Crestwood Curling Club – Like a fine wine, Hootie and the Old Fish keep getting better with age.
Their 7-4 victory against Brent Kapicki of Ellerslie in Thursday's final was the second Tournament of Champions title in six years for the veteran rockers at the Edmonton and area club playdowns.
"It's pretty awesome to do it for St. Albert," said Jamie King, the last rock shooter for the Craig King rink, featuring Ralph Killips, Elson Keown and Brian Pfeifer. "We're one of the few teams that has ever won it twice and that's pretty special."
Previous champions from the St. Albert Curling Club were Roger Comeau (1973), Gerry Dux (1980), Jim Lait (1983) and Dan Holowaychuk (1989).
"Any time you win a championship it's a big deal," King said. "We're pumped. It's fantastic."
The six-time reigning President's Cup winners from St. Albert curled in their eighth Tournament of Champions in 19 years.
"We're pretty happy with what we've done as a team. For the eight years that we've been in the cities, we only missed the playoffs twice and in the six years we've been in the playoffs we've made the final three times and won it twice and lost in an extra end in the other game [against Jamie Fletcher of the Saville Sports Centre in 2009]," King said. "It shows that we're very consistent and that probably means more to us than anything."
The Old Fish quintet boasts three grandfathers and four curlers over the age of 60. Keown is the team's elder statesman at age 68.
"The guys we played against were about a third of the age of my guys. When you think about it, that's pretty amazing," said King, 37. "My guys take pride in how well we do as a team. They're very competitive."
Down to the wire
The final of the 48th annual Tournament of Champions was too close to call until the eighth end when King counted three without throwing his last rock.
"Everybody played extremely well. It was back and forth. It was an excellent game," Kapicki said. "It came down to that last end and they made a few more shots than we did."
The teams traded deuces until King blanked the third. In the next end, he counted two and in five Kapicki made it 4-4. King then blanked the sixth and seventh ends to have the hammer in eight.
"They made a great shot in the fifth end to tie it up and we played the sixth and seventh ends a little bit conservative," King said. "Anytime you have the hammer in eight and it's tied up, you can't ask for anything more."
Kapicki's line-up of Brett Hilker, Brad Gibb and Neil Fenske tried wrestling the momentum away from King without success.
"They had control of the game and we wanted them to get one so we could take back control and it just didn't quite work out," Kapicki said.
In the last end, after a couple of gems by Keown put his team in scoring position, everything fell into place for King. Killips and Craig King also made pinpoint shots.
"Everything was working out for us so we went for it," King said.
As the guards kept multiplying, Kapicki's team struggled finding the house. With his last shot, Kapicki was forced to try a difficult shot against a traffic jam of rocks with King lying three behind great coverage, but couldn't make it click.
"The turning point was probably my line call on my second's second shot in the last end. We were really close and unfortunately I got our guys off it and it just ticked a guard. If we would've made that we probably would've had a little bit more of a chance," Kapicki said.
In the tournament opener Kapicki defeated a sluggish-looking King team.
"There were a couple of little misses here and there and we were able to capitalize," Kapicki said of his second-year rink. "This time it worked the other way around."
The loss left King on the brink of elimination for the remainder of the 12-team draw.
"We definitely played better as the week went on," King said. "This is the third game we've played on this sheet so we seem to know it pretty good. We've had the blue rocks a couple of times now so that helped too."
Road to victory
King marched into the final with victories against Larry Mydan of Lancaster Park, Dale Throndson of the Saville Sports Centre (8-3 in four ends) and Ray Ewing of the Shamrock (stole three in the first end and won 7-1 in four ends) in Monday's semifinal qualifier.
"You can't lose the tournament in the first game so we weren't too worried. You just have to be patient," King said. "We're not the youngest team out here anymore so sometimes it takes us a little while to get our legs underneath us and as the week went on, we started to play better and we got on a roll."
In Tuesday's playoff King was awarded the win against Mark Johnson of the Thistle because Johnson's Canadian senior men's championship rink had a scheduling conflict with worlds in Minnesota and would not be available for Thursday's final. The teams instead played a fun game so Johnson's crew could get some extra ice time in before worlds. Down by one with the hammer in eight and Johnson lying two covered in the four-foot and two kickers in the 12-foot for King, the St. Albert sharpshooter attempted an angle run back for the win. He got one of Johnson's rocks out but the other stuck around to give Johnson the 7-5 win.
"It was a great game. We definitely held our own against the current senior Canadian champs, which we felt good about," King said. "It also helped us get ready for the final tonight."
After Thursday's victory King gave his dad Craig a big hug in celebration of their accomplishment.
"My dad is retiring from Servus Credit Union and a couple of years ago when the Tournament of Champions lost Inland [Cement] as the sponsor there were some questions as to whether or not this thing was going to go and through dad's help Servus Credit Union stepped in and sponsored the event," King said. "To win it the last time dad is working at Servus is pretty special and I know that means something to him."
