Hootie and the Old Fish are the Kings of curling again in St. Albert.
The 11th President’s Cup in the decorated 24-year history of the Jamie King rink was etched in stone in Wednesday’s A-B men’s final.
The veteran lineup with a deep pool of alternates defeated a young Colin Jenkyns’ team 10-3 in six ends for their first club championship since 2014.
“The older you get the sweeter they are,” said Craig King, 67, who threw third rocks and held the broom when Ralph Killips, 69, tossed second stones. “But as much as we like to win we’re also here to have a good time. As you get a little older you mature a little bit and realize that it’s just fun to be out here. We just try and keep our egos in check and be friendly with the guys we’re playing against.”
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The final also marked the 19th straight victory for the Thursday night league team.
“This year we had the benefit of having (54-year-old) Gary Hoekstra sub for us because Elson (Keown, 73) was away and Brian Pfeifer (66) went to Costa Rica and Gary just played amazing,” King said of the Manager’s Cup winning mixed skip and former minor hockey teammate of Mark Messier. “We also switched things up a little bit. Ralph’s arms are bothering him so we let him hold the broom and me and my bad heart swept a bit and in the end we’ve got the special guy there at skip. I’m pretty biased, of course, but he is a world class curler.”
Jamie, 42, was smooth as ice in the final. The alternate for Kevin Koe’s world championship winning team in 2010 didn’t miss a shot when he wasn’t sweeping up a storm.
Two years ago, Jamie was at worlds in Beijing as the alternate for Koe and was unavailable for the final but without Hootie the Old Fish still whipped Doug McLennan’s Monday night Dream Team 7-3 in seven ends. Filling in for Jamie was St. Albert product Scott Pfeifer, 39. The former Brier and world champion is another alternate for the Old Fish and is currently at worlds in Switzerland as the fifth man for Koe.
“We loaned Scott to Team Canada for worlds,” King joked.
This year with Jamie, the alternate for Koe’s 2010 and 2014 Brier championship rinks, available for the playoffs the Old Fish rattled off four wins and two of them were against Jenkyns, the last rock thrower for Chris Keeler and the powerful sweeping tandem of Robert Forbes and Ben Robinson.
The final was knotted at one when King scored a deuce in three and the next stole three before Jenkyns replied with a draw for two in five. A four-ender in six sealed the deal for the ninth President’s Cup in 11 years. The first club title for the Old Fish was celebrated in 1996.
“Colin has a really good team,” King said of St. Albert’s future rock stars. “It was a very close game. We got up on them and (in four) Colin had to draw against three and the rock was just a little slower than he thought. It comes up half a second short otherwise he gets in there because we were just in the 12 foot and that turned the whole game.
“They came back with a good deuce and (in six) the rocks just weren’t in the right spot for them and he didn’t really have a shot with his last one.”
Jenkyns took the loss in stride.
“Jamie and his gang played a real great game. They pretty much didn’t miss a thing out there. We just got a little unfortunate and on the wrong side of the inch that kind of cost us early and set us back and we just couldn’t quite catch up to their expert shot-making going on. They’re no slouches by any means,” said Jenkyns.
The Monday night foursome knocked off last year’s champion Dale Briske, in the A semifinal and perennial cup contender Warren Sadoway in the B final for a rematch with King.
“I’m really proud of the guys. We had an absolutely great season making it to the final for the club championship,” Jenkyns said.
King will now represent St. Albert at the 53rd annual Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions at the Edmonton Garrison Memorial Golf & Curling Club. The first game for the 2006, 2011 and 2013 champions and 2009 finalists is April 11 against the Avonair at 8:45 p.m.
“I would say our chances are probably as good as anybody’s. There is always the James Pahls (of Sherwood Park, who King beat in the 2013 final) and other strong teams there but we’re looking forward to it. It should be fun,” King said. “At every level it gets a little harder but we’re pretty lucky because we’ve got Jamie. His knees were bothering him this year but he’s rebounded nicely from that.”
Winning another city banner for the club would be extra special for the Old Fish.
“We want to carry on the club’s tradition of excellence at cities,” King said. “It’s a fabulous club. The ice this year has been great. It’s a fun place to curl.”
