Team DeSchiffart of the Ponoka Curling Club will represent Alberta at the 2023 Canadian U18 Championships in Timmins, Ont. Feb. 5 to 11.
The team members are Skip: Emma DeSchiffart; Third: Morgan DeSchiffart; Second: Abby Whitbread; Lead: Natalie Cholin; and Alternate: Rhiley DeSchiffart.
Emma, Morgan and Rhiley are all junior coaches at the Ponoka Curling Club who also attend St. Augustine School.
Team DeSchiffart recently played in the Optimist U18 provincial championship in Cochrane.
“In a tight eight-team field we did not know what our week would look like,” said team manager Amber DeSchiffart, who runs the Ponoka junior program.
“We started out a little slow with an 0-3 record but we put the pedal to the metal and pulled out four straight wins.”
This advanced the team into tiebreakers where they won in an extra end.
The semifinal game was a close one but Team DeSchiffart ended up taking the loss. Although they couldn’t advance on their own accord, the weekend wasn’t over yet.
According to the Alberta Junior Curling Tour Points that teams have been competing for all season, there was still hope.
The points the team earned this season at 10 previous spiels put them in second place amongst the 16 teams on tour. That meant if the top team on tour won the final, they would become Team Alberta and Team DeSchiffart would become Team Alberta 2.
“That team won so we are proud to share with you that we will be representing Alberta at the 2023 Canadian U18 championships in Timmins (as Team Alberta 2),” said Amber.
“It has been our goal to make it to nationals and we are excited.”
The team is holding a send off fundraising event at the Lacombe Curling Club on Jan. 22, from 4 to 7 p.m.
“Everyone is invited to support the team.”
There will be a silent auction, raffles and the team will be doing a shoot out as part of the fundraiser.
