A juvenile rink swept its way past older competition as the winner of the 3 Son’s Tire & Auto Centre Men’s Bonspiel. The U18 foursome of skip Nathan Molberg, third Jacob Rahn, second Braden Pelech and lead Morgan Bilassy delivered a 6-2 victory in Sunday’s A final against Doug McLennan, a two-time Alberta senior (50-plus) men's champion. "It was a little bit closer than it looked on the scoreboard. A couple of good ends and couple of rough ends but we played well and they played pretty well too,” said Molberg, 16. “It was a good game, a fun game. It was a fun team to play against.” The juveniles are coached by Nicole Bellamy, general manager of the St. Albert Curling Club. McLennan was calling the shots for third Don Bartlett, two-time Brier champion and Olympic silver medallist who was McLennan’s teammate on Glen Hansen’s 2015 provincial senior championship rink, second Keith Keating, a sub in the final for George Parsons, who curled with McLennan at the 2013 and 2015 Canadian senior championships, and lead Greg Roberson, a curling enthusiast from Memphis, Tennessee and Bartlett’s friend through the music scene. McLennan, who is eligible to play masters (60-plus) next season, recalled what it was like back in the day to trade shot for shot with seasoned veterans of the roaring game. “I know it was a long time ago but I remember playing guys my age when I was in junior and it was always really nice to get a win,” said the eighth inductee on the St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame. “I didn't talk to anybody else on their team but the skip and he is a real student of the game so we were talking about a few shots here and there. I think between Donnie and I there probably isn't a shot we haven't seen but there are a lot of them that we've forgotten probably too so that kind of back and forth thing with the kid was good. “My philosophy is always help out the young teams anyway because these guys are playing out of here and Nicole is doing a great job with them as coach.” It wasn’t the first rodeo for the juveniles playing against curlers who are older than their parents. “We’ve all been playing in men’s leagues for years so it’s also nice to beat them,” said Molberg, a St. Albert resident who is home schooled. Rahn, 17, is a Grade 12 student at St. Joseph High School, Pelech, 17, is a Grade 12 St. Albert Skyhawk and Bilassy, 16 attends Grade 11 at Harry Ainlay High School. They've curled against each other before but this year joined forces for a shot at winning the U18 provincials in March at Okotoks for a berth at nationals in April at Saint Andrews, N.B. “We’ve got a solid lineup, one of the best in the province I would like to think,” Molberg said. “We can hit better than a lot of teams. Our second and third can throw some pretty accurate hit weight and our draw weight rounds it out.” St. Albert was the fifth bonspiel of the season after two juvenile and two U21 junior competitions. “It’s always nice to win in St. Albert,” said Molberg, the winning skip in the competitive division at the 2017 Marc Kennedy Junior Classic who played in the inaugural U18 Kennedy Classic the year before as the third for the Nicolas Oake rink and Bilassy was the lead. “We had a rough first couple of spiels and then really started bringing the mindset around to go out and win some of these,” Molberg added. “We did really well in Banff (as finalists). That was the third bonspiel and that's where everything started to go back up for us.” Molberg disposed of Hafso, Kostick and McKay before matching wits with McLennan, who outlasted Gansauge, Donnelly and Olsen before playing for all the marbles in the 24-rink bonspiel. “He’s a great guy,” said Molberg of the winning skip in the mixed division at the Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions in 2010 and 2015 and the 2013 and 2014 finalist. McLennan started out with one with the hammer and Molberg answered with a deuce in two. McLennan tied it in three with a draw for one against two counters. The next end was blanked and in five McLennan’s last shot bolted straight through the house and counters for Molberg on each side of the centre line around the four foot. With a shot at three, Molberg was light with his draw and settled for a deuce. “I’m trying a thin double and you’ve got to throw heat and it caught a little straight spot and away it goes,” McLennan said. “Now, he was very neighbourly not to take three.” In six, Molberg stole a single after McLennan hit a rough spot shooting for multiple points with the hammer. “We were really unlucky. We had a shot for three for sure, maybe four, and my rock picked and kind of went so you can't do nothing about that,” McLennan said. Molberg breathed a sigh of relief after the end didn’t shape up the way it was planned. “We gave him a gift and he picked,” Molberg said. “You never like to win a game on a pick.” The teams shook hands after the steal of one by Molberg in seven. “We were looking for a deuce somewhere. The kid made a really nice shot with his last one leaving us just a tap for one and I've got to be honest it wasn't a lot of energy going into the tap for one because they've got taps up here,” said McLennan during the post-game interview in the Friendly Giant Lounge.
