Molberg, Wytrychowski rinks clinch Alberta gold at U18 Curling Provincials

Molberg got his revenge on the Cortland Sonnenberg rink out of Grande Prairie, avenging an earlier playoff loss to win gold with a 6-3 victory.

Tied at 1-1 after three ends, Molberg and Sonnenberg traded back-to-back two point ends to see the match still tied at 3-3 entering the sixth.

After Molberg scored a single in the sixth to make it 4-3, Sonnenberg elected for a blank end in the seventh to hold hammer down the stretch.

Molberg was able to jam up the house over the course of the eighth end however, forcing Sonnenberg to try a risky draw to tie the match.

He jammed on the sea of yellow rocks in the house, giving Molberg the provincial title despite being without final shot.

“It’s a situation that we practice a lot,” said Molberg. “So, we sort of had the same idea of what we wanted to and then we did a good job of it.”

The victory adds to what’s already been an impressive winter for Molberg, Benjamin Helston, Nicholas Warkman and Morgan Bilassy, after representing Alberta at the 2019 Canada Winter Games in Red Deer.

Molberg said despite the team being spread out across the province for most of the year, they’ve generated chemistry quickly.

“We’ve got two players in Calgary and two players in Edmonton, so it was a little hard to practice and we didn’t quite know how we would gel as a team,” he said. “But, we’ve done a really good job of hitting goals in events and playing well. So, it’s nice to see that our hard work is paying off.”

An equally tight race in the girls gold medal final, with Wytrychowski needing the final shot of the game to knock off the Julia Bakos from Edmonton by a 3-2 final.

Wytrychowski and Bakos found themselves tied at 2-2 after five ends, which led to Wytrychowski blanking the next two ends.

That gave her the hammer, which came in handy after Bakos left the door open on the final shot of the afternoon.

Needing a draw for the win, Wytrychowski made no mistake to send her Airdrie-based rink through to the national stage.

She said after seeing not much in the sixth and seventh ends, it became apparent that the hammer was more important than the lead heading into the eighth.

“It was super important to have the hammer in even ends,” said Wytrychowski. “We really focused on scoring only in the even ends and coming home with the hammer in the eighth, it just made it so much more comfortable.”

Sunday’s victory was the first provincial title for the foursome of Wytrychowski, third Olivia Jones, second Micayla Kooistra, and lead Emily Kiist.

Wrapping up her U18 career this winter, Wytrychowski added representing Alberta is something they’ve worked at for years.

“I’m so happy, it just means so much,” she said. “It’s my last year competing at the under-18 level. So, I’m just happy I finally got to represent Alberta this year.”

The Molberg and Wytrychowski rinks will don the Team Alberta crest at the Canadian U18 Curling Championships next month, but they will be joined by their opponents.

Due to Alberta hosting the 2019 edition of the national championships, both the Sonnenberg and Bakos rinks will also be competing for a Canadian U18 title.

The four rinks will open up their respective hunts for national supremacy on April 2 at the Glen Allan Recreation Complex in Sherwood Park.

by Scott Roblin

Molberg, Wytrychowski rinks clinch Alberta gold at U18 Curling Provincials

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