By Scott Roblin

Zeidell rink walks away from U18 Provincials with fourth place finish

Mar 17, 2019 | 3:06 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Two rough ends cost the Connor Zeidell rink in their first playoff game at U18 Boys Curling Provincials on Saturday night, exiting the bonspiel in the quarter-finals.

Team Zeidell made a late push to make up a three-point deficit, but St. Albert’s Nicolas Oake rink was able to execute with the hammer in the eighth end to advance with a 7-5 victory over the local foursome.

After a blank end to open the draw, Zeidell took the early lead with a single point in the second end.

Momentum began to swing towards Team Oake however, as they picked up three points in the third end to lead the Medicine Hat rink by a 3-1 count.

Zeidell was able to tie the game up at 3-3 in the following end with a pair of points, but that tie didn’t hold for very long.

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Holding the hammer once again, Oake made Team Zeidell pay with another trio of points in the fifth end to take a 6-3 lead.

Zeidell said the team just made too many mental errors without the hammer and they had to play catch up as a result.

“Just lots of mistakes in those ends,” said Zeidell. “If we play a little better in those ends, only give them maybe two [points], the game is 5-4 coming home and we have the lead. Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way either.”

After Zeidell scored a single in the sixth end to pull within two points of Oake, he stole another in the seventh end to make a game of it heading to the eighth.

However, a burned rock midway through the final end proved to be costly as Oake was able to score a single point to eliminate Zeidell’s rink from provincials.

Just two wins away from playing for an Alberta championship, it was a tough loss for the local crew of Zeidell, Cole Lewis, Bryson Helmle, and Kolby MacDonald.

However, the Zeidell rink was able to stave off elimination on Saturday morning in the ‘C’ bracket to earn one of just four playoff spots up for grabs.

“No one likes playing consolation when you lose,” said Zeidell. “So, just to get to this point was great, we gave them a battle and unfortunately it didn’t turn out.”

Earning a fourth-place finish at their home rink, Team Zeidell ended their U18 provincial tournament with a 3-3 record in six matches.

Leaving the ice as the hometown favourites, Zeidell added the entire team learned a lot about how to compete with Alberta’s best young curlers.

“This is Cole [Lewis’] fifth provincials, but all of our first provincials,” he said. “So, we’re just hoping to move on with the experience next year and hope that can help us. If we ever get into another provincials, hopefully the experience works out.”

Provincial glory will be decided at the Medicine Hat Curling Club on Saturday afternoon, as both the boys and girls finals have been set.

On the boys side, the undefeated Cortland Sonnenberg rink from Grande Prairie will face St. Albert’s Nathan Molberg rink for the third time this week for gold.

Sonnenberg won both meetings against Team Molberg, including a 4-3 thriller in the 1 vs. 2 page playoff on Saturday.

It will be the two top-ranked teams meeting in the girls final as well, with Airdrie’s Jessica Wytrychowski rink looking for a second straight upset against Edmonton’s Julia Bakos.

The rinks split their two games played so far, however Wytrychowski advanced to the gold medal final on Saturday with a 6-4 victory over Team Bakos.

Saturday’s gold medal winners will move on to represent Team Alberta at the 2019 Canadian U18 Curling Championships in Sherwood Park next month.