The Christina Monk rink tasted victory with a six-pack in the second end of Sunday’s A final at the St. Albert Ladies Classic.
Monk’s draw for six cracked open an early finish against Kathy Piper.
“We made out shots that end and unfortunately the other team struggled. Kathy did her best but her team was heavy,” said Monk after the 9-2 result in five ends.
Piper scored one in the opening end but in two Monk’s lineup of lead Ashleigh Clark, second Ashley Sykes and third Andrea Forbes started putting rocks in play for a possible deuce that turned into four counters leading up to skip rocks. Piper’s first shot was light and her last delivery knocked an opponent’s stone into the rings and both attempts were on the left side of the ice. Monk was lying five sliding her last shot down the right side for the sixth point.
The Piper foursome of lead Diana Backer, second Laurie Conrad and third Susan Crush had weight issues that end.
“The girls thought it was still heavy coming down that path but it sure wasn’t. It was just a matter of just guessing a little bit too soon on how quickly the ice keened up,” Piper said. “So when I came to throw my draw it was light because everybody had blown through so then on the second one I made sure I had the weight and we just took a little bit more ice and then it just didn’t curl and I just bumped one of their rocks in further.”
It was only a matter of time before the teams shook hands as Piper counted one in three and Monk’s draw for two in four made it 8-2.
In the fifth end, Piper was lying two until Monk’s hit and stick with her last delivery gave her shot rock. Piper’s final shot slid through the house and it was game over.
“Our adrenaline was up playing the A final but it’s frustrating that we didn’t come out and give them a good game,” said Piper of her undefeated Monday night league team that slid past Cindy Bobowik, Laverne Salyn and Jennifer Scott for a shot at the 2018 Presidents Cup playoff winners at the St. Albert Curling Club.
“We killed it this weekend actually. We had amazing games and against really tough teams,” said Piper, noting a five-ender against Scott was the turning point in Saturday’s semifinal.
Without a very pregnant Lauren Jenkyns calling the shots and throwing last rocks, the Monk foursome defeated Kari Donnelly, Holly Jamieson, last year’s A finalist, and Adele Kezama for a berth in the final.
"We fought hard and we had good communication,” said Monk, as the players switched positions in Jenkyns’ absence and Clark was brought on board to assist the 2018 finalists at the Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions.
“Not curling with Lauren this weekend was different but it was still fun,” Monk added. “We wanted to make Lauren proud of us.”
Saturday’s semifinal against Kezama was decided with a draw to the button to break the tie as Monk relied on her inner Jesse James (Colin Farrell) of American Outlaws to deliver in the clutch.
“Every time Jesse James had to come up with a plan he started to smirk and that’s how I drew to the button,” Monk said of the in-turn to the pin without any sweeping. “I had that Jesse James going again today.”
The winners of the 20-team bonspiel are also undefeated in the Monday night league – they play Piper in a few weeks – and the game plan is to repeat as club champions for another shot at winning the Tournament of Champions. The 2018 final ended with the Granite prevailing 5-4 with a hit and stick in eight with Jenkyns skipping, Monk at third, Forbes playing second and Sykes as the lead.
“I’m pretty sure these two ladies (Forbes and Sykes) want to have their names on the (Tournament of Champions) banner because Lauren and I are on it from the year before and these two haven’t so our goal is to get our team a banner,” said Monk of the lineup that will also represent St. Albert at the Travelers Club north playdowns in March.
