It has been a very busy winter as bantam zones, regionals and provincials have come and gone through January, and bantam mixed is now in full swing.
On the weekend of January 17-18, four teams participated in boys’ and girls’ bantam zone playdowns with players from Elmira’s junior program on their roster:
- Team Veronica Bernard, with Veronica Bernard as skip alongside third Claire Randell, second Morgan Blair, and lead Laura Blachier;
- Team Andrew Paulley, with Andrew at skip, Sam Domaratzki at third, Ryan Paulley at second, and Tony Domzella at lead;
- Team Anika Molenaar (out of Mount Forest) with Anika at skip, third Emma McKenzie, second Kate Martin, and lead Alison Poluck;
- Team Caleb Bauman (out of Listowel), with Elmira’s Thomas Kraemer at third stones.
All four teams qualified for regional play; teams Molenaar and Bauman qualified for Region 4 playdowns held in Ridgetown on January 24/25, and teams Bernard and Paulley qualified for Region 3 playdowns in Chesley the same weekend. Unfortunately, none of the four teams earned a berth to Provincials, with teams Molenaar, Bernard and Paulley all falling short in the B-side final of their respective events. Team Molenaar’s loss was particularly heartbraking, coming on the final stone in the 8th end against their friends from Niagara Falls, Team Mackenzie Kiemele, who earned the Provincials berth with the win.
(Aside: we are extremely pleased to note that at the Provincials Bantam Girls event held in Oshawa on February 5-8, Mackenzie Kiemele from Niagara Falls received the Sportsmanship Award as voted on by the participating teams. Well done Mackenize – you have a lot of fans – and friends – here in Elmira!)
This weekend, Anika Molenaar, Sam Domaratzki, Emma McKenzie, and Tony Domzella participated in bantam mixed Zone 12 play at the Guelph Curling Club. The team won both their games on Saturday, defeating Jacob Arnold of Westmount in their first game and Erin Ensing of Elora in game 2. Unfortunately this mixed squad lost the A-side final in this morning’s game to a strong team skipped by Alexandira Nunes from Galt Country. The team prevailed, however, in the B-side final over Quinn Walsh of Galt Country, and now advance to Regional play which will be held at the Coldwater and District Curling Club on March 7 and 8.
Next weekend, Veronica Bernard will lead her mixed foursome of Ben Minor, Emerson Steffler and Laura Blachier in OCA Bantam Mixed Zone 7 playdowns out of the Richmond Hill Curling Club with her Dad Marc Bernard as coach.
Congratulations to all of the players, and their coaches, for an incredibly successful season thus far. Good luck to Team Molenaar in Coldwater in three weeks’ time, and best wishes to Team Bernard next weekend in Thornhill.