Bragging rights were at stake in the U21 Battle of the Champions at the third annual Marc Kennedy Junior Classic.
Rinks skipped by Ryan Jacques and Abby Marks from the University of Alberta junior program at the Saville Centre went toe-to-toe as the Bears beat the Pandas 5-3 in Sunday’s final at the St. Albert Curling Club.
“We train together every week so it’s pretty fun to come play against each other,” said Jacques after icing the victory with a precise double in the eighth end to run Marks out of rocks.
“Men and females don’t usually get to play against each other so this was a very interesting opportunity to play against them,” Jacques added. “We’re pretty excited. We get to head upstairs and pick up some pretty awesome prizes, that’s always good, and of course there are bragging rights too.”
Marks, a curler from St. Albert, took the loss in stride.
“It’s kind of unfortunate for us that we’ll have to hear about it,” said the Ecole Secondaire Sainte Marguerite d’Youville graduate. “It was a very aggressive game and it was actually really fun to play because there were so many rocks in play but unfortunately we didn’t make the right shots.”
The showdown pitted Jacques, the U18 provincial champion, against Marks, the U18 and U21 provincial finalist.
Jacques and Marks also won their respective men’s and female U21 competitive divisions for the Battle of the Sexes crossover.
Jacques finished 5-1 curling with Dustin Mikush, Gabriel Dyck and Michael Henricks after going 3-1 in the five-team round robin.
One of the wins was a low-scoring extra-end result against Jared Scharff in the men’s division final.
“The weekend started out a little bit rough. We managed to pull out a few wins but we were down early and then we came back at the end which isn’t the way you usually want to do it but we managed to get ourselves into the final and that’s all you can ask for in an event like this,” said Jacques, 17.
Marks rattled off five wins in a row with Catherine Clifford, Jamie Scott and Kate Goodhelpsen, filling in for Olivia Jones, before the setback to Jacques.
“We played really well all week so it was a good experience,” Marks said. "It was fun playing together as a team for one last time before we go our separate ways for the season.”
Marks, 18, was “beyond excited” to compete in two provincial finals this year but the U18 loss was the toughest for the team to deal with.
“The U21 was a bonus for us but U18 felt like the one we should win but unfortunately we didn’t,” said Marks, who finished fifth at last year’s U18 nationals in Moncton, N.B. as the Alberta champion with Scott, Paige Papley and Brittany Brezinski.
“That was an amazing experience. We got to play in the inaugural U18 Canadian championships and to go as far as we did it was just really incredible,” said Marks, the runner-up to Lauren Jenkyns last year at the St. Albert Ladies Bonspiel and the 54th annual Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions.
The Junior Classic final was an evenly matched affair with quality shots by both teams.
“It was a really fun game,” Jacques said. “It was a little bit different than a lot of our other games because we typically play more defensive style but this game we played the offence as a defence and that got us into interesting positions. We threw lots of rocks to the top of the house and then just plugged it up and that’s how we got our early lead and even when we were up three (after five ends) we maintained our lead by doing that. Usually we try and keep it wide open to minimize the risk and the opportunities but we really plugged it up and they had trouble getting in there in the sixth and seventh ends.”
Steals of one in four and two in five made it 4-1.
"The fifth end was pretty big. We managed to get a few good rocks on the button and just keep guarding it up,” Jacques said.
On tap next is the U18 nationals, April 9 to 14 at St Andrews, N.B.
“We’re really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great time,” said Jacques, a Grade 12, Strathcona High School student.
HOG LINES: The three-day Junior Classic, presented by Sarasota Homes & Realty, was staged at the St. Albert and Jasper Place curling clubs and consisted of 46 rinks in intermediate (12), recreation (12), U18 competitive men’s (six) and female (six) divisions and U21 men’s (five) and female (five) divisions.
The winner of the U18 Battle of the Champions was Jacob Libbus of the Oilfields Curling Club, 6-2 in seven ends against Jessica Wytrychowski of Airdrie.
The intermediate final was 5-3 for Justin Morlock of Red Deer against Kenan Wipf of the North Hill Curling Club of Calgary.
The recreation final was a barn-burner as Anders Van Amsterdam of St. Albert stole the winning point in the extra end to edge Wyatt Wright of Rocky Mountain House 8-7. Van Amsterdam rallied from a 5-1 deficit after two ends and in eight tied it up with a smooth draw to backing for the equalizer.
The highlight of the weekend was hypnotist Wayne Lee working his magic at Saturday’s banquet.
