SHS curling team runners up at south central zone tournament

By John Watson Local Journalism initiative Reporter

Strathmore High School’s curling team has returned as the runners up from the South-Central Zone Tournament in Cochrane.

According to the team’s coach, Michelle Ledene, for two of the curlers on the team, it was their first time taking to the ice in an actual game, coinciding with the fact that the tournament marked the first time the team has competed together.

Ledene said in the opening game, Strathmore handily defeated the Airdrie team, which secured them a competitive place to move on from the initial pool.

“Then, we had a draw to the button after the game where each of the curlers had to get as close to the button as they could and we ended up getting the lowest team average, which is the best that you could get,” she explained.

“That benefitted us because we lost our second game. However, with all three teams in the pool finishing one win and one loss, we ended up moving right into the crossover game.”

The team played two games on Feb. 11 and two more the following day. 

According to Ledene, not only did the school’s mixed team perform as well as they did, but they also used the tournament as a learning experience. 

“In the end, it was actually the team from Airdrie that beat us in the gold medal game … we were competitive the whole time and we just didn’t quite get it there,” added Ledene.

“It came right down to the last end of the gold medal game, so we’re just so proud of our curlers and how far they’ve come from two kids never even having stepped on the ice before to playing four full games and getting silver medals.”

The team went into the tournament having not practiced much together. They only met once a week since November 2021 and took much of January 2022 off. Although their lack of practice time and experience seemed to not affect their results in the tournament. 

The team’s season may yet continue if they are requested to attend provincials as a replacement for another team should that team be unable to compete.

In 2019, Strathmore’s teams made it to provincials, with the girls finishing second. In 2018 a mixed team won the provincial tournament. 

Ledene hopes that her team’s success inspires more students to take up curling and find a love of the sport. 

She added that the conclusion of the season will be bitter-sweet, as her co-coach, Brad Steele, will be retiring at the end of the school year. Ledene said the two have been coaching together for the last 21 years.