Bob Range pitched two shutout victories as the winning skip at the St. Albert Mixed Bonspiel.
Range’s team of third Nicole Bellamy, second Mike Howes and lead Audra Lindsey finished 4-0 and the last two wins were skunkers against Doug McLennan, the defending champion, and Dale Krysta of Stony Plain.
“I couldn’t believe it,” said an amped-up Range after polishing off Krysta 8-0 in five ends in Sunday’s A final of the 20-rink competition. “You know what? I didn’t come here to win it. I came here to have fun so winning is just awesome.”
As for the two shutouts, “I didn’t scoreboard watch, truthfully. Every end I’m always down by one,” Range said. “I know it’s an eight end curling game and lots of (stuff) can happen but even four or five nothing up you can’t let go. You can’t put the foot off the gas.”
There was no stopping Range and company after blanking McLennan, the 2016 St. Albert Curling Club wall of fame inductee and two-time Alberta senior (50-plus) champion with rinks skipped by Wade White in 2013 and Glen Hansen in 2015. At nationals, White was awarded bronze and Hansen finished fourth with McLennan as their third.
“Going up against Doug, the club champion (multiple times in mixed) and Alberta curler who I know well, we’re buds, I knew that was going to be the competition for the tournament absolutely, but there wasn’t a lot of nerves. It’s a mixed bonspiel and there’s some liquid courage involved and we just went into it to have fun,” Range said. “He had to chase us. We made all of our shots even though a couple of times we were facing a lot of rocks.
“So kudos to our team. We were challenged and we won.”
The final was similar in nature to the earlier game against McLennan.
“We said come and chase us and you know what? They did,” Range said. “I was so confident in my front end that we played aggressive. We kept coming into the house and that was it. My front end made all of their shots.”
In the first end, Range barely squeaked by a guard for a hit and stick for two with the hammer and in two a couple of tough misses left Krysta looking at two with last shot and his draw attempt was wide and straight.
In three, Krysta chipped a guard after Range drew for shot rock and the steal of one made it 5-0.
In the next end, Krysta was unable to slip his last shot into scoring position while facing a house full of rocks as Range stole another point.
It was handshake time after a steal of two in five.
“We got behind. That was a tough game,” said the happy-go-lucky Krysta with a shrug of his shoulders.
“We’re pretty lucky actually to get where we’re at because we hadn’t curled together before,” Krysta said of his lineup of third Virginia Krysta, second Kyle Snaychuk and lead Christine Snaychuk. “We had some ups and downs but we made it this far so it’s pretty good.”
The Krystas curl out of the Westridge Curling Club in Stony Plain in the Friday night mixed league with Kim and Darrell Gagne.
“Our third (Kim) used to curl in St. Albert and she was actually supposed to curl with us but she had to get cortisone shots. She had to forfeit so then we picked up Kyle and Christine (from Wildwood),” said Krysta of the acquaintances through work and skidooing. “We couldn’t find anybody at the last minute and they said they would come and fill in.”
The first of three wins in a row was against Filewich.
“We had to make a decent shot in the eighth end to tie it up and then we ended up stealing in the extra end and that was our first game here that we curled together,” Krysta said
In the semifinal, Krysta knocked off St. Albert skip Ferd Caron, who lost last year’s final 8-3 in six ends to McLennan.
“That was a good team to play against. Friendly. They were bang on with their game. They’re excellent curlers,” Krysta said. “We had a couple roll our way, which always doesn’t happen but it happened to go our way.
“We had to steal one in the last end coming home to get in (the final). It was a nail-biter that’s for sure.”
Krysta is looking forward to next year’s mixer.
“We’ll be back for sure. We had a great time,” he said. “The ice is excellent. (Lindsey, the head ice technician) does a very good job with the ice.”
Range echoed Krysta’s sentiments about the playing surface.
“What made our life easy was the ice here at the St. Albert Curling Club. It was great ice for curling. If you had the proper broom you’re going to make the proper shot. I would give two feet of ice for the takeouts and it was done every time,” said Range, who slid past Bellamy and Schiiler for a spot in the final four.
"We played Nicole’s son in the first game and he made us work very hard so we skated through that one,” Range said. “Schiiler, from Spruce Grove, is a very good team, a very serious team and very good curlers. They’re not here to (fool) around. They were coming here to play and that was hard game. It was an anxious game. Everybody was watching. Every shot every end my nerves were fried.”
Range, a longtime St. Albert skip in the Tuesday night men's league who took a step back this season and is sparing for the rebranded Klassen rink, embraced the spotlight as bonspiel champion.
“It’s pretty special. My dad and brother in Saskatoon are cheering for me,” Range said. “We met some competitors here that aren’t in it for the social part of it and we met some competitors here that didn’t care if they won and that’s bonspieling. I hope bonspiels continue. I really do. Bonspieling is what curling is all about.”
