A pair of Okotokians
slid its way into international acclaim with a podium finish at the world’s
marquee Juvenile curling event.
Team Alberta,
featuring Okotoks’ Kyler Kleibrink and Christian Sprinkhuysen, brought home the
bronze medal at the Optimist International U18 Curling Championships, March 31
in Surrey/Langley B.C.
“I’m very impressed
with how we did and it feels really great to have the bronze medal actually,”
said Sprinkhuysen, the team’s lead. “I’d say there’s no other experience like
it.”
The Alberta curlers
had a dream start to the event by picking up three straight victories over
Pennsylvania, Prince Edward Island and Minnesota to take a stranglehold on
playoff positioning in Pool B.
“We won our first
game and momentum kept building up and we won our next game, then our next
game,” Sprinkhuysen said. “We were feeling really great.”
Team Alberta,
composed of Nanton-skip Jeremy Harty, Kleibrink at third, Brooks’ Jeremy
Burnett at second and Sprinkhuysen at lead, hit its first road-block in a 7-6
loss in an extra end to Ontario on March 30.
“In the extra end
both teams were playing well and it just came down to the final couple shots,”
Kleibrink said. “We were just off by an inch so they won the game.”
They would recover
from the opening loss quickly, picking up a convincing 6-0 win over Quebec in
the round-robin finale.
With a record of 4-1,
Team Alberta advanced to a semifinal showdown with Manitoba, an undefeated rink
heading into the contest and eventual gold medalists.
Manitoba grabbed an
early 5-0 lead through three ends, and despite a valiant comeback the Alberta
curlers simply ran out of rocks and lost 7-4.
“We were looking at a
lot of yellows, but we had a shot and we played it, but the rock picked,”
Kleibrink said of the crucial three-point third end for Manitoba. “When it
picked we tapped them in for three and after they got up on us they were a
great hitting team and we didn’t have a chance of coming back.”
A chance at
redemption came in the form of a bronze medal game draw against Team Japan,
where the Alberta curlers edged their opponents by the narrowest of margins in
a 4-3 thriller.
“We pulled our socks
together and really came out strong in the bronze medal game,” Kleibrink said.
“Japan they were amazing (at draws) so we just had to keep them hitting.”
The bronze medal from
the 12-team tournament was not a bad way to cap off a Juvenile career for the
curling foursome, who will now move up to the Junior ranks.
“It was awesome,”
Kleibrink said. “Most of all though, it didn’t really matter where we placed.
It was just a great experience for all of us.”
