The Marc Kennedy Junior Classic is a popular bonspiel on the provincial curling circuit for the rising stars in the sport.
The fourth annual showcase of junior talent was filled to capacity within minutes of online registration opening as 56 teams filled all the spots available in the U21, U18, intermediate and recreation divisions.
Games were played at the St. Albert and Crestwood curling clubs during the three-day event.
“I’m super happy to be here. This is the best bonspiel of the year. Everybody wants to do it and it’s so much fun,” said Julia Bakos, a St. Albert skip who competed at the Canada Winter Games and the Curling Alberta Optimist U18 provincials leading up to the Junior Classic last weekend.
St. Albert skip Nic Oake hasn’t missed a Junior Classic since its inception.
"It’s a lot more relaxed than provincials. It’s a nice change because there is not really any stress. You’re just here to have fun and win some prizes,” said the semifinalist at the U18 provincials in Medicine Hat.
Nathan Molberg was the winning skip two years ago in the competitive division when the Junior Classic was a U18 bonspiel.
“This event is always great. Marc’s done a fantastic job. The committee’s done a fantastic job. The volunteers are amazing. It’s a really fun event. You can come out here relaxed, have fun and curl well,” said the U18 provincial champion and Team Alberta skip at the Games in Red Deer.
Last year marked the only non Junior Classic appearance for Molberg and Bakos because of commitments at the pre-trials for the Games.
“I’m happy I’m back here again,” said Bakos, who filled in at skip for the Calgary-based North Hill Curling Club lineup of Kate Ector, Kaylee Cinnamon and Vanessa Jenkins from Calgary in the eight-team U18 female draw.
“I was picked up by a team luckily to spare,” Bakos added. “We just want to make sure to smile and see how far we go.”
Provincial champs
Molberg, third Ben Helston, second Nick Warkman, lead Morgan Bilassy and coach Nicole Bellamy were coming off a breakthrough performance at the U18 provincials for a berth at nationals, April 1 to 7 at Glen Allan Recreation Complex in Sherwood Park.
“Once you make it to your first nationals you want to get to the second one and now we're going again so we’re super pumped,” Molberg said. “We learned some lessons from the Canada Winter Games and we're looking to apply those at U18 nationals. We know what a long week feels like. We know how our bodies react to game nine, game 10, game 11. We know a little bit better how to stay together as a team throughout that long event. Those will be helpful lessons.”
Visit www.StAlbertToday.ca for the team’s U18 championship picture.
Alberta finished 7-4 in the U18 tournament at the Games after losing the playoff opener as the fourth seed 4-3 to Manitoba on March 1.
Six teams qualified for the playoffs and the top two received semifinal berths.
In the round robin, Alberta (7-3) tied for third with Newfoundland and Labrador and Manitoba (6-4) placed fifth.
“We played really well in the round robin. We won the right games, lost a couple against good teams that were playing very well so we did a good job,” Molberg said.
A steal of one by Manitoba in six left Alberta trailing 4-2 and in seven the home province counted one before running out of rocks in eight.
“We played a good Manitoba team and they made more shots than we did, simple as that. They were a very good team,” said Molberg of the third loss in four games for Alberta after rattling off four wins a row that started with the 6-5 decision against Manitoba.
The momentum from the Games carried over into the U18 provincials as Team Molberg finished 5-2 after defeating the Cortland Sonnenberg rink of Sexsmith/Grande Prairie 6-3 in the March 17 final.
“We lost a couple of games to a good team in Sonnenberg, who are also representing Alberta at nationals (as the host team), but overall it was a good weekend. We had some good bounce backs and did our job,” said Molberg of overcoming losses of 5-4 in the A qualifier and 4-3 in the A-B playoff.
Both times Sonnenberg produced the winning point with hammer in the last end after Team Molberg scored the equalizer in seven by counting one in the first game and the deuce in the rematch.
Team Molberg opened the final with a steal of one in two and in six tacked up one for the 4-3 lead. The next end was blanked and in eight Team Molberg stole a deuce to capture the championship.
“It was a close final. We played a good game, made some really nice shots and came out with the win,” said Molberg of playing in a final where both teams were guaranteed spots at nationals. “You already knew you were going, which was nice.”
The 7-5 semifinal against Oake, Molberg’s teammate at the inaugural 2016 Junior Classic, was basically decided with a four-ender in the first end.
“They played well. They just had a little rocky first end and played good the rest of the game,” said Molberg, who also beat Team Oake 6-4 in the B qualifier.
The Junior Classic was the last bonspiel before nationals for Team Molberg, semifinalists in the U21 male division after dropping a one-point decision to Team Manson of Airdrie in Sunday’s playoff.
They decided to take this weekend off instead of in the Players Championship in St. Albert as the second-highest ranked U18 team on the Alberta Junior Curling Tour.
“We’re just resting up and prepping a little bit with this event against good teams before going to nationals,” said Molberg, 18, a Grade 12 home school student.
Nationals for Bakos
Team Bakos, with third Quinn Prodaniuk, second Kim Bonneau and lead Julianna MacKenzie, has opted to practise this weekend for the upcoming nationals as the host team instead of accepting an invite to the Players Championship as the No. 2 U18 female team on the Alberta Junior Curling Tour.
“We know we’re a strong team. We work so well together,” Bakos said. “We’re just really excited to have got this far this season. It’s an amazing feeling.
“Kim hasn’t gone yet so to go to a national event she is really excited to go to this one. We’re happy for her.”
Alyssa Nedohin was the second for the Team Alberta foursome of Bakos, Prodaniuk, MacKenzie and coach Glenna Rubin at the Games and in the U18 tournament the Crestwood rink won five straight wins before the first loss of 5-4 to New Brunswick.
After the round robin, Alberta (7-3) was seeded third and New Brunswick (5-5) was sixth in the playoff round when the teams faced off for a semifinal berth. New Brunswick stole the 5-4 winning point in the last end after scoring a deuce in seven to knot the score.
“We played really well. We had control the entire game, it was just the last end where we just missed a couple of shots but it really went well,” said Bakos of pulling off a three-ender in six to lead 4-2 after New Brunswick stole one in five.
“Even though we didn’t medal, we’re still really proud of how we did because we knew we prepared well and we knew we played so well. I’m just so happy with the team.
“Overall, it was amazing and seeing all the provinces together was the best part of the Canada Games.”
At the U18 provincials, Team Bakos won four and the only losses were to Jessica Wytrychowski of Airdrie by scores of 7-6 in the A-B playoff and 3-2 in the March 17 final.
One of the wins was 7-6 against Team Wytrychowski in the A qualifier as Team Bakos stole one in seven for the 7-5 lead.
The A-B playoff ended with a deuce by Team Wytrychowski after Team Bakos counted the tying point in seven.
The final featured four blanked ends and all points were scored with the hammer.
“It was really close. Each team took one in each end,” said Bakos, who made it 2-2 in five and the next two ends were blanked before Wytrychowski’s draw to the shot rock resulted in the game winner in eight.
“We played really well in the final. My last rock just didn’t curl. It was a little heavy,” said Bakos, 15, a Grade 10 student/athlete at Vimy Ridge Academy. “We had to steal and we were sitting one behind a guard and I had to draw behind it again. If I would have made that draw it would have been very hard for her to get in there and score. It was actually good weight, we just had a little bit of a sweeping error with that rock.”
Oake at provincials
The U18 provincials for Oake, third Chase Lozinsky, second Carter Parenteau and lead Owen Pacholok was “a phenomenal weekend,” according to the skip.
“The only losses we had were to the two teams that are going to nationals. We played well in pretty much in every game,” Oake said of the team’s 5-3 record, with losses of 6-1 in six ends to Team Sonnenberg in the A semifinal, 6-4 to Team Molberg in the B qualifier as a deuce in seven broke a 4-4 deadlock and 7-5 to the eventual champion in the March 17 semifinal.
“Aside from the first end in the semifinal where we gave up four, we played really well. We just had a symphony of misses so it just ended up working in their favour,” Oake said.
It was the second provincials for Oake, Lozinsky and Pacholok after the 2018 Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association gold medallists returned to the high school championship with David Howes on board.
In pool play, the St. Albert Skyhawks beat Barrhead 10-3 in six ends, lost 7-4 to Westwood of Fort McMurray, rolled over Trochu Valley 11-2 in seven ends, edged Georges P. Vanier of Donnelly 5-4 by scoring the winning point in the last end and in the four-end tiebreaker gave up deuces in the first and third ends in the 4-0 loss to Trochu Valley.
“It was fun. It was obviously not the result we wanted but we still played well. The ice was good,” said Oake, 18.
As for the two losses, “We just got outplayed,” Oake said. “Obviously, we lost to the team that won it (Westwood) and then with the tie breaker, four-end games are hard. You give up two in the first end and then you’re chasing for the next three.”
The Skyhawks qualified for the March 7 to 9 provincials in St. Paul as the metro Edmonton champions. However, it wasn’t easy as a formidable Paul Kane squad stole the 7-6 winning point in the extra end of the A-B final and the tiebreaker was another tight 7-6 outcome for the Skyhawks to finish 4-1 in the 13-team double elimination tournament following their 5-0 showing in the seeding round.
Last year the Skyhawks lost the metro Edmonton final 8-5 to the Strathcona Lords but the Lords were unable to ice a full team for provincials in St. Albert so the Skyhawks represented the league in the 10-team tournament and finished 5-1 after knocking off the Lethbridge Collegiate Institute Rams 5-4 for the gold medal.
“It was nice to finally get the city banner this year because we couldn’t get it last year because Scona had it,” said Oake, a Grade 12 Skyhawk who will close out the bonspiel season at the Players Championship with Lozinsky, Parenteau and Pacholok as the No. 1 U18 team on the Alberta Junior Curling Tour.
