Drawing in once again

Championship Sunday afternoon at the Granite Curling Club in Coaldale.

With the Alberta title secured, Loblaw and her foursome are headed back to Nationals as the team travels to Stratford, Ont. for the Everest Canadian Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships March 24-29.

“It’s even sweeter because we won Canadians the first year after winning provincials,” said Loblaw. “We didn’t have a great performance at World and finished fourth or fifth. But just having the opportunity to go back is awesome.”

Meanwhile on the men’s side, this year’s Alberta representative will come from the Northern Alberta Curling Association as the Lac La Biche rink of skip Wade White, third Barry Chwedoruk, second Dan Holowaychuk and lead George White edged Grande Prairie’s Kurt Balderston 7-6 to earn their trip to Ontario.

The men’s game didn’t require an extra end, but it did come down to the last shot as White made good on a draw shot to the eight foot with Balderston lying one to earn the Alberta title.

“The last shot looked good,” said White, whose team finished 5-2 in the round-robin, just behind Balderston (6-1). “I was kind of worried about it fudging a bit, that’s why I was thinking maybe I should hit. I usually draw, it looked pretty good halfway.”

Those clutch shots were par for the course as provincials wound into the weekend.

“The last two games have been down to the last rock,” said White. “We got off to a bad start. We were just getting used to the ice a little

bit. It was a good comeback for us.”

Balderston took a 3-0 lead after the second end before White put up a deuce in the fourth end to cut the lead.

After Balderston took a single in the fifth end to move up 4-2, White struck for a four-ender in the sixth end for a 6-4 lead.

Balderston replied with two in the seventh end to knot things up, but with the hammer coming home, White delivered with his draw weight to extend his season.

“We’ve been pacing ourselves, it’s such a long curling season,” he said. “We’ve been taking it pretty easy.”

In a battle of the 5-2 teams in the women’s final, Loblaw took a 2-0 lead after the first, but Bakker replied with a three-ender in the second.

Loblaw pulled even with one in the third, but Bakker struck for another threeender in the fourth end for a 6-3 lead.

Loblaw made it 6-5 after the fifth end with a twoender and stole singles in the sixth and seventh ends to pull ahead 7-6 before Bakker forced the extra end in the eighth.

“We were debating about whether to peel,” said Loblaw of the extra end. “Our rock was sitting in a pretty good position, so we said ‘Let’s guard it and take our

chances.’”

The provincial title wrapped up a slow start to the week as Loblaw dropped her first two games before winning five in a row to finish tied for first with Bakker after the round-robin.

“They’re an awesome team,” said Loblaw. “To have an opportunity to be in the final is an honour and to win it for the second time is awesome.”

The winner of the Everest Canadian Seniors will represent Canada at the 2019 World Senior Men’s and Women’s Curling Championships in Oestersund, Sweden.

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