Kleiter rink buttons up provincial junior curling title

Saskatoon-based team stays perfect through both round robin and playoffs

Rylan Kleiter and his rink had plenty of reason to celebrate on New Year’s Eve as the Saskatoonbased team won the provincial junior curling championship final 8-2 to cap off an undefeated tournament.

Taking on fellow Saskatoon team Shawn Vereschagin in the final, Kleiter opened the scoring with a pair of points in the second end, and then stole singles in the third and fifth ends to get out to a 4-0 lead.

Vereschagin made it on to the board with a single point in the sixth and added another in the eighth, but doubles by the Kleiter rink in the seventh and ninth ends sealed their victory and earned them the provincial title for the second year in a row.

Kleiter was 5-0 in the round robin, earning a bye to the page playoff where he defeated Brayden Stewart — also of Saskatoon — 8-6 to claim a spot in the final.

On the women’s side, Regina’s Sara England also enjoyed an undefeated tournament on her way to claiming the provincial title, winning 8-4 over Saskatoon’s Chaelynn Kitz in front of a hometown crowd.

England led the game from the beginning only allowing Kitz to pull within one point, 4-3, after six ends.

In the seventh end, England scored a pair and then stole two in the eighth. Kitz added a single in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit.

PRINCE ALBERT FALLS SHORT AT TOURNAMENT

The Prince Albert Northern Bears had to settle for second place in the female division of the Mac’s Midget AAA Tournament held in Calgary, after losing 6-2 to the defending champion Rocky Mountain Raiders in Monday’s final.

Prince Albert opened the scoring early with a goal from Camryn Amundson one-minute and 18 seconds into the first period to take a 1-0 lead.

The Raiders answered back in full force, scoring five goals in a row — two in the first period, three in the second — to build a 5-1 lead after two periods.

Kassidy Kicia added Prince Albert’s second goal in early in the third to cut the lead 5-2, but another goal by the Raiders late in the final period put the game officially out of the Bears’ reach.

Prince Albert advanced to the final after defeating the Regina Rebels 5-4 in one of Sunday’s semifinals.

The Swift Current Wildcats (22-0) failed to qualify for playoffs.

In the male division, the Regina Pat Canadians won the championship 4-0 in Monday’s final against the Red Deer Optimist Chiefs after defeating the New York Jr. Islanders 2-1 in triple overtime in Sunday’s semifinal.

The Saskatoon Contacts (2-1-1), the Tisdale Trojans (1-3-0), Swift Current Legionnaires (2-1-1) and Prince Albert Mintos (2-2-0) all failed to qualify for playoffs. Postmedia News

Doubles by the Kleiter rink in the seventh and ninth ends sealed their victory and earned them the provincial title for the second year in a row.