It wasn’t the easiest way to qualify for provincials, but the Johnstone rink punched their ticket to the junior women’s provincial curling championship over the weekend.
“It was tough, but we fought through it,” said skip Malysha Johnstone. “We kept being determined. Everyone brought their A game and wanting to play hard and qualify.”
The rink of Johnstone, Kaitlyn Corbin, Karlee Fessler and Morgan Broom defeated the Rachel Erickson 8-7 in the C final event to qualify for provincials in January. They had to score three points in the 10th end in order to secure the victory.
“It was a big deal and we were super pumped,” said Johnstone. “Everyone is super pumped. We are so excited that we get to go to Weyburn and play against the teams we have been playing against, especially for Morgan being in her last year — she is really pumped to get there.”
The rink opened with an 8-6 loss to the Erickson rink on Friday evening, but rebounded with an 11-1 win of the Maytlind Mallo rink from Gainsborough on Saturday morning. They then defeated the Kaylen Erskine rink by a 12-9 score to continue in the B event. However, a 10-6 loss to Allyson Grywacheski dropped the Johnstone rink to the C event.
“As a coach, I thought they could have won every game they lost. It just came down to execution at critical times,” stated Al Bromley, coach for the rink. “They didn’t disappoint...they made it exciting.”
The Junior Women’s Southern playdown was held in Whitewood and the rink knew prior to going that the ice would be heavy and difficult. However, the team battled back throughout the weekend in order to reach their goal of qualifying.
“It was really tricky ice and I think nerves came into it a bit. More than anything, it was very unforgiving ice,” explained Bromley. “One thing I really saw this weekend was resiliency and that ability to bounce back. That was really demonstrated in that final game.”
The James Barkway rink was also trying to earn a berth into the Junior Men’s Provincials, but finished 0-3 in Regina at the Southern Playdowns over the weekend and did not qualify.
For more on this story, read an upcoming edition of the Times-Herald.
