CURLING GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE
Written by Stephan Sutcliffe
In the past few years a once dormant curling team has grown to a group of 40 curlers comprising of 10 teams and 3 coaches. Curling is thriving and remains strong in Chestermere and its surrounding communities. Easy access to curling rinks and a strong junior program has driven the success of the Chestermere High School curling team.
This past week the curlers, that make up the Lakers, competed in the Rocky View Divisional Bonspiel. Entering into the bonspiel the mixed, girls and boys teams were anticipated to deliver a strong showing. One of the boys’ teams, coming off of silver in previous years, was shooting for gold.
As the tournament unfolded, it turned out that the expectations for the teams were a bit modest. One of each of the mixed and girls teams advanced into the medal round, along with the favored boys’ team. The mixed team captured the bronze to walk away with some unexpected hardware. The team consisted of Clayton Baxter, Craig Douthwright, Lindsay Dugdale and Tristan Garnet.
The girls enacted revenge and beat out the team they lost to the previous year. Their skip executed a Scotties level draw shot, coming home without the hammer, to win the game and earn a berth in the gold medal draw. In the medal round, they played a strong game, but settled for the silver. Team members were Jessica Frebrowski, Judy Tran. Aleisha Hall and Leanne Haasen.
The highly touted boys team did not disappoint; a clutch double takeout by their skip with his final stone had them wearing gold around their necks and making plans for a trip to Didsbury to compete in the South Central Zone Championships. Team members are Shane Krycwun, Simon Gordon, Drew Seamans and Cody Isley. An important but often overlooked part of curling is the mentorship offered by the coaches. They aren’t in the forefront during a bonspiel but their support at practice and behind the scenes breeds success.
The Lakers have three dedicated coaches each contributing to the program: Margie Bremer a teaching assistant at Chestermere High and an avid curler with extensive experience and expertise, Wolfgang Janke a volunteer coach, who is active in the Chestermere curling community and Marianne Sutcliffe a teacher at the High School and a curling enthusiast. This curling season for the Chestermere High School Lakers was a resounding success and all team members and coaches are to be congratulated.[/box]
JV BOYS TAKE ON STAMPEDERS
Chestermere High School was pleased to host the Stampeders Football team this past Thursday. Our JV team took on the Stamps team in an exhibition basketball game. The game included present and past stars of the Calgary Stamps. Current Stampeders included Jon Cornish and Juwan Simpson, and former Cochrane Cobra, Rob Cote. Past alumni included Pee Wee Smith and Marvin Pope. The game was a great success for both squads with a big crowd in attendance.
LADY LAKERS INVITATIONAL
The Lady Lakers hosted a successful 28th annual Invitational Tournament on the weekend. Ten team participated in this year’s event with George Mc Dougall winning the Varsity Division and Chestermere winning the JV Division. Thanks to all students, tournament volunteers, parents, teachers and coaches for putting on a successful tournament.
VARSITY GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
Despite having a number of players out with injury the Lady Lakers played one of their strongest games last week as they hosted George Mc Dougall, the first place team in the league. The team had a great start and opened up an 11 point lead but could not sustain the effort. Turnovers and missing some easy shots resulted in a loss to the Mustangs. Despite the loss it was probably the girls’ best effort of the season. The team was led by Rachel Cooke with 25 points and Yas Saghir with 19. On the weekend the team hosted their annual invitational tournament. In the first two games the girls lost to Central Memorial and Foothills Composite. Disappointed with these results the girls responded with an 85-33 win over Strathmore in the final game. Scoring leaders were Yas with 22 and Richelle Rawlyk with 20. All team members played very well in this game. Players of the game were presented to Rachel, Yas and Richelle. The two graduating seniors, Brittany Cavers and Richelle Rawlyk were presented with flowers prior to the game, their last at home. The team presented “team mom” Wendy Cooper with flowers to thank her for all she has done for the team. This week the Lady Lakers travel to Springbank for a league game with the Phoenix and on Friday head to Medicine Hat for the Eagle Butte tournament.
JV GIRLS’ BASKETBALL
The Junior Varsity Lady Lakers continue to work hard and chalked up a regular season win and claimed another tournament championship last week. On Wednesday night they hosted the always-tough George McDougall Mustangs. The girls relied on their relentless pressure defense and fast-break offense and battled tenaciously in an impressive 81-41 victory. The team opened up the 28th annual Lady Laker Invitaional with an early game on Friday morning versus the Western Canada Redmen from Calgary. In front of a loud student body, the girls came out hard and fed off the energy from the crowd en-route to a convincing 73-41 win. Laura Costello was named player of the game. Saturday morning meant a match with the Selkirk Secondary School Storm from B.C. The Chestermere girls started strong and arguably played their best game of the season. Led by the scoring of Kendall Armstrong and player-of-the-game Madi Stoye, the Lady Lakers dominated their opponents from Kimberly and cruised to a 90-42 win. In their final matchup on Saturday night, the Lady Lakers took on scrappy squad from Queen Elizabeth in Calgary. Led by the scoring of player-of-the-game Ashley Cavers and the leadership from Makayla Boisjoli, the entire team stepped up and pulled out a hard fought 67-42decision, capturing their seventh tournament title of the season. The Lady Lakers have another busy week of basketball ahead with games against Springbank, Beiseker, and Bow Valley.
VARSITY BOYS’ BASKETBALL
In league play this week the Lakers travelled to Airdrie to take on the George McDougall Mustangs. The Lakers played a solid all around game with everyone finding the scoresheet.The Lakers led by Hunter Karl with 33 points and Chris Hendry with 28, walking away with a 118-60 victory. Over the weekend the Lakers participated in the competitive Western High School Redmen Invitational. The first test for the Lakers was LCI, a provincially ranked 4A program. The team got off to a slow start but the Lakers managed to keep their composure and grind out a 86-78 victory. Jasdeep Gill led the way with a monster game of 38 points 16 rebounds and 7 steals. Hendry added 20 points and 11 rebounds. In the semi-finals the Lakers were victorious over the St. Mary’s Saints 84-60. The defense of the Lakers was impressive holding a talented team to 60 points. Colby Williams was named player of the game for his incredible hustle on the defensive end and decision making on offense. The final saw the Lakers take on the host Redmen in a packed gymnasium. Coming up against a motivated team in front of their student body and fans the Lakers fell a little short 71-66. Although disappointed with the loss the coaching staff could not have been more pleased with the effort. This experience will be crucial to the Lakers success during the home stretch in their season. Gill was named MVP with 23 points and 19 rebounds while Hendry added 23 points and 7 rebounds. Karl was named tournament defensive player for his exceptional on ball defense of the opposing teams’ best ball handler.
JV BOYS’ BASKETBALL
The Chestermere JV Lakers played their seventh league game of the season against the George McDougall Mustangs on February 7th. The Lakers started out fast and sprinted to an early 18 point lead but had a few lapses throughout the game. The Lakers held on for a close 72 -68 win. The Lakers were led by Charnjot Gill scoring 27 points and 8 assists. Jag Gill added a double double in the effort as well racking up 13 points and 15 rebounds. Corey Hendry added 15 points and 8 rebounds and 4 steals. Next up for the JV Lakers are two home league games this week, Tuesday February 14th against the Springbank Phoenix and Friday the 17th against the Bow Valley Bobcats.
This week’s Athlete of the Week goes to the gold medal winning men’s curling team that won the gold medal at the Rocky View Divisional Championship. After coming close the past two years the team pulled the victory out this year. Congratulations to Shane Krycwun, Simon Gordon, Drew Seamans and Cody Isley. The team will represent school at the South Central Zone Championships, in Didsbury, this week. Best of luck to the team and coaches.[/box]
