Nathan and Rebecca Molberg are double trouble as contenders for the Optimist U18 juvenile provincial championships.
The Molbergs skipped their respective rinks to victory without a loss in five games during last month’s qualifier at the Crestwood U18 bonspiel.
The results guaranteed the St. Albert curlers berths at the March 14 to 17 provincials at Medicine Hat instead of competing for spots during the Feb. 7 to 10 playdowns at St. Albert Curling Club.
Both teams also pocketed $1,000.
In the women’s final, Rebecca’s lineup of Tori Hartwell, Kristina Allen and Ashleigh McKinnon blanked Julia Bakos 5-0 in six ends.
“We were all really excited after that win,” said Rebecca of stealing the last four points, all singles, over five ends. “At first I didn’t quite realize what had happened. I was standing there thinking about the game and it kind of sunk in a little bit that we had won and we were going to provincials. It was not at all expected.”
Nathan, 18, was an interested observer while directing his Alberta Winter Games crew of Ben Helston, Nick Warkman and Morgan Bilassy past Cole Ector of Calgary in the men’s final 6-2 in seven ends.
“We’re in the middle of our game and I was sort of looking over my shoulder and there were handshakes. Rebecca turned and looked briefly over my way with an absolutely stunned look on her face, like ‘What’s going on here?’ It was fantastic,” Nathan said. “We were in a nice control position when that happened and then it was sort of hey, we can both win this thing, but then you have to focus back on your game and that doesn’t matter anymore. You’ve got rocks to throw.
“But that was a blast.”
Rebecca, 16, was equally as happy to see Nathan complete the Molberg sweep.
“It was pretty cool. We got off the ice after winning and I had the chance to watch Nathan call the last end and watch him win. It was quite good.”
The first-year skip will make her provincial debut after playing third last season for the Anna Smith rink of St. Albert, the A finalists at the U18 northerns.
“It’s an interesting learning curve from being third to calling the game and being at that end of the ice is a little different. You get in a zone more and you don’t necessarily see everything so it’s a different angle,” said the competitor at the 2018 Alberta Winter Games in mixed doubles with Chase Lozinsky of St. Albert. “It’s been good though. I enjoy the strategy side of the game and as far as throwing last rock I find most of the time there is not a ton of pressure. I know I can always throw my rock to my sweepers and they will get it there.”
Rebecca also uses Nathan as a sounding board for advice.
“Sometimes after a game where I know something didn’t go quite right, I will be at home and I will get out the little strategy board and show him what the situation was and ask him, ‘Why did this not work?’”
The foursome of 15- and 16-year-olds have bonded under coach Ian Turner in their inaugural season despite Hartwell and McKinnon curling out of Sherwood Park and Allen is based in Leduc.
“We all get along quite well. Off the ice we can talk about whatever and it just doesn’t have to be curling so we can just relax after games and in between games, and once we get onto the ice we’re focusing on the game and that helps,” Rebecca said. “On the ice our communication about various things can be quite good, just telling each other things that aren’t going quite right so we can change them during the game and then using that information to play better and use our skill.”
Nathan is icing somewhat of a different rink from last season. Bilassy is back along with coach Nicole Bellamy, the St. Albert Curling Club manager and 2018 recipient of the Northern Alberta Curling Association Award of Merit in the coaching/builders category, while Helston and Warkman hail from Calgary.
“We’ve done a good job of overcoming some of the challenges that are with having two guys in Calgary and two guys in Edmonton and St. Albert. We can’t get together to practice as often as other teams might but we’ve done a good job of every event that we go in,” said Nathan, who has spared with Helston and Warkman in the past. “We’re working towards a goal of getting better as a team, getting better the way we interact and the way we throw rocks and we’re sort of figuring out how we work as a team.
“We didn’t have much time having to get set up in time for November when the (Alberta) Trials were held. We didn’t have a lot of events and we’ve done a good job of quickly learning about the other guys and who we are as a team and what we do.”
The four-team U18 Trials in Red Deer ended with Team Molberg prevailing 5-4 in an extra end against Nick Woznesensky. A 3-0 lead after three ends turn into a 4-4 stalemate as Woznesensky stole singles in seven and eight before Nathan delivered the winning point in nine with a draw to the 12-foot.
Team Molberg also beat Woznesensky 7-5 in the page 1-2 playoff with a four-spot in four for the go-ahead 5-4 points and in the round robin lost the tournament opener 8-4 to the Red Deer rink.
“It was a roller-coaster of an event really. Going 1-2 in the round robin was interesting, but then we had an upswing to qualify in the 1-2 (Page playoff with a draw to the button as the tiebreaker) and then we had a couple of good games,” Nathan said. “The final was nerve-wracking. There was a lot of emotion in it, but we controlled it and played well.
“It was really exciting. Ben, our third, has been wanting to get this now for four years and he was over the moon when we won. It was just a fantastic feeling since it was the first provincial championship for all of us.”
The Canada Winter Games run Feb. 15 to March 3 in Red Deer.
“One of our big goals this year was to qualify for the Games. There were pre-Trials last April to get into the Trials so we focused on the past eight months (before Trials) and worked hard and it’s been great to see that pay off,” Nathan said. “To get the chance to represent Alberta is pretty huge. It means a lot to us.”
The Alberta women’s team for the Games is skipped by Bakos of St. Albert and her teammates are Quinn Prodaniuk of Fort Saskatchewan, Alyssa Nedohin of Sherwood Park and Julianna MacKenzie of Cochrane.
A podium finish is the goal for the Alberta men.
“We’re going to take it seriously. There will be very high-calibre teams there since it’s a national event so we’ll be taking it one game at a time. Hopefully we’ll win more than we lose and we get into the playoffs and medal,” Nathan said. “We’ve been putting a lot of thought into how we’re going to have to peak for it and how we’re going to have to keep our levels up. It’s just going to take a lot of hard work and knowing when to rest, when to take a break and let the body recuperate, but we’ve got the drive for it.”
After the Games, Team Molberg turns its attention to provincials with a berth at the third annual U18 juvenile nationals, April 2 to 7 at Glen Allan Recreation Complex in Sherwood Park.
“We’ll be running things throughout the Canada Winter Games that we'll be able to apply to provincials,” said Nathan, who will curl in his third U18 provincials and last year qualified for the tournament as the winning skip at the Crestwood juvenile bonspiel curling with Jacob Rahn, Braden Pelech and Bilassy.
“You never really stop growing as a team. This is our first year together so there is lots to learn and the more events we play and the more games we play the better set up we’ll be so it will be a fun ride going from the Games to provincials. If we do well, we go to nationals so it will be fun,” said Nathan, a Grade 12 student who is home schooled along with Rebecca in Grade 11.
