After facing some adversity earlier in the year, an Alberta curling team will look to make their mark at the upcoming SGI Best of the West tournament among some of the top teams in western Canada.
St. Albert resident Nathan Molberg's answer to what it is about curling that draws him in was fairly simple.
"I really like throwing rocks. I would throw rocks all day, every day if I could get away with it," Molberg said. His teammates concurred and said that Molberg is on the ice the most out of any of them.
Team Libbus, which consists of Molberg, Jake Libbus, Mike Henricks, and Zachary Pawliuk, have been together as a team for around three years. Although they've each spent a number of past years playing with and against each other.
They hope that chemistry will help them at the upcoming SGI Best of the West tournament, where top teams from western Canada are selected to compete.
The SGI Best of the West is an invitational tournament. Two teams from Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are selected to compete. This will be Team Libbus' third time at the tournament. Molberg said they're hoping for a better result this year after not winning the previous two, although they have an advantage this year of having a space to practice at.
"It's a little interesting having it all the way at the end of the curling season," Molberg said. "The last couple years we didn't have ice going up into it."
Henricks said that April 22 was their last practice of the year.
They play in the U21 Men's Division and at the time of writing are currently ranked 63rd in the world, according to World Curling Tour's rankings. Molberg said they were ranked around 98th a couple years ago, but that accomplishment hasn't come without struggle.
"The last few years... we didn't make as much progress as we'd like. We thought we were working pretty hard, and we were a little confused," Henricks said. Their new coach and mentor, Brad Thiessen, represented Canada at the 2021 World Men's Curling Championship. After bringing Thiessen onboard in July 2024, things began turning around and they started to see better results against top teams.
"He helped us realize that we weren't working as hard as we thought we were, and that maybe it takes a lot more than we thought it did," Henricks said.
"He's done a lot for us this year," Pawliuk said.
They'll hope to continue their good form going into the tournament over the weekend.
"There's some good teams here," Molberg said. The number one ranked team at the event, Jordan McDonald from Manitoba, is currently ranked 19th in the world according to World Curling Tour.
"With the work that we've been doing, we want to go and win the thing, right? I think we've got a good shot," Molberg said.
The SGI Best of the West tournament will run from April 24 to April 27 in Saskatoon. Visit www.bestofthewest.ca for more information on the teams and scores throughout the weekend.
