Congratulations to the Deanna Johnson rink of Elmira for earning a berth to the OCA Provincial championships held this past weekend at the Chesley Curling Club. Johnson and her rink will play in the OCA Bantam Girls Provincial Championships that will be held at the Land O’ Lakes Curling Club in Tweed from March 2 through March 5.
At Chesley, the A-side semi-final was what coach Bob Johnson described as a “barn-burner” with Deanna and her Elmira rink of third Laura Daniel, second Jaime Jones, lead Emily Walsh and coaches Bob Johnson and Steve Jones down 6-0 after 3 and down 10-3 after 5 ends of play. Where many rinks would shake hands, the Elmira team kept playing and took 3 in the 6th, and then stole 3 points in each of the 7th and 8th ends for a stunning 12-10 come-from-behind win.
The A-side final was a rematch of the Zone 12 championship between the Johnson foursome and the Sarah Pellegrino rink from the Galt Curling Club, comprising Sarah at skip, Jackie Jones at third, Candice Donahue at second, Veronica Reitmeier at lead, and coached by Sheila Smith-Jones. This time Deanna and her rink emerged with the A-side title taking two points in the 8th end for the win. Later that evening the Pellegrino rink vied for the B-side title but unfortunately a pick in the 5th end gave the opposition a wide-open hit for three. That was the TSN turning-point as the Pellegrino foursome ran out of rocks in the 8th end, losing by three.
Congratulations to all the teams for some outstanding play, and good luck to Deanna Johnson and her rink at Provincials in March.