Randy Guidinger escaped Sunday’s final at the St. Albert Curling Club with a pair of steals.
The Spruce Grove skip counted three without the hammer in two against Colin Jenkyns of St. Albert to lead by four and pulled off the same act of thievery in seven to win the Integra Tire and Auto Centre Open Bonspiel.
“We had two rough ends. Other than that it’s a different game so we got unlucky on a couple of things,” said Chris Keeler, who called the shots and threw third rocks for the Jenkyns rink.
“They just kept throwing them in there and we weren’t able to get them out. You try and gain a few points and you get a little riskier and sometimes it bites you in the butt.”
The teams shook hands after seven and Guidinger on top 8-4.
“It was a fairly well curled game. They were a real solid team,” Guidinger said. “It was lots of fun. They were really good sportsmen.”
The lineup of Jenkyns, the last-rock shooter, Keeler, second Lauren Jenkyns and lead Ben Robinson crawled back from a 4-0 deficit with a deuce in three and singles off steals in four and five to even the score.
“We kind of had it in control but we missed a shot in five and we lost our momentum,” Guidinger said. “They curled very, very well so we got a little fortunate to get back into the game to squeak out the win.”
In six, a hit and stick by Guidinger with last shot made it 5-4, and in seven his rink sized control early in the end.
“The secret to the last end is their first draw came heavy and bit the house. We threw a nose hit and controlled the front of the house so that was a big turning point,” Guidinger said.
Jenkyns was on a roll after knotting it at four and was poised to play for the winning points after falling behind by one with two ends remaining.
“We were sitting pretty good and happy at that point but they got another big end and then there is not that much hope for you at that point,” Keeler said.
The final marked the third game of the day for Jenkyns while going 5-1 overall.
“It was a long day and we were kind of exhausted by the end of it,” Keeler said.
Jenkyn’s sister, Lauren, was recruited as the ringer for the Monday night men’s team with John Forbes unavailable for the weekend spiel. Lauren is the skip for the perennial President’s Cup women’s playoff champions in St. Albert and is a multiple Edmonton and area Tournament of Champions winner in the women’s and mixed divisions (Colin is also a mixed champion) and was the winning skip at the 2013 Alberta Dominion (now Travelers) curling club championship.
In the men’s league, the young Jenkyns’ crew is 4-1 this season after losing the 2016 President’s Cup final to Jamie King’s Hootie and Old Fish foursome.
Guidinger’s rink of third Richard Guidinger, second Conrad Yaremchuk of St. Albert and lead Jeff Smith ran the table at 5-0 in the 24-team draw.
“We started out a little bit shaky and we got better as the weekend went on,” Guidinger said. “The ice has been a little bit tricky and if you don’t throw the rocks really, really true on this ice it can come back and bite you.”
This year the open spiel format replaced the traditional November men’s tournament and the 24-team draw featured two women’s entries and a variety of mixed and men’s rinks.
“Any time I can see people coming out to curl, whether it be men, women or child, I think it’s fantastic. If you’re a fairly good and fairly solid team you’re going to continue to curl long into the weekend but the way curling is somewhat slightly declining a little bit in the last few years the open concept is good,” said Guidinger, a familiar face in the northern Alberta men’s and seniors’ playdowns with his rinkmates.
The next St. Albert spiel is the 50-plus two-person stick stakes Jan. 14 and the 24-team draw is already full.
