Tough luck for local teams at junior provincials Teams with Moose Jaw connections fail to reach play-off round at championships
To win a provincial junior curling championship in Saskatchewan, you have to have the right amount of skills and find or create plenty of breaks along the way. Unfortunately for teams with Moose Jaw connections at the Jiffy Lube Joint Provincial men’s and women’s championships, fate just wasn’t on their side during the tournaments Dec. 27-31 in Regina. In the men’s draw Moose Jaw product Carson Ackerman — curling out of the Sutherland Curling Club in Saskatoon, where he’s attending university — and his rink of third Tyler Camm, second Eric Westad and lead Andrew Derksen opened with a pair of losses before winning their final three games and just missing the playoffs.
Ackerman fell 5-2 to clubmate and eventual provincial champion Rylan Kleiter in their opener before dropping an 8-5 decision to Regina Callie’s Mitchell Dales. That loss would mark the turning point, as he reeled off a 9-3 win over fellow Moose Javian Brett Behm, downed Austin Williamson of the Regina Callie 8-5 and capped his tournament appearance with a 9-5 win over Maidstone’s Cody Sutherland.
The aforementioned Behm and his Moose Jaw Ford Curling Centre foursome of third Domenic Neufeld, second Brendan Ross and lead Theo Lautsch posted a 2-3 record. They defeated Williamson 5-3, fell 9-2 to Kleiter, won 9-2 over Sutherland and dropped a 10-3 decision to Dales.
In the women’s draw, Skylar Ackerman skipped the lone local rink, with her team of third Madison Johnson, second Makena Simmons and lead Samantha McLaren also going 2-3.
Ackerman lost her first two games 6-5 to eventual finalist Chaelynn Kitz of Saskatoon Nutana and 10-4 to Regina Callie’s Rachel Erickson before picking up her first win 7-4 over Weyburn’s Emily Haupstein.
After an 8-5 loss to Saskatoon Nutana’s Hanna Anderson, Ackerman closed out her provincial appearance in style, defeating Briana Beattie of the Regina Callie 12-2. Sarah England of the Regina Callie won the women’s provincial title.