Slave Lake cash spiel results; weekend a success

There was unanimous agreement from Curlers and Fans that the inaugural Slave Lake Petroleum Cash Spiel was a resounding success.

Ryan Norman, local Chairman said, “The Cash spiel was 2 years in the making after we were invited to become a qualifying event on the Pomeroy Inn and Suites Peace Curling Tour. Carl McRee and Wayne Dastou were key partners, amongst a great organizing committee that deserves a tremendous thankyou. We were successful in hosting two dozen Curling Teams from the Peace Country, the Edmonton area as well as two teams from China that added a very special international flavour to our event.”

The Krysta Hilker team out of Edmonton won the Competitive Title over the Jeff Ginter quartet from Dawson Creek in a hard-fought contest.

Krysta offered “A big thank-you to the Peace Curling Tour and the Slave Lake Curling Club for putting together and hosting an amazing bonspiel this weekend. My team of Jordan Steinke, Sydney Lewko and Heather Steele appreciated the opportunity to participate in this wonderful event alongside so many great teams.”

The Chinese IM Junior Team skipped by Jiahong Ma qualified for the Competitive Division Sunday Championship round together with the Chinese Women’s Team skipped by Yanan Guo. After outlasting the Women’s team in the quarter final Jiahong Ma lost to the Jeff Ginter foursome in a close semi - final contest. The local favourite Ryan Norman advanced to the semi final before being sidelined by the winning Krysta Hilker foursome.

The Challenge division is being dominated lately by the Doug deBoon team out of Peace River who won their second straight Cash Spiel in Slave Lake following their recent victory in Peace River. With skipper deBoon off on holiday Dave Derewianko took over the reins and continued their winning streak defeating the Glen Godberson rink from Fort St John in the Sunday final in Slave Lake.

Dave remarked, “The Challenge final was shot for shot with the lead changing hands a few times making for a very tight and interesting game. The timely shot making, and strategy calls elevated the level of play. Glen made a pistol of a last shot in the extra end and forced us to make a great runback for the win. It was an extremely well played game.”

In the Junior Division Six teams, 3 of them from the Slave Lake Club competed against teams from Tumbler Ridge, Debolt and Grande Prairie. Points are awarded on a win/loss basis in this division.

The Destiny Vandale team out of Tumbler Ridge and “The Shivs” out of Slave Lake both went undefeated in their 2 games. The Boys with Brooms out of Grande Prairie and the Curling Beauties out of Slave Lake were 1 and 1, while the Colesie Pellerin team from Debolt and the Ice Breakers out of Slave Lake were outlasted in both of their hard-fought games.

Tracy Steinke, Vice President of the Peace Curling Tour, stated, “We want to congratulate Ryan Norman and his Slave Lake Committee for hosting one of the best organized and fun events we could ever expect on our Tour. The ice conditions were fantastic as was the banquet and all of the social events and we look forward to returning next year.”

Teams compete at 5 qualifying cash spiels, now including Slave Lake, for berths at the Pomeroy Inn & Suites Tour Championships held in Sexsmith January 2020 when the Peace Country crowns its Competitive, Challenge and Junior Champions for the year.

The next stop on the Peace Curling Tour is the Dawson Creek Lakeview Credit Union Cash spiel on November 22 to 24th, 2019 which is promising to be another great qualifying opportunity for Peace Country Teams.