in the ‘C’ bracket quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Denton said while the loss stings, he was just glad to have the opportunity to have a provincial berth within his reach.

“Honestly, if you can get to the final shot of the last game and you have a shot at provincials, you know what that’s where you want to be,” said Koch. “If anyone came to me a week ago and said, ‘Is that what you want?’ Absolutely, I’ll take that everyday.”

“It’s a little hard when you don’t get ‘er,” he said. “But, at the end of the day it’s only curling and we’ll come back next year.”

Medicine Hat’s two other rinks also saw their bonspiels come to an abrupt end, as the John Stroh rink fell to Trevor Funk’s rink 11-8 on Saturday afternoon in the ‘C’ bracket.

After knocking off the Rick Phillips foursome on Saturday evening, the Funk rink lost out to Thomas Usselman in the ‘C’ bracket quarter-finals on Sunday.

Along with the Goehring and Harty rinks, Strathmore’s Scott Garnett team will also be advancing to the 2019 Boston Pizza Cup after taking the ‘A’ bracket championship on Saturday.