Morrin School is celebrating after drawing for silver at the recent curling provincial championships in Bonnyville on March 1 and 2.
All three of Morrin School’s teams qualified for provincials after winning gold medals at the zone championships held in Drumheller on February 8 and 9.
The school’s mixed team, consisting of Evan Hampton, Caitlin Wolf, Lowell Nelson, and Jorden Ferguson, came away with silver medals.
“Morrin School is extremely proud of this accomplishment. This team is made up of all Gr. 10 students who are looking forward to returning to Provincials next year in a hope to capture the gold medal that they missed out on this year. This team was the youngest team at the competition and they played extremely well,” said Don Yavis, principal of Morrin School.
“When you get to provincials, there are schools of all different sizes. There are ones that are as small as ours and others from Edmonton that are huge.”
The mixed team was up against teams from Donnelly, Beaumont, Vermillion, Glendon, Westlock, Lethbridge, and Chauvin. In their first game, they lost 9-7 to Georges P. Vanier from Donnelly. However, they came back with a narrow win over Beaumont Composite High School and a decisive victory over J.R. Robson School in Vermillion, earning a spot in the playoffs.
In the semifinals, they defeated R.F. Staples School out of Westlock 8-7. In the final, they faced Dr. Folkins School from Chauvin, who were undefeated in round robin play.
Unfortunately the Morrin mixed squad lost, but held their own, giving their opponents their toughest match of the tournament. The final score was 7-6.
The boys team had a tougher time during the weekend. They lost their first two games to Georges P. Vanier and W.P. Wagner of Edmonton 10-3 and 6-5, respectively.
They came back to win 5-4 over J.A. Williams High School in Lac La Biche.
“Our boys didn’t curl as well as they did at zones. They had their chances, but they’d try to go around a guard and just rub it or they would hit and roll just a little too far. There were several ends like that in their first two games,” “In their last game, they settled down and curled really well,” said Yavis.
The girls team, though qualifying, could not attend provincials due to scheduling conflicts with two of their team members. The silver medal team from zones, Cochrane, attended in their place.
This is the first medal in over two decades won in curling by Morrin School at provincials.
“It’s been a few years. Prior to this, we had a couple silver medals at provincials back in the 80’s,” said Yavis.
Now that provincials are over, the Morrin teams will be hanging up their brooms, but will return next season.
“We’re looking at bright things ahead in the next couple years for our curlers,” said Yavis. “They played really well and we’re proud of what they accomplished.”
The Morrin School mixed curling team, consisting of coach Melanie Nelson (left), skip Evan Hampton, third Caitlin Wolf, lead Jorden Ferguson, and second Lowell Nelson, came back from provincials in Bonnyville with silver.
